Confused about Calorie Deficit and exercise! Help!

yazzers97
yazzers97 Posts: 1
edited February 25 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm a bit confused about what "calorie deficit" really means. If you take a calorie intake calculator, it asks you to enter your age, your weight, what activity level you're at, and how much you want to lose. Then out pops the amount of calories should eat in a day. Most people start out at a sedentary activity level. But what if you decide to combine that with exercise? So I guess my question is what is the calorie deficit in relation to to exercise? And is the calorie deficit based off of the amount of calories you eat now?

For example. I currently eat about 2000 calories a day.
Now, I've cut down my calories to 1600 calories a day, PLUS exercise which is about 400 calories. Is my deficit 400 per day, or is it 800 per day?

Thanks so much!

Replies

  • SharonNehring
    SharonNehring Posts: 535 Member
    Your deficit is now 800 cals a day based on your example. I have MFP set to sedentary so when I exercise, I'm to eat back at least half of those calories because my total already has a 500cal deficit built in to it. Unless you are using a monitor such as fitbit, MFP generally over estimates calories burned, which is why eating half is recommended here.

    I look at it like this, exercise earns me some extra calories for when I want to have a snack or splurge a little on a meal.
  • fallingtrees
    fallingtrees Posts: 220 Member
    Sharon's answer is about right for how I do it, too. I've set my daily calorie goal for a half-pound-per-week loss (500-cal deficit) at "lightly active," taking into account that I work on my feet a lot and when I'm home it seems I have a zillion chores to do. I count exercise if it's intentional and above the regular activity.

    So my daily net calorie goal is 1490, I think. I usually come in way below, and it's fun to do that, but having the higher goal gives me days off, where I can relax a bit but still keep my under-goal streak going.

    Anyway, if you eat an average of 1600 calories a day and get some extra exercise in, you should lose at a moderate rate, and you probably won't feel hungry and cranky so much.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    A calorie deficit is basically eating fewer calories than what your body burns in a day - sleeping, walking, working, brushing your teeth, household chores, whatever. The more active you are, the more calories your body burns in a 24 hour period. To be in a calorie deficit is to eat less than the cals your body burns.

    Plug all your info into MFP, and the goal they give you has you at a calorie deficit, because that number is less than what you normally burn in a day. Eat to your calorie goal, and you lose weight. If you exercise, you're creating a larger deficit by burning more calories - this is why the burned cals are added back into your goal when you log exercise - eating them back brings you back up to the original deficit, and you still lose weight.

    That help?
  • fallingtrees
    fallingtrees Posts: 220 Member
    Another way to look at it is to go to any of the daily calorie requirement calculators online and get a rough idea of the total calories your body burns on a typical day. Compare the different activity levels. Also compare the numbers for your weight now and your ideal weight.

    Now that you have a rough idea of what your body burns, take 500 calories off of that for each 1/2 pound per week that you want to lose. This will be your baseline food intake goal. If you add extra exercise, you will either increase your deficit if you hold the food intake down, or you can eat a little more.

    You will see a lot of numbers. Don't let this intimidate you. After you've collected some data, you will have an average to start with. Go with that for a while, and then tweak it according to your results.

    My general rule is to go with the requirement at my ideal weight, light activity, and then try to come in 500 calories under that on average. If you have a lot of weight to lose, that may not be calories for you in the beginning.
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