Totally confused by deficit
cherryberry55
Posts: 1 Member
Hi all, I'm totally confused about calorie deficit. I'm 5ft2 and weigh 162lbs / 11 stone 8. Doctors told me I have to loose weight. I have calculated my calories and I think I should be eating 1600. I have been sticking to this for the last 2 weeks and I've put on 1lb. I have an office job, so that holds me back during the day, but I do walk my dog most evenings for around 30mins and I also do 1 hour of pilates a week. Am I eating too much for all the exercise I do? Do I need to get out more or what can I do? I feel like giving up. I just don't understand deficit and am going insane googling and reading umpteen different calorie articles. Thank you in advance
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Replies
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From Myfitnesspal about how they calculate. Read the links in the article too:
https://support.myfitnesspal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360032625391-How-does-MyFitnessPal-calculate-my-initial-goals-
After that, read the Sticky posts from the "Most Helpful Posts" here:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10300331/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest
This one is really good (it's in that list) :
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1080242/a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants/p1
..and your answer is in this flowchart somewhere...most likely it's your logging.
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Give it 2 more weeks. If you haven’t lost or if you’ve actually gained you’ll need to lower weekly calories accordingly. There is a good chance you’re taking in more than an average of 1,600 a day.2
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And scale fluctuations. It is never too early to start using a weight trend app or web site. Happy scale iPhone Libra Android trendweight.com or weightgrapher.com are some but probably not all of your options!👍1
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Two weeks isn't enough, especially if some of your exercise is new, and especially if you're an adult female who still has menstrual cycles . . . among other factors.
While you're sensibly hanging in there on this routine for another two weeks or so, the link below would be a good, informative thing to read. Read the article linked in the starting post there, for sure. Good stuff.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1
Note: You may be thinking "my weight isn't fluctuating, it's just going down too slowly!" Think again.
Body weight includes a lot of things: Muscles, skeleton, retained water (bodies can be 60%+ water), food waste in transit on its way to the exit, usually several pounds of gut microbiota that aren't even genetically "us", . . . and oh, yeah, some body fat. For those not quite severely obese, as you are not, the fat tends to be less than half of the total, possibly much less.
It's the body fat we want to lose, right? But fat loss is gradual, even when "losing fast". Two pounds a week - which would be too aggressive for you at 162 - is 0.29 pounds of fat loss per day on average, a mere 4.6 ounces. Slower loss rate, as you should be aiming for, will be proportionately less fat loss per day.
Meanwhile, most of us see water retention and digestive contents fluctuate by several pounds from one day to the next, even when weighing under the most consistent conditions we can achieve. (Usually that's first thing in the morning, after bathroom, before food/drink, in a consistent state of (un)dress.)
My weight usually wanders around in a range of +/- 3 pounds if I'm eating and moving very consistently (and I'm maintaining, not losing), but changes and routine can cause up to 6 pounds difference from one day to the next. (No, not because I ate a whole birthday cake or something! Routine stuff, within calorie bounds.) If we weigh in under different conditions at differing times of day, and the size of daily shifts will be even higher.
That several pounds of other (not-fat) stuff shifting around daily, that can play peek-a-boo on the scale with 4.6 ounces of daily fat loss for a surprisingly looooonnnngggg time, let alone what to expect with slower loss.
Hang in there, stick with it long enough to see rational averages. That's 4-6 weeks, or from the same relative point in at least two different menstrual cycles if you have those. Then you'll have a better indication. (PAV's right about weight trending apps, too.)
Best wishes!
P.S. Don't try to manipulate your water weight, assuming you don't have a relevant health condition where your doctor says you should. Water fluctuations are part of what keeps a healthy body healthy. Our bodies know what they're doing. We should let them.
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cherryberry55 wrote: »Hi all, I'm totally confused about calorie deficit. I'm 5ft2 and weigh 162lbs / 11 stone 8. Doctors told me I have to loose weight. I have calculated my calories and I think I should be eating 1600. I have been sticking to this for the last 2 weeks and I've put on 1lb. I have an office job, so that holds me back during the day, but I do walk my dog most evenings for around 30mins and I also do 1 hour of pilates a week. Am I eating too much for all the exercise I do? Do I need to get out more or what can I do? I feel like giving up. I just don't understand deficit and am going insane googling and reading umpteen different calorie articles. Thank you in advance
How much are you adding to the MPF base calories for the exercise you are doing? A 30 minute walk with the doggo depending on pace may not burn much over your baseline. Pilates is excellent but at one hour a week that would only give you extra calories that day (or carry over a bit to the next if you like). I'm shorter than you, and a tad lighter. I don't get anywhere near 1600 calories using MFP's calculations (lightly active, -1lb/week, 5'1" 157lb ~1300 calories). What is your weight loss rate & activity set for on here?1 -
Difficult to say over two weeks with new exercise and taking into account normal bodyweight fluctuations...most people can fluctuate anywhere from 0-5 Lbs day to day and it has nothing to do with fat or doing this or that right or wrong. Unfortunately weight loss and weight management in general requires analyzing the general trend over time.
