Calorie deficit for 2lbs a week

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  • Mock_Turtle
    Mock_Turtle Posts: 354 Member
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    It's tough but doable. I started at 236 lbs and averaged 2 lb/week loss for about 5 months.

    My average caloric intake for those 5 months was 1925 cals/day and I would label myself under "moderate activity" that gives you a 1.55 coefficient when calculating TDEE.

    You're looking to create an average deficit of 1000 cals/day ---- you're not going to like it at first (maybe never?). You definitely have to scrutinize what you're eating and find ways to eat food that has a lot of volume but minimal calories.
  • innocenceportrayed
    innocenceportrayed Posts: 569 Member
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    Realistically you can lose 2 pounds a week but it's probably going to make you lethargic and you'll probably be losing muscle mass instead of fat.

    3500 calories = 1 pound, so 7000 calories = 2 pounds, you want to lose 2 pounds a week, you need to burn or cut out 7000 calories from your diet a week. You're going to put your body into shock in my opinion.
  • Otterluv
    Otterluv Posts: 9,083 Member
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    Eating below your BMR is DEFINITELY safe if you're overweight , first off, so everyone can stop saying that.

    Wrong :angry:

    If you eat that low, you will probably lose a nice chunk of LBM along with the fat, which wil not be fun to have to regain. Then there is the whole adaptive thermogenesis issue to contend with. Overall, eating that low is not the best plan long term, and is generally completely unnecessary.
    Ok, I'll try and give some advice on the information we've got. I'm not promising a massive amount of accuracy, just a starting point.

    BMR is what you would eat to maintain weight in a coma. If you are sedentary (desk job and drive everywhere) - lightly active (1-3 days exercise a week/lots of walking or job where you are on your feet/on the move) your TDEE (what you burn in a day) will be between 2300 and 2700 cals a day (roughly, I'm doing the calc in my head).

    If you only have 45lbs to lose it would be better to lose 1lb a week as you are more likely to maintain this regime in the long run. You then only have to go 500 cals below your TDEE to lose weight. That should be around 1800 - 2200 cals. Try it for 4-6 weeks and see how it's going after that. You do not eat your exercise calories back with this method.

    It will also be beneficial for you to take up weight training 2-4 days a week with progressive loading (weights get heavier each workout) so you can retain your muscle which will help your BMR stay higher and enable you to eat more and make it more likely you will stick to the plan this time. Otherwise you will have to keep reducing your calories as you lose weight.

    Right :happy: :flowerforyou:

    A rate of 1lb a week is much more reasonable for the amount you want to lose, and doing a strength training regimen will give you a body that you will be much happier with when you get to your goal.
  • lunahbby
    lunahbby Posts: 18 Member
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    Eating below your BMR is DEFINITELY safe if you're overweight , first off, so everyone can stop saying that.

    Wrong :angry:

    If you eat that low, you will probably lose a nice chunk of LBM along with the fat, which wil not be fun to have to regain. Then there is the whole adaptive thermogenesis issue to contend with. Overall, eating that low is not the best plan long term, and is generally completely unnecessary.
    Ok, I'll try and give some advice on the information we've got. I'm not promising a massive amount of accuracy, just a starting point.

    BMR is what you would eat to maintain weight in a coma. If you are sedentary (desk job and drive everywhere) - lightly active (1-3 days exercise a week/lots of walking or job where you are on your feet/on the move) your TDEE (what you burn in a day) will be between 2300 and 2700 cals a day (roughly, I'm doing the calc in my head).

    If you only have 45lbs to lose it would be better to lose 1lb a week as you are more likely to maintain this regime in the long run. You then only have to go 500 cals below your TDEE to lose weight. That should be around 1800 - 2200 cals. Try it for 4-6 weeks and see how it's going after that. You do not eat your exercise calories back with this method.

    It will also be beneficial for you to take up weight training 2-4 days a week with progressive loading (weights get heavier each workout) so you can retain your muscle which will help your BMR stay higher and enable you to eat more and make it more likely you will stick to the plan this time. Otherwise you will have to keep reducing your calories as you lose weight.

    Right :happy: :flowerforyou:

    A rate of 1lb a week is much more reasonable for the amount you want to lose, and doing a strength training regimen will give you a body that you will be much happier with when you get to your goal.

    Nope, this is wrong. Your BMR is not the minimum number of calories you need to eat each day. It's the minimum number of calories your body needs to sustain itself. It can take sustenance from all the fat you have if you're overweight. (If you're underweight and/or mostly composed of muscle, don't eat below your BMR. Then you will start losing muscle and valuable body mass).
  • h9dlb
    h9dlb Posts: 243 Member
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    its ok to eat below bmr if you are substantially overweight. OP should eat 1800 cals of clean food plus exercise (HIITS and weight training 4 times per week) and the weight will drop off
  • lunahbby
    lunahbby Posts: 18 Member
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    its ok to eat below bmr if you are substantially overweight. OP should eat 1800 cals of clean food plus exercise (HIITS and weight training 4 times per week) and the weight will drop off

    with the added benefit of being toned if he takes the weight training advice. ;)
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
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    Your BMR calculated on MFP is 1450 right?

    No, my BMR is 1944. The app is telling me to eat 1440 calories a day and do 1470 calories of exercise a week for a 2lbs loss. Sounds extreme seeing as my TDEE is 2502. it might be right though. Perhaps I just need to eat less.

    I think you're misunderstanding what MFP expects you to do. It's telling you to eat 1470 plus whatever you earn from exercise. Your exercise here is not part of your deficit, so if you do exercise you're meant to eat those back. It's confusing because MFP has you set an exercise goal but it doesn't factor into your calorie goal. So if you work off 300 calories you'd eat 1770 that day.

    Now if that seems too low for you simply recalculate with a 1 lb loss per week and you'll get 500 more calories per day. Or manually set your calories somewhere in between.

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