Calorie Deficit - Difference of Opinion?

paige2010

Hi,

MyFitnessPal states that my calories burned from normal day activity is 1960, and that I'm aiming for a 500 calorie deficit. But I had had a health check at my gym induction, and they stated that my calories burned from normal day activity is 1500 - and that my BMI is 26.

MyFitnessPay recommends 1460 calories a day target - but if my gym is right I'm not losing much. If my gym is right, should I be aiming for 1200, for a 300 calorie deficit?

thanks,

a very confused paige...

lessertess

It would help to understand how your gym calculated your calories burned and what you defined as normal activities. There are a number of different methods. ALL OF THEM are estimates. I will say that the 1500 calorie estimate sounds awfully generic.......

Do a google search for calorie calculators. There are dozens of web sites that use the most standard formulas. Try a few of them and compare. Most of them will come up with a numbers that are within a few hunded of each other. Just realize that all of these numbers are estimates.

Best practice is to experiment to find out what works best for you. I'd start with the MFP estimates. If that doesn't get you results then consider lowing your calories a little bit to get closer to the gym estimate. If that still isn't working consider going a little higher until you find what works.

Also, remember that studies have shown that people who lose weight slowly tend to keep that weight off for longer while people who lose weight quickly have a greater tendency to gain it, and more, back.

questionablemethods

As mentioned before, all of the different methods are estimates. You could try hitting on a number somewhere in the middle of the two. That's what I ended up doing. I'm not completely sedentary because I don't have a car so I walk a lot for transportation, but my actual workday typically involves a lot of sitting. So, I just started fiddling and seem to have hit upon a good guess. I would say don't start out eating too few calories. Assume that maybe you burn at lease 1700 from normal daily activity and aim to eat 1400? (But I'm always going to go for the option that allows me to eat more food! )

ldarter

Hi Paige,

Calories burned from normal activity include your height, current weight, age, sex and normal daily activity level apart from exercise. MFP uses a calculator that takes all of those things into consideration based on the information you inputed when you joined. While only the ancedotal evidence of one person, I have found the calorie allowance given on MFP for me to be accurate. The deficits I have been experiencing have produced the amount of weight loss that would be predicted during my first two weeks here.

There are almost an endless number of different calculators available that can be used and your gym may be using a different one. Your BMI number should be the same calculated here as by the gym because all BMI calculators and formulas are based on the one produced by the Centers for Disease Control. There is a BMI calculator on MFP on the "Tools" tab. If the BMI figure your gym gave you was different from the number you can find using the BMI tool here on the site I think that would be one indication that the figures given by your gym are suspect.

Not to be cynical but I have a friend who is a personal fitness trainer and works at a gym. Based on that inside knowledge I know some gyms will recommend a larger than necessary calorie deficit so that clients will see more quick results. That is only understandable since unless a person sees weight loss, relatively quickly, they are less likely to continue with a gym and they don't want to lose clients.

I notice you just joined here last month as I did. My advice would be to trust the mfp numbers for now and see what results you obtain. It is working for me and if you read the forums much, it is working for lots of people here. Rely on your gym for the fitness advice which is their strength and see how things go for a couple of weeks. If you aren't losing weight after that time then you might want to look at a larger calorie deficit at that point.

paige2010

thanks for the help! I googled a few calorie counters and got a variety of numbers. I have been losing weight with MFP, so I think I'll trust the numbers it gives me!

:happy: