I hope this question isn't too ignorant. I can't seem to find the answer to my question.

My BMR is 1528, but I don't live a very sedentary lifestyle. I usually only have an hour or two of just sitting and relaxing during the day. I have a part time job at the barn which requires a lot of walking, lifting, carrying, etc. So that's about 10-15hrs/week. I was losing perfectly, 1lb+/week, on a 1200-1300cal diet. I wasn't doing any exercise at all other than my normal day stuff.

Well one month ago, I got motivated to start exercising (a little late in the game, I know). So I joined the gym, and fell in love with it. I was going at least 6 days/week, sometimes twice a day. Strength training every other day and an hour of cardio everyday. I actually got more intense about my diet and actually started calorie counting. I didn't have cheats, I recorded everything from crystal light packets to fat free mayo. I didn't lose anything for a whole month. At this point, I was still eating 1200-1300 and burning 500-600 with exercise, plus a couple hundred I'm sure doing my everyday stuff. Definitely over a 500cal deficit every single day. And losing nothing.

So I've shaken it up the last few days. For two days I ate 1500 and then 1600 and only lightly exercised. Then yesterday I ate 1300 and didn't exercise at all (just sat on my bum, lol). I dropped a whole pound overnight (from yesterday morning to this morning), and I was drinking a ton of water. I'm now going to cycle 1200-1300 cal rest days with 1500-1700 exercise days.

Anyways, sorry for all the backstory...here's my real question:

Including exercise, what is an ideal calorie deficit to aim for? I probably have a 500 cal deficit on a normal day with no extra exercise eating 1200cal. If I burn 500 cal in a workout, should I up my calorie intake to 1700 to keep that deficit?

I'm just curious. There were days when I had at least a 1000cal deficit and I wasn't losing anything. Is there a point when the deficit just gets too big?

I would maintain the same deficit. Your body needs fuel to use that exercise to build lean muscle. If you create too huge of a deficit, your body's metabolism will slow down to protect itself.

i agree with sonata, even to an extent of suggesting you eat more calories. you want your body to lose weight in a manner that it is comfortable with, don't stretch your resources too far, cos then there's backlash from your body, including a slowed metabolism.

I don't agree that too big a deficit causes your metabolism to slow. The people on Biggest Loser are having in the neighborhood of a 5000 per day deficit and lose just fine. I'm not saying regular people should aspire to that, they are doing it as their full time job and are under medical supervision, I'm just saying that if you've got excess fat stores, your body will use those.

I do try to vary my deficit - I can't remember who but someone made the point that if you are trying to zigzag calories, it's to mix things up for your body, but that if you are constantly having the same deficit, even if you vary how much you eat, your body may not see that as any different from eating the same amount every day. So I have a calorie range of 1200-1500 and then I also add in extra activity and/or extra intensity so I also get a variety of calorie deficits, usually from about 750 up to 1300 per day. (I use a Gowear Fit, so I getting a lot of detail on my calorie burn)

Thanks for the input, guys

PeanutsMom, I'm not wanting to even get close to working out like the Biggest Loser people, haha, I am aiming to lose .5-1lb/week now that I'm closer to goal, thus smaller deficits. I'd like to lose these last few pounds while easing into maintenance lifestyle which shouldn't be all that different from losing, just balancing out exercise and calories in.

I also talked to my boyfriend (he was an exercise science major in college and was a personal trainer for a few gyms), and he said that now that I don't have so much excess fat store, my body is more stingey about it. It doesn't want to give it up as easily, thus, holding on to it. When I was 183lbs, the pounds melted off.

I really think those days that I mixed it up helped jumpstart my metabolism again. I'm the exact same weight right now as I was when I woke up this morning. And that's after 3 bottles of water, a huge breakfast, and some snacks. I'm a burnin machine, lol.