That said...with a desk job and what appears to be fairly minimal activity outside of that, 1600 seems like it would be closer to maintenance level of calories for you stats IMO. My wife is also 5'2" and about 145 at the moment. She used to lose on about 1600-1700 calories, but that's also back when she was running 5 miles 5x per week and hitting the weight room 3x per week. We're both cutting weight right now and she can't train the way she used to due to time constraints so she's had to cut here calories back more than she's accustomed to to lose weight...I'm also in that same boat since I'm not racing bikes any more.
Walking 30 minutes most days and doing Pilates is absolutely great for your overall health, but it's not a particularly large expenditure of energy. A calorie deficit is any number of calories that is less than the calories you require to maintain. A 500 calorie per day deficit from your maintenance level of calories equates to roughly 1Lb per week of fat loss on average (note that this won't necessarily show on the scale week to week due to normal fluctuations).3 -
I’d suggest going back before you started MFP and entering an estimate of what you ate on a “normal” day.
Doing that made me understand the “cost” of food versus the amount of work (aka exercise) it took to burn that same food off.
I honestly had no idea. Correlating the one to the other was a game changer for me.
I’m not stupid, and I know you’re not either, but I was ignorant of how my body worked. I honestly thought a three mile walk once or twice a week burned off what turned out to be thousands of calories of junk food.
That was my lightbulb moment.4 -
I agree it hasn’t been long enough. I will say though that at 40 yrs old with a desk job, 1600 is my maintenance 😢😵💫1
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I will just add my agreement to give it more time. Also, a 30 minute walk once a day does not burn many calories (especially if your dog is not a quick walker). I don't know how much Pilates burns, but suspect it is similar to weight lifting in the sense that it is great for strength and conditioning but doesn't burn a lot of calories.
I suggest recalculating your calorie target with your lifestyle as "lightly active" if you did something different. And of course tracking absolutely every calorie that goes in your mouth.0 -
I will just add my agreement to give it more time. Also, a 30 minute walk once a day does not burn many calories (especially if your dog is not a quick walker). I don't know how much Pilates burns, but suspect it is similar to weight lifting in the sense that it is great for strength and conditioning but doesn't burn a lot of calories.
I suggest recalculating your calorie target with your lifestyle as "lightly active" if you did something different. And of course tracking absolutely every calorie that goes in your mouth.
My 37-minute walk today (just over two miles) burned an estimated 186 calories as calculated by my Garmin device which has done a pretty good job of estimating expenditures for the last four years. Mid-50s right around 140 pounds; a heavier person would burn more. If 200 calories is "not many," then you're right. Then again, I don't walk that slow, so that increases the burn perhaps. For me, it represents an 11% increase over my base calories, so I think I would categorize it as "not many." YMMV.0 -
I will just add my agreement to give it more time. Also, a 30 minute walk once a day does not burn many calories (especially if your dog is not a quick walker). I don't know how much Pilates burns, but suspect it is similar to weight lifting in the sense that it is great for strength and conditioning but doesn't burn a lot of calories.
I suggest recalculating your calorie target with your lifestyle as "lightly active" if you did something different. And of course tracking absolutely every calorie that goes in your mouth.
My 37-minute walk today (just over two miles) burned an estimated 186 calories as calculated by my Garmin device which has done a pretty good job of estimating expenditures for the last four years. Mid-50s right around 140 pounds; a heavier person would burn more. If 200 calories is "not many," then you're right. Then again, I don't walk that slow, so that increases the burn perhaps. For me, it represents an 11% increase over my base calories, so I think I would categorize it as "not many." YMMV.
It's relative. I burn more than 2x the calories road cycling vs walking for the same amount of time. I'd say relative to just about any other form of aerobic exercise, walking provides the smallest energy expenditure for the time.2 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »I will just add my agreement to give it more time. Also, a 30 minute walk once a day does not burn many calories (especially if your dog is not a quick walker). I don't know how much Pilates burns, but suspect it is similar to weight lifting in the sense that it is great for strength and conditioning but doesn't burn a lot of calories.
