Finding the "Sweet Spot" for calorie balance

Perhaps this is just a pipe dream, but I think it's out there - a calorie intake/burn ratio that is just optimal for your body to lose weight efficiently. Or maybe my starvation point is a lot higher than CC says...

I had been keeping the calories under 1500 for about 2 weeks in mid-September and lost nothing. I had also been exercising everyday. It's possible that my average deficit was above 1000 OR that something was going on with my muscles due to HIIT, lifting and circuit training. I lost maybe 2 pounds. Within the past week, I cut down on my exercise dramatically AND ate more, almost at a 1700 average in calories. The deficit should be around 500 calories. Suddenly 4 pounds came off and they've stayed off.

Since I'm not very experienced with losing weight, I'm guessing there are a few logical explanations for this. My body likely had been repairing my overworked muscles and finally lost the weight accounting for my deficit from before. OR, the increase in calories allowed me to find a better calorie intake for my body to lose weight. But does the timespan fit? How can I tell what the reason is? It matters a lot to me because it means I can eat 300 more calories a day, lose the same or more weight, and that would make me very happy. By next week, I can resume my old regimen of vigorous exercise and strict (er) calorie control. But should I?

Has anyone, especially people who have been at it for a while, found a Sweet Spot ratio for themselves? If so, how did you do it?

My sweet spot was an average of 1800 of calories a day zig zagged through the week. I stayed at this average from 251 lbs all the way down to around 170 lbs. I simply did one hour a day, six days a week on my elliptical cross trainer at 80% of max heart rate. The weight just dropped off me. I'm now at 154, and I eat an average of 2575 a day, and do 45 mins a day, 5 days out of 7 on the machine. This is keeping me at the weight I'm at.

I'm guessing that in your case, it wasn't so much about finding the sweet spot, but as you indicated, that it had more to do with your muscles and the added excercise.  When you start a new excercise regimen, especially when it includes weight training, you can see a slight gain from muscle (this is a newbie phenomenon and people generally don't continue to gain muscle while eating at a deficit), but more importantly, your muscles hold onto a good deal of water while they're repairing themselves, so some of the 4 pounds that you lost this week was most likely water weight.

As for whether you should continue to eat 1700 calories instead of 1500, I say do what makes you happy.  If you're losing weight eating at 1700 calories, and you're happier eating a little more, you're more likely to stick with it in the long term.  Plus, if you hit a plateau down the line, and you want to lower your calorie intake, it's much easier to lower it from 1700 than 1500.

Sometimes it is the body that just takes a while to adapt. I've had times when I see no change on the scale but I know I've been doing the right things. The key is to trust in your plan and just stick it out. Many people react differently so don't let it discourage you when you don't see instant results. Don't make the calorie deficit too much. That will lead to starvation and can account for less weight loss as well.

10% to 30% deficit seems a good starting point. And adapt when necessary.

Thank you for posting the exact question I've been trying to post for a week...just not knowing how to ask...(and without the dramatic four pound drop, lol)...I'm exercising six days a week and averaging a 1000 calorie deficit. I wanna go lower but I'm scared, but now I want to to see if I'll show a bigger loss.   I'm afraid I'll gain!

HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH YOUR CALORIE DEFICIT??

Original Post by tricia122882:

HOW DO YOU COME UP WITH YOUR CALORIE DEFICIT??

It's the number of calories you burn in a day minus the number of calories you eat in a day.  You can use the tools on this site to get an estimate of how many calories you burn based on your age, weight, height, and activity level.

For me, the "sweet spot" is the calorie intake/exercise quantity that I can imagine maintaining happily for the rest of my life.

I got there by calculating my burn at my starting weight (obese) at "slightly active" and subtracting 500 calories.  That gave me a calorie target of about 1800 calories.

I then calculated my my calorie needs at goal weight and "moderately" active.  That turns out to be about 2100 calories.  90% of that is 1890 calories, and 80% is 1680.

So, I figure that if I consume a core of 1700 to 1900 calories (good wholesome foods, minimal high calorie/low nutrition treats) now and forever, I will gradually get to goal weight in a sustainable fashion.  Once I am at goal, I can add in a few hundred calories of "special treat" foods and still maintain, since I will be following the 90/10% nutrition/treat ratio.  But I won't really change my core diet.

I am also working on gradually adding activity so that I meet the "moderately" active category by the time I am at goal weight, since my naturally sedentary personality is the core reason I gradually got obese to start with.

This program is allowing me to lose about 5-6 pounds per month, so I consider that it is working.  Almost halfway to goal!  And 10 months into this program, I can imagine living like this for the rest of my life.  I am not "dieting", I am not cranky, I am not bored, I am not craving "forbidden" foods.  I just wish I had found this strategy many years ago, but that is water under the bridge.

I was totally wondering the same thing myself, since I have been so wondrous with my dieting and exercise and for three weeks have yet to see a decline in the numbers.  I eat between 1200-1600 a day and exercise about four times a week, usually burning about 600 calories during a workout.  About once or twice a week, I will have closer to 2000 calories.  Nevertheless, I couldn't think that a few days of higher caloric intake would result in NO change in weight from the rest of the good work.

Since I really amped up the exercise, I decided to wait it out and see if the muscles start doing their fat burning thing.  As such, I have resolved not to weigh myself until after (Canadian) Thanksgiving since it will just discourage me and make me believe I am not really doing the right stuff.  I think finding the "sweet spot" is hard because along the journey your weight and muscle is always changing so it is a matter of constant adaptation to figure out what works.

I've read a few studies that suggest losing 1% of your body weight a week is optimal. I'll use my current weight, 259, for this example.

Take 1% of 259 - 2.59...I should shoot to lose about 2.59 lbs a week.  3500 calories = a pound....take 2.59 X 3500 to get your calorie deficit for a week...=9065.  If I divide that by 7, I get what I should be at (on average) for a calorie deficit daily. 9065/7=1295.  Right now I am shooting for around 1300 calorie deficit everyday...I find it works better for me if I zigzag it.

Also, what I like to do to get a really accurate count for my calories burned is this: I set my activity level at sedentary and enter any exercise or physical activity manually. I teach 4th grade, so I use the "Non-food shopping: walking or standing" for my time at work since I am on my feet most of the day.

This has worked really well for me: I have lost 26 pounds since the end of July.

Original Post by janeba:

I was totally wondering the same thing myself, since I have been so wondrous with my dieting and exercise and for three weeks have yet to see a decline in the numbers. I eat between 1200-1600 a day and exercise about four times a week, usually burning about 600 calories during a workout. About once or twice a week, I will have closer to 2000 calories. Nevertheless, I couldn't think that a few days of higher caloric intake would result in NO change in weight from the rest of the good work.

Since I really amped up the exercise, I decided to wait it out and see if the muscles start doing their fat burning thing. As such, I have resolved not to weigh myself until after (Canadian) Thanksgiving since it will just discourage me and make me believe I am not really doing the right stuff. I think finding the "sweet spot" is hard because along the journey your weight and muscle is always changing so it is a matter of constant adaptation to figure out what works.

It's an insidious thing:  it can take your body a couple of days to adapt to a steady caloric deficit before you start burning fat, as the body will attempt to temporarily weather the scarcity by lowering your metabolism.

What this means is that by cheating one day a week, you are effectively in weight-loss mode only 3 days of the week.  It's terribly easy to sabotage your diet like that (I speak from experience).  Cheat two days per week, 2-3 days apart, and BAM, you're on a plateau.  That said, deprivation is hard, and if you have a long way to go, it may do well to schedule a few breaks in the program, where you eat at maintenance for a week or two, just so that you won't binge later.

1200 kCal isn't really enough for anyone but a tiny couch potato.  Look at your burn rate, subtract 500, and that's your target intake to lose 1 pound per week.  If you're already small, that represents a significant fraction of your maintenance intake, so don't try to overdo it, or you'll just hate your program and will have trouble sticking with it.