Daily calorie deficit question

C

clee215

0
I am 20 years old, 6'2"(thought i was like 6'3.5" but just recently found out otherwise :/ ) and 218 pounds at my lightest since I started my diet. I have been dieting consistently for 30 days now and have lost a total of 12 pounds. I am not sure if thats fat or a water weight fluctuation on the scale but my starting weight was 230 and my lowest scale weight since then has been 218. According to some basic math, 12 poundsx3500kcal=42000kcal deficit, also, 42000kcal/30 days of dieting=1400kcal deficit per day. Which is a WHOLE lot larger of a deficit then I ever intended to induce, I was looking for... 1100 a day at best(shooting for 1% of my body weight) but according to the results it seems like I have cleared my mark by 9000kcal over the last 30 days.

First question: is my thought process/math correct?

Also, I was at the gym this morning for my third of four 60min cardio sessions a week and I started to warm up and get my heart rate up but I did not have enough energy to even get my heart rate up above 110, I barely had enough energy to sustain that for 5 min... which would be why I re-evaluated my calories to get the figures you see above. After some long thinking I have come to the conclusion that I need to increase my calorie intake if indeed I am creating a 1400 calorie deficit a day 7 days a week on average.

Second question: I am looking to eat 100% of my maintenance calories on my one day a week that I do not hit the gym or follow the meal plan, how do I effectively estimate my daily calorie needs on a day off?

I am also looking at closing my deficit to 4800/week(800per day+1 day of maintenance) because I feel like I can wait a little longer if it means I dont feel like shit.

o, and also, I do FULLY understand that the math is just a ballpark.

Its just hit me after I posted this that this probably belongs in the nutrition forum but this thinking was set on due to an exercise related issue so hopefully its not a problem :-D
 
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Honestly I can't even follow your math in the first paragraph. I got confused after the 2nd set of calculations. :) Possibly you might be overthinking the calorie end of it?

Also it's not just the calories themselves, but WHAT you eat. If you can't muster up the energy to exercise, then you're either not eating enough, or not eating the right kind of foods ... or a combination of the two.

I use a calculation of 15 cals per 1 lb of body weight to see what my maintenance cals should be at my goal weight and then I go from there. I try to eat lots of protein - getting about 35% of my calories from protein and 25% from healthy fats.

And that's really all the calculation I do. Otherwise it's just too much and too overwhelming and I could easily get obsessed with figures and numbers and percentages and ... ahhhhh! :)

I'd say you need to simplify a little.
 
KaraCooks said:
Honestly I can't even follow your math in the first paragraph. I got confused after the 2nd set of calculations. :) Possibly you might be overthinking the calorie end of it?

Also it's not just the calories themselves, but WHAT you eat. If you can't muster up the energy to exercise, then you're either not eating enough, or not eating the right kind of foods ... or a combination of the two.

I use a calculation of 15 cals per 1 lb of body weight to see what my maintenance cals should be at my goal weight and then I go from there. I try to eat lots of protein - getting about 35% of my calories from protein and 25% from healthy fats.

And that's really all the calculation I do. Otherwise it's just too much and too overwhelming and I could easily get obsessed with figures and numbers and percentages and ... ahhhhh! :)

I'd say you need to simplify a little.
Click to expand...

in practice its alot simpler, I am just trying to cover my basis, and my diet currently consists of 14% Fat 54% Carbs 32% Protein and they are good foods, I have done my research on that, my focus is on the calorie amount.
 
When I first started losing weight I just changed my diet from junk to heathy foods and I lost 20 pounds in 20 days. Then it balanced out at a 13 lb lost. Had to be mostly water weight from fast food, processed food etc. Work at consistency and think of a WEEKLY/MONTHLY total deficit rather than a daily deficit if you ask me. Sure you could eat 5 apples today and tomorrow have a large pizza (I've done that). You didn't lose a ton of weight one day and gain a ton of weight the next. I don't think the body notices a calorie deficit quite that fast but I'm not basing that on anything. Keep you diet in check, get in exercise as close to everyday as you can. Don't burn yourself out with either. You'll fall off the wagon plenty of times and you'll just have to get back on. People don't gain weight based on one day nor do they lose weight based on one day. Just my thoughts.
 
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alright, so heres a simple thought, let me know what you think, if my calorie defecit on average has been 1400.

What if I add 600 calories a day to bring that average to 800 where I wanna be. Could it be that simple?
 
It could, in fact, be that simple! :)

Here's the thing - it's not just the deficit. I mean I could put myself in a 1600 calorie deficit each day, but that would mean that I was net 100 calories or so - which is just too little. :) How many calories are you eating each day ... start with that baseline. Forget deficits and exercise calories and all that jazz.

How many calories are you consuming?
 
I'd be a little cautious about assuming you're right on the daily deficit. It's common to lose several lbs of water weight during the first couple weeks - if that's the case, it could change your calculations a lot! (Since the water weight isn't connected at all to actual calories).

You can certainly try upping your calories to see if that helps! But it might also be a nutritional issue - not that you're not getting enough calories, but that you've cut out nutrients.

It won't hurt you to add in an extra 600 calories a day for a while and see what happens - but you should probably also make sure you're taking a multi-vitamin and probably some fish oil pills just to be on the safe side. If it turns out you're not losing what you thought you would, you can just cut back a little.

Hope this helps!
 
Thank you very much for the advice. I dont think that it is water weight because I have consistently been under 220(218-219.8) for 4 days, and this morning I weighed in at 217.4. But I have decided I am going to add the calories and eat more on my cheat day and see what happens over the next 2 weeks. Once again thank you!
 
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