calorie deficit in laymans terms please

jody2807
jody2807 Posts: 115 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello .
I have been on MFp for a while now but i still do not understand caloic Deficit ?? can someone help clear this up in layman terms

should I be eating my calories back of 1830.00 or as i have been trying to do the 1200.00 .. i also do not understand Macros . the reason i ma asking is i have been reading all the post os TDEE ect and that is all Iam doing is reading i am noy understanding it , and to be able to accomplish what i want i need to uderstand the formula that i should be following : "so very confused":noway:

my details below

Calories Burned
From Normal Daily Activity 1,830 calories/day
Net Calories Consumed*
Your Daily Goal 1,200 calories/ day
Daily Calorie Deficit 630 calories
Projected Weight Loss 1.3 lbs/ week

Net Calories Consumed* / Day 1,200 calories/day
Carbs / Day 165 g
Fat / Day 40 g
Protein / Day 45 g

Replies

  • jody2807
    jody2807 Posts: 115 Member
    please forgive spelling errors
  • amnsetie
    amnsetie Posts: 666 Member
    If your daily cals are 1830 you should eat about 20% less which is about 1400-1500
    You have set your goal at 1.3 lbs per week which is a lot.
    Try setting it for 1.0 or 0.5 lbs per week.
    If you built your exercise into your activity level you don't count it, but if you set it to lightly active then put in your extra exercise and eat most of that back.
    I'll let someone else talk about macros, it's more complicated.
    try to eat fresh and natural and you should manage most of the macros
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    From the info you've provided (height, weight etc) MFP has worked out that it takes 1830 calories to fuel all the things you do in a regular day. If you eat 1830 every day (and don't exercise) you should stay at the same weight.
    As you want to lose weight, you need to create a "calorie deficit" - in other words, you need to eat less so that your body starts to burn up some of it's reserves and you lose weight.
    Your deficit is 630 calories which means you get to eat 1200 each day (1830 - 630 = 1200). This assumes you aren't exercising.

    If you exercise and burn (for example) 300 calories then it takes 2130 (1830 + 300) calories to fuel your exercise for the day.
    Now you can eat 1500 calories and you still have the same deficit (2130 - 630 = 1500).

    You might find that it is very hard to stick to such a low calorie goal (I can't eat that low, it just isn't feasible for me to do that and stay pleasant) in which case I suggest that you go back to your MFP goals and choose a more realistic weight loss goal of 1 pound or 1/2 pound a week.
  • jody2807
    jody2807 Posts: 115 Member
    Thanks you for the explanations i think it will still take some time to get used to .. But i have changed my loss to 1 lb per week and will try to eat more .. Wow this is weight loss journey is a lot of hard work but will be well worth I dont think i studied this hard when i was at school all those years ago :laugh:
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,423 Member
    I know, it seems hard if you start working out all the numbers - but once you start tracking what you eat and doing a bit of exercise, it's surprisingly easy!
  • lookingforsomething
    lookingforsomething Posts: 86
    So if the system tells me that I need 1380 cal a day and I stick to that - I should lose weight?
    Does that factor in exercise?
    Or if I do exercise on top of that, its a bonus and will help me on my way a bit quicker.

    I understand that the more exercise I do that I will/may need to eat a bit more - do I have to eat back all the exercise cal's that I "earn" or only say 50% of them or whatever I feel is right for me?

    Sometimes to much info is confusing - they need to bring out a guide - "weight loss for dummies" - I'd be the first int he que for that book!
  • rkr22401
    rkr22401 Posts: 216 Member
    Depends. The majority of people under-report calorie consumption and over-report calorie burn. If you were 100% accurate in both, you could eat back all your exercise calories and maintain the same deficit. Better to start with a portion of your exercise calories and adjust based on your actual results.

    Actual results implies you are measuring and tracking. Don't over-rely on the scale. Use calipers, tape measure, clothing size, photos, whatever works best for you.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    A calorie budget is just like a financial budget. In order to lose fat you need to eat less calories then your burn, actually even less than that so you use your body fat reserves. That's the whole idea. You can have a daily budget or a weekly budget, you can go over one day and under the next.

    The only thing that makes you lose fat is less calories.

    Exercise is for building muscle. Especially if you are overweight ignore exercise burn, it's highly over rated anyway. You can not exercise enough to burn off too much food. We as a society eat too much food.

    Most people underestimate calories so give it 10% less in the total. Also packaging will underestimate because legally they can put more not less so they will error on the more side. I learned this all from the book The Anything Goes Diet. If you want to learn the real truth about MINDLESS EATING, DIETS, CALORIES, CALORIE PORTIONS and CALORIES BURNED invest in this. I GAIN NOTHING BY IT, but I am passionate about other people finding the same success I did and learning all the myths floating about in the diet industry that is designed to keep getting your money over and over.

    --- > http://products.venusindex.com/product-catalog/books/anything-goes-diet/

    (This is NOT about eating junk food! It's about learning to eat for you own lifestyle, vegan, organic, whatever)
    Oh yeah and you can do this WITHOUT a personal trainer or coaching. Read the book, it explains the answers, done. Then just do it. Of course the superior designed workout helps as well.

    Most of us are on MFP.

    My story here- - -> http://www.venusindex.com/roberta-saums-venus-index-transformation/

    The diets I have tried -- > http://www.venusindex.com/ten-thousand-ways-that-wont-work/

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