3500 Calorie deficit to lose a pound in weight a week?

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rustypust
rustypust Posts: 19 Member
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Confused.com

Maybe I have done too much research for my own good, can someone make some sense for me?

My MBR is 1200 cals per day when I go to the gym which is normally Five times a week I will burn on average 600/700 cals extra per day.

Experts are saying to lose a 1lb a week, you need to create a deficit of anything between 3500 and 4000 cals per week which seems quite straight forward If I eat my 1200 and burn more then I will create a deficit. But I keep reading on MFB about eating your cals back so stop your body moving into starvation and stalling the weight loss. How can you possibly create a deficit if you are eating your calories back that you have burned in exercise? or should you be calculating all of your activities through the course of the day to get more of an accurate burn reading?

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  • 1a1a
    1a1a Posts: 761 Member
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    Chances are high that a calorie total of 1200 already has you well within the range of deficit (non dieting people should be eating anywhere between 1500 and 2500 a day depending on their size and activity level). Ergo, as mfp has already given you a deficit with that allowance, you can and in fact should eat back you exercise calories. (Try changing your settings to maintenance to see how much you'd be eating to neither gain nor lose).
  • marianne_s
    marianne_s Posts: 986 Member
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    Read this - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

    This explains how MFP works.
  • joehempel
    joehempel Posts: 1,761 Member
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    I dont eat my calories back and Ive been losing consistently for over 6 months. Starvation mode to me is a myth and as long as you are eating every 3 hours your body will become super effecient at burning what it takes in.

    You need to burn more than you take in lik you said.
  • mrdavidjk
    mrdavidjk Posts: 105
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    are you sure? maybe you have worked it out wrong.
    do you mind if i ask what your weight, height and age, and activity level then maybe i can work out your basic level and your active level.

    my active rate at just a sedentary rate is 1350 calories a day

    feel free to pm me if you dont want to post here
  • RuthAne
    RuthAne Posts: 130
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    The way I understand it is your BMR is the energy it takes for your body to function at rest. In other words that's how many calories you would burn if you spent 24 hrs asleep in bed. So if you burn 1200 calories just lying down and you eat 1200 calories you would be even. But if you are up and doing activities (whether it's just walking across the room or going to the gym), all of those activities will create the deficit.
  • rustypust
    rustypust Posts: 19 Member
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    I am 46 my weight is 150lb my height is 5ft 4in and I go to the gym 5 days a week doing a combination of Cardio and strength training. I have checked my Metabolic rate on MFP and googled it they seem to come out around the 1200 mark give or take 100 cals.
  • jfhaskell
    jfhaskell Posts: 14
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    Usually the reason why most people eat back there work out calories is because your initial calorie goal (1200) already has the deficit built into it for your healthy weight loss. So if you don't eat back your workout calories, then the rational is that you will be losing to many calories too fast and not staying in the healthy weight loss range. Keep in mind that every ones body is different and "starvation mode" is not a myth, it is just not at the same level for every person. People with a naturally higher metabolic rate will go into starvation mode faster than those with a naturally slower rate. Working out 5 days a week will definitely help you reach your goals faster and healthier. For a lot of people out there (myself included) it is not just about calories in and calories out. It has more to do with what type of calories you eat and how often.
  • Amo_Angelus
    Amo_Angelus Posts: 604 Member
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    Because everything you do burns calories. Your brain, your heart, your lungs, your kidneys...just being alive burns about 2000 calories a day. You eat your excercise calories back because if you burn 500 calories and only eat 1200 you're actually burning off 2500 and 1200 calories is simply not enough to keep your body going and support your excercise. The body is very resourceful and when you don't eat the bare minimum it requires it does a very clever thing, it finds it elsewhere!

    Eating at a deficit starts this, that' how you looe weight, your body doesn't have enough food so it pulls from it's reserves...your fat. However, when you pass the bare minimum all that cleverness vanishes and your body basically panics and instead of pulling from the fat stores, it pulls from anywhere it can. This does include your fat stores, but it also includes muscle mass and as any biologist will tell you muscle mass includes your heart and lungs and other vital organs. This is starvation mode. Uncontrolled this can be fatal. It's rare that a ketosis diet (which is what "starvation mode" actually is.) will kill you, heck look at Atkins which is ketosis, it does work, but as soon as you come out of it, your body is like a five year old that's been banned from weets...it hordes! You develop fat reserves a lot easier for a while after you come out of it and most people who use ketosis as a plan wind up back where they started.
  • seph_house
    seph_house Posts: 101 Member
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    i think most people have answered your question above but i'll have a shot at the simplest of observations...

    in terms of the energy you are burning in a week:
    you know your BMR/MBR/base metabolic rate/energy = 1200/day
    you know your exercise cals = 600/700*5
    you seem to be missing your "i'm not exercising but i am getting out of bed and going to work and generally existing" calories, this is energy burnt over and above your BMR.
    i do an office job so i claim a "sedentary" lifestyle at 5'3" and 145lb so MFP reckons that adds around 500cals a day. this is why, on your goals page, there is an "From Normal Daily Activity" calorie count that is higher than your BMR.

    add all three numbers together to get your energy expenditure.

    i think MFP vastly confuses things by asking for your exercise goals when you set up the account. it doesn't use these numbers at all to calculate your calorie goals but it implies to a lot of people that it does which is why i think people get confused about the eating exercise cals thing.
  • BobinNC66
    BobinNC66 Posts: 192 Member
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    Great question - I say so because I just asked this the other day :happy: and I thought the best piece of advice from that threat was this
    this is actually fundamental to the way MFP is set up. The reason you eat them is MFP sets your calorie goal assuming you will not do any exercise. Once you exercise you burn more calories than MFP though when giving you your caloric intake to lose your goal amount of weight and as such you must eat them back or you risk burning lean muscle, not just fat.

    Professionals (trainers, doctors, etc) will take into account exercise when giving you a caloric intake, and will always give you more than the base MFP caloric intake.

    As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1750 everyday regardless if you workout.

    So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 12,250 (1750*7) almost the same number of cals for the week. The issue in not following MFP is if you don't workout the full 5 days or burn more or less than planned. If that is the case you may lose more or less than your goal, whereas MFP will have you lose your goal amount regardless how much you actually workout.

    What many MFP do is take the low 1450 and not eat back exercise calories which is wrong, if you are not eating them back then your daily activity level should reflect the higher burn with would be covered in the 1750/day above.

    And this shorter comment:
    Think of your body like a Car. You start with a full tank of gas and go for a long drive. You have to put gas back in the tank in order to keep the car running effectively.

    Your body is the same way. You exercise (burn fuel) you need to put gas back in the tank in order to keep your body running effectively.

    MFP already gives you a deficit in your daily intake, so eating less than that only hinders your progress

    Hope that helps!
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    46 year old lightly active woman 5'4" 150 lbs, your maintenance calories are approximately 1800 (assuming no medical issues)

    therefore:

    1800 - 1200 = 600 <
    THIS IS YOUR DEFICIT WITHOUT ANY EXERCISE ENTERING THE EQUATION (that's to big . IMHO by the way)

    if you exercise you burn MORE than 1800, therefore your deficit would become larger, in order to keep your deficit at 600 you need to eat back the exercise calories.

    understand?
  • rustypust
    rustypust Posts: 19 Member
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    Thanks for all your comments,

    I get it now, because the goal cal intake is quite low, I did not realize the deficit was already built in and I must admit when I don't train I try to keep to the 1200 goal however I am very much guilty of only eating 100 or 200 of my exercise cals back. I was wondering why the scales were not moving as quickly as I want, now I know, I am not eating enough !!!

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