LJ -- A calorie deficit is the difference between the calories you consume and the calories you burn.

Calories consumed is in the food you eat, and is relatively straightforward (provided you have a relatively accurate assessment)

Calories burned is all the calories you burned doing everything that day. This has several components, all of which are affected by your current weight (heavier people use more calories to do everything) and how quickly you burn calories (your metabolism).

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) -- is the calories you consume just to stay alive. Using myself as an example, my online calorie program estimates that I use approx 1600 calories just staying alive.

Daily Activities -- Everything you do -- from brushing your teeth, to typing burns calories. Some of us are more active than others, have jobs where we move around, all of which affects how many calories we burn. Again, using me as an example, it is estimated that I burn about 650 calories in these daily activities, in a "lightly active" lifestyle (meaning I don't get a lot of activity in my job).

Exercise -- This may be the least of all the calories burned in a day... I may burn 200-300 in my daily exercise.

Keep in mind that it is difficult to know how many calories any individual actually burns -- these numbers are guesses.

So, add up all the activity numbers and subtract what you eat -- if activity > eating calories -- there is a deficit.

Wow, great reply Wyllenn.

Wyllen...thank you SO much for such a quick and thorough response!! What I have done is to count the calories burned on my treadmill (it counts calories, distance and time) and keep an excel sheet adding up what I have eaten and it automatically does the math. Am I on the correct track of keeping track???

By the way, I like what you all have to say....I have enjoyed reading here and thought you all wouldn't mind if I jumped in and ask a question.

Thank you so much again...

You are more than welcome to pop in and join any time. The more the merrier!
Just don't forget what Wyllen said about all calories used, all the time.


Heather? can we cut and paste that if the subject comes up again?

Do not do this. 800 calories is dangerously low. Any daily caloric intake under 1000 should probably be done under a doctor's supervision. In my opinion (based on times in the past where I have done this) you are setting yourself up for failure. When I starved myself, I binged and the nasty restriction/binge cycle that always followed made me feel just terrible about myself. AND I was never able to lose weight and keep it off via the starvation diet. I managed to gain 60 lbs over 20 years "dieting".

Eating 1300 calories IS a caloric deficit under what you need to eat to MAINTAIN. You are already operating under a deficit.

Here is a good calculator to get an estimate for the calories you need to maintain your weight based on your height/weight/age/gender/activity level.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cal...ulator/NU00598

Here is an example how to get a 500 calorie deficit and still eat enough to stay satisfied and get all the vital nutrition your body needs to function.

If you need 2000 calories a day to maintain your weight loss and you want to create a 500 calorie deficit a day to try to get a 1 lb weekly loss (and even when you do everything perfectly, this doesn't always happen), you can:

• Reduce calories to 1500 creating a 500 calorie deficit
• Reduce calories to 1750 and burn 250 calories by exercise to create a 500 calorie deficit

Please do not try to lose weight on 800 calories a day. It is really unhealthy for you. Plus, as you lose weight, it will take fewer calories to move your body's mass around every day. Most people have to reduce calories to continue losing weight (they plateau). What are you going to do if you start plateauing at 800 calories...eat 500? Don't eat? It's a very scary place to be.

Also, keep in mind that eventually you are going to want to maintain your weight loss forever, what tools are you putting in place to ensure you can stick with it?

Glory87-thank you for you insite...I guess in looking back at my spread sheet I did have some days of this low amount..so that being said.....if the example target is 1300 and 250 calores are burned leaving 1050 calories, than 250 more calories should be eaten?
Yikes, I hope I am not being a pain on my first day out here.

I am going to check your fitday and learn..... AND by the way your pictures are awesome...how many calories do you do a day.....oh maybe I will see that at fitday....and I am going back to your B and A pictures again...
Thank you so much for all of you insite

SusanB your STATS are fantastic...Very inspirational....how long did it take you....ALL by counting calories??
Keeping track of all calories used up through out the day may be tough. I was just keeping track of my treadmill burned calories...
I will get this right because I want to and I want very much to understand.
Thank you both.
Any insite is welcomed so as to learn from all of you.

PS - at the Mayo Clinic site it give calories for maintaining....what about being in the process of losing?? Oh never mind....I just RE read your post Glory87

1300 is a little low to begin weight loss, it doesn't allow much room for plateaus. Eating 1500 a day and then burning additional calories on top of that sounds more reasonable. Eating enough calories a day ensures you will get all the nutrition you need to be healthy.

