Calorie Deficit???? How much is too much?

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Jessicareyes78
Jessicareyes78 Posts: 36 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Today I worked out in the a.m. and then went to zumba with my mother and in total I burned the same amount of calories I am supposed to consume. I had six really good meals today and still have a little over 1200 cals left. How many of my workout calories should I consume. I usually only consume half of them since i believe there needs to be a deficit in order to loose weight but I don't want my body to go on starvation mode. Any suggestion? How do you get those extra calories in or do you not use them and have you had a continuous weight loss with your methods. So confused! :huh:

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  • SergeantSunshine_reused
    SergeantSunshine_reused Posts: 5,382 Member
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    MFP already creates a calorie deficit. You should be eating most if not all of them.
  • raisingbabyk
    raisingbabyk Posts: 442 Member
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    MFP already creates a calorie deficit. You should be eating most if not all of them.

    This ^
  • BarbWhite09
    BarbWhite09 Posts: 1,128 Member
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    MFP already does your calorie deficit for you...That's the whole point if you entering all of your stats in & whatnot...
  • healthybabs
    healthybabs Posts: 595 Member
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    Unlike many other weight loss sites, MFP already calculates in your deficit so YES you should be eating back your exercise calories. This is hard to get used to if you have used other sites and is something I am slowly getting used to. Since I have been following the MFP guidelines, I realize I was eating way too little food and so I was in starvation mode. Just coming out of it now but has taken some time to jump start my metabolism again.
  • swillis21
    swillis21 Posts: 251 Member
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    I think if you are not too hungry have a small healthy/higher cal snack like some peanuts or almonds, or some hummus or guacamole, you know. And then if you are not hungry, then great! Just don't have so many calories left over on most days and you'll be fine. It's when you are waaaaay under often that it can stall your weight loss and be unhealthy bc your body needs more nutrients. Also, if you know you'll be working out a lot on a given day have some more whole grains and healthy fats throughout the day. :)
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    MFP builds in a deficit when you set up your goals - if you chose the "lose 2 pounds a week" opt it has given you a deficit of 1000 cals a day.
    If you exercise and don't eat these calories then they increase the size of your deficit.
    So, if you already have a 1000 cal deficit (set by MFP) and you exercise and burn 1200 cals, then you have created a deficit of 2200 cals for the day.

    That seems pretty extreme to me, but it's your choice, if you want a really big calorie deficit then don't eat the cals from exercise.

    Really, all you can do is try it out, if you have a big deficit but you are successfully losing weight, have lots of energy and are healthy, then maybe that suits your body. It also seems that the more weight you have to lose, the better your body copes with a big deficit.
    If you don't have much to lose, are getting tired and hungry, your weight loss stalls - then maybe that's not right for you.

    Personally I've always eaten most of my cals burnt from exercise and it's worked very well for me. I never had a very big calorie deficit - usually about 250 - 400 cals, as I knew I wouldn't stick to a calorie goal that left me hungry. This approach has been really successful for me - but we are all different, all you can do is try something that seems to work for you, and be guided by your body.
  • Jessicareyes78
    Jessicareyes78 Posts: 36 Member
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    I undertand that MFP has the deficit calculated but I will admit that I was skeptical. Still new to the site. I made my diary public. Feel free to take a look and make comments and or suggestions. I ate pretty darn good today. It is now 9:30 pm I'll have me a protein shake but I don't think my stomach will allow me eat much more than that at this point. I will have to plan better earlier in the day. Thank you for your input.

    :love:
  • tigerblue
    tigerblue Posts: 1,525 Member
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    You can also "move" a portion of those calories to the next day. It's not like you must burn everything/eat everything within one 24 hour period. The 24 hour day just makes it easier to monitor and control yourself. (Otherwise some days I might want to eat my entier week's calories in one day!)

    The difficulty comes in trying to eat those calories heath-fully and not just having junk (although this would be a good day to give yourself a treat!). I think having a deficit one day is not a problem.
  • jhardenbergh
    jhardenbergh Posts: 1,035 Member
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    I say if you're hungry then eat them, you won't go into starvation mode from just one day of not eating your calories back. I have only eaten my calories back a handful of times since I started this past January. Everyones different though.
  • hyde1977
    hyde1977 Posts: 476 Member
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    I just looked at today and you are right! You ate amazing! Great Job- Great Choices and good mix!

