Daily Calorie Deficit?

just4me46
just4me46 Posts: 58
in Health and Weight Loss
When I set my goals on MFP, it states my daily calorie deficit should be 640. My daily goal for calories is 1200. I'm don't mean to sound stupid, but are the 640 calorie deficit the amount of calories I should be burning everyday to reach my goal weight? I'm not sure I know or understand what this is?

Replies

  • Toddrific
    Toddrific Posts: 1,114 Member
    Just breathing you probably need 1840 calories a day. So eating 1200 calories a day would cause your body to consume itself to fuel itself.

    Also:
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538381-in-place-of-a-road-map
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
    MFP is trying to tell you that to lose whatever weight loss goal you set that your deficit should be 640. Being that it says 1200 it's trying to tell you that your TDEE (total daily energy expedenture) is 1840 calories. 1200+640.

    Please note though: MFP drastically underestimates TDEE and weight loss goals.

    More often than not, 1200 is too low of a number. If you ate that much you might lose some quick weight but then you'll most likely stall and left wondering what went wrong.

    Do some reading on these sites to get a better idea of what to do.

    - www.bodyrecomposition.com
    - www.leangains.com
    - body-improvements.com


    That should get you started.
  • jwil1231
    jwil1231 Posts: 89 Member
    Thanks for this information because I had the exact question but someone else explained it much better than I. So, thanks to the both of you.:smile:

    I don't really understand the comment that MFP underestimates the two caloric numbers though.
  • joejccva71
    joejccva71 Posts: 2,985 Member
    Thanks for this information because I had the exact question but someone else explained it much better than I. So, thanks to the both of you.:smile:

    I don't really understand the comment that MFP underestimates the two caloric numbers though.

    You'd be surprised how many people on MFP get the same amount of calories to eat (1200).

    Hint: Almost everyone. =)

    It's just a base guideline but for most people it's way off. It causes people to undereat.
  • nickyrobinson
    nickyrobinson Posts: 161 Member
    The main reason MFP comes up with 1200 so much is that 1200 is the minimum MFP will allow, and so many people try to set to lose 2 lb/week. Unless your maintenance (i.e. TDEE) is more than 1200 calories, you are going to get 1200 calories as the guide to eat.

    Examples:

    Maintenance: 2400
    2 lb/week loss: -1000
    Total: 1400
    MFP calories: 1400

    Maintenance: 2100
    2 lb/week loss: -1000
    Total: 1100
    MFP calories: 1200 (minimum allowed)

    Maintenance: 2100
    1 lb/week loss: -500
    Total: 1600
    MFP calories: 1600

    Try switching to 1 lb/week (or 0.5 lb/week).

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