Can someone clever explain this? (Calories and maths)

[RoryGlory]

Going by the table below I need -410 calories a day to get to my goal.

If my resting metabolic rate is (I believe) 1800

So if I eat 1200 calories a day I have a deficit of 600.

So 1200 - 600 = 600

So to get to -410 ... I would need to burn a further 1010 calories? Is that right?

How much exercise do you do normally? If it isn’t a lot, then you’re going to last about a week before you end up injuring yourself and spend the rest of the 44 days just sitting down.

How are you planning on burning all your calories OP?

Your BMR is just the calories you burn being alive. You need to work out your TDEE, total daily energy expenditure especially if you are exercising. Fitbits and things like that give a good guesstimate or you can find an online calculator and put in your general activity levels. Then eating at a deficit of 500 calories is recommended to lose weight, over a week that should be 3,500 cals which is generally equal to 1 pound of fat.

I would start dieting first and get used to the lower amount of food before adding in exercise. If you are eating at an extreme deficit you will have insane hunger and not have enough energy for exercise. Remember muscle weighs more than fat when you start exercising. It might be worth measuring your arms, legs, waist as another method to track body changes rather than purely weight. 2 people can weigh the same amount and look very different if one is muscly and one isn't. Look up body recomposition to see what I mean.

I’ve been going to the gym regularly for 3 years. Doing weight training and cardio.

I let myself go over the last 4 months due to personal reasons.

I’m sorry but anyone that says muscle weighs more than fat I can’t their advice on weight loss seriously. 1lb of fat weighs the same as 1lb of muscle.

Muscle is leaner and therefore takes up less room than fat. Hence why you might lose inches and not lbs.

But everyone agrees at 3410 calories a day?

No 🤦🏻‍♀️ ffs I give up. @hormonesorDHbeingadick had it right first. @ISmellBabies said the same thing in a different way.

It's an utterly ridiculous notion that you could consume -410 calories a day for the next 44 days but crack on and try.

But they said 1610 calories over the maintenance of 1800 which is 3410

Muscle is leaner and therefore takes up less room than fat.

Well indeed.

Would you rather be 12 stone and a size 8, or 8 stone and a size 12?

If you're into fitness, i can't really see why you'd want to lose weight so crazily, you'll lose a lot of muscle, your BMR will drop, and your body won't look any better.

But hey, the number on the scales will have gone down, right?

that’s what I took from it too.

1800 + 410 + calories I ate so 1200

So 3410.

No need for the face palm and ffs comment.

This isn't going to go well OP.

I understand wanting drastic results but you'd be having to do maybe the equivalent of walking/running around 16 miles a day every day for 6 weeks to keep that up. That's a huge amount of exercise and I would be really concerned about injury. Oh course you could mix and match what you did but you're still looking at 3+ hours a day, with no rest days, on an already low calorie diet. It's not going to do your metabolism any good in the long term.

But hey, the number on the scales will have gone down, right?

exactly.

I understand wanting drastic results but you'd be having to do maybe the equivalent of walking/running around 16 miles a day every day for 6 weeks to keep that up. That's a huge amount of exercise and I would be really concerned about injury. Oh course you could mix and match what you did but you're still looking at 3+ hours a day, with no rest days, on an already low calorie diet. It's not going to do your metabolism any good in the long term.

It’s 44 days and then it even say 1500 maintenance.

I’ve managed it ok today and it wasn’t difficult.

Surely it would be better to set a realistic target which takes longer, but that actually happens? This is destined to fail

If you're into fitness, i can't really see why you'd want to lose weight so crazily, you'll lose a lot of muscle, your BMR will drop, and your body won't look any better

Yes initially I’ll lose muscle but I’ll also lose body fat.

One of the hardest things is losing fat whilst gaining muscle.

I’d rather take a hit on the muscle part and then build it back up after I’ve lost a good amount of weight.

And no, the maths is wrong, the calculator you're using is including your BMR calculation - you don't need to.

Eg eat 0 calories, burn off 410, net calorie intake = -410 like it says.
Or eat 1200 cals, burn off 1600, net intake -400.

Anyway I got my answer and I genuinely as an adult don’t need lecture.

I don’t care if I fail. At least I gave it a go.

And maintenance could be eat 1800, burn off 300, net intake = 1500

TheHeathenOfSuburbia as much as I wish you were correct, the others have got it right.

I don’t care if I fail. At least I gave it a go.

Surely it’s better to give it a go in such a way that means you’re less likely to fail?!

Seriously, if you're prepared to do the equivalent of running a half marathon a day (1600 cals) then you could get WAY better results by putting that effort into a proper weight training and nutrition programme.

Clearly you've decided this is the path for you, but maybe one to bear in mind for the future.

But look at the calories for maintenance... That's telling you to literally eat 1500 total, right? Not 1500 minus your BMR, plus the number you first thought of.

Run a sample day through My Fitness Pal if you don't believe me... I have very occasionally had a negative overall calorie intake. It gets cross.

The maintenance calories are smaller as her weight would have dropped by 28 lbs so it takes fewer calories to maintain a lighter weight

I would say you have to burn off 1600.

At least I gave it a go.

But where is the nobility in giving something a go that is physiologically detrimental or even harmful, and highly unlikely to be unsustainable? And that’s before you go back to the likelihood of failure?

This isn’t healthy in any way, OP. I’m saying that kindly.

@TheHeathenOfSuburbia IS right though. You don't need to count the BMR bit because you'll be burning that anyway. So you need to offset what you eat plus 410. Like I said before 🤦🏻‍♀️ ffs 😂

Have a think about how you'll have the energy for burning 1610 calories a day.

Do come back and tell us how you got on.