Daily Calorie Deficit - Help!

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marleebaby
marleebaby Posts: 105
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi! I'm relatively new to MFP. I'm on a 1200 calorie diet, and it's working out perfectly so far, I always come really close to my goals, and I never go over 1200 calories (unless there's exercise involved.)

I changed my goals today.
Carbs went from 55% to 50%.
Fiber went from 20g to 30g.

I'm going to copy and paste from my goals page..

Calories Burned
From Normal Daily Activity 2140 calories/day


Net Calories Consumed*

Your Daily Goal 1200 calories/day

Daily Calorie Deficit 940 calories

What is the deficit? Is the fact that it's 940 calories bad? What is your deficit? Please help! & thank you!

Replies

  • Cassi_Eats_Apples
    Cassi_Eats_Apples Posts: 235
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    I changed my goals recently to 1500 cals a day, and I have found I've been having between 300-600 left over, but I don't feel hungry and I don't feel deprived. I don't know much about it either, though.
  • marleebaby
    marleebaby Posts: 105
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    I seem to be doing perfectly at 1200 :)
  • Cassi_Eats_Apples
    Cassi_Eats_Apples Posts: 235
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    I don't stress about the numbers unless I find myself going way over, I go by how I feel and if I'm constantly hungry or feel shlubby.
  • marleebaby
    marleebaby Posts: 105
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    I don't stress about the numbers unless I find myself going way over, I go by how I feel and if I'm constantly hungry or feel shlubby.

    I haven't been hungry at all at the end of the night, I'm really surprised. I didn't even get the drunk munchies last night, so proud!

    I really hope someone can explain this Deficit thing to me.
  • andrejjorje
    andrejjorje Posts: 497 Member
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    Don't change what it works.:bigsmile:
  • klewis81
    klewis81 Posts: 122
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    For every 500 deficit calories a day, you will lose one pound a week. You must have your settings set to a two pound a week loss, which should be a 1000 calorie deficit, but MFP will not let you go under 1200. Two pounds a week loss and 1200 calories a day is difficult to maintain. If you feel you are having difficulty, there is no shame in changing to a one pound a week weight loss.
  • marleebaby
    marleebaby Posts: 105
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    I get that I'm burning 2140 calories/day just by breathing, without exercise. I have my job as sedentary.
    And I'm on a 1200 calorie diet.

    My question is really, am i seriously supposed to eat that remainder of 940 calories?
    Or is the deficit what causes the weight loss?
  • marleebaby
    marleebaby Posts: 105
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    For every 500 deficit calories a day, you will lose one pound a week. You must have your settings set to a two pound a week loss, which should be a 1000 calorie deficit, but MFP will not let you go under 1200. Two pounds a week loss and 1200 calories a day is difficult to maintain. If you feel you are having difficulty, there is no shame in changing to a one pound a week weight loss.

    "For every 500 deficit calories a day, you will lose one pound a week. "
    THAT IS THE ANSWER TO MY QUESTION! THANK YOU! :)

    I'm not having difficulties at all, it's working out perfectly, I was just really wondering about that big number - 940 - and what it meant! Thanks so much!

    I get it now. Everyday when I close my diary it says, "you will lose 1.9lbs per week." The math adds up now.
  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
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    Having a few days that low wont harm you, but you might find it difficult to sustain this longer term. Not giving your body enough fuel will make it harder to get through your exercise and function physically.

    In my view you are better off exercising more and eating more (as opposed to exercising and eating less), it keeps your metabolism going and gets you healthy... not just thinner...

    If you have a workout day and need some extra cals, dont be afraid to add a little more food to your diary. Remember that MFP sets your goals at a loss anyway, so even if you stick to the net calories suggested chances are you will still steadily lose weight.
  • marleebaby
    marleebaby Posts: 105
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    Having a few days that low wont harm you, but you might find it difficult to sustain this longer term. Not giving your body enough fuel will make it harder to get through your exercise and function physically.

    In my view you are better off exercising more and eating more (as opposed to exercising and eating less), it keeps your metabolism going and gets you healthy... not just thinner...

    If you have a workout day and need some extra cals, dont be afraid to add a little more food to your diary. Remember that MFP sets your goals at a loss anyway, so even if you stick to the net calories suggested chances are you will still steadily lose weight.

    I've been exercising 5 times a week, bringing my calories up to around 1400-1600, and I always eat them back. Thank you.
  • amonkey9
    amonkey9 Posts: 94
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    I get that I'm burning 2140 calories/day just by breathing, without exercise. I have my job as sedentary.
    And I'm on a 1200 calorie diet.

    My question is really, am i seriously supposed to eat that remainder of 940 calories?
    Or is the deficit what causes the weight loss?

