Should I work TOWARDS calorie deficit?

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jsheter
jsheter Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
If my my weight, lifestyle (sedentary) and logging are accurate, should I be working TOWARDS a calorie deficit each day or should I try to be at "zero" when I complete my daily entries?

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  • Eoghann
    Eoghann Posts: 130 Member
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    Ideally (if you have set your goals appropriately and your estimates are good) you should have either 0 to -150 (rough range) in next to Calories Remaining on MFP.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    If you're using the MFP settings, then the goal calorie intake has your deficit built in.

    Such as my goal is 1600 a day, my weight loss goal is based on .5 pounds per week so MFP assumes I'll burn 1850. 1850-1600 = 250, the deficit required to aim for .5 pounds per week.

    As to how much you can leave 'on the table' it depends. If you are trying for a large deficit (750-1000 per day) then I'd say to try to eat at least as much as your goal, and maybe even extra if you exercise. These days with only aiming for a small deficit if I have an extra 200-300 and I feel good overall - then I don't worry about it.
  • jsheter
    jsheter Posts: 13 Member
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    Thanks for explaining how you do this! OK--so when you say a 200-300 deficit, you will actually see the 200-300 number in red at the end of your day? Because this ENTIRE time, I have been trying to see a ZERO at the end of the day. If I exercise and "earn" those calories, I eat them. As long as at the end of the day I have a ZERO, I thought I was doing it right b/c MFP was calculating how much I should eat to lose weight. My goal was .5 pound/week weight loss. I recently updated to 1 pound/week weight loss b/c I have not been doing a good job! When I updated my goals, my calories per day decreased as I expected them to.

    Should I still be working towards a deficit?? Thanks!
  • Eoghann
    Eoghann Posts: 130 Member
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    Aim for zero.

    If you see red it's a bonus, but you don't have t get that.
  • maleckathryn
    maleckathryn Posts: 20
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    you should see 0 or just 100-200. The deficitis built into your target daily calories based on what you entered for your goals. So you should eat all the calories that you are given. Its already accounting for your deficit if you set it ot lose weight.
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    You should be at zero. If you are in the red and seeing negative numbers on your food diary, it means you have gone over your goal. Not necessarily a big deal for things like protein and fat, but if you're going into the red on calories then you're eating over your goal and cutting into your calorie deficit.
  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    I do like to have a little bit of calories to spare (green, extra, could have eaten more). That way if my burn is over-estimated or my intake (though I try to be perfect) is underestimated, there is something to cover it.

    Aiming for 0 (IN MY OPINION) is fine if you have a big deficit 'built in' such as 1.5-2 pounds. But could mean little to no loss if your goal is small (.5-1 pound) unless you're dead on with logging and burns. And its hard to be dead on with burns.

    In the past week I've had 3 red days (9, 20, 51) and 4 green days (166, 169, 119, 36). I don't LIKE red numbers but I know my overall week's progress is good, and I'm getting close to goal. So slow & steady wins the race.

    Whether or not you eat all of your exercise calories depends on you, and how confident you are in their accuracy. Its hard to know just perfectly - even the best HRM is not perfect. If you were aiming for .5 per week and not seeing results, changing to 1 per week is a good step. Do this for a month, see how it goes.
  • jsheter
    jsheter Posts: 13 Member
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    Thanks all--sorry to say I had my RED and GREEN backwards:)!!! So seeing GREEN is good and RED is "bad". Gotcha now! OK--I need to adjust my goal a bit so lose more so I can see more loss. Slow and steady is the goal, but I want to be as accurate as possible. Again--thank you all!

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