Dumb question about calorie deficits and weight loss

I may have overthought this and confused myself....

If you need to have a deficit of 7000 calories to lose a kilogram of fat, does this figure come off your BMR calorie requirement or your 'usual' daily caloric intake??

For example, say your BMR calorie requirement is 1500 calories. (if I've got it right, BMR calorie intake is the minimum amount of calories your body needs at its current weight to maintain basic functions).

But, you have been eating 2500 cals a day - which is why you're overweight.

So, does the calorie deficit you need to make come from the 1500 or the 2500?

If it's the 1500, you would pretty much need to average the 7000 needed to lose a kilo over two weeks, and aim for 500 gm weightloss a week. Otherwise, you would have to restrict your cals to 500 a day!

If it needs to be deducted from your usual daily intake of 2500 cals then, in theory, it should be easy to lose a kilo a week simply by eating 1500 a day.

So, which is it?? :dunno: :help:

Thanks :D

I think it would need to come from your BMR value as you would need to be providing less than your body needs so that it starts taking from fat stores. If you are doing exercise though then that would affect things as that is beyond your bodys natural requirements right? So you could eat 1500 and lose 1kg a week if you did enough exercise to balance it or something...

I think 0.5-1kg a week weightloss is a good, reccommended amount for health reasons and because it becomes easier to maintain when it is done gradually? Doesn't it help to prevent your body going into starvation mode and trying to hold onto its current stores?

I'm not too sure so probably shouldn't add to the confusion haha but my best friend is a dietician and this is the vague information I've gleamed.

That's what I was kind of thinking Jellyfish. Thanks :)

Exercise is a whole other question!!!

It would come off the 1500. Don't forget that you can still eat the whole 1500 (or more) if you want to, but you would then just need to burn off the 7000 (+ any extra you ate) by doing exercise.

(e.g. I've been eating 1200ish per day and burning off 500 on our exercise bike every 2-3 days - so on these days it is like my calorie intake is only 700)

Thanks Chody :)

I think exercise is my biggest problem :(

It's usually my problem too, but I've been finding it easier now that we dug the exercise bike out of the garage. Now, instead of sitting on the couch watching some tv at night, I sit on the exercise bike whilst watching tv a few times a week. I've found it easier as I don't actually have to make time for it if that makes sense?

Oh, and it's actually working. I usually suck at losing weight. I'm not overweight at all, but my weight has slowly been climbing by 1-2kg a year. I've managed to lose 4.5kg in about 6 weeks, so I'm very happy :)

Can I ask how long, at what heart rate it takes to burn off 500cals on your exercise bike??

My counter is broken :(


TIA

Eta: my BMR is about 1850cals (because I am overweight)

Calorie King recommends my daily intake as 1700cals to lose weight. I have it set at 1650. I have been eating approx 12-1300 a day for the past six days (except for one day when it was closer to 1600 :( ) I have not done any real purposeful exercise yet so haven't recorded it. This WILL change this week :lol:

Well we don't have one of those fancy bikes that takes into consideration your weight and heart rate and stuff, but it takes me about 30 mins averaging 25-30km/h for it to get to 500ish. If i'm going 20-25km/h it takes closer to 35 mins. I'm sure that for me it's actually less than 500, but I still like to see that number come up. I"ve actually been using the app 'my fitness pal' to keep track of my calories and stuff. You put in your exercise there too.

OK the ladies are right, it will come off your BMR. My BMR is something crazy like 2100 cals!! (I'm extremely overweight obviously). I eat to 1200 cals and exercise 500 cals a day and I tend to drop around 2kgs a week.

As for the exercise bike, it really does depend on your weight etc, but fr me it generally takes an hour to burn 500 cals (and it's easier for me to burn cals than people lighter than me because I'm so big and it doesn't take much for my HR to go up and stay up).
The cal counters on gym equipment are notoriously inaccurate. :S
At my size, I burnt 1200 calories today in 1hr 45 mins.... with an avg HR of 167.

Thanks Niadella :) do you aim for a particular heart rate????

BTW, I have read your blog and you are really inspiring. I really admire people like you who 'just do it'! Thank you for putting it all out there so people like me can see it can be done. Keep up the good work!! x

N2L - you need to try and aim for about 80% of your max HR. Some people say 60%, but gosh I don't want to be working half as hard for twice as long to burn the same cals! I want it over with as soon as possible! haha! I ALWAYS go over and it's not uncommon for me to sit over my max HR during a really tough workout.
My Max HR is 192bpm. I generally average around 170-180bpm during a high intensity workout.


And thank you for your lovely comments. I figure I may as well make it public which makes me more accountable and hopefully can inspire others to get out there and do it. I want to show people that they don't have to be unhappy and overweight, that they have the power within themselves to change it. :)

Thanks Niadella! But another dumb question...how do you know what your maximum heart rate is???

