Question regarding deficit

sarasakoor · April 2015

If you are eating 1200 calories a day do you still have to aim for a deficit ?

juggernaut1974 · April 2015

For 99.9% of the adult population, 1200 calories a day IS a deficit.

futuremanda · April 2015

ceoverturf wrote: »

For 99.9% of the adult population, 1200 calories a day IS a deficit.

This. Also, just guessing, because some people find this confusing: MFP gives you a calorie target, meaning it is a goal. You should eat it. (Plus exercise calories, which it will add to your goal/target!)

This goal puts you at a deficit. Meaning your body actually spends more than 1200 calories in energy in a day. If you eat the 1200, it will need to tap into its own energy reserves to keep going.

And if 1200 is not feeling right, try adjusting your goals in MFP. Your ticker says 27 lbs left to lose, so probably you can only really lose about 0.5 lb to maybe 1 lb a week on average.

cwolfman13 · April 2015

sarasakoor wrote: »

If you are eating 1200 calories a day do you still have to aim for a deficit ?

1200 is your deficit...1200 isn't a maintenance level of calories. When you put in your stats and desired rate of weight loss, MFP calculates your calorie goal based on those things...that's why you put all of that information in...so the calculator can calculate.

I would personally suggest playing with the calculator a bit so that you can see what it's doing...i.e. change your goals to maintenance...lose 1 Lb per week, etc. Also understand that your exercise goals that you put in are just for you and have no bearing on your calorie allotment...the way exercise activity is accounted for with MFP is by logging it when you do it and earning those calories to eat.

sarasakoor · April 2015

Thanks so much for the replies! Very helpful

Question regarding deficit

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