Want to lose 1 pound a week?!?

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xFitnessFlirt
xFitnessFlirt Posts: 128
in Health and Weight Loss
My goal is to lose about 10-15 lbs and hopefully a 1lb a week. But it kinda confuses me. I'm about 140lbs and 5'2. A pound of fat is 3500 calories. So that means I'll have to burn about 500 calories a day for a week to add up to 3500 calories. But I know I cant do that because my body going to need at least 2 rest days. So the only option left is to burn 700 calories a day for 5 days. Is this true what I have to do? For me to burn 700 calories will take an hour and a half at the least. Or is 500 calories for 5 days a week enough to burn a pound if you include the calories you burn just living daily life?

Then what about eating? They say when your working out hard you have to eat more while others says burn more then you eat? So how many calories should I eat in a way while working out this much?

I'm very new to this and have no idea whats the best way to do this. lol I dont even know what calories deficit is or net calories is and whats the difference between them?

Any tips will be very appreciative, oh and I'm kinda poor so I cant really afford a lot of healthy foods, but I try my best to eat healthy. Thanks for your help
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Replies

  • wildapril
    wildapril Posts: 97 Member
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    Calorie deficit is the "negative" calories that lead to weight loss. You need to find out how many calories your body burns per day. MFP can help you do that, and there are several calculators online. Net calories means the calories you've eaten minus the ones you've burned through exercise.

    If you burn, say, 1800 calories during your normal day, then to lose weight you need to have "net" calories of less than 1800. You can achieve this "calorie deficit" by eating fewer calories or by exercising more - most people do some of each.

    If you have a normal day burning 1800 calories, and you'd like to lose a pound per week, you should have a calorie deficit of 500 calories per day on average. This might mean eating 1800 and exercising until you've burned 500. Or, eating 1600 and burning 300.
  • xFitnessFlirt
    xFitnessFlirt Posts: 128
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    thank you, i understand it a bit more now. So I guess I'm going to try eating 1800 a day and burn 500 a day
  • wildapril
    wildapril Posts: 97 Member
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    You need to use the MFP settings to determine what YOU actually burn per day. Go to "My Home" then to "goals" and imput your height, weight, activity level, etc.
  • xFitnessFlirt
    xFitnessFlirt Posts: 128
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    it says to eat like 1210 calories a day and then burn 1540 cals a week so that means I have to burn 220 cals a day or burn 308 calories for 5 days a week to lose one pound? That doesnt make sense because in the end thats not even close to 3500 a week
  • juncture
    juncture Posts: 129 Member
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    it says to eat like 1210 calories a day and then burn 1540 cals a week so that means I have to burn 220 cals a day or burn 308 calories for 5 days a week to lose one pound? That doesnt make sense because in the end thats not even close to 3500 a week

    The 1210 calories has a built in deficit of 3500 calories. What MFP has done is worked out what it thinks you burn in a day and deducted 500 calories (500 *7 being the 3500). You don't *need* to do any exercise on top of this to lose weight (at roughly a pound a week) but if you do exercise it will give you more calories to eat (you log your exercise calories and you eat those back because you've burnt more that day).

    Hope that makes sense.
  • now_or_never12
    now_or_never12 Posts: 849 Member
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    Try bumping your weight loss goal down to 0.5lb per week. With so little left to lose you will most likely have better luck eating a bit more.

    Like another poster said, MFP takes your weight loss goal per week into consideration when setting your daily calorie goal. You put in how much exercise you think you will do but that doesn't change your daily calorie goal until you do the exercise and add it to your tracker. Your weight loss is determined based on what you told MFP you want to lose and it gives you a deficit based on that. Any exercise you do you add to your tracker and eat more based on that.
  • xFitnessFlirt
    xFitnessFlirt Posts: 128
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    so since MFP estimates how much cals I burn in daily life so that if i just eat 1210 a day and only burn off 340 calories a day it would still come out to a pound a week? sorry if im not getting this right away lol
  • nsblue
    nsblue Posts: 331 Member
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    I always say don't get bunged up in numbers ans equations... eat healthy balanced meals within your cals for you get out n move.. n LEARN from it. in time you will know how many cals you need to eat to lose.. every body is different and some foods react differently for many n one needs to watch ones self n how they react to food versus scale.
  • LadyPakal
    LadyPakal Posts: 256 Member
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    Go to 'My Home' and then the 'Goals' page - under the 'Your Diet Profile' section it will tell you how many estimated calories you use a day, just from doing things like breathing and being alive. Under that is the estimate of calories to eat for your daily goal. Then it subtracts the two values to get your deficit.

