Had a crazy big calorie deficit the other day - is this safe?

hmck123
hmck123 Posts: 23 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

Would love some advice! I had a really big calorie deficit the other day and felt fine both at the time and since then and was just wondering if people think this is safe/inadvisable?

My stats are as follows -
Daily calorie allowance: 1200 (with weight loss, something like 1650 without... I'm short!)

So on Monday I did the following:
Calorie intake: 1065
Exercise calories: 1329
Calorie deficit for the day: 1464
Exercise included - 8 miles of walking, 10km run, 10 mins circuits

I know this is probably an overestimate because I don't weigh my food (although most of it is things like half a can of lentils, 3 meatballs etc. so it's quite easy to estimate) and I know exercise cals are probably overestimated - but I don't think it could be more than a difference of +/- 250kcals. I've felt fine since and wasn't hugely hungry at the end of the day. I've had days which have been similar (normally 1 or 2 a week with such a high calorie deficit), and will probably have more similar ones in the future as I'm trying to train for longer distance runs.

So to conclude (sorry for the ramble!) do people think it's ok to have such a high calorie deficit on one or two days a week if it's mostly created by exercise, and if you feel fine afterwards?

Really appreciate any/all advice!

(If it's relevant I'm 5"4 and weigh 9st 11, and have been on the weight loss trail for about 20 days and have lost 3-4lbsin that time).

Replies

  • I_Will_End_You
    I_Will_End_You Posts: 4,397 Member
    It won't hurt you if it's an occasional thing. Plus you even said above you probably underestimated your food and over estimated your exercise so...
  • hmck123
    hmck123 Posts: 23 Member
    Awesome, thank you :)
  • kindrabbit
    kindrabbit Posts: 837 Member
    As long as you have enough fuel to be able to do those long runs you're ok. I suspect your inaccuracies are your saving grace. I suspect it would be hard to run the distances you are on the number of calories you are consuming if your figures were accurate.
  • jonathansilas1984
    jonathansilas1984 Posts: 36 Member
    [quote=". I suspect it would be hard to run the distances you are on the number of calories you are consuming if your figures were accurate. [/quote]

    Glycogen depletion is a B%^&*.
  • juleszephyr
    juleszephyr Posts: 442 Member
    I sometimes have the same problem on days when I do long bike rides. I can easily burn 1300 plus calories and normally only eat around 1200 to 1300 a day. As long as you feel ok and eat a bit more if you feel you need to it is fine... Just not everyday and don't drop lower than 1200 ever...
  • jessicapk
    jessicapk Posts: 574 Member
    I agree with the above posters. Just don't jump on the scale a day later and expect to be impressed LOL Whenever I do the same thing, low calorie and lots of exercise, my weight will go up about 3 lbs for a few days. It doesn't bother me because I know what's going on but, from personal experience, it can freak you out when you've not been at it as long.
  • hmck123
    hmck123 Posts: 23 Member
    Thanks guys! The only things I don't weight properly are things like kale, fruit and yoghurt which I just think of as a bit of a faff for something that probably won't make a huge amount of difference, particularly when I'm getting such large calorie deficits (plus I really don't want to worry my housemates by being the girl who weighs kale before she eats it!). I normally use mapmyrun/cardio machines as a way of measuring exercise calories burnt but try to take these with a pinch of salt, and on most days assume I eat 200kcals more than I'm writing down, and exercising about 200kcals. I feel great and really healthy, but I don't like to expect a huge weight loss whenever I weigh myself and then be disappointed. Saying these, I've been really happy with my weight loss so far (I lost 6;bs in my first 2 weeks! But then put half of this back on in birthday cake...), and my insomnia has pretty much disappeared since starting this so overall I'm crazy happy - just wanted to get some other opinions to check I'm not being weird!
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    If you ate nothing at all for one day it would be unlikely to do any harm.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    hmck123 wrote: »
    Hi all,

    Daily calorie allowance: 1200 (with weight loss, something like 1650 without... I'm short!)

    (If it's relevant I'm 5"4 and weigh 9st 11, and have been on the weight loss trail for about 20 days and have lost 3-4lbsin that time).

    I would double check the 1650 thing.....you are much younger than I am and my TDEE is higher than that (about the same height). http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Anyway - a large deficit here and there won't matter.

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