calorie deficit help

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guys what is a calorie deficit!! I'm trying to lose weight and I'm so confused! my daily calorie goal is 1300 and I am active (go to the gym etc)! what would my calorie deficit be? or how many calories do i need to burn in order to lose weight? thanks in advance!

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  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    edited June 2015
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    A calorie deficit simply means that you eat less calories than your body burns.

    Generally it's easier to figure out (approximately) how much your body burns on average per day and adjust your diet accordingly, as opposed to calculating a daily diet limit and trying to adjust activity.
  • JakeBrownVB
    JakeBrownVB Posts: 399 Member
    edited June 2015
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    A pound of fat in the human body stores approx 3,500 cals. You need to be in a defecit of 500 calories a day to lose 1lb of fat.

    The defecit is the number of calories your eating below your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). If your eating 1300 calories and lets say your TDEE is 1950 (purely for example), then you are in a 750 calorie defecit which will lead to a 1.5lb a week fat loss.
  • terbusha
    terbusha Posts: 1,483 Member
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    What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to make good progress towards your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for 2 weeks. If you lose 1-2 lbs/week, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few cycles, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.