calorie deficit

blibby33

I see people talking about calorie deficits. I am still trying to figure this all out. What does the calorie deficit mean? Also what does it mean eating your exercise back? any help will be greatly appreciated.

megsmom2

A calorie deficit is how you lose weight. It means you are consuming less than your body is using, so it uses fat stores instead. For example...you eat 800 calories(don't do that though), but your body burns 1000 calories doing normal active living. You have a deficit of 200.
Eating your burned calories is the MFP method. MFP sets you a calorie limit with a deficit built in. So...if you go to the gym or for a run and burn extra calories, you should eat back that many more so you don't have too large a deficit, which could be unhealthy. Keep in mind all these numbers are approximations....and MFP estimates high, so you may not want to use all those calories...or get a hrm or other tracked to get more accurate readings. Doing this gives you extra calories to eat on days you exercise...nice! And allows for more flexibility. But even on days you don't exercise, the MFP calorie limit is already at a deficit, so you will lose.
I hope this helped!