Confused about calorie deficit?

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essatea
essatea Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello! I've recently just started using MFP to help me lose weight and reach my goal. One thing im noticing is that everyone keeps talking about how important calorie deficits are to lose weight. I don't really understand how they work though. My height is 5'1, my CW is 147 lbs and I want to lose 30 lbs. MFP says I should eat 1,200 calories per day so how exactly do I incorporate a calorie deficit into my diet? Sorry I am new to this all!

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  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
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    Your deficit is already factored into that number. You don't have to do anything except eat that amount every day (make sure to weigh all your food in grams for accuracy) and eat back about half of any exercise calories you earn if you workout.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,390 Member
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    Calorie deficit is easy actually. It's simply the difference in calories between what it would take to maintain your current weight, and what you actually eat. If you used the MFP goals, it's already figured in at 3500 calories per week for each pound in your weight loss goal. So if you set a loss goal at 1 lb/week, it is advising you to eat 500 calories less per day then it would take for you to stay at your current weight.
  • lemonlionheart
    lemonlionheart Posts: 580 Member
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    MFP has calculated the calorie deficit when you entered your information, and come up with 1200 calories. Your body probably needs around 1800 calories a day to maintain your current weight, so when you eat less than that you should lose weight. Since 1lb = ~3500 calories, to lose 1lb per week you would need to cut 3500 calories per week, or 500 per day from that initial number of 1800. So, if you eat 1300 calories per day, you should lose 1lb per week. If you wanted to lose faster than that, you would have to cut more, but it's generally considered unsafe to go below 1200 calories so MFP caps the deficit at 1200 regardless of how fast you want to lose. With your stats, 1lb per week is recommended.

  • lemonlionheart
    lemonlionheart Posts: 580 Member
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    PS: I would highly recommend reading these helpful posts (found at the top of this forum), as you are just getting started!

    community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260537/most-helpful-posts-general-diet-and-weight-loss-help-must-reads#latest


  • essatea
    essatea Posts: 4 Member
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    Thank you all so much! I had no idea that it was already factored into the number of calories I was given... makes it much easier :) Will take this info and read some more about it!

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