How Do You Calculate Your Own Appropriate Calorie Deficit?

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  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy
    This should help you out. It's very easy to follow.

    This is the simplest explanation. Did you read it? Do you have specific questions still?
  • backpacker44
    backpacker44 Posts: 160 Member
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    use this to figure your numbers if you want detail
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9-c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE

    I was having the same problem until someone walked me through this. First, go to the above link and fill in all the fields that are in YELLOW. Then, input/change the numbers on MFP to what they are in green.

    I was getting really confused with the whole "to eat back or not" but since this already takes into account the ammount/how often you're exercising, you don't eat back your calories. I switched my "goal calories burned/week" to zero so it doesn't confuse me (I'm easily confused!)

    For example, after all my numbers were in my TDE was roughly 2600. That's because I exercise 7 days a week so am in the "very active category". -20% of that leaves me with roughly 2000 calories that I need to consume in order to lose fat but retain muscle. Entering all these numbers in gave me a deficit of 400+ calories/day and a projected weightloss of .8lbs a week, which seems like a much steadier pace.

    MFP says I should eat 1264 cals while that spreadsheets says I should eat 1890. Quite a big jump
  • backpacker44
    backpacker44 Posts: 160 Member
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    use this to figure your numbers if you want detail
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9-c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE

    I was having the same problem until someone walked me through this. First, go to the above link and fill in all the fields that are in YELLOW. Then, input/change the numbers on MFP to what they are in green.

    I was getting really confused with the whole "to eat back or not" but since this already takes into account the ammount/how often you're exercising, you don't eat back your calories. I switched my "goal calories burned/week" to zero so it doesn't confuse me (I'm easily confused!)

    For example, after all my numbers were in my TDE was roughly 2600. That's because I exercise 7 days a week so am in the "very active category". -20% of that leaves me with roughly 2000 calories that I need to consume in order to lose fat but retain muscle. Entering all these numbers in gave me a deficit of 400+ calories/day and a projected weightloss of .8lbs a week, which seems like a much steadier pace.

    MFP says I should eat 1264 cals while that spreadsheets says I should eat 1890. Quite a big jump

    QUOTE:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/952996-level-obstacles-lose-weight-target-fat-easy
    This should help you out. It's very easy to follow.


    This is the simplest explanation. Did you read it? Do you have specific questions still?

    And then that guys calculations says it should be 2146.4....
  • Rbacchiega
    Rbacchiega Posts: 52 Member
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    MFP says I should eat 1264 cals while that spreadsheets says I should eat 1890. Quite a big jump

    yep. And at first MFP had me on 1200. No way my body could maintain itself at 1200 calories when I'm burning between 800-900 a day working out. When you do the TDEE-20% or whatever it factors in your workout regime. So you don't eat back calories. Even working out minimally at 1200/day you will throw your metabolism and body way off. You'll loose quickly at first but will eventually plateau as your body starts to go into starvation mode. Note. There is a HUGE difference between starvation mode and being hungry, so frequency of meals doesn't really have much to do with it. I eat 3 meals a day and snack in between. That spreadsheet will ensure steady, healthy fat loss while keeping your muscles/lean body mass. Where as with only 1200/day you'll lose muscle mass too.
  • Rbacchiega
    Rbacchiega Posts: 52 Member
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    when doing TDEE-20% (or whatever percentage) you DONT eat back workout calories.
  • greeshu_89
    greeshu_89 Posts: 136 Member
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    bump
  • Yooperm35
    Yooperm35 Posts: 787 Member
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    when doing TDEE-20% (or whatever percentage) you DONT eat back workout calories.

    BUT do you figure your TDEE-20% at sedentary or do you set your activity level to match your activity?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    when doing TDEE-20% (or whatever percentage) you DONT eat back workout calories.

    BUT do you figure your TDEE-20% at sedentary or do you set your activity level to match your activity?

    Ah ha!

    Very true.

    Both are valid methods. And so many doing both ways, you gotta clarify almost.

    exercise TDEE with deficit, no eating back unless you do more exercise than planned. (also skipping some if you miss planned workout).

    non-exercise TDEE with deficit, and then eat-back exercise calories with same deficit when actually done.

    Benefit to the second MFP style method over doing it MFP's way, is the deficit is more reasonable 20-10% deficit compared to MFP blocks of calories, which size block may not be appropriate for you (250,500,750,1000).

    Besides which, very few are probably as "sedentary" as they think. Those with FitBit's and BodyMedia's discover on non-exercise days their desk job is actually Lightly Active in MFP world.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    MFP says I should eat 1264 cals while that spreadsheets says I should eat 1890. Quite a big jump

    1264 base NET goal daily.
    Now add on exercise calories - now how many are you really eating almost daily?

    Plus, that 1264. Based on 2lb loss goal? Based on Sedentary outside exercise? Is either true or best for amount to be lost, and maintaining muscle mass and only losing fat mass?

    Spreadsheet is basing it on amount to lose, and type and time of the planned activity. And you don't eat back exercise calories on top of the 1890, they are already in there. With goal to maintain muscle mass and only lose fat mass.
  • snooj
    snooj Posts: 69 Member
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    There's a bunch of ways to figure it out. This is how I figured out mine, and is more accurate than using calculators to guess your maintenance and guess how much you burn.

    While on a workout program, record how much you eat and weight. After a week or two, check your weight again. Did it go up? Decrease it. Did it go down? Increase it. Did it stay the same? Congrats, you found maintenance.

