How big calorie deficit is best for a long term success?

daneejela
daneejela Posts: 461 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
If it's too big, I guess it's hard to keep that pace for a long period of time.
If it's too small, I guess it's harder to keep motivation due to not seeing results as quickly.

What is that just the right amount of daily calorie deficit that works best for you?
Is it a constant number or do you change it periodically?

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Mine, personally, is small. ~250 calorie deficit.

    I'm very regular in my workouts, so I stick to a constant number.

    2015 calories/day.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    edited April 2017
    I've always gone by this:
    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

    So you figure out which range you're in, then you figure out the deficit needed to achieve that loss.
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    It's different for everybody, for sure. And it's something I struggle with. I hate feeling hungry all the time but I also want results at a reasonable pace. -500 TDEE is tough for me. -300 is doable. -200 is comfortable but slow.

    If I have a hungry day, I just say "screw it" and eat at maintenance. But on other days, I aim for around a 300 calorie deficit.
  • cdkelly
    cdkelly Posts: 101 Member
    I usually eat my total goal for calories every day. But then create a deficit by working out and burning some of those calories. If I'm hungry I will eat back a small portion of them...if I'm not then great I have a bigger deficit. This method has had me lose just over 1lb per week.
  • LZMiner
    LZMiner Posts: 300 Member
    edited April 2017
    exactly what CD Kelly said! I try and stick to my 1200---gulp---and all my exercise calories are just a bonus. I've lost almost 13 pounds since January 2. (And I'm pretty much done...was in a healthy weight range for my height to begin with!)
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    If I had perfect patience, my ideal would be to eat at what maintenance was for my ideal weight. It would get realllly slow at the end, but I would be completely used to what I should be eating at. That's the technique they recommend for cats (which is what my cat is on, lol, 'cause she needs to lose weight too), since the kitty doesn't realize they need to lose weight, and you can't explain it to them.

    However, since I want to see quicker results, I follow @leggup's guide.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    I set mine to 1,000 calories per day for the duration, but I'm not exactly a small person at my ideal weight. I would say that aiming for a little less than 1% weight loss per week is good.
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    500 for me
  • alondrakayy
    alondrakayy Posts: 304 Member
    I've been losing at .5lbs a week and this approach has worked best for me. I've been tracking for 65 days and usually, I can't do it longer than a 3 weeks. Yeah progress is slow but I enjoy my workouts, am rarely hungry (starving), and enjoy losing weight more than ever before.
  • TigerLily100
    TigerLily100 Posts: 81 Member
    I aim for a defecit of 3500kcal a week, so my days vary depending on hunger or whether I am going out.
    Some weeks I don't do so well and the defecit is less, but as long as it's a defecit I am happy.
    It took me years to get to my heaviest and as long as I am heading in the right direction I am not too fussed about slow progress.
    I am 16lb down so far this year and don't feel deprived with this thinking.
  • kayeroze
    kayeroze Posts: 146 Member
    I have it at 1.5 lbs a week (except for tom, then it's 1), but like @leggup said, that's a good approximation of what's ideal. If you have more to lose, you will naturally drop more weight, but as you drop more weight, the closer you get to about 60-70 lbs left (esp. If you're short) the less calories you can eat in a day. That's why you decrease how much you lose per week for more food. The other reason is to help prevent binging from having such a restricted diet for too long.
  • havronab
    havronab Posts: 40 Member
    I think whatever you can manage without feeling excessively hungry or low-energy. The guidelines shared above are a great starting point, but I adjust based on my hunger cues. When I started, I had 135 lbs to lose to get in a healthy BMI range so I could easily eat at a 1000 cal deficit and usually didn't eat any exercise calories back. Over the past 3-4 months I have had to make many adjustments (increasing calorie intake) to honor my hunger cues. Probably due to doing increasingly intense exercise and strength training. I'm still 40-50 lbs from goal, but eating 200-300 calories more than I was previously (so maybe a 700 deficit?). And even with a smaller deficit, my rate of loss hasn't changed much.
  • PowerliftingMom
    PowerliftingMom Posts: 430 Member
    I personally only do 200 cal deficits. Whatever you decide DO NOT go on a deficit for longer than 3-4 months at a time max, otherwise, your metabolism will be messed up. Unfortunately for me I didn't realize this when I was working with a diet coach for 18 months ugh! Go on a deficit, then do a maintenance diet for a couple of weeks, then you can go back on a deficit.
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