please explain Calorie Deficit to me??

hi there,,, Im also fairly new too MFP and have the same issue,,rarely do I hit my calorie goal, I get a message that says I need to eat more but I feel Im eating all I need to,,3 meals plus acouple snacks is more then enough..I think as long as we are getting our nutritional needs met and not feeling hungry we are ok...Most days I dont even record my exercise

A calorie deficit means you are eating less calories than you are burning; essentially, a deficiency in energy. This looks at your basal metabolic needs (your metabolism or the amount of calories you burn if you slept 24 hours/coma) + the thermic effect of food (TEF) + thermic effect of exercise (calories burned form exercise) + non-exercise activity thermogenisis (calories burned from doing daily things like walking, going to the bathroom, etc.).

This is a good article that discusses these items


But if you are consuming a lot less calories than your goal + exercise calories, then you are creating a larger deficit which means more weight loss. However that means you could also see increase muscle loss (especially if protein is low and you aren't doing resistance training).

valerie9294 wrote: »

hi there,,, Im also fairly new too MFP and have the same issue,,rarely do I hit my calorie goal, I get a message that says I need to eat more but I feel Im eating all I need to,,3 meals plus acouple snacks is more then enough..I think as long as we are getting our nutritional needs met and not feeling hungry we are ok...Most days I dont even record my exercise

The question you have to ask is are you really getting all your nutritional needs in. Are you eating enough protein? Are your fat levels high enough for proper hormone production? Do you get all your vitamins and minerals you need?

If your answers are yes and your energy is good, I don't think you need to worry.

If they aren't all yes, you may be doing more harm than good....

carrieprattlonghurst wrote: »

AgentOrangeJuice wrote: »

Are you using ounces or grams? I find that makes a difference.

I used the ounces version... wherever possible...
How does that affect it? Sorry, I have so much to learn...

There are 28g in 1oz. You can be more accurate if you use grams.

Calorie deficit...

Think of your body like your bank account, calories like money. If you put in more than you take out, your account (body) will grow. If you take out more than you put in, it will shrink. So if you want to lose weight, you need to burn more cals than you consume. Burning cals consists of 2 major things - the cals you burn just living life and being alive (breathing, digesting food, pumping blood, cleaning the house, watching TV, running errands, etc) and the things you do as exercise/workouts.


As far as hitting your calorie goal... that's reasonably important, especially over longer periods of time. A day here or a week there don't really matter much... but 6 months is meaningful. You say you aren't a big eater and that you still tend to eat atkins-ish (for lack of a better phrase). Are you happy eating like that? Do you feel good (good mood, good energy, etc)? It's fairly easy to increase cals with things like full fat dairy, peanut butter, red meat, etc. I find that prelogging helps me A LOT when I'm trying to really hone in on my calories, fats, carbs, and proteins.

@carrieprattlonghurst

Great start. Let's step back for a bit because I don't want to get lost in the details (plenty of those are in your future but they should follow more broad concepts).

It's all about eating good food, in a measured way so you can lose (or maintain) your weight, and exercising in a way that works for you. If certain foods don't sit well with you, then there are surely other options that you can try. If certain exercises don't make you feel well, then either scale back on their intensity or try something new. Sometimes all I do for exercise is walk. It's up to you what you do, and while that seems like a trivial thing to say, it's easy to fall into a routine we hate because we think fitness should involve suffering. Do what's sustainable, what you can do forever and enjoy. Now I'll respond to what you told me and asked.

An 800 calorie deficit isn't unreasonable, but it is steep unless you're very overweight. A deficit of 500 would be better.

The body is resilient and flexible. If you restrict carbohydrates/fats and eat just protein and vegetables (which do have carbohydrates but few enough that I sill consider them restricted in this scenario), your body will find a way, but I don't recommend it. Much of the world eats lean proteins, steamed vegetables, and some sort of grain like rice. Rice is a staple enjoyed 'round the world.

I'm going to diverge a little bit because I saw earlier you said you have "NO Carb" pounded into you, and I want to tell you why that kind of thinking is bad for you. Any diet that is based on the restriction of a particular food or a particular macronutrient like carbs/fats should be avoided. So if you see low fat/low carb/no carb/keto/no sugar, seriously avoid it. Those diets are simply attempting to provide an indirect method to reduce calories consumed, but they miss the big picture. It's not about the restriction of a particular macro, it's about restricting total calories while keeping macros balanced. Those diets aren't balanced, and so they're not sustainable. The key to long term success is consistency, and consistency is nearly impossible with these fads. Carbs and fats are fine. Incorporate both into your diet in a measured, balanced way.

If you like certain foods but they're too heavy, try eating them in smaller portions. So rather than eating a whole potato, eat a quarter of one, four times throughout the day. Something like that. When that doesn't work maybe cut out the food (but not because of calories/macros, just because of how it makes you feel, an important distinction).

I have not found it matters beyond personal preference if I'm full or not when working out. If I've just eaten a bunch of carbs I'll have a slightly better performance when lifting heavy weights, but that's essentially negligible (for me). For low to moderate intensity cardio I don't get worked up enough for a full stomach to be an issue. For sprinting/soccer/football and other very intense bouts of cardio I'll probably throw up if my stomach is full. Don't sweat this. Do what makes you feel the best.

PAV8888 wrote: »

Greek yogurt calorie dense? I am using it as a low cal high protein snack! 175g 100 cal 17g protein 0g fat, 6g carb (4 sugar)? I guess it depends on the brand!

HIGH FAT Greek Yogurt. Which is delish by the way.

One other suggestion I have is to post in the "introduce yourself" thread and accept friend requests. Add people who are sensible and knowledgeable, who can help you. It's much harder to do this alone, and when you have buddies there who are on the same page it makes the nuisance of logging food less of a chore.

Then, as you come up with more questions, you can ask people who are already familiar with where you are in your process and those questions will be answered more efficiently.