Allowance vs. Expenditure (ps. semi-new to this)

OK, I'm semi-new to this website although I have been counting (informally) and working out for years now. I've seriously plateaued and am hoping that using this site is going to help me get past that.

I calculated my expenditure to be 1900 and my allowance is 1072 to reach my goal. Is the 1072 where I have to be after exercise or just after food? Does that mean at the end of the day I'm at an 828 deficit? 3600 calories in a pound right? So if I'm down 828 a day that's 1.6 a week, right?

Thanks! : )

I would love to help you but must warn you when people throw math word problems at me, I get lost very quickly!! 

The way I understand it is, you take your daily calories burned minus your daily calories consumed, and you should have a defecit of about 500 calories - this times seven days equals your one pound of weight loss per week recommended as a healthy permanent weight loss. 

Hope I helped but if not, I warned ya!! LOL

1072 is too low of a calorie count. You should never go below 1200 as it will put your body into starvation mode.

Here's my theory which I am practicing now because eating 1000-1300 put me at a stand still.

My Normal expenditure  2100

My expenditure exercising 800

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Total expenditure  2900 calories.

All the literature I have read says that in order to lose 1 lb a week you must eat 500 calories less then you burn, and 1000 calories less if you want to lose 2lbs a week. Its not healthy to lose more then 2 lbs a week and by losing it slowly its more likely to stay off.

So..... I eat up to 1900 calories a day but never less then 1500. Some days I am more hungry then others so 1900 is good. If I'm not that hungry or short on time I eat less. Eating less calories doesnt mean less food, it just means I have to think about WHAT I eat and make lighter choices such as low cal, low fat or nonfat. Maybe I chose an apple instead of a yogurt... or nonfat yogurt and fresh strawberries instead of crackers. That kind of stuff makes a huge difference, and your stomach still knows its getting fed.

Thats my theory.........

Thank you both! I went home last night after work and calculated things all out. I'm a math nerd! I think I've got my exercise, allowance, expenditure and goals all figured out.

Thanks again!

 So does that mean if you are eating up to 1900 calories a day based on that formula, you would loose 2 lbs a week right??

That's 2900 calories burned which includes excercise minus the 1000 calories needed to loose the 2lbs comes to 1900 calorie intake daily? is that correct? 

yes that's correct! 

the problem is, all of these are estimates, both the amount burned, and the amount eaten.  they are close estimates, however.  the one constant, un-arguable fact is that fat is 3500 calories. 

you do have to burn 500 more than you eat each day in order to lose a pound a week.

also the body has a way of "hanging on" to fat so the weight loss line isn't a straight line.  it has lots of zigs and zags, the trend line is the one to watch.  that's the green one on your weight graph.