April Calorie Deficit Challenge - Newcomers always welcome!

We all know that in order to lose weight you need to have a calorie deficit.  This challenge is about that deficit! 

You can sign up anytime by posting in this thread and indicating which group you want to be in.

We'll start counting on 4/1/09.

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How it works
To start with, you choose a goal deficit for the month.  Then each day you keep track of your calorie intake and calorie output, then compute your calorie deficit.  You post in here (daily, weekly, whenever) your running deficit for the month in the form of: deficit to-date / goal deficit.  Be sure to post a new post every time you post - do not edit previous posts or I will not see it!  Also, be sure you keep track of your on-going total - I won't be doing the math for you! 

For example
Let's say I want to lose five pounds this month.  So, I sign up for the 17,500 Challenger group.  On day 1 my calorie output is 2000 and my intake is 1500.  That makes my day 1 deficit 500, so I post: 500/17,500.  On day 2, my calorie output is 1800 and my intake is 1500, making my deficit 300.  So, I add my day 2 deficit onto my day 1 deficit, and post:  800/17,500.  On day 3, I didn't do so well and took in 2000 calories and burned 1800 calories.  So, on day 3 I subtract the calories I took in over maintainence and I post my total montly deficit as 600/17,500.   For more examples check out the March Calorie Deficit Challege found here.

Questions?
Ask!

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CHALLENGERS*
10,500 (3 pounds) challengers
     alle0299 - 4227
     brivb10 - 1773
     droppinlbs - 12152
     rylindis - 700

14,000 (4 pounds) challengers
     augenblick - 406
     figurethefat - 7209
     future214 -  6000
     kacka - 8980
     v_avila - 100

17,500 (5 pounds) challengers
     cbussiere - 11376
     faithhopelove76 - 4648
     nellebelle1 - 4379
     nodame - 3010
     r4eboxer
     redhead27 - 1368
     wesmoot - 12680

21,000 (6 pounds) challengers
     betzc - 11209
     eat4health - 17170  
     healthmd - 6699
     jnielsen006 - 12350
     kkfrench - 17185
     lemntwist - 6798
     musicalfishmich - 5614
     ntack2 - 7546
     smartypants_57 - 1720
     tigerlilyncsu - 12052

24,500 (7 pounds) challengers
     annulyju - 11783
     girlfighting27 - 8004
     luleelu - 21758
     lilygirl1970 - 16775
     sereniticat - 27160

28,000 (8 pounds) challengers
     acomley11 - 28318
     anastase - 19936
     bell62 - 13526
     bking1969 - 1797
     buttercup98
     courtneymarie2689 - 4068
     diva_n_da_making - 13897
     ericaly - 18400
     edspillane - 5500
     gbpfan4life - 26121
     inacio68 - 1965
     jesselou
     lvanryss - 18385
     neozanne -  7299
     sarahshe - 16270
     shapeshifter - 10700
     smartasu
     tealparadise - 11450
     terikopplin - 17819
     turning50 - 4800

*REMINDER:  Be sure to post your running total for the month, using your
  last posted total not the posted total.  Otherwise you'd risk missing some 
 calories in your total!

April 1- 993/28,000 (Sick as a dog, so I couldn't work out! Oh well, I'll try to in a day or so...)

April  1-1,561/24,500

April 1st: 894

894/28,000

SW: 195

Only lost 4 pounds last month even though my deficient was 24,722 out of 28,000. Hopefully I can lose those 8 pounds this month.

Good Luck Everyone!

I don't know if I am figuring this correct but how are people getting a thousand or more calorie deficits in one day?  I thought it is only healthy to get around 500 a day? 

222/14000

Original Post by augenblick:

I don't know if I am figuring this correct but how are people getting a thousand or more calorie deficits in one day?  I thought it is only healthy to get around 500 a day? 

222/14000

 I agree! The purpose of this challenge is to get HEALTHY deficits (those below 1000 a day). Some of these ones are HUGE and can only lead to problems if they are maintained too long. I stopped losing weight after only 4 days of 1100+ deficits! For those peoples' sakes...let's hope it's just a one day fluke.

514/28,000

According to the daily calorie requirement calculator, at my present body weight I burn 2300 daily.  My daily goal is to eat 1200-1300 daily.  On special occasions I may do 1800-2000, but no more.  I am determined to always have a deficit.  I read that women should not go below 1200 and men 1500 calories daily.  Anything less is unsafe.