Honestly, I never got hung up on the exact deficit. I know everyone says that if you consume (burn) 3500 calories fewer a week you will lose 1 lb. There were weeks when I did everything absolutely perfectly and didn't lose weight. The week of my birthday I had an enormous fancy birthday dinner and several slices of cake and didn't work out, I lost 2 lbs. The math never worked for me, so I tried to eat a certain number of calories a day (1400-1600) and tried to work out everyday. That was sufficient for me to be successful.

I don't think there is any way to track the exact number of calories burned a day. It's also difficult to track the exact number of calories consumed a day (there are some people that put a tape measure around apples, I'm not willing to devote that much of my life to calorie counting).

If you starve your body, you set into motion metabolic effects that can take awhile to repair (muscle mass is consumed since it is metabolically active and takes more calories a day to maintain, metabolism slows down to need fewer calories a day, fat is retained to protect the body).

After 20 years of yoyo restrictive dieting, I was finally successful when I started eating. Here's the link to my very long post about how I lost weight (if you want):

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=84601

I'm a definite believer in counting calories as long as the calories consumed are mostly healthy, whole foods. 1500 calories a day of poptarts and tostitos arent the same as 1500 calories a day of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, lean protein, low fat dairy and healthy fat!

Glory...Thank You!! Such a powerful thread...thank you for sharing it with me.
I am going to give this the best shot I can without getting crazy.

Ok. I know a lot of people here are saying you need 2,000 cals a day to maintain but I have seen lots of calculaters and articles that say you need only 1,300. What'd the deal?

You have to take all of the calculators and articles with a grain of salt (more like a bag), because they are all guesses and averages. 1300 is probably the absolute minimum (if you were bedridden and comatose) and 2000 is probably close to the average, but everyone is unique. What you eat, how active you are, and your unique metabolism are the greatest factors, only two of which you have any direct control over. Don't worry about the details, start with a calorie level and activity level you are comfortable with and watch the scale (not over one week, but over a couple months). If you're losing less than 1/2 lbs a week, then try eating 200 calories less and/or including more exercise. If you're losing more than 2 lbs a week, then eat more (I wouldn't recommend exercising less unless you've been overdoing it).

You can drive yourself crazy worrying about exactly how many calories you are burning - it's not something you can determine accurately enoubh to worry about.

Since I am "SO" new at this I am going to go slow and be sensible....I just feel 2000 Calories seems like so much just starting out. I am being real careful in my intake and making really good choices.
..I really enjoy the conversation here.

Found this on line

Why Calorie Count?

Nutritionists, dieticians and other health professionals involved in helping people to lose weight, tend to agree that healthy eating and a low fat diet are essential for long term healthy weight loss. Losing weight by calorie counting helps to build your knowledge and awareness of what's in what you eat, and what your body really needs. Calorie counting is flexible enough to fit into most lifestyles and can accommodate personal taste, likes and dislikes. There are no forbidden foods when you calorie count - everything is allowed - as long as you eat less calories than you burn up each day you will lose weight, that's a scientific fact.



How to Lose Weight by Calorie Counting
First you need to work out how many calories you need each day to maintain your weight. For women, this averages around 2000, for men around 2500 (more if you are very over weight, very muscular - or very tall!). To lose weight you need to create a calorie deficit by consuming fewer calories than you burn. If you eat 500 calories less than you need each day you'll lose weight at the rate of one pound a week. If you eat 1,000 calories less than you need each day you'll lose two pounds each week. Your body will have to turn to its fat stores to make up your calorie deficit. It's recommended that you combine exercise (burning more calories) with healthy eating to create a calorie deficit.

Quick question for kaplods/Colleen....Is it safe to use the calories burned when I treadmill....it calculates for me....usually I do 250 burned Calories, takes me a while and registers the distance about 1.7 miles...
Is that a safe assumption? What do you think? I'd appreicate your opinion.
Thank you

I wouldnt use the calories burned on the treadmill...I run 2.5 miles which should burn way more than walking 1.7 and end up about 140 calories burned the way the treadmill calculates it. I usually just use the calculator on fitday it nutridiary.com....Nutridiary has many more options that fitday does for workouts and I like it a lot better. SInce you are just starting out you may want to look over both.

Susan and others -- Glad you liked the response, and YES, feel free to use it again! In fact, I think I saved it on my computer for just such an occasion (since the question comes up frequently).