Newbie questions, a 'bit' confused'

MargoPrior

I apologize in advance for all of my questions and my confusion. I am a bit unclear about the TDEE, BMR and cut weight. My question(s) are, if my BMR is 1950 and my TDEE is 2681 and my cut weight is 2279 (based on weight of 233, height 5ft 1in., and the activity level set at light, 1 to 3 days a week, female and cut rate at 15%):

Why is it bad to go below my BMR? I understood that is what my body needs but then if I add roughly 730 calories to my BMR, that is the assumption that my body will burn that many calories a day if I consider myself under light activity, one to 3 days a week, so if I don't want to lose weight, I should eat those total calories right?

Then if I want to lose weight I should take 15% of my normal every day caloric intake, which should be my TDEE, off of my TDEE, giving me my cut weight, which would be the 2279 right? Giving me a caloric loss of roughly 402 calories a day coming off of my weight, that already includes the fact that I would work out roughly 1 to 3 times a week, yes?

If I ate only 1950 calories, just what my body needs daily without doing anything, feeding it what it basically needs and my TDEE is set at 2681, would that not give me a caloric loss of 731 calories a day, giving myself a deficit of that daily? I know I am missing something here, just not sure what. Help?

Raynn1

Hey @meprior
You are correct.

But let's look at it a bit different.

Your body requires so many calories a day just to do bodily functions, like breathing and keeping organs moving. That means if you were in a comatose state, the Doctors would give you 1950 cals through IV just to keep your body alive. So the second you roll out of bed and move, you are burning more than that level.
Since you put your level at lightly active, that essentially means you are:
a) barely moving through the day, but working out 1-3 times a week.
b) moving around a bit most of the day but no physical activity

Don't sell yourself short. Unless you are in a wheelchair or bedridden, you are likely in a moderate state. If you are a mother, you are automatically in a moderate state.

TDEE is the amount of calories your body needs to maintain its current weight, based on your level of activity. So thats why if you say your lightly active, but you were on your feet all day, you are burning more cals than a lightly active person.

Cut is the amount of calories you could eat to see a loss in fat. Now 15% is the very highest we would recommend cutting. once you get beyond that amount, then the caloric level becomes too steep and your body begins to think you are starving it, and it will essentially hang on to all of the energy you give it. So that answers you question why you wouldnt want a 731 cal cut. Its about 33%, which is way too high. Again, you have to forget everything the dieting