What does the calorie deficite mean

Ashado2014
Ashado2014 Posts: 25 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello I don't mean to sound ignorant, but I am new to this. My calorie deficite says 760. What exactly does that mean? It says to loose 50 lbs I should have 1,200 calories a day. Today I only had 950 which I think is good, but the calorie deficite says 760. Hmm I'm lost I guess. Is that the calories I really should have a day? Is there someplace in the diary I can see what my days calorie deficite is? Thank you for your help

Replies

  • __freckles__
    __freckles__ Posts: 1,238 Member
    I'll just leave this here:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
    and then read this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    A calorie deficit is like a deficit of anything else, its the amount you have less than zero.

    If you eat the amount of calories your body requires to maintain its weight then your net calories for the day is zero. If you eat less calories than your body requires to maintain its weight then you are at a calorie deficit.

    If your caloric deficit is 760 that means you ate 760 less calories than your body requires to maintain its weight.

    One pound of fat is roughly 3,500 calories worth of energy. So if you are at a daily calorie deficit of 750 you can expect to lose about 1.5 pounds of fat per week.

    If you are at a 1200 calorie deficit you can expect to lose 2.4 pounds of fat per week.

    These are VERY aggressive diets however and that amount of caloric deficit can leave you feeling tired, weak and undernourished depending on how much activity you have.

    You should run a 1200 calorie deficit only if you are extremely overweight.

    Eating only 950 calories in a day is definitely not "good", its actually very unhealthy. You are not going to get the nutrition your body needs out of 950 calories, such a diet is unhealthy and unsustainable.
  • Ashado2014
    Ashado2014 Posts: 25 Member
    Hi thank you so very much. It actually says my calorie intake a day should be 1,200 a day - so in other words I should try to get as close to 1,200 calories a day as I can?
  • Crissie3255
    Crissie3255 Posts: 16 Member
    MORNING

    YOU START WITH 1200 CALS AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH DAY

    WHEN YOU EAT THE CALORIES ARE TAKEN AWAY FROM THE TOTAL.......

    WHEN YOU EXERCISE THE CALORIES BURNED ARE ADDED BACK ON...........

    AS LONG AS YOU ARE SENSIBLE WITH THE FOOD ....AND DO SOME EXERCISE YOU MIGHT HAVE CALORIES LEFT AT THE END OF THE DAY.......THIS IS THE "DEFICITE"

    DONT BE TEMPTED TO USE THESE UP WITH FOOD.............HAVING A LITTLE "DEFICITE" AT THE END OF THE DAY IS GOOD BECAUSE YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT A LITTLE BIT QUICKER

    GOOD LUCK, Crissie:happy:
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Hi thank you so very much. It actually says my calorie intake a day should be 1,200 a day - so in other words I should try to get as close to 1,200 calories a day as I can?

    That would be the idea, but unless you are a 4 foot tall 75 year old sedentary woman you might want to eat more than 1200 calories a day. 1200 calories a day is a very low amount and is a very aggressive approach to weightloss. You would have to be extremely tight with your diet to be able to get adequate nutrition on so few calories.
  • Ashado2014
    Ashado2014 Posts: 25 Member
    Crissie thank you so much - that really helps me understand it!! Great thank you
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    MORNING

    YOU START WITH 1200 CALS AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH DAY

    WHEN YOU EAT THE CALORIES ARE TAKEN AWAY FROM THE TOTAL.......

    WHEN YOU EXERCISE THE CALORIES BURNED ARE ADDED BACK ON...........

    AS LONG AS YOU ARE SENSIBLE WITH THE FOOD ....AND DO SOME EXERCISE YOU MIGHT HAVE CALORIES LEFT AT THE END OF THE DAY.......THIS IS THE "DEFICITE"

    DONT BE TEMPTED TO USE THESE UP WITH FOOD.............HAVING A LITTLE "DEFICITE" AT THE END OF THE DAY IS GOOD BECAUSE YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT A LITTLE BIT QUICKER

    GOOD LUCK, Crissie:happy:

    I do not agree with most of this.

    Hitting your goal is good, being under your goal is not. That is why it is the goal.

    The calories "left at the end of the day" on MFPs calculator are NOT your deficit, it is how much you missed your goal by. The amount of calories it suggests is your goal and if you hit that exactly then you will be at the correct deficit to meet your goal.

    If you asked MFP to calculate a diet where you will lose one pound a week then the "goal" calories are what you should eat to give you a deficit large enough to lose one pound per week. If you undershoot that then you are being more aggressive than you intended to be and this is not good.

    The biggest problem is people tend to select "lose 2 pounds a week" which is okay if you are morbidly obese but if you are just a little overweight that is way to aggressive and MFP will bottom out telling you to eat 1200 calories which is the BARE MINIMUM MFP will ever say to eat because anything below that is dangerous for anyone.

    Fact is though 1200 calories itself is dangerous for most people.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Crissie thank you so much - that really helps me understand it!! Great thank you

    Unfortunately she is wrong.
  • Ashado2014
    Ashado2014 Posts: 25 Member
    Aaron thank you very much. I believe I understand now. I actually have to have calories to loose weight, but under my normal intake of calories. Thank you
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
    MORNING

    YOU START WITH 1200 CALS AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH DAY

    WHEN YOU EAT THE CALORIES ARE TAKEN AWAY FROM THE TOTAL.......

    WHEN YOU EXERCISE THE CALORIES BURNED ARE ADDED BACK ON...........

