How about if I.......

Options
2»

Replies

  • beachgirl0776
    beachgirl0776 Posts: 4
    Options
    I can say from experience, when I lost a ton of weight before....and subsequently gained it all back, which is why I am here now! If I let my body get to starvation mode I didn't lose anything. A friend I was dieting with at the time referred to it as deserted island syndrome. Your body thinks it on a deserted island and needs to hold on to what it has because there might not be more coming for a while. It was an interesting concept and I tested it a couple of times by being really restrictive for several days while continuing a serious exercise plan and sure enough, every time I did that I would sit at the same weight and not lose anything. Then I would allow myself a few extra calories and *poof* the next morning a big drop in the scale.
  • freerange
    freerange Posts: 1,722 Member
    Options
    In theory, if you are in a calorie deficit you will lose weight. I think the problem comes with knowing “exactly” if you are really in a deficit or not. Are you really burning that many calories, are you really only eating that many calories?
  • dragonflydi
    dragonflydi Posts: 665 Member
    Options
    If you are starting by eating your maintenance calories (BMR, quality foods) and then working out (and not eating back those calories) to create a deficit from that number, I would think that would be safe and work as your BMR is higher than the calorie goal that MFP calculates. It would be starting at your MFP calorie goal and working out to create a deficit w/out eating back enough calories to stay healthy that could be a potential problem.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,247 Member
    Options
    If you are starting by eating your maintenance calories (BMR, quality foods) and then working out (and not eating back those calories) to create a deficit from that number, I would think that would be safe and work as your BMR is higher than the calorie goal that MFP calculates. It would be starting at your MFP calorie goal and working out to create a deficit w/out eating back enough calories to stay healthy that could be a potential problem.

    She would be eating higher than BMR. I don't know what her maintenance is but these are the numbers I have here at MFP for me.

    BMR -- 1676
    My Current MFP Calorie Goal -- 1676
    Calories Burned from a normal day -- 2090

    That final number would be my maintenance level give or take a few hundred calories. With what the OP proposed I would eat that amount, but not eat my exercise calories thus producing a deficit. If I burned 414 calories in exercise a day, I would have the exactly the same caloric deficit I have right now.

    Now whether that is preferable, I really don't know. I do know some people say so, but nothing I have read refers to actual controlled scientific studies to prove that point. The advantage I see is being able to eat more. The disadvantage is that you have to work out every day to maintain your deficit. That may not seem too bad at first, but life has a tendency to get busy and that can make it difficult to get in a workout every day.

    I guess the other option is go with a small deficit from food, say 100 calories or so, and workout for the rest of the calorie deficit. That way you would be in a caloric deficit even if you didn't work out, but when you did it would be slightly larger.

Categories