    Any exercise you do is over and above that deficit - but bear in mind that the numbers in the MFP database are not very accurate - a HRM will give a better estimate.You are supposed to add any calories burned from exercise onto your daily allowance.
  • AmberJo1984
    AmberJo1984 Posts: 1,067 Member
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    I'm not trying to be disrespectful... but, you're actually confusing me. Why worry about burning 3500 calories a week? I understand that is what 1 pound of fat is... but, if you're eating less than you're burning... without starving yourself... and you are doing cardio (and strength training), than you are going to lose. I burn between 1500 to 2500 calories a week. I don't really look at how much... but, I've already lost 26 pounds since the beginning of September. I plateaued for a few weeks... but, it's been mostly about 1 to 2 pounds a week. Plus... your body will burn calories by simply being alive and breathing. You don't have to exercise just to burn calories. Just eat right... and stay active... and you'll be good to go.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    My goal is to lose about 10-15 lbs and hopefully a 1lb a week. But it kinda confuses me. I'm about 140lbs and 5'2. A pound of fat is 3500 calories. So that means I'll have to burn about 500 calories a day for a week to add up to 3500 calories. But I know I cant do that because my body going to need at least 2 rest days. So the only option left is to burn 700 calories a day for 5 days. Is this true what I have to do? For me to burn 700 calories will take an hour and a half at the least. Or is 500 calories for 5 days a week enough to burn a pound if you include the calories you burn just living daily life?

    Then what about eating? They say when your working out hard you have to eat more while others says burn more then you eat? So how many calories should I eat in a way while working out this much?

    I'm very new to this and have no idea whats the best way to do this. lol I dont even know what calories deficit is or net calories is and whats the difference between them?

    Any tips will be very appreciative, oh and I'm kinda poor so I cant really afford a lot of healthy foods, but I try my best to eat healthy. Thanks for your help

    You are over thinking this.
    Also the math never adds up because of hormonal changes.
    Anywho....

    Read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    If you have MFP set to lose one pound a week, you already have the 3500 calories needed to lose that one pound subtracted from your calorie goal, with or without exercise.

    Eat what it tells you to eat.

    If you exercise and burn more calories, eat those, too. You'll still lose have the same caloric deficit and still lose the same amount.

    The amount you say you'll exercise isn't part of your calorie goal unless and until you do it. You could say you'll sit on your *kitten* 7 days a week, or say you'll run 10 miles a day, and your daily calorie goal will be the same... unless you log that exercise.
  • wyattsmomjoy
    wyattsmomjoy Posts: 13 Member
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    Eat Less; Move More. You can still be "poor" and eat healthy! Think vegtables! Good Luck!
  • tamba01
    tamba01 Posts: 110 Member
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    I'm the same weight and height. Just have your calorie deficit be 3500, between exercise calories and eating less calories. Also oatmeal is a good healthy breakfast and about $0.10 a meal. I eat it every day with homemade greek yogurt...yummy.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    Eat Less; Move More. You can still be "poor" and eat healthy! Think vegtables! Good Luck!

    So someone new eating 800 calories and not losing should follow this advice?
    Yikes!
  • xFitnessFlirt
    xFitnessFlirt Posts: 128
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    thanks everyone for your advice. I guess I am overthinking the math part. I'll just try eating less and healthier and move more and go on from there. Thank you.
  • schondell
    schondell Posts: 556 Member
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    If your MFP settings say you will lose 1 pound a week eating 1210 calories, you will lose one pound a week WITHOUT even having to exercise.
  • xFitnessFlirt
    xFitnessFlirt Posts: 128
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    wow i didnt know that. but i set it that i will exercise so MFP set it to burn 308 cals a day for 5 days so that plus the 1210 cals a day i eat will get me to lose 1 pound a week?
  • onyxgirl17
    onyxgirl17 Posts: 1,721 Member
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    To lose one pound a week you will have to have a deficit of 500 calories per day but you need to be meticulous about your calories.
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    wow i didnt know that. but i set it that i will exercise so MFP set it to burn 308 cals a day for 5 days so that plus the 1210 cals a day i eat will get me to lose 1 pound a week?

    In theory yes.
    Use the link I posted and figure out TDEE.
    Then look at your mfp settings WITH exercise added in.
    Compare the numbers then post here.

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