Calorie deficit!

[Leaholivia]

How do i work out what my calorie deficit should be? Also I'm confused as I always seem to be under or over budget 😯

[SebringDon]

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@Leaholivia wrote:
How do i work out what my calorie deficit should be? Also I'm confused as I always seem to be under or over budget 😯

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@Leaholivia

Your calorie deficit will be decided when you set up your food plan and decide how fast you want to lose weight. Here's a general rule of thumb for selecting an appropriate rate.

When you have more than 40 lbs to lose, 2 pounds a week is reasonable.
From 40 to 20 pounds, you should plan to lose no more than 1.5 lbs a week.
From 20 to 10 pounds, plan 1 pound a week.
Under 10 pounds, plan 1/2 pound a week.

Over/Under budget, setting up a Food Plan, and all the other information you need for setting up and maintaining a Food Plan for losing weight is available in Fitbit's Food Plan Demystified, a series of forum posts you can read at that link.

Hope this helps!

[bitsy]

 I think the previous post explained things pretty well.  I'll chime in for a second perspective.

Usually a loss of one pound is considered to be a deficit of 3500 calories.  So the Fitbit plans are broken down as: 

• Maintain (0 calorie deficit)
• Lose one half pound per week (250 calories deficit per day = 7*250 per week = 1750  = 3500*0.5
• Lose one pound per week (500 calories/day = 7*500 per week = 3500 )
• Lose 1.5 pounds (750 calories/day = 7*750 per week = 5250 = 3500*1.5)

You get the idea.  

As the previous poster noted, often people can squeeze 250 calories per day out of their diet without feeling too deprived or hungry.  500 gets harder (at least for me) but is more or less doable (at least for a few days per week).  750 leaves me feeling pretty deprived, unless I exercise a lot!  I'd just rather do something sustainable, which is somewhere between 250 and 500.  

The Fitbit interface can be kind of confusing, because some of the widgets show how many calories you have burned so far during the day, but that is constantly changing because it takes calories just to stay alive.  Other widgets will estimate what you will have burned over the entire day and give you a deficit to shoot for based on that.  Estimates being what they are, sometimes the estimate will be wrong. 🙂  So you have to make sure you understand what the widgets are showing you.  See the link posted above.

[Leaholivia]

Thank you both so much for your help. I'm doing my weight loss in stages so it's not too daunting. I've got 6lb to lose for starters and I'm doing it slowly so will alter my deficit to 250.
Thank you both again and good luck luck on your weight management journeys x😊

[JohnRi]

I got my first Fitbit back on November 7, 2015.  I started logging my food intake immediatly, and setup a 250 deficit for starters.  I had 98 lbs to lose..  So 250 was a good start.

I found that I got used to the 250 deficit, and as I improved my diet, I was always under budget.

So I changed it to a 500 calorie deficit.  Then 750, and finally a 1000 back in January 2016..

For the last 2 1/2 months I've been earing around 1800 calories a day.  I'm RARELY hungry now as I have gotten used to it.  I've got another 48lbs to lose. 

I'm hungry this morning, rare for me, but that's because I walked 22,000 steps yesterday, almost 10 miles.  And even did a little biking.  I burned over 4100 calories yesterday, and ate more than I normally do.  I was aournd 2400 calories yesterday.  I usually don't increase my diet when I exercise, but yesterday was a big day for me.  My second 5k walk, and I was busy doing stuff from 5:30 AM to 9;30 PM yesterday.  Great day for my last day at 48 years old. 

But I have to exercise every day now to meet my goal.  If I have a rest day, I usually burn 2400-2600 calories a day now.  My BMR keeps dropping as I lose weight.  Which is normal.  It's fallen 300 calories since I started getting fit.  Which is also why when I get to 50 lbs from goal, I'll change my deficit to 750, and increase my calories comsumption to 1900 calories a day.  When I get to my goal, my BMR will be another 300 calories lower. 

Six months ago, I could not imagine only eatting 1800 calories a day. I was probably comsuming 3500-4500 calories a day back then.  And burning around 3000-3500 calories a day.  No suprise I gained weight for over 8 years. 

I've lost all of the 8 years of weight now.  About 20 lbs from weight in my early 20's, and 30 lbs from my high school weight. 

It's a very slow process, but keep at it.. 

[clo]

Fantastic job! Happy Birthday!