How much of a calorie deficit do you usually have?

what calorie deficit do you usually have?  And what has your sucess been with it.  I think on somedays my deficit has been to high.  Lately on more active days I have been eating a few more calories and it seems to be working a little better for me.. and has help get me over plateaus.. Usually I have a deficit between 500 - 700.  I am looking for opinions on what the highest deficit should be?

Thanks,

Diana

That really depends on the person.

Some people lose well with a 500-800 calorie deficit...some lose with over 1000.  I always lost with over 1000+, but lately I have seen that this theory isn't working anymore.  I'm gonna get it around 500 and see what's what.  You really have to go trial and error.

I did really good with a deficit around 700.  That was my magic number for months.  Anything higher and I'd stall out.  Lower and I'd barely budge. 

Now tho I'm sticking around 500 tops.  I'm really close to starting maintenance.

Typically between 600-800 per day.

On days with more activity, my deficit will be towards the 800-900 range.

I'm usually in the 400-500 calorie deficit, any more than that and I end up getting stagnant in my weight loss...  I end up losing just as much as if I ate more...

I aim for 500 a day...it usually ends up being 3-400, though some days gets up to 7-800...I love those days :D

Thanks for your replies.. I have been upping my calories about 4 days a week when I am more active and it seems to be working. It seems I would go for 3 weeks at a time without losing anything. Now it hasw become a little more steady!  Just goes to show changing things up a bit helps.

Diana

hey guys!! i'm trying to resurrect this old thread...

any other responses?

do others find that a larger calorie deficit actually makes them lose less?

I usually stick to 600-800, and it's been working really well for me.  I can't tolerate a 850-1000 deficit well--I feel ravenous, and I am grumpy and more likely to blow it all with fast, unhealthful foods.

im usualy around 800-1000 which seems to be ok for me. 1000+ and i lose nothing

 I apologize for my ignorance, but I'm wondering what "calorie deficit" is. Would it be the amount burned minus the amount consumed?

I cycle through the week. I have one or two days with 1000 or 1000+ (squash days), three to four with around 700-500 (regular workout days) and one-three days with around 400-200 (rest days).

I just computed my average for the month of July and it was 758.  It ranges from only about 50 calories to up to 1300 calories.

Original Post by fawkes:

 I apologize for my ignorance, but I'm wondering what "calorie deficit" is. Would it be the amount burned minus the amount consumed?

 That's exactly right - the diference between the amount of calories you took in and the amount you burned.

I end up with about a 600-800 calorie deficit, and I've been losing about 2 lbs. a week *knocks on wood*. Anything more and I lose nothing...anything less and that means I either took a day off or haven't worked hard enough.

I don't know, it's so hard to tell how much calories I burn during the day, I guess that on work days I burn about 3000 total, so i consume nearly 2000, on days off I imagine I burned close to my BMR since I don't do much on those days, so I eat a lot less and exercise a bit more. I find losing weight and eating healthy is easy, but I have yet to figure out how much I burn, its so hard to figure up.

Curious: why does having too large of a deficit make you NOT use weight? Intuitively it doesn't make sense to me...

Original Post by fawkes:

Curious: why does having too large of a deficit make you NOT use weight? Intuitively it doesn't make sense to me...

Sometimes your body goes into "survival mode" when it comes to that. The human body is made for survival, not to be starved...so if it thinks that it's at risk, it'll hold onto weight as much as possible.  Going over 1000 calories deficit-wise is doing just that, just like eating less than 1200 calories per day.

I range from 500 to 900. I am too nervous to get to 1,000.

My deficit is around 500 on nonworlout days, and on workout days it's around 700-800. When it gets up close to 1000, I tend to be hungry.

Seems like the consensus is between about 500 and 1000. I have heard that it is really hard on your body to have a deficit of 1000+, at least on a day to day basis. You guys have all hit the nail on the head with starvation mode, given that high of a deficit. Most people will be ravenously hungry.

Personally, I am aiming for maintenance right now. However, on good days I still run a deficit of about 500. On bad days, it is more like 1000.