    If you eat the deficit you will maintain
  • marleebaby
    marleebaby Posts: 105
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    I get that I'm burning 2140 calories/day just by breathing, without exercise. I have my job as sedentary.
    And I'm on a 1200 calorie diet.

    My question is really, am i seriously supposed to eat that remainder of 940 calories?
    Or is the deficit what causes the weight loss?

    If you eat the deficit you will maintain

    I got it now! Thank you guys so much.
  • 276NoMore
    276NoMore Posts: 115 Member
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    Sorry, disregard the following - you replied earlier saying you figured it out and I cannot delete my post so just ignore it please.

    I think it means the following:
    All things being equal (ie/ not counting exercises you do or water retention, etc.) it seems to me the following:
    Cals OUT (ie/ amt of cals you burn every day just by breathing) is 2140
    subtract the cals IN (ie/ food, drinks) of 1200
    equals a NET of 940 cals OUT.

    Since one pound equals 3500 cals, it looks like in about 4 days you could lose a pound (940 x 4 = 3760) (you must have your goal wt set at 2 lbs per week to lose?). This is just my guess :)
  • George1567
    George1567 Posts: 107
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    The "deficit" is the amount MFP caculates you need to be under your daily required calories to lose the amount of weight you selected. Add the deficit to your 1200 consumed and you should get back to your daily need.

    A pound of fat is 3500 calories. So if set your goal at 2 pounds lost per week you need to eat 7000 less calories than your body burns. 7000 calories divided by 7 days is a deficit of 1000 calories a day. Your deficit is 960, so it might be affected by your daily activity level setting.

    Hope this helps.....
  • marleebaby
    marleebaby Posts: 105
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    I think it means the following:
    All things being equal (ie/ not counting exercises you do or water retention, etc.) it seems to me the following:
    Cals OUT (ie/ amt of cals you burn every day just by breathing) is 2140
    subtract the cals IN (ie/ food, drinks) of 1200
    equals a NET of 940 cals OUT.

    Since one pound equals 3500 cals, it looks like in about 4 days you could lose a pound (940 x 4 = 3760) (you must have your goal wt set at 2 lbs per week to lose?). This is just my guess :)

    You are correct, I'm set at 2lbs. Nice math!!
    "it looks like in about 4 days you could lose a pound (940 x 4 = 3760)"
    Thanks for that, I'll keep that in mind!
  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
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    I get that I'm burning 2140 calories/day just by breathing, without exercise. I have my job as sedentary.
    And I'm on a 1200 calorie diet.

    My question is really, am i seriously supposed to eat that remainder of 940 calories?
    Or is the deficit what causes the weight loss?

    If you eat the deficit you will maintain

    WRONG!

    If your NET calorie intake (calories eaten minus calories burned) to the level given by MFP, you will still lose weight! Assuming you put a weight loss target in when you set you goals on this site of course.
  • marleebaby
    marleebaby Posts: 105
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    The "deficit" is the amount MFP caculates you need to be under your daily required calories to lose the amount of weight you selected. Add the deficit to your 1200 consumed and you should get back to your daily need.

    A pound of fat is 3500 calories. So if set your goal at 2 pounds lost per week you need to eat 7000 less calories than your body burns. 7000 calories divided by 7 days is a deficit of 1000 calories a day. Your deficit is 960, so it might be affected by your daily activity level setting.

    Hope this helps.....

    I think it is my activity setting changing it from 1000 to 940. Either way, it's working for me so i'll leave it alone! Hahah! & thank you!
  • xbabyblueyez21x
    xbabyblueyez21x Posts: 26
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    So your "calories burned from normal daily activity" is what you burn just breathing, living, without exercise.

    Your "daily goal" is the amount of calories you are aiming to eat each day without exercise.

    The "daily calorie deficit" is the first number minus the 2nd number. This is what leads to weight loss because you are consuming less calories than you are burning. A deficit of 500 calories a day leads to 1lb of weight loss per week; therefore, your deficit of 940 would lead to almost 2lbs of weight loss per week.

    Hope this helped! :)
  • marleebaby
    marleebaby Posts: 105
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    I have the answer, thank you all, i'm going to pop off this thread but i'm sure people will keep replying..
    I appreciate all of the advice!
  • ksizzle911
    ksizzle911 Posts: 130 Member
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    I think what you are referring to is the deficit that shows after you add in the extra calories when you work out. For example, say that when you log all your food in, you're at 1200 calories. Then you add in your exercise.....400 calories burned doing 40 minutes on the elliptical (just as an example). My Fitness Pal is going to show that you actually have an extra 400 calorie "deficit" because they reccomment eating the calories that you burn off while working out. So even though you're eating 1200 calories, it wants you to eat the extra 400 that were burned off during exercise. Does that make sense?

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