Too much too soon?
 

Hi everyone,

I started eating healthy and working out regularly a month ago. I started at around 180 pounds (5'9") and am now under 170. My calorie deficit is about 700-800 a day. Is this too much of a deficit? When I hit goal weight, will the deficit size I used during losing affect my ability to maintain?

One final question, if I start eating a bit more to get a 500cal daily deficit, will I gain weight?

Thanks in advance,

Martie. :)

How are you creating the deficit? If maintenance calories for your height/weight/age/gender is around 2000 and you are eating 1500 calories a day and burning 200-300 via exercise, it sounds reasonable. Make sure you are eating enough healthy foods to get the wide variety of nutrients your body needs everyday and make sure you have enough energy to sustain your workouts.

I don't understand your last question - if you decide to eat 200 more calories a day, while still having a 500 calorie a day deficit, how would you gain weight? How do you plan on eating a maintenance level of calories?

I didn't use a deficit system, my goal was to eat 1400-1600 calories a day and do 45 minutes of cardio exercise. When I reached maintenance, I increased calories to 1800-2000 calories a day (2200 if I work out) and I haven't gained any weight sticking to my maintenance plan.

Hey! :wave:

A calorie deficit generally can't lead to weight gain, if it's a true calorie deficit. But one can't rely on "eyeballing" or guessing on calories--measuring foods and having correct calorie information is the best way to go.

Eating under 1200 calories per day for an extended period is not recommended unless someone is under medical supervision. So, be sure you're not going too low on daily intake.

Congratulations on your loss so far! :cheer2: :cheer2:

Jay

If you're satisfied and not hungry I would say continue what you're doing. If you feel that you are hungry, well then sure, add in a hundred calories or so of some healthy foods and see how that goes.

The ONLY way to know for sure if something is going to "work" is through trial and error. All the calculators in the world can't tell us as individuals what will "work". And also know what "works" one week, in other words, what produces a certain number of pounds lost in a week, will not necessarily produce the same exact results week after week. Weight loss is not linear.

It is really hard for anyone to know, without knowing what calorie level you are eating per day. Figuring up a deficit is only a guestimate, really.

Thanks for all the responses :) I'm eating from 1700-1800cal a day and working out pretty intensely for an hour a day. I don't feel hungry at all, but I guess I just didn't anticipate the weight to come off so quickly.

Sorry if my original question was a bit cumbersome, what I meant to pitch at was, does the rate thate you lose weight affect your ability to maintain it? (I'm talking 1-3 lbs per week.)

Thanks again,

Martie :)

In my experience, your habits and lifestyle choices help you maintain weight loss. You can lose weight at .25 lbs per week, reach goal weight and then go right back to how you ate before and gain all the weight back. 1-3 lbs per week sounds perfectly reasonable and matches my own experiences (although the 1 lb losses were a lot more common than 3 lb losses). For me, weight loss really started to slow down as I neared my goal weight - which makes sense, I wasn't carrying around a 60 lb backpack every step of my life anymore.

I lost 20 pounds in under 2 months and I wasn't able to keep it off for long... I wish now that I hadn't been so extreme in my diet. The more weight I lost, the less I wanted to eat, and the more I wanted to exercise... to the point where I was barely eating much at all. I was so happy to be thin but it was impossible to maintain and now I'm right back to where I started... if I were to do it again (which I am now) I would eat more calories a day. That way, it won't be such a contrast between dieting and maintaining and much more realistic as a lifelong change.

The most important thing I learned is that losing weight gradually and allowing your body/mindset to keep up with the changes is the best way to get fit and STAY fit. Hope this helps!