?? Suggested deficit

Terasome
Terasome Posts: 3,808 Member
edited November 8 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok to lose weight safely what is a safe deficit to have. My goal is 1230 calories. So if like today I ate 1452 calories and burnt 245, my net is 1207.

Should I just be making sure I am eating 1230 calories and any extra is the deficit or isnt that how it works?

I am so confused.

Replies

  • cartea01
    cartea01 Posts: 156 Member
    Someone is going to come along at tell you that 1230 calories is too low, but ignoring this, to answer your question (and there is more than one answer), my belief is you should eat back some or all of your exercise calories because MFP has already taken into account a deficit by telling you to aim for 1230. If you want to know exactly what that deficit is, go and change your goals to "maintain' and you'll see how many calories you can eat without putting on weight.

    The reason I advise eating back at least some of your calories is that your body needs fuel to maintain exercise. If you only eat 1200 calories a day and then burn big numbers of calories on top, you'll find yourself feeling tired, unable to maintain your exercise or build up to higher resistance training.

    Everyone is different and some people can lose weight on 1200 calories and not eat back their exercise calories. My experience is that when I was eating 1200 my weight loss was slower than when I'm eating 1500. Good luck!
  • LeenaRuns
    LeenaRuns Posts: 1,309 Member
    Someone is going to come along at tell you that 1230 calories is too low, but ignoring this, to answer your question (and there is more than one answer), my belief is you should eat back some or all of your exercise calories because MFP has already taken into account a deficit by telling you to aim for 1230. If you want to know exactly what that deficit is, go and change your goals to "maintain' and you'll see how many calories you can eat without putting on weight.

    The reason I advise eating back at least some of your calories is that your body needs fuel to maintain exercise. If you only eat 1200 calories a day and then burn big numbers of calories on top, you'll find yourself feeling tired, unable to maintain your exercise or build up to higher resistance training.

    Everyone is different and some people can lose weight on 1200 calories and not eat back their exercise calories. My experience is that when I was eating 1200 my weight loss was slower than when I'm eating 1500. Good luck!

    This.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
    Ok to lose weight safely what is a safe deficit to have. My goal is 1230 calories. So if like today I ate 1452 calories and burnt 245, my net is 1207.

    Should I just be making sure I am eating 1230 calories and any extra is the deficit or isnt that how it works?

    I am so confused.
    I would just make sure that my goal was 1 lb per week of weight loss.
    And set your activity level to reflect your lifestyle: active vs sedentary. I suspect your number might actually be higher.
    1 lb per week is fine. And eat back your exercise calories.

    Simply stated MFP has already figured out your total calories you need to eat per day to lose 1lb etc. a week.
    That's WITHOUT exercise. You'll notice that when you actually add exercise in, the calorie limit goes up.
    Why? Because it's telling you to eat your exercise calories.
    Large deficits aren't really good to do because while you will lose weight, what kind of weight will it be?
    In many cases you'll lose lean muscle tissue which LOWERS your metabolic rate even more.
    Then you have to eat even less to compensate for less of a calorie burn to continue to lose the same amount of weight each week.

    Be efficient.
    Exercise hard and eat back the calories. The hard exercise will RAISE your metabolic rate and burn more fat at rest.
  • BiancaW18
    BiancaW18 Posts: 26 Member
    I agree with cartea01. I am on 1200 calories and excercise for at least an hour a day. I feel so tired and exhausted in the worst ways(especially the next couple days) if I don't eat back some of the calories I 've lost from excercise. Then I don't perform as well the next few days excercsing and am super lethargic. It's important to listen to your body and not starve it. When you don't eat enough, you actually go into starvation mode where your body hold on to more fat rather than burning.
    It may take a little bit of time, but you will find out what your body needs and in order to be successful, you have to do what's best for YOU.
    Best of luck :)
  • Terasome
    Terasome Posts: 3,808 Member
    Ok after reading something else it appears I have been sabotaging myself and have changed my activity level back to sedentary, because I was factoring in my exercise twice?

    Now my calorie intake should be 1330. If I exercise and burn 400 calories it brings me down to 930 is it ok if I only eat to around 1200 calories or should I eat back to 1330 or as close as possible?

    Im sorry if I am asking the same question and sound stupid but Im not getting the answer I understand.
  • cartea01
    cartea01 Posts: 156 Member
    Your intake should be 1330 on days you don't do exercise. If you exercise and burn 400 calories, you should eat at least the 1330 plus some or all of the exercise calories (ie eat up to 1730 calories). You will still lose weight because your caloric aim on MFP has factored in weight loss.
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