Calorie deficit

No. To be in a deficit you just need to eat less than you take in. MFP helps give you a target, and exercise will add to the number of calories you can eat.

• A deficit will lead to weight loss.
• Staying close to level (CICO - calories in calories out) will maintain
• A surplus will lead to weight gain (the lifters do this with loads of protein to add muscle)

so if your goal is 1200 a day. You can eat 1150 today. 1000 tomorrow. 1200 the next day. And you'd be in a deficit.

work_again wrote: »

No. To be in a deficit you just need to eat less than you take in. MFP helps give you a target, and exercise will add to the number of calories you can eat.

• A deficit will lead to weight loss.
• Staying close to level (CICO - calories in calories out) will maintain
• A surplus will lead to weight gain (the lifters do this with loads of protein to add muscle)

so if your goal is 1200 a day. You can eat 1150 today. 1000 tomorrow. 1200 the next day. And you'd be in a deficit.

To add to this, anything under your maintenance calories is a deficit, so you might also find that it is more sustainable to have a smaller deficit or maintenance day sometimes, I found this inparticular around ovulation/PMS week.

If for example you chose a 2lb per week loss and that gave you 1300 calories, that would put your maintenance at 2300 calories, so if you ate 1300 calories most of the week and then 2000 calories a day at the weekend, you would still be in a deficit of 5600 calories over the entire week.

You don't have to be perfect all of the time, as long as what you do most of the time keeps you on track.

If you've chosen a 2 lbs per week weight loss goal and you get 1200 calories, don't automatically think you can add 1000 to that to get maintenance - It may be less; especially if you have less than 50 lbs. to lose, and/or are a short person, or a woman - and especially if you are all three! Run the numbers for maintenance, separately.

No.

I eat 600 calories on 3 days and 1700 calories on 4 days.