I suggest recalculating your calorie target with your lifestyle as "lightly active" if you did something different. And of course tracking absolutely every calorie that goes in your mouth.
My 37-minute walk today (just over two miles) burned an estimated 186 calories as calculated by my Garmin device which has done a pretty good job of estimating expenditures for the last four years. Mid-50s right around 140 pounds; a heavier person would burn more. If 200 calories is "not many," then you're right. Then again, I don't walk that slow, so that increases the burn perhaps. For me, it represents an 11% increase over my base calories, so I think I would categorize it as "not many." YMMV.
It's relative. I burn more than 2x the calories road cycling vs walking for the same amount of time. I'd say relative to just about any other form of aerobic exercise, walking provides the smallest energy expenditure for the time.
I don't disagree with that at all. If I take my commuter bike out and take a nice leisurely ride, I wonder what the burn would be. Even at a leisurely pace, though, I would cover a LOT more miles. Bikes are super efficient. If you're out on a road ride, I bet a bagel with cream cheese you're intentionally moving it. If I up my walk pace or turn it into a jog... more work, more burn.
I was just commenting that walking for a half hour, especially at more than a lollygag pace, can use more energy than what I'd call "not many calories." Some people dismiss walking as meaningful exercise. On the other hand, I do not disagree that some people conflate its effectiveness at rapidly burning calories. I think we agree on most of this stuff.
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Walking burns around 100 calories per mile however terrain, speed, your physical stature and fitness will have an effect. Walking takes no equipment and almost everyone can do it. For those that are sedentary it is a great way to get your steps in. Outside in fresh air>indoor cardio. Your results may vary….
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I will just add my agreement to give it more time. Also, a 30 minute walk once a day does not burn many calories (especially if your dog is not a quick walker). I don't know how much Pilates burns, but suspect it is similar to weight lifting in the sense that it is great for strength and conditioning but doesn't burn a lot of calories.
I suggest recalculating your calorie target with your lifestyle as "lightly active" if you did something different. And of course tracking absolutely every calorie that goes in your mouth.
Actually, activity level is based on your job. Exercise gets added as you do it. She has an office job, so should be on Sedentary.
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Hey
it’s always so hard trying to figure out what your calories should be! I’m 5ft6, and 10 stone and I’m currently losing 1lb a week by sticking to around 1550 calories per day. My suggestion for you would be to increase your output a little, maybe extend your 30 min walk to 60? You could break that down into two walks a day? And I would also look at the macros in your calories. For example I take 120 grams of protein, 35 grams of fat and 140g of carb and I’m on a very good steady and healthy weight loss journey. This does differ from person to person so you may have to play around with that until you start to decrease. But deffo increase the output by doing more steps (aim for around 10k steps a day if you can!) 0 -
If you try any calculator, including MFP, you're going to find that your "Sedentary" maintenance intake is about 1600kcals/day. You get a little more than that if you walk daily and do a little exercise on the weekends, but not much. So, you've been eating at maintenance and pretty much maintaining. (Your weight will vary by +/- a few pounds daily, anyway.)
To lose weight, you'll have to eat less than that, I expect. You can play around with the formula here:
https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
This shows you how your daily needs are calculated, which is helpful. Ignore all the other diet advice on the page!
My suggestion is to shoot for less than a 25% average deficit. A lower deficit is easier, but it takes longer to lose the weight. But, what's the hurry?
Best of luck!0 -
Shortcut.
MFP sedentary would include all the activity the op indicates as long as she is ending in the sub 5000 step a day range or below
Yes MFP expects daily activity + log exercise. But if job is truly sedentary then the dog walk could bring it in line to the level of activity rolled into the sedentary expectation.
Alternatively if you notice that total steps are above 5k chances are good that some of that exercise should be logged or the level changed.
Basically MFP sedentary is an activity factor of 1.25 which corresponds to roughly 3500 steps of activity. By 5000 usually you are above it and some of that extra should be accounted for
So the question is: what does guided setup show for 1lb loss per week for the op? That's a good approximation to start with. And it can be refined as time goes on.
For a nice tdee estimator I tend to like sailrabbit 🤷♂️
note tdee is not the actual way MFP was designed to work especially if your activity level varies. However it's all just numbers with a label in the end and as long as you're capturing everything consistently you can work with it!0 -
Walking is great. I use it as part of a (I Ike to think) well rounded exercise program that includes cardio, strength and stretching.
But I can sincerely say, I wouldn’t have been as successful as I’ve been without a strong walking element.