    AS LONG AS YOU ARE SENSIBLE WITH THE FOOD ....AND DO SOME EXERCISE YOU MIGHT HAVE CALORIES LEFT AT THE END OF THE DAY.......THIS IS THE "DEFICITE"

    DONT BE TEMPTED TO USE THESE UP WITH FOOD.............HAVING A LITTLE "DEFICITE" AT THE END OF THE DAY IS GOOD BECAUSE YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT A LITTLE BIT QUICKER

    GOOD LUCK, Crissie:happy:

    Absolutely, definitely NOT. This is so wrong, I don't know where to begin. Please read the other posts you were given at the beginning, the links, and Aaron's information.
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    start here to find out how many your TDEE. (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) That's how many calories you burn in a day, going about your average amount of business/life. If you ate that amount of calories, you'd maintain your weight. If you ate 500 less calories than that per day for a week, you would lose a pound (500x7=3500, 3500 calories = one pound). So the 500 calories less per day is your calorie deficit/ Scooby will also allow to calculate in exercise.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
    MORNING

    YOU START WITH 1200 CALS AT THE BEGINNING OF EACH DAY

    WHEN YOU EAT THE CALORIES ARE TAKEN AWAY FROM THE TOTAL.......

    WHEN YOU EXERCISE THE CALORIES BURNED ARE ADDED BACK ON...........

    AS LONG AS YOU ARE SENSIBLE WITH THE FOOD ....AND DO SOME EXERCISE YOU MIGHT HAVE CALORIES LEFT AT THE END OF THE DAY.......THIS IS THE "DEFICITE"

    DONT BE TEMPTED TO USE THESE UP WITH FOOD.............HAVING A LITTLE "DEFICITE" AT THE END OF THE DAY IS GOOD BECAUSE YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT A LITTLE BIT QUICKER

    GOOD LUCK, Crissie:happy:

    NO. Your calorie deficit is the number of calories you are eating below maintenance, and it is built in to MFP. Since the OP has a 750 calorie deficit, her daily calorie goal is 750 calories below her maintenance calories before including any kind of exercise. At 750 calories, she is on track to lose 1.5 lbs per week.

    So if OP eats her daily calorie goal AND eats back her exercise calories, she will still have a deficit of 750 calories per day. Having a few extra calories left at the end of the day isn't necessarily going to mean that you are going to lose weight more quickly, because at some point you have probably overestimated your exercise calories, are slightly off on a food weight, etc. Not to mention that consistently eating below goal can leave one feeling deprived and increase the likelihood of bingeing.
  • Ashado2014
    Ashado2014 Posts: 25 Member
    Hey thank you everybody. I figured it out with all of your input. In fact I am just getting ready to eat dinner, which I was being really careful about. That is how at first my intake was lower than the 1,200; however with all your input I have been able adjust my portions so now I'm just 7 calories under the 1,200 for the day. I'm going to try and aim to hit that 1,200 calories a day mark. Thank you all so much
  • mccindy72
    mccindy72 Posts: 7,001 Member
    Hey thank you everybody. I figured it out with all of your input. In fact I am just getting ready to eat dinner, which I was being really careful about. That is how at first my intake was lower than the 1,200; however with all your input I have been able adjust my portions so now I'm just 7 calories under the 1,200 for the day. I'm going to try and aim to hit that 1,200 calories a day mark. Thank you all so much

    Please use the calculator to determine your true deficit. Unless you are very short or small boned, it's unlikely your true calorie goal should be so low as 1,200. That's very low.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Aaron thank you very much. I believe I understand now. I actually have to have calories to loose weight, but under my normal intake of calories. Thank you

    Sort of. You will lose weight if you are in a caloric deficit. The larger the deficit, the faster you will lose weight. The trick is if the deficit is too large, meaning you are not eating enough, you can hurt your health. What you want to do is eat enough to have sufficient nutrition to be healthy while maintaining a smaller calorie deficit so you lose weight over time.

    If you try to make your deficit too large you will find it very difficult to sustain your diet and you can negatively effect your health.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Hey thank you everybody. I figured it out with all of your input. In fact I am just getting ready to eat dinner, which I was being really careful about. That is how at first my intake was lower than the 1,200; however with all your input I have been able adjust my portions so now I'm just 7 calories under the 1,200 for the day. I'm going to try and aim to hit that 1,200 calories a day mark. Thank you all so much

    Not to harp on you too much but I really do question your 1200 calories. 1200 calories is the amount that MFP refuses to go under. What that means is chances are whatever amount of weight you told MFP you wanted to lose per week when it calculated how big your calorie deficit would have to be it decided it was under 1200 calories so it bumped you up to 1200 because that is the lowest it will go.

    "1200" in MFP is like getting an error message.

    Again, unless you are 4' tall sedentary and 75 years old your basal metabolic rate is significantly higher than 1200 and eating that little is probably not good for you.

    A previous poster gave you a link to a site where you can calculate what a safe weight loss rate would be. Chances are you should be eating more than 1200.
  • Ashado2014
    Ashado2014 Posts: 25 Member
    Thank you I will take a look at that now
  • __freckles__
    __freckles__ Posts: 1,238 Member
    I'll just leave this here:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    OP: from your responses it doesn't sound like you read the above link. So I'm quoting myself to be annoying and hopefully get you to at least take a peak. Also, the link from McCindy will help - especially the part about not eating 1200 calories, so here it is again:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1235566-so-you-re-new-here

    Please read both, eat more, go forth and be fabulous.

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