HELP! - Daily Calorie Deficit

archanajoyce
archanajoyce Posts: 219 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Please help me understand Daily Calorie Deficit... This is how my profile looks:


Nutritional goals

Net Calories Consumed* / Day 1,200 cal/day

Your diet Profile

Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity 2,260 cal/day

Net Calories Consumed*

Daily Calorie Deficit

1,060 calories

Projected Weight Loss

1 kg/week


The calorie deficit that is mentioned... Should I aim for that deficit?:noway:

So if I've got to have 1200 calories per day and I burn 250 in exercise, should I leave it at a deficit or should I eat the 250 back for dinner? Just confused. How much deficit should I maintain from 1200 in order to achieve a 1 kg a week weight loss...

Please help!

Replies

  • BigTireFlipper
    BigTireFlipper Posts: 116 Member
    So if I've got to have 1200 calories per day and I burn 250 in exercise, should I leave it at a deficit or should I eat the 250 back for dinner? Just confused. How much deficit should I maintain from 1200 in order to achieve a 1 kg a week weight loss...

    If you are expected to consume (net) 1200 calories per day and you burn off 250 in exercise then yes, you "should" eat back those 250. However, that being said, most people find that the MFP calorie burn estimates are way off. I eat back my cals, but only a portion. If it were me I'd eat back no more than 50% of my exercise cals. Each person is different though. I highly advise against not eating back any at all. Your body needs the nutrition to sustain those workouts and rebuild. Best of luck to you!
  • jlvanderstoel
    jlvanderstoel Posts: 24
    Why do you want to lose weight so quickly?

    You're aiming at an unhealthy amount of weightloss, whereby you will not only lose fat but also muscle.
    Furthermore, at a daily calorie intake of 1200 kcal, how are you going to stick to it?
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Wow 4.4lbs a week is a bit too much...even with 114lbs to lose

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    Try 2lb a week and you will get more food to eat.

    The deficit is already built into your calories so yes you need...yes need to eat back exercise calories.
  • josparkle
    josparkle Posts: 141 Member
    There are lots of MFP members better qualified than me to tell you this but this much I do know.

    1200 is the minimum calories you should be eating. It has already factored in a huge deficit of over 1000 a day. 1LB in weight is equivalent to 3500 calories so that daily deficit of 1000+ would equal c1kg. So if you exercise on top of that you should - must - eat those calories or your body will not be taking in 1200 calories but less than that as you've burned some by exercise.

    There are lots of threads on this subject all through MFP and I suggest you might read them to help understand the 1200 cals and eating exercise calories etc. A deficit of 1000 a day already inbuilt seems an awful lot, especially if you plan to exercise as well, but I expect MFP gave you that if you said you wanted to lose 2lbs a week.

    Make sure you are not double counting your exercise in your daily expenditure as well as added activity. And you might like to check out the threads on TDEE as well.

    Good luck.
  • Anniebotnen
    Anniebotnen Posts: 332 Member
    Wow 4.4lbs a week is a bit too much...even with 114lbs to lose

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    Try 2lb a week and you will get more food to eat.

    The deficit is already built into your calories so yes you need...yes need to eat back exercise calories.

    1 kg per week is 2.2 lbs, not 4.4...
  • BigTireFlipper
    BigTireFlipper Posts: 116 Member
    Why do you want to lose weight so quickly?

    You're aiming at an unhealthy amount of weightloss, whereby you will not only lose fat but also muscle.
    Furthermore, at a daily calorie intake of 1200 kcal, how are you going to stick to it?

    How is a 1000 calorie daily deficit for a person that needs to lose over 100 lbs unhealthy when they are still netting 1200 cals? That's textbook MFP plan isn't it?
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Wow 4.4lbs a week is a bit too much...even with 114lbs to lose

    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

    Try 2lb a week and you will get more food to eat.

    The deficit is already built into your calories so yes you need...yes need to eat back exercise calories.

    1 kg per week is 2.2 lbs, not 4.4...

    thanks for the correction...early morning math with no coffee apprently is not my strong suit...but

    My answer remains the same yes she needs to eat exercise calories back regardless.
  • naomigee161
    naomigee161 Posts: 41 Member
    Why do you want to lose weight so quickly?

    You're aiming at an unhealthy amount of weightloss, whereby you will not only lose fat but also muscle.
    Furthermore, at a daily calorie intake of 1200 kcal, how are you going to stick to it?

    How is a 1000 calorie daily deficit for a person that needs to lose over 100 lbs unhealthy when they are still netting 1200 cals? That's textbook MFP plan isn't it?

    because the majority of people who have success on here ignore what MFP tells them to eat and eat their TDEE minus 10 or 20% instead. you always need to eat more than your BMR, which is usually more than 1200
  • archanajoyce
    archanajoyce Posts: 219 Member
    Hello everyone,

    Thank you very much for all your responses.