Plus, it just makes me feel so happy to be outside- even if it does involve a sniff every 25 or so feet.
I tell the dog “Quick sniff. You don’t need to evaluate the vintage”. But he insists on being a connoseiur.4 -
Forgive me if this has already been asked/answered, but did you do the "View Guided Setup" process on MFP?
Goals --> "View Guided Setup" link
Don't get discouraged!0 -
tomcustombuilder wrote: »
Walking burns around 100 calories per mile however terrain, speed, your physical stature and fitness will have an effect. Walking takes no equipment and almost everyone can do it. For those that are sedentary it is a great way to get your steps in. Outside in fresh air>indoor cardio. Your results may vary….
I don't disagree at all. Walking is my favourite form of exercise and a very important part of my weight loss and fitness routine. It is great for general health and wellbeing. I love walking and average around 18,000 steps a day, alongside other activities.
I just meant that in terms of adding to an overall calorie burn a half hour walk did not add a lot compared with running, swimming, a HIIT workout and a bunch of other things. A half hour walk is probably burning around 100 calories or so which, was others have noted, is largely going to be covered under the 'sedentary' setting. If the OP is adding, say, 200 calories to their target because of this half hour walk it is probably going to give an overestimate of calorie burn.1 -
It takes me 4-5 miles of walking to make a single turn in my Apple Watch, which is set at 300 calories/cycle. Of that 300, some is TDEE (sorry if I’ve got my terms mixed up- I can never keep those straight).
So really, a much smaller proportion than you expect is actual extra exercise energy expenditure.
“Old Me” thought a three mile walk burned up a whole bag of double stuff Oreos. Ummmm……lucky to even burn a serving of two cookies on that walk. 😢
That’s why so many of us have a disconnect. We think exercise obliterates calories. Sadly, nope nope and nope.2 -
springlering62 wrote: »Walking is great. I use it as part of a (I Ike to think) well rounded exercise program that includes cardio, strength and stretching.
But I can sincerely say, I wouldn’t have been as successful as I’ve been without a strong walking element.
Plus, it just makes me feel so happy to be outside- even if it does involve a sniff every 25 or so feet.
I tell the dog “Quick sniff. You don’t need to evaluate the vintage”. But he insists on being a connoseiur.
Ah, bringing back good memories of walking my dog. He was a rescue, and had never been on a leash. He was a husky, and boy could he pull. He was my first (and only) dog as an adult and the family dogs were free roam/no leash. It was quite a learning experience for both of us. Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan videos were helpful to me, as was my boyfriend at the time, who was naturally dominant, lol.
We lived on a golf course and I used to take The Baby there for long walks at dusk when the golfers were gone. There was one stand of trees I used to avoid on the way out as there were simply too many sniffs, but I'd let him have it on the way back.2 -
yep. It’s an unfair balance. Walk a mile for a 10 second pleasure of a cookie. Lol, people on the treadmill for 30 minutes thinking they’re burning off a double meat Whopper, large fries and of course, a DIET coke.springlering62 wrote: »It takes me 4-5 miles of walking to make a single turn in my Apple Watch, which is set at 300 calories/cycle. Of that 300, some is TDEE (sorry if I’ve got my terms mixed up- I can never keep those straight).
So really, a much smaller proportion than you expect is actual extra exercise energy expenditure.
“Old Me” thought a three mile walk burned up a whole bag of double stuff Oreos. Ummmm……lucky to even burn a serving of two cookies on that walk. 😢
That’s why so many of us have a disconnect. We think exercise obliterates calories. Sadly, nope nope and nope.
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tomcustombuilder wrote: »
yep. It’s an unfair balance. Walk a mile for a 10 second pleasure of a cookie. Lol, people on the treadmill for 30 minutes thinking they’re burning off a double meat Whopper, large fries and of course, a DIET coke.springlering62 wrote: »It takes me 4-5 miles of walking to make a single turn in my Apple Watch, which is set at 300 calories/cycle. Of that 300, some is TDEE (sorry if I’ve got my terms mixed up- I can never keep those straight).
So really, a much smaller proportion than you expect is actual extra exercise energy expenditure.
“Old Me” thought a three mile walk burned up a whole bag of double stuff Oreos. Ummmm……lucky to even burn a serving of two cookies on that walk. 😢
That’s why so many of us have a disconnect. We think exercise obliterates calories. Sadly, nope nope and nope.
That was me.
So, I can totally understand why people are frustrated and think they’re doing “everything right” by adding exercise to their day. It’s hard, right? So surely you “earn” a lot by doing it?
