How high should the calorie deficit be?

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kungfuterka
kungfuterka Posts: 11
in Food and Nutrition
Hello there :)

I would like to find out if being on 1450 calories/day is okay... It says that I should eat approximately 2000 and my suggested daily calorie deficit is 550 calories. I'm quite new to this whole dieting and nutrition thing so any help is welcomed :)

I want to lose some weight and keep my muscles and I've read that if my body has too little sugars or fat it can burn muscles! Don't want that.

Replies

  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
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    Enter all the pertinent info into MFP including the number of pounds per week you wish to lose and it will give you a calorie goal. Consume that goal amount.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    What are your stats? Your ticker says you have 11 pounds to lose, so your deficit should be half a pound a week. Set MFP to that and eat the amount of calories it says plus half your exercise calories. Too large of a deficit for your size will cause muscle burn.
  • kungfuterka
    kungfuterka Posts: 11
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    Thank you :)

    I did so-and yes it is 0.5 pound per week. But I don't know where to find those exercise calories. Can't see that anywhere in my profile. I do cardio and work out as much as I want. Could that be wrong?

    So your advice is to eat that amount of calories MFP gave me (1450), not less not more, okay?
  • LovingLife_Erin
    LovingLife_Erin Posts: 328 Member
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    When you exercise, you can put into MFP what you did. The calories that you burned will then show up and decrease your net calories for that day. So say you ate 1300, but burned 400 through working out, then your net becomes 900. That means you get to eat an extra 400 calories that day if you want. Most people recommend not eating the full amount of exercise calories back as MFP tends to inflate how much you burned.

    So if MFP gives you 1450 calories a day, you get to eat that plus any extra exercise calories that you burned.

    I hope that helps!
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
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    10-20% or 250-500 (0.5-1lb/week) calories below maintenance is generally a safe, sustainable range for a calorie deficit.

    If doing mfp neat method then eat back at least hlaf of your exercise calories.

    Is your suggested 2000 calories the goal given to you to LOSE or to MAINTAIN your weight? If it's for LOSS then that's how much you should be eating, not 1450.
  • kungfuterka
    kungfuterka Posts: 11
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    After putting in my current weight, age and height it calculated this:

    Calories Burned
    From Normal Daily Activity: 2,010 cal/day
    Net Calories Consumed*
    Your Daily Goal: 1,460 cal/day
    Daily Calorie Deficit: 550 calories
    Projected Weight Loss: 0.5 kg/week

    Still a little unsure, but thank you all for your kind advice :)
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,022 Member
    edited March 2015
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    kungfuterka wrote: »
    After putting in my current weight, age and height it calculated this:

    Calories Burned
    From Normal Daily Activity: 2,010 cal/day
    Net Calories Consumed*
    Your Daily Goal: 1,460 cal/day
    Daily Calorie Deficit: 550 calories
    Projected Weight Loss: 0.5 kg/week

    Still a little unsure, but thank you all for your kind advice :)

    You said you have it set for a half-pound loss a week, but this says a half kg a week, which is a bit more than a pound a week. Since you said you only have 11 pounds to lose, the MFP conventional wisdom is that you should change that to a half pound a week.

    Edited to change "11 pounds to week" to "11 pounds to lose"

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