    I'm aiming for 2lbs a week... Hope that is not too unhealthy. With over 115 pounds to go, I'm trying to get my head around how the calorie intake works along with exercise.

    To sum up - 1200 Cal is what I should be targeting and eating back roughly 50% of calories burned through exercise right?

    Now here's another question... Let's say I burn 300 calories in the evening, should I make up for it during dinner? Or should we plan ahead and distribute it during the day?

    I will definitely read the TDEE threads to get further ideas.

    Thank you again for taking the time to help me out :) Would've been lost without y'all!
  • archanajoyce
    archanajoyce Posts: 219 Member
    Why do you want to lose weight so quickly?

    You're aiming at an unhealthy amount of weightloss, whereby you will not only lose fat but also muscle.
    Furthermore, at a daily calorie intake of 1200 kcal, how are you going to stick to it?

    How is a 1000 calorie daily deficit for a person that needs to lose over 100 lbs unhealthy when they are still netting 1200 cals? That's textbook MFP plan isn't it?

    because the majority of people who have success on here ignore what MFP tells them to eat and eat their TDEE minus 10 or 20% instead. you always need to eat more than your BMR, which is usually more than 1200

    So should I be eating more than 1200 calories a day?
  • BigTireFlipper
    BigTireFlipper Posts: 116 Member

    because the majority of people who have success on here ignore what MFP tells them to eat and eat their TDEE minus 10 or 20% instead. you always need to eat more than your BMR, which is usually more than 1200

    Bah. I call BS on this one. If she put in her numbers, selected 2 lbs per week and was told by MFP to eat 1200 cals then she'll do fine at netting 1200 cals per day. If she finds herself too hungry she can adjust it up to lose less per week.
  • BigTireFlipper
    BigTireFlipper Posts: 116 Member
    So should I be eating more than 1200 calories a day?

    If you don't do any exercise you should eat 1200. On days you exercise you should eat those 1200 plus some percentage of the cals you burnt. If you find that 1200 cals a day leaves you just too hungry then you should adjust your goals to 1 lb per week which will give you 1700. Same thing applies there, eat back a percentage of your calories.
  • DrJenO
    DrJenO Posts: 404 Member
    Think of it as a money budget.

    Let's say you had $1200 to spend for the week. You could buy whatever - food, clothes, a night on the town, whatever.

    Now, let's say you spent most of your money, or you hadn't SPENT it all yet, but you knew your phone bill was due, and so you had to set aside money for it. Then this commercial comes on for this THING YOU MUST HAVE, but you don't have the cash - so you go cut somebody's yard for them for $40. BLAMMO - an extra $40, which you can then spend on THE THING, or just save it for later.

    Now, replace money with calories, and things you want to buy with things you want to eat, and the extra jobs you do for cash with exercise.
    Now here's another question... Let's say I burn 300 calories in the evening, should I make up for it during dinner? Or should we plan ahead and distribute it during the day?
    I personally go by weekly calories instead of daily, so if there is something I want to do (go out) later in the week, I save up extra calories ahead of time. See my analogy above. This is something you might want to wait to do until you have a better handle on your food tracking.
  • ravenmiss
    ravenmiss Posts: 384 Member
    you always need to eat more than your BMR,

    Not true, I eat under my BMR, if I didn't, I wouldn't lose weight.
  • BigTireFlipper
    BigTireFlipper Posts: 116 Member
    Not true, I eat under my BMR, if I didn't, I wouldn't lose weight.

    Ehh... not exactly correct. BMR is (like) you are in a coma (totally restive state) for the day and how many cals you need to support your body. If you eat at BMR and move around you're going to lose weight. That being said, I eat under my BMR every day that I don't exercise for sure. On my high cal burn days I eat significantly above it.

    Edit: Clarify "coma"
  • archanajoyce
    archanajoyce Posts: 219 Member
    Think of it as a money budget.

    Let's say you had $1200 to spend for the week. You could buy whatever - food, clothes, a night on the town, whatever.

    Now, let's say you spent most of your money, or you hadn't SPENT it all yet, but you knew your phone bill was due, and so you had to set aside money for it. Then this commercial comes on for this THING YOU MUST HAVE, but you don't have the cash - so you go cut somebody's yard for them for $40. BLAMMO - an extra $40, which you can then spend on THE THING, or just save it for later.

    Now, replace money with calories, and things you want to buy with things you want to eat, and the extra jobs you do for cash with exercise.
    Now here's another question... Let's say I burn 300 calories in the evening, should I make up for it during dinner? Or should we plan ahead and distribute it during the day?
    I personally go by weekly calories instead of daily, so if there is something I want to do (go out) later in the week, I save up extra calories ahead of time. See my analogy above. This is something you might want to wait to do until you have a better handle on your food tracking.

    Wow... Dr.Jeno, that is an excellent example! Now it is like the clouds parted... seriously, I understand it so much better. Thanks a ton!

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