How do you control your calorie deficit?
I just started Calorie Count and I was reviewing my logs for the past three days. I noticed that my calorie deficits were 542, 759, and 883. Those seem too high! I’ve been logging my food intake and strive to eat around 1500 calories a day. However, I’ve begun riding my bike recently. For the past two days, I rode my bike for nearly eight miles at a good pace.
Should I increase my food intake? Decrease exercise (I doubt it)? Or is that deficit fine?
Thanks ahead of time!
I'm wondering the same thing! I've been having outrageous calorie deficits and not sure if I should be makign the calorie quota or not, especially if I don't feel hungry/etc to do so.
Sorry not much help! But just wanted to chime in, since I'm facing the same thing. :)
The general consensus is that you are good between 500-1000. That keeps you in the 1-2 pounds a week range. :D
Is there a way to look at your previous days calorie/burn meters to find out what your average deficit is?
lanie, I haven't yet found a way to do it. So, this past week I logged it all in an excel document on my computer to see how much I should be losing (and comparing it with the real thing). I plan on continuing for a few weeks to see if there are ways to tweak my eating and exercising.
Thank you for the reply. I will try that this week. I just got started back on my exercise/eating plan on Monday. Since then I've lost about 2 pounds. It might be fun to track it. And it's another way to make this whole process more interesting, so maybe I 'll stick with it this time.
Why is it important to keep between 500-1000? I was wondering.
From what I understand, if you do this, you can lose 1 to 2 pounds a week.
Original Post by darlingbee:
Why is it important to keep between 500-1000? I was wondering.
It's not so much important as sensible. Since it takes 3,500 calories to make one pound, if you cut 250 a day, you'll lose 1/2 pound a week. This is where I am right now because I'm unable to exercise. If you cut 500 a day, that would be a pound in one week. 1,000 deficit a day would help you lose 2 pounds a week.
The reason you shouldn't go to more than a 1,000 deficit is that it can be counter productive.
Find what works for you an stick to it.
Hmmm, I thought it was an interesting experiment to figure out my deficits for the last month and figure out by that how much I was "supposed" to lose (counting each lb as a 3500 deficit). When I was done I was supposed to have lost 7.4 lbs. In reality, I've lost 14.8! I eat an average of 1300 calories (cc says I should only eat 1200!!). I log any exercise I do (including cutting the grass, going on walks, bike rides) so that is taken into account. Does anybody have any idea why it would be so different?? Not that I am complaining
Thanks for all the input guys! It's helpful and makes sense. As long as I don't go over 1,000 calorie deficit, I should be good! Gracias!
Original Post by tinaek:
Hmmm, I thought it was an interesting experiment to figure out my deficits for the last month and figure out by that how much I was "supposed" to lose (counting each lb as a 3500 deficit). When I was done I was supposed to have lost 7.4 lbs. In reality, I've lost 14.8! I eat an average of 1300 calories (cc says I should only eat 1200!!). I log any exercise I do (including cutting the grass, going on walks, bike rides) so that is taken into account. Does anybody have any idea why it would be so different?? Not that I am complaining
maybe the estimate of your bmr is off so the starting point isn't what you think it should be. what are your stats?
I am 5'5", 37 yr old woman - started out at 221 lbs on April 30th - as of today down to 204.6 (Yah!) CC used to say I should eat around 1450 but with the new calculations, it now says 1200.
tinaek, the best way to figure your deficits is to divide your weight loss by the number of days and multiply by 3500 calories per pound. Taking your 16.4 lb loss, dividing by 31 days, and multiplying by 3500, your deficit is 1850 calories per day. That's pretty aggressive compared with the calorie count program, which stresses no more than 1000 calories per day. But as much as 5 lbs of the loss could be water weight. You will probably find that it gets tougher to lose weight as you get closer to your normal weight, too.
This method of calculating deficit is much more accurate than trying to use the burn meter or BMR on a daily basis, because it's based on your actual results over a long period of time. Keeping a diary allows you to check your progress whenever you want.
Now that I've adjusted it I'm getting a 1618 daily caloric intake goal, and my burn goal is still at 2310.. Once again, will that change with time or are they expecting me to kill pounds per day?
Yikes, I never would have thought I had a 1850 calorie deficit a day! CC has calculated my BMR at 2220 (I sit on my butt all day long in an office) and recommended I eat 1200 calories a day, which is obviously not right. I am eating more than 1200 calories a day, just because I would never be able to survive because I LOVE food and saying no thanks to every yummy food would kill me. I guess given my results so far I can say yes to more things.
When I first joined CC (I'm embarrassed to say it was a few years ago now - thought I would be maintaining at this point not going up and down and up and down LOL) the recommendation was for me to eat 1650 -- it was a big shock when I re-did the calculation and it told me I was only supposed to be eating 1200.
(The 1450 calorie recommendation I mentioned in my last post was at the beginning of this month, before they changed the calculator - maybe it would be better to stick with that)
