Can I get some help please to understand how to calculate ‘Deficit’

2323FatBoy
2323FatBoy Posts: 33 Member
edited October 2019 in Health and Weight Loss
Do I calculate deficit by either A or B as follows:

A: Goal - Food + Exercise = Remaining (Remaining being the deficit)

Or

B: Calories burnt - Remaining = Deficit

Thank you. M
David

Replies

  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    The deficit is already calculated into your MFP target, assuming you let the program set up your goal with information you gave it.
  • 2323FatBoy
    2323FatBoy Posts: 33 Member
    R
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    The deficit is already calculated into your MFP target, assuming you let the program set up your goal with information you gave it.

    So you telling me is ‘A’ then Yeah?

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,454 Member
    edited October 2019
    Eat until the "Remaining" is Zero. "Remaining" appears on both the FOOD logging page and on the MY HOME dashboard tool.

    I think people confuse themselves with all the differing charts, graphs, the MY HOME page dashboard and the FOOD page.

    Eat until your "remaining" is Zero, and until the dashboard (MY HOME) Goal equals the Net Calories. They are two ways of saying the same thing which is:


    On the dashboard on MY HOME:

    Goal 2000
    Food minus Exercise equals Net

    So: Goal 2000. (Food) 2600 minus (Exercise) 600 equals (Net) 2000

    On the dashboard, you want your Goal to equal your Net. When you do that, your "Remaining" will be zero.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    Your deficit is included in MFP's calculations already, so you do not need to calculate it yourself.

    You are intended to eat all of the calories MFP shows you, including a reasonable estimate of your exercise calories. You should be trying to have zero or a small number of calories remaining at the end of the day.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    2323FatBoy wrote: »
    Do I calculate deficit by either A or B as follows:

    A: Goal - Food + Exercise = Remaining (Remaining being the deficit)

    Or

    B: Calories burnt - Remaining = Deficit

    Thank you. M
    David

    If you set your calorie goal at MFP choosing "maintenance," then A would be the answer.

    If you did what is intended and set a calorie goal based on the amount you were aiming to lose per week (say 1 lb), then your deficit is built into the calorie goal and "remaining" would be an amount to add to the calorie goal (and generally you should aim to have it around 0, assuming you picked a sensible deficit for your size).
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    2323FatBoy wrote: »
    Do I calculate deficit by either A or B as follows:

    A: Goal - Food + Exercise = Remaining (Remaining being the deficit)

    Or

    B: Calories burnt - Remaining = Deficit

    Thank you. M
    David

    If you set your calorie goal at MFP choosing "maintenance," then A would be the answer.

    If you did what is intended and set a calorie goal based on the amount you were aiming to lose per week (say 1 lb), then your deficit is built into the calorie goal and "remaining" would be an amount to add to the calorie goal (and generally you should aim to have it around 0, assuming you picked a sensible deficit for your size).

    No, you don’t need to worry about your deficit because MFP does that for you. The goal it gives you already includes your deficit based on how you set up your stats.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,460 Member
    Did you ever get it?
    For instance.
    Mfp gives you a calorie goal of 2000. You have chosen to lose 2 lbs a week. Your deficit is 1000 calories (1000 calories a day x 7 days = 7000 calories. 3500 calories a pound x 2 = 7000) and mfp figured your tdee at 3000 calories/day. If you burn 500 calories today with exercise, you have added 500 to your deficit for a total calorie Deficit of 1500 calories. If you eat an additional 400 calories, you have decreased your deficit by 400, so your deficit is now 1100 calories. Mfp will show calories remaining for the day=100.
  • StaciMarie2020
    StaciMarie2020 Posts: 68 Member
    edited October 2019
    Your deficit is total calories burned in a day less total calories consumed.

    My way of looking at it - you burn calories in three ways.
    1. Just for being alive - your BMR is an estimate based on age, gender, height and weight and approximates the energy required to make your body function normally. This covers basic things such as the work all of your organs do including heart, lungs, brain, circulatory system, etc.
    2. Regular daily activity: it uses additional energy to move your body thru your day. To run ordinary errands, do your job & hobbies, move around your house/work.
    3. Intentional exercise, in particular cardio - where you move multiple major muscle groups for an extended period of time.

    The first 2 are factored in by MFP when you set up your profile. It uses an established BMR formula and your stats to estimate what it takes daily to keep you alive. And it uses your stated activity level to estimate how much additional you burn for moving thru your day.

    You log your cardio (part 3). Because of how cardio works, you burn more doing cardio than if you were just doing your normal daily activity but its hard to know exactly how much. To be careful, err on the side of caution and assume it is lower than the MFP database suggests.

    Added together the total may be called Total Daily Energy Expenditure or TDEE. There are TDEE calculators online, and if you have a fairly routine exercise schedule you could base your calorie intake goal on one of those calculators.

    If your TDEE is 2275 and you consume 1750 in a day then your deficit is 2275-1750 = 525.
  • kiddycat73
    kiddycat73 Posts: 67 Member
    Right now, I don’t (can’t) exercise. I’m still losing weight eating the calorie amount given to me when I put my info into MFP. That’s because MFP already calculated my deficit for me.

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