220 - minus your age. :)

If pure calorie burn/fat reduction rather than increased cardio fitness is what you are after the the 60% - 70% is better. It's something to do with how your body uses oxygen and creates energy. It called the fitness zone.
70% - 80% is the aerobic zone. You still burn calories but your body will convert less energy from fat and more from muscle.
80% - 90% the anaerobic zone. This is where you want to go for endurance training.
90%-100% red line. No-one can stay here for long.

I would say that you need to look at one or two sessions of resistance training a week. You can do it on the same days as cardio. The great benefit of resistance training is that it makes muscles and muscles mean that your body burns more calories at rest. It also creates stronger bones which your body will thank you for after menopause. Half the women in my Tuesday pump class are retired ladies with issues with bone density.
If you have no weights all the body weight exercises are great - push-ups, dips, squats, lunges.

Although it sounds counter-intuitive try not to work out when you're hungry but on the flip side don't reward yourself for a wok-out with food.

Thanks :)

Exercise is totally foreign to me (which explains a lot :lol: ) i have never been to a gym :redface: You'll have to be patient with me!

So, I am 40, which makes my MHR 180.

60 per cent is 108
70 per cent is 126

I guess I will aim for 70 per cent at this stage. I have a Polar heart rate monitor which I am trying to set up. It has a 'zone' you program into it as a target. I guess I will set the 108 as the low and 126 as the high for now. Is this
right?????

Also, i am not likely to join a gym in the immediate future. I have an exercise bike. I also have Wii fit. DP has a weight bench thingo but it seems a bit daunting at this stage.

Do you think I should start with the bike, walking and Wii???? What exactly is resistance training??

Like i said, words like pump, spin, cardio, etc are foreign :shakehead:

Eta: I thought I should aim to burn 500cals a day through exercise. Thoughts?
What about eating back your calories??? Do you do this? (lol By 'you' I mean anyone out there!)

Resistance training is weights.
If your DH has weights ask him to show you the proper form for some exercises then do 3 sets of each exercise at least twice a week (a set is 8 to 12 repetitons. I do sets of increased weight and lower repititions ie. first set is 12, then I put a little more weight on and do 10 then more weight and do eight). You should have enough weight that your set pushes you to failure. Which means that you would not be able to lift that weight again at the end of your set. After each set you have a break. To make it quicker I do another set in the break which means I do a set with one group of muscles such as tri-ceps then a set with something else ie quads then back to tri-ceps then back to quads. After 3 sets of each I pick 2 other muscle groups. If you are doing more than 15 reps that is cardio and endurance training which is good but it doesn't build large muscles. Don't fear bulking up. Women don't bulk up.

Even though you have weights I'm going to tell you to do push-ups again. They hit so many spots - start on your knees and work towards being on your toes. If you can do one push-up on your toes that means that in a week you will be able to do two. You can also do tri-cep push-ups.

And don't forget your core. Core strength is really important. It supports you for all your exercise. Get your DH to show you how to do a hover (start on your knees) and do sit-ups. There are so many types of sit-ups. I'll link you up to my favourite core workout and you can pick your favourites.
Abdominal Exercises for Boxers - YouTube

Keep in mind that when it works exercise hurts. You will feel your muscles the next day. And it's hard, but when you cheat the only person you cheat is you.
The pay-off is endorphins which make you feel foolishly happy about minor things.

Also - stretch!! Never forget to stretch.

ETA - I would say that you should start with 5 cadio sessions a week - bike, walking and Wi. Mix it up a bit. Walk one day then bike the next and so on. 2 days a week do some resistance training. You can do it on the same days as cardio. If there is a cheap yoga place nearby maybe yoga once a week and one day a week is recovery. That is important. If you are working your body hard it needs a day to rest.

ETA - 500 calories a day through exercise is quite a lot. According to the treadmill at my gym I need to run about 9 or 10kms to burn that. An hour of pump (a weights class that uses low weight in high reps to build endurance) is about 350 calories.

ETA - Have you heard of the couch to 5km program? You can download it and it will tell you when to walk and when to run the aim being for you to end up running 5km without overdoing it in the process.
One of the mistakes people make is pushing too hard to start with and then hurting too much so they take a break and lose motivation. C25K is meant to help with that.

And eating back calories - I have no idea. I eat in serves not calories and I'm not too brilliant at that. I have a protein shake for muscle gain after weights and pump.

Great posts Onyx!

N2L I have to burn 500 cals a day exercise wise. Takes me an hour. I have a polar and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!
I don't take any notice of the 'zones'. They don't really mean a lot.
If you have a HRM, workout to the 500 cal mark and don't worry too much about your heart rate. You'll learn after having the HRM for a while where you need to be to get the most out of your trainings. On Saturdays with the program I'm doing, we do a 1000 cal burn and have Sunday's off - no training.

I don't eat back my calories. EVER. Defeats the purpose of exercise and you may as well just eat right and not exercise at all IYKWIM. ;)

Okay, just for posterity. Did 15 mins on exercise bike in my 'zone'. It burned exactly 100cals. Oh, the last minute or two was over my zone.