28000/1100

813/17,500  pretty good start

Hi everyone!  Thanks alle for putting this on again!

Wed: 917

Total: 917/21,000

I'm jumping up a few groups, hopefully I can get a little closer to my goals!

3194 / 24500

I know my deficits are big.  DO NOT use my deficits as an example, this is just something I'm doing for a healthy liver at the moment, this is not and shoudln't be a way of life, nor do I plan on having such big deficits all through the month.

Original Post by lilygirl1970:

Original Post by augenblick:

I don't know if I am figuring this correct but how are people getting a thousand or more calorie deficits in one day?  I thought it is only healthy to get around 500 a day? 

222/14000

 I agree! The purpose of this challenge is to get HEALTHY deficits (those below 1000 a day). Some of these ones are HUGE and can only lead to problems if they are maintained too long. I stopped losing weight after only 4 days of 1100+ deficits! For those peoples' sakes...let's hope it's just a one day fluke.

It would be 500 a day to have 1 lb loss a week, which is recommended but I think it's possible to lose even 2-3 lbs a week in a healthy way, specially at the beginning of the diet and when you weigh way too much. When I started at 255 lbs I was losing 10 lbs a month. Now that I'm in my last 20lbs it's 4-5 lbs a month, 6lbs last month thanks to this challenge. And I'm doing in a very healthy way.

So, I don't know if it's that bad to have a deficit of a 1000 in one day as long as you're eating well, specially on days you workout a lot. I eat between 1600-1800 cals a day (I like to eat! I never go below 1600) and my burn meter without any exercise is around 2000, which is at least 200 cal deficit. At the top of my weight my burn meter started at 2500! So that's why you lose more at the beginning specially obese people. Somedays I do a lot of exercise, just running and walking together is almost 500 cal, then added 120 of weight training and sometimes another 15 min on the crosstrainer burns another 200 cal, then it's a 1000 cal deficit day. But I had days with 100-300 deficit when there was no workout. For my 21000 goal I need to burn an average 700 cal a day.  I think you can have high deficits in a healthy way. I never cut on food but up on the workout, of course there's a limit on how much your muscles can take in a week.

But I do question how healthy it is for those people at the Biggest Loser on tv that lose 6-11 lbs in one week. And what to do with all that excess skin? No, that can't be healthy.

Man, I better go to the gym today. Hopefully I have time this afternoon. I think healthmd is probably right - those who are severely overweight and start to live healthy will have larger deficits.

But I've been told frequently that a 2 pound per week weight loss is healthy and that would require a 1000 deficit per day, right? This is just from what I've heard - I'm no expert so correct me if I'm wrong.

april 2 deficit: 977

total: 1970/28,000

Original Post by healthmd:

When I started at 255 lbs I was losing 10 lbs a month. Now that I'm in my last 20lbs it's 4-5 lbs a month, 6lbs last month thanks to this challenge. And I'm doing in a very healthy way.

 

Good point! I actually never thought about the person's current weight. Two people on a 1500 cal diet can have drastically different sedentary burn meters - one ends up with a 800 cal deficit while the other could have a 1300 cal deficit! I find that my deficits are about the same as when I started out at 225lbs...though now I work out 45mins every day to get that burn. 

Sorry I jumped to conclusions everyone. I just know that FOR ME, deficits higher than 1100 cals over a longer period of time are bad news! I guess we all have to find out what works for our own bodies.

I've always heard that 1-2 pounds is okay, nodame.  and that does require 7000 deficit a week (3500 per lb).

4/1 - 715/21000. 

Yes, and I zig zag my calories, and am very active... I keep it healthy because I make sure that my calorie intake is still at a higher level when I have burned over 700cals in a work out session, (I jump rope and run) plus my bmr is at 2150. So if I have a cal deficit of 1100 one day the next may be only 400. I keep it healthy and noticed when I eat 'clean' my cals are lower than when I eat packaged or processed. 

April 1st - 1155/28000

I'm in for the 17,500 goal!

April 1 -  392/17500

Original Post by shapeshifter:

 I keep it healthy and noticed when I eat 'clean' my cals are lower than when I eat packaged or processed. 

 Good point shapeshifter! I noticed the same thing, guess we have more control on fat and sugar content when we prepare ourselves. Plus the processed foods have higher sodium content that makes us retain more water.