Making Too Big of a Deficit

COliver416
COliver416 Posts: 87 Member
in Getting Started
So I suffer from clinical depression. I use exercise to balance my mood, I used to use frosting and other sweets to trigger the balancing hormones to deal with my depression, before I discovered the benefits of extreme workouts. Like P90x, Insanity, Tapout XT. I've never been stronger, had more endurance, been more content. But I recently went through my history on here and there are days I've created deficits in the 1000s. Opinions?

Replies

  • Tanya949
    Tanya949 Posts: 604 Member
    I guess it depends on how much weight you have to lose, how many calories you are actually consuming and how you feel physically. A calorie deficit of 7000 per week (or 1000 calories per day) equals a 2 lb per week loss. That's not bad, unless you only have a few pounds to lose. If you are close to goal and still feel you must exercise that much, eat more of other foods. Also, make sure you are eating above your BMR, so you're not running on an empty tank.
  • COliver416
    COliver416 Posts: 87 Member
    I've got 30 pounds to lose.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    I've got 30 pounds to lose.

    That can supply about 1000 calories (30 cals per day per lb of fat tissue)
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Yes it's too big for 30lbs...@30lbs to go 1lb a week is pretty quick..that means a 500 a day calorie deficet.

    @25lbs that should move your weekly goal to 1/2lb a week for it to be healthy and sustainable...

    I get the exercise to help with moods...but you can get to a point where you are exercising too much and you will be putting stress on your body along with too big of a deficet causes issues.

    Those issues start with lack of energy, lethargy then moves to dizziness, hair falling out, nails being brittle etc.

    Re-evaluate your methods...
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    I think a good general guideline for rate of change in weight would be around .5 to 1% bodyweight/week. Someone very obese or someone exceptionally lean might fall outside of those parameters but that can be a general guideline.

    The other consideration to make would be that there's a very large range of error in calorie tracking for both calorie intake and calorie expenditure. Energy expenditure is often overstated and there's a possibility that you're not burning as many calories as you think and there's a chance that you're eating more calories than you think.

    I'd also add that as your energy deficit increases you MAY have less room for nutrient sufficiency so individual food selection can become more important and protein needs may increase to support LBM.

    The things I'd be looking at would be the overall quality of your diet, the rate at which you are losing weight, and how you feel and perform both in your training and in your daily life. Finally, I would ALSO consider the numbers (how much you think you are eating and burning).

    My point is that there's a lot of context to consider and I don't think anyone here can explicitly tell you based on the information you've provided, whether or not your calorie deficit is too large.
  • COliver416
    COliver416 Posts: 87 Member
    Currently, my calorie deficit on average is 3,000. I see a drop of 3 pounds a week currently on average, not counting the fluctuations. I can start a week a week as high as nine pounds higher than I finish it. I'm not losing energy, I'm not losing endurance, these things are increasing. I was longing my hair before I was working out, but, everyone has been commenting on the fact that it looks like it's growing, which is weird.

    I think the key is to identify my goals. My first two goals is to get down to 185 and lose all the unflattering fat. My next set of goals is to build my body and add on muscle and get back up to 200 to 210. My current weight is 215.

    I'm switching my diet up to a lot more protein and a lot more vegetables, broccoli, spinach, green beans, asparagus... eating hefty amounts of lean meat so I can manage my calories, while getting the protein and nutrients I need.

    Pretty much, as I'm taking my fitness training to the next level in two weeks. I plan to eat more like an athlete than for weight loss, keeping my deficit at less than 1,000 calories (counting my BMR which is about 2,000 to 2,250). My basic goal is to get up to about 185 grams of protein, consume about 30% of calories through carbs and 20% through fat and 50% through protein. With macro cycling days, where I'll verse the order and consume 50% carbs and 30% protein on some days, and so to with fats.

    I've definitely been under eating, which have definitely limited my strength gains. But, recognizing it is half the battle to achieving the body and fitness I'm after.

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