    To find a deficit: take 10-20% off of your maintenance to lose 1-2 lb a week. Losing weight too fast? Increase your calories. Losing too slowly? Decrease. Weight loss just right? You found an appropriate deficit.

    Doing this, you don't have to worry about figuring out what you burn, how many calories to eat back or anything. The only thing to consider is if you add more exercise, that'll increase your maintenance, so if you want the weight loss to be the same as before you'll need to up your calories. Or, you can use that to get a bigger deficit.

    Calculators are great to get a starting idea on how many calories you may need. They're just not perfect. I know for me they say I should be in the 1900s, but I've found it's more 1800 after playing around. Use one to know where to start at, and go from there.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    If there is one area in which MyFailPal totally fails it's that the site does not offer members any information to help them decide how many pounds to lose per week. So many people - particularly women - are choosing the wrong deficits simply because they are unaware that we have limits to how much fat that can be oxidized in a 24-hour period.

    To answer your main question, which [again] isn't addressed by MyFailPal, we calculate our deficits considering how much total fat mass we have and how much fat mass we wish to lose. Think of it as a maximum deficit in which fat reserves will be used as fuel since we all have a limit to how much fat that can be burned daily. The closer one reaches this maximum deficit, the more lean body mass is lost. If one goes over this max deficit, then only lean body mass, and not fat, is utilized.

    Use this simple formula: 31 x lbs of total fat mass.

    For me, 31 x 16 lbs = 496 max deficit

    This means that my theoretical max deficit should be no greater than 496 calories since my body will not burn more than that amount in fat mass daily. However, based on real world practice, I choose no more than a 300 calorie deficit since I seem to lose excess lean body mass beyond that.

    I'm not sure it would be sensible to apply this to women - I am around 160 lbs and 25% bf which gives me 40lbs fat. 40 x 31 = 1240 deficit. I would not be comfortable cutting that much. My TDEE is 2750 so that would leave me with 1510 cals per day total. As a very active woman I would be ravenous on that.
  • Rbacchiega
    Rbacchiega Posts: 52 Member
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    BUT do you figure your TDEE-20% at sedentary or do you set your activity level to match your activity?

    When I was getting my TDEE-20 numbers I factored in my activity level. I'm exercising 7 days a week, so it classified me as "very active"
  • KatNewby
    KatNewby Posts: 26
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    There is a spreadsheet floating around that I have been using to calculate my caloric needs. I think it came from the Road Map post by "helloitsdan." I would attach it here but frankly idk how I found it in the first place. I only bumped this because I was curious about what was said about "MyFailPal" and a simple formula of (31 x lbs of total fat mass) equating to a persons max deficit. It totally goes against all the other advice I'd heard previously.
  • melindasuefritz
    melindasuefritz Posts: 3,509 Member
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    140- 1400 cal
    145- 1450 cal
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    There is a spreadsheet floating around that I have been using to calculate my caloric needs. I think it came from the Road Map post by "helloitsdan." I would attach it here but frankly idk how I found it in the first place. I only bumped this because I was curious about what was said about "MyFailPal" and a simple formula of (31 x lbs of total fat mass) equating to a persons max deficit. It totally goes against all the other advice I'd heard previously.

    According to that post I should only be eating 1000 calories per day, which is not a good idea for me. If you are understanding the spreadsheet version then just use that, track your results and adjust if needed. Give it at least a month before you decide whether it's working though.
  • KatNewby
    KatNewby Posts: 26
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    Yeah, that's definitely what I'm going to do. I would like to think that in 3 months I will have lost at least 10lbs with that method, but if within a month I've dropped 2-3lbs I'll accept that as a success and I'll stick with the plan.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    There is a spreadsheet floating around that I have been using to calculate my caloric needs. I think it came from the Road Map post by "helloitsdan." I would attach it here but frankly idk how I found it in the first place. I only bumped this because I was curious about what was said about "MyFailPal" and a simple formula of (31 x lbs of total fat mass) equating to a persons max deficit. It totally goes against all the other advice I'd heard previously.

    Agreed, as many have pointed out, rather low goals there. Besides the study that formula is roughly based on was theory, not practice.

    Spreadsheet referenced in posts above.

    And here!

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/750920-spreadsheet-for-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

    With better description here.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones
  • ellskiNZ
    ellskiNZ Posts: 32 Member
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    I'm really confused also.

    I weigh 85kg and am 165cm. I'm mostly sedentary at work, but I do yoga for 90 mins 1-2 x per week, and I do a jazz dance class for 60 mins once per week. I'm 22, and would like to lose 15kg.

    MFP said to do 1520, and I lost about 800grams doing that for a couple of weeks. (I lost 5kg earlier this year and gained it back in like 2 weeks when I went off the rails a bit). I thought I should decrease to 1400 as my mother is adamant I shouldn't eat more than 1200. Other calculators say more like 1700, which I feel like is a lot. Help!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I'm really confused also.

    I weigh 85kg and am 165cm. I'm mostly sedentary at work, but I do yoga for 90 mins 1-2 x per week, and I do a jazz dance class for 60 mins once per week. I'm 22, and would like to lose 15kg.

    MFP said to do 1520, and I lost about 800grams doing that for a couple of weeks. (I lost 5kg earlier this year and gained it back in like 2 weeks when I went off the rails a bit). I thought I should decrease to 1400 as my mother is adamant I shouldn't eat more than 1200. Other calculators say more like 1700, which I feel like is a lot. Help!

    Read right above your post.
  • QueenGyn
    QueenGyn Posts: 106
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    Bump

    to read later

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