    Are you using an HRM to get those calorie burns? The only reason I ask is that often MFP overestimates a lot! The totals that you entered seem very high, but that is to me! Only reason why I am asking if you use an HRM.
  • Jessicareyes78
    Jessicareyes78 Posts: 36 Member
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    I have big deficits everyday from 600-800 cals each day I work out 6 days a week some days even twice in one day. Today wowed me at deficit of over 1200. hence my questioning...My work out consist of cardio 5-6 days a week weight training circuts 3-4 days a week. HIITS every few days. I burn 1200 or more each workout session. Per my HRM.
  • hyde1977
    hyde1977 Posts: 476 Member
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    I have big deficits everyday from 600-800 cals each day I work out 6 days a week some days even twice in one day. Today wowed me at deficit of over 1200. hence my questioning...My work out consist of cardio 5-6 days a week weight training circuts 3-4 days a week. HIITS every few days. I burn 1200 or more each workout session. Per my HRM.

    Cool!!! Sorry had to ask :-)
    I say if you are not hungry and you are getting an accurate burn then don't eat them! I just looked at 2 weeks and I wish I ate like you! If your hungry, eat.....your body is going to tell you when it needs more.

    I have many big work outs as well (the calorie burn has been going down just b/c the weight and health level is so much better) but my body did start to tell me when it needed more..... I focus on getting 1400-1800 calories as an intake each day (so even if I burn 700-800 calories I don't always eat all those back!

    Again you have an amazing diary!!!! I don't think you need to worry about it...you are feeding your body great fuel
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    You are working hard, make sure you get some rest in there too so you don't get injured.

    Remember that if you burn 1200 cals from exercise, that adds onto the deficit that MFP has given you, so your total deficit is now 2200 cals.

    And remember that your body is using up around 1400 or so cals a day just to stay alive (this is my number, you can check yours in the BMR section under Tools). This is before you even get out of bed, let alone walk around, or exercise.

    Just make sure your deficit doesn't get too huge, you need to be getting good fuel in if you want to see good results.
    And make sure you have a schedule you can stick with so you don't burn out.
  • auntie_missy
    auntie_missy Posts: 113 Member
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    You're doing awesome! While the idea behind MFP is to eat back your exercise calories, you're also working on making a healthy lifestyle change. Don't ever eat just for the sake of eating. "Starvation mode," such as it is, kicks in after weeks or more of consistently eating too little to sustain your body. You're eating plenty to sustain your body.

    If you find you're burning just an insane amount of calories, think about how accurately those calories are being measured and consider whether you could/should cut back a little to give your muscles time to repair/tighten.
  • Mitchlou84
    Mitchlou84 Posts: 135
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    Do you have an HRM as I feel there is a possibility that you are overestimating your cals burned in exercise.

    We weigh similar amounts and I log Zumba as dancing aerobic, modern, ballet or twist, and I get 378 cals. The reason I do this is that I also go to aerobics classes such as Body Combat or Attack, I log those as aerobics and get 518 cals, and they are sooo much harder than Zumba.

    If I went to the gym and did an hours weights followed by an hour of cardio I'd log about 250 for the weights and 500 for the cardio. I get these amounts off MFP.

    So in your case I would have logged no more than 1100 cals burned, and that would be for 3 hours of exercise!

    So I think your exercise cals look high, but maybe you have an HRM and are just super duper full on?
  • Jessicareyes78
    Jessicareyes78 Posts: 36 Member
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    Ruby and Hyde thank you so much you have both been soo helpfull. I do take breaks when by body asks for it and thank goodness no injuries. I try to take more time off in between but my body just asks for it...It's almost as though I replaced my food addiction with excercise. lol!

    Auntie_missy...many thanks to you too...I will considr adding an extra day off.

    :love:
  • Jessicareyes78
    Jessicareyes78 Posts: 36 Member
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    Mitchlou,

    Yes I have a HRM, I was as surprised as you to see how different my numbers are from MFP. I work out at high intensities and bring my HR to 80% consistantly. I love cardio, spinning being my favorite and Hi-Aerobics! I have great lung and heart capacity, so I was told by my trainers. :-). I leave the gym drentched in sweat down to my under clothes (gross, I know) lol
  • november03
    november03 Posts: 205 Member
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    bump
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
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    Eat!
    Eat the calories so your body can recover.
    Your macros look great BTW.
    Try calorie cycling high on training days and baseline on rest days.
    Hugs!
  • Mitchlou84
    Mitchlou84 Posts: 135
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    Wow!! Well that is seriously impressive!

    I will have to invest in one. I workout as hard as I can and do things like spinning and body attack, combat etc. I use the MFP estimates, and have no real idea how accurate they are for me!

    I too sweat like crazy and everything has to go straight in the wash!!

    In that case then I would eat! It does feel for a while like you can happily survive at low net amounts, but after a while your body gets tired, workouts get harder and you just struggle to function properly.

    Its not nice feeling so drained and sluggish.

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