That’s why so many people here say “weight loss is made in the kitchen”.0 -
@cherryberry55, I hope you come back! Please don't give up. 💙1
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Ha! Or maybe “weightloss is made by staying OUT of the kitchen”springlering62 wrote: »tomcustombuilder wrote: »
yep. It’s an unfair balance. Walk a mile for a 10 second pleasure of a cookie. Lol, people on the treadmill for 30 minutes thinking they’re burning off a double meat Whopper, large fries and of course, a DIET coke.springlering62 wrote: »It takes me 4-5 miles of walking to make a single turn in my Apple Watch, which is set at 300 calories/cycle. Of that 300, some is TDEE (sorry if I’ve got my terms mixed up- I can never keep those straight).
So really, a much smaller proportion than you expect is actual extra exercise energy expenditure.
“Old Me” thought a three mile walk burned up a whole bag of double stuff Oreos. Ummmm……lucky to even burn a serving of two cookies on that walk. 😢
That’s why so many of us have a disconnect. We think exercise obliterates calories. Sadly, nope nope and nope.
That was me.
So, I can totally understand why people are frustrated and think they’re doing “everything right” by adding exercise to their day. It’s hard, right? So surely you “earn” a lot by doing it?
That’s why so many people here say “weight loss is made in the kitchen”.
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I never eat back walking calories. It's just slight movement and, for me, not really exercise. If I workout on a long bike ride, I will eat some of those back.1
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LiveOnceBeHappy wrote: »I never eat back walking calories. It's just slight movement and, for me, not really exercise. If I workout on a long bike ride, I will eat some of those back.
Oh?🤔
132,824 total steps Avg. 18,975 steps per day. ▼14,283 fewer than last week
total floors 378 total floors ▼ 154 floors below last week
total miles 94.80 total km ▼ 10.26 km below last week
avg. daily calorie burn 2,981 avg. daily calorie burn ▼ 164 cals. fewer than last week
So I should only eat based on the approximately 2100 Cal maintenance MFP would give me for lightly active (which is an over-reach to begin with based on MFP definitions!)
I mean my typical steps a day in 2013 were less than 1000 (so call it a 10000 week?) based on my lifestyle. Which has only changed by deliberately modifying and adding activities
I don't do *anything* more "active" than trail walking 🤷♂️
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19k steps is not a normal amount it’s waayyy ABOVE normal.LiveOnceBeHappy wrote: »I never eat back walking calories. It's just slight movement and, for me, not really exercise. If I workout on a long bike ride, I will eat some of those back.
Oh?🤔
132,824 total steps Avg. 18,975 steps per day. ▼14,283 fewer than last week
total floors 378 total floors ▼ 154 floors below last week
total miles 94.80 total km ▼ 10.26 km below last week
avg. daily calorie burn 2,981 avg. daily calorie burn ▼ 164 cals. fewer than last week
So I should only eat based on the approximately 2100 Cal maintenance MFP would give me for lightly active (which is an over-reach to begin with based on MFP definitions!)
I mean my typical steps a day in 2013 were less than 1000 (so call it a 10000 week?) based on my lifestyle. Which has only changed by deliberately modifying and adding activities
I don't do *anything* more "active" than trail walking 🤷♂️
There is probably a line in the sand somewhere where what is a normal amount of daily steps that fit into lifestyle and what is moving into the “exercise” column
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The more universal answer is that just like the Calories you eat don't have virtue based on the virtue of the food choices you made, the calories you spend also don't become more virtuous based on how you came about to spend them.
Whether they were spent because you sprinted up the hill or because you hauled an extra 200lbs of body weight to the gas station to buy Twinkies, you still spent the calories. And they're just as spent as the ones I just burned walking up the hill at a moderate to slow pace while dictating MFP posts.
And if you correctly account for them and if you correctly interpret your weight changes and if you adjust and adhere to your goals and your deficit eating the overwhelming majority of the time and for long enough... you WILL get results. Long term adherence. It's a beautiful concept.
To the OP: as I already discussed on Feb 3, 4.5h of deliberate moderate activity a week exceeds minimum exercise requirements for health but may or may not be sufficient to move you from the equivalent of sedentary to the equivalent of lightly active without taking into consideration what else is happening during your day. You MAY have an overstatement of TDEE issue. But you most CERTAINLY do have the potential of a scale fluctuation issue given the timelines.
Yes, deliberately logging walking on MFP has issues. Just because of math and because it is a long duration low net extra calories task. It still can (and arguably HAS to) be accounted for... with some care.3
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