Question about calorie deficit and burn meter.

I've noticed that my the little number on my burn meter is always considerably higher than my caloric intake. Some days the difference is as high as 2000 calories when I do heavy exercise. I'm eating 2000 calories a day, too. My question is about how much deficit I should have.

Should I eat until I'm 500-1000 under my over all burn? Or is that too much? It's a little confusing because I've got a major deficit and still am not seeing results. It seems like the numbers aren't adding up.

If I eat less than 2000 calories a day I feel ravenous at night. Like I wake up and my stomach is on fire with hunger so I want to try to stay as close to that as possible. I played around with it a bit and 2000 seems to be my magic number for feeling satisfied and energetic so I'd like to not go under that.

Dovie,

I'm no expert on all this, but generally 1000 calorie deficit a day should lead to about about 2 lb loss per week ( realizing that things are not always perfect)..hormones, water balance, sodium intake, etc)

If your calorie target is 2000 and you are hungry at night, maybe you save some of your calories for night so you don't wake up starving.

Maybe 300 cal breakfast, 400 cal lunch (that's 700)  500 cal supper (that's 1200) that gives you  400 you can have for a nice late night snack before bed.  (total 1600 calories)   So you have 400 left you can use for snacks during the day if you get hungry...

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear. 2000 is perfect. Less than that is the issue. >.<

Anyway, if I've got such a major deficit and am not losing any, do you have any suggestions on what to do to correct that? That's where my problem lies. I do have a thyroid issue, but even then I should be losing SOMETHING.

I believe you will lose, Dovie.  I tend to lose good for about a week and then for a week or two lose nothing.  It's frustrating, but I see the pattern and try not to stress about it.

I was just thinking about the late night hungries that are bothering you and how you might handle it if you went a little lower (if you wanted to)...nevermind, I guess I'm just not quite awake yet. 

Yeah, that seems to be the trend I'm in. I've actually stayed the same weight, give or take a few decimal points, for two weeks. Here's hoping to a better week next week, then.

I injured my ankle yesterday while walking (sticks and weak ankles don't mix) so I'm hoping the athletic brace I've got will help me keep up. I forgot what it was like to have an ankle injury. And to think, I used to be constantly be walking on one of these as a kid. 

Ok, what activity level are you set to?

I do not work, I keep mine of sedentary. When I specifically do exercise, gym or walking, I add that in. If I had a job, even if just an office job where I sat most of the time, I would set my activity level to light.

So, you are saying that some days your burn meter is at 4000 for 24 hours? My default is around 1940 burn and I'm doing 1200 cals a day intake, most days I add about 500 cals worth of exercise making my deficit around 1000-1200 a day. I have been losing about 2lbs a week (but totm week I gained like 2.5 lbs which vanished after).

My max heart rate is 190, so when I use the elliptical and keep it almost the whole time like 170-175, I consider that vigorous, and log it as such. 165 - moderate, etc

So, what are you set to, what type of activities are you logging for how many calories burn per ? If you really really log every calorie in and every calorie out - after many(many) weeks you can calculate how many calories a day you are actually burning - based on weight loss.

I'm set to Sedentary since I'm a stay at home mom and add my exercises individually. It gives me more control and I like that. They're usually light, but on days that I really do a workout you can definitely tell. My default is 2700 (That's got to be ridiculously high!) and some days my burn meter can go as high 5000, though usually it's closer to 4000.

My "workouts" are vigorous walking and play time. I have to wear the kid out somehow. Usually I get going so fast breathing is very difficult so I put it down as vigorous. I don't really take my heart rate, though. I can say it's pounding in my brain when I'm done, though. I'm picking up tennis and biking, too. I don't go easy on myself when I do exercise, either. I really like to push myself as far as I can healthily go every time I workout. That being said, I usually log between 500 and 1500 a day of burn.

I'm 5'11" and 325, if you were wondering.

Are you sure you are eating enough? I seem to be able to eat over 2000 calories and lose. I weigh 284, and I'm not as active as you.

Your default amount will go down as weight goes down.

Here are some forum threads with girls the same height - they discuss calories in and calories out and maintance, weights, clothing, etc etc

http://caloriecount.about.com/girls-anyone-ft 15518

http://caloriecount.about.com/lbs-else-simila r-ft154124

 or you can start a new thread asking for girl the same height and get an idea of calories they eat to lose at whatever weight and what the eat to maintain.

I wouldn't go much higher than 1,000 deficit a day average - it can make you feel like crap, headaches, etc.. plus it isn't good to lose weight too fast.. as appealing as that is! :D

I upped my intake by 500 calories over the past four days and added in an hour of dancing last night at my favorite bar.

I LOST 4 POUNDS!!! *fistpump*

So I guess I really wasn't eating enough even at 2000 a day. I know four pounds is a big jump in four days, but I'm sure I'm still in my water weight stages and realistically that won't happen all that often. I gotta say, though, I'LL TAKE THAT WITH A SLICE OF HELL YEAH! haha

Thanks for all your help, ladies! I'm sure I'll have this issue again soon, so keep your fingers ready! haha