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Too many calories logged? And how to work out deficit?

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‎09-15-2022 14:42 - last edited on ‎12-18-2022 21:04 by Fitbit Moderator

‎09-15-2022 14:42 - last edited on ‎12-18-2022 21:04 by Fitbit Moderator

Hi, I am new to calories but have been reading up and realise that BMR is calculated along with other calories burnt through walking etc to give an overall total.

 

My daily average so far is around 3500 calories burnt. Around 2000 of these cals are BMR. I am tall and very overweight (hence the calorie counting) so it's obviously quite hard work just to be alive 😂 this being said, I am very confused about working out calorie deficit...

 

I have been on multiple sites for calorie deficit calculators and general consensus is that the deficit should be around 500, and that I should be eating about 1800 cals per day to lose a pound per week.

 

That seems fine, very sensible and do-able, but what I don't understand is that if my overall cals burnt is 3500, and my cals being eaten is 1800, this leaves a deficit of 1700!

 

I just can't get my head around it...unless it's not that simple of a calculation?

 

Alternatively, if I calculate a deficit of -500 based on what I burn on an average day (3500) that would put me on 3000 cals per day for weight loss, which obviously is far too high and I would never lose eating that many.

 

I'm getting myself all confused... can anyone tell me where I'm calculating this wrong please?

 

Unless, of course, the deficit is meant to be deducted from your BMR alone, which in my case would put me on around 1500 cals per day for weight loss, which seems more sensible than 3000! But doesn't take into account any other cals burnt.

 

I'm so confused 🤯

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‎09-17-2022 06:54 - edited ‎09-17-2022 06:54

‎09-17-2022 06:54 - edited ‎09-17-2022 06:54

I was in a similar situation, I started at 267 lbs and I'm at 241 right now, 3 months later. Fitbit says I burn 3000 calories on days I don't work out and about 4500 on days I do work out. This is an overestimation but not by a ton. Based on nutrition labels, I eat 2-3k calories a day. Based on measured weight loss and consumed calories, the true amount of calories I burn is about 80 - 90% of what Fitbit estimates. When I started out, my deficits were usually around 600 but that was because I was aiming for 1000 and Fitbit was overestimating my burn, now my deficits are 900 - 1100 very consistently.

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