You may wish to just scroll down to the bold comments. I didn't realize I got a bit off topic. So, sue me.
It depends.
On what?
Well, young scholar, it depends on your goals.
Let us consider a sloth, if you will. Perhaps a younger version of myself. Tipping the scales..well, no, the scale never tipped. It creaked a bit, but I don't think it ever tipped. But, I digress.
I was 270 pounds on a 5'10" frame. Too heavy, regardless of how much muscle or fat I had.
My BMR at the time, with a sedentary lifestyle was ....I honestly can't remember. Let's just say it was 3000 calories. So, playing City of Heroes, 14 hours a day on weekends, and about 6 hours a day after I got off work. What can I say, I liked the game.
So - when the nefarious NCSoft closed my game down, I figured it was time to move around a bit.
Yeah, I know - you want the answer - but some folks like this background info. Sets the stage and all that.
So - I asked myself - knowing that except in cases of extreme famine, the body does not lose fat cells. During a caloric deficit, they simpy shrink. When I eat too much, I get more fat cells - and the ones I have, they might grow a bit, but I don't think so. I think it's just an increase in fat cells. (someone else might know and shed some light) Either way - I gain more adipose tissue.
So, when I decided to start moving around - I knew that diet was 80% of the battle. I could wake up at 4 am and work out like I was 20 years old - but if I kept eating Nutella mixed with peanut butter - well, it just wasn't going to work for me, because 2 tablespoons of that stuff isn't a "serving", it's a sample. A serving is more like...a cup of each, spread on crackers until my stomach just tells me I've had enough - about an hour after I already had enough.
So, I look at my dashboard and tell myself to monitor that calorie gauge. I never want that warning "Oops, you ate too much!". Even if I know I'm going to work off 500 calories walking in the neighborhood more times than I really want to. The reason I never want it is because I don't want one more fat cell. This is why I try really hard to never have more than 300 to 400 calories at one setting. I want to work that stuff off before the body figures out it could be extra, and stash it as fat.
So, all that hot air to tell you - it's better to be below target - if your goal is weight loss.
But - remember (or realize) that "oops" message for me is set for 1000 calorie deficit. So, even when I get that message, unless it's 1001 calories over, (or I've seriously miscalculate, or the Fitbit has) I'm always in a caloric deficit. It is impossible for me to store fat in this condition. I might cook off some muscle, but I've probably got more of that than I really need. I no longer play football, so I don't need to move 340 pound behemoths out of the way in a hurry. It doesn't make me any more fun at parties, so what good is it, other than intimidation? Not much need to do any of that nonsense.
Now - if you want to gain muscle - you'll always want to be about 150 to 250 calories over. One simply cannot gain muscle without gaining fat. It's a game of semantics to argue the point, but over the course of a week, with a 250 calorie surplus - if you're using progressive overload while weight lifting, you will gain muscle and fat. How much will depend on what you ate, genetics and a host of other details.
The thing of it is - if you have too much of a deficit, your body will try to outsmart you. The energy your body puts into growing hair, nails, your immune system, your central nervous system, even digestion - all the systems in your body are impacted if you deny your body the micronutrients it needs. You really should take a multi-vitamin, just in case your diet doesn't cover it. Worst case - you've produced expensive urine. That's the primary reason why the Fitbit dashboard doesn't allow for more than a 1000 calorie deficit. They don't want your metabolism fighting your efforts.
It's another reason to consider one "cheat" meal a week. Or a moderate cheat day - to ease your bodies concerns that you don't have enough food.
Realize that even though most of us are out-sourcing our body's temperature regulation to central heat/air and clothing, our bodies are so adaptable; but we cannot seem to adapt to this surplus of food! We work really hard to watch our diet, so we go to Whole Foods and pay way too much for something supposedly Organic (waste of money paying a premium for that) and nutritious. When, if we'd just planted our own produce and raised a couple of cows and chickens, we wouldn't have to spend money at the gym or the grocery store - we'd do the work ourselves.
Yes, you ladies that get on the elliptical an hour before work, and then spend two hours after work sharing a bottle of wine with your girlfriends - just make your own wine and you can sleep an hour longer!
I think I've gone off on a tangent. Shame on me. But, I do think I answered the question.
Those who have no idea what they are doing genuinely have no idea that they don't know what they're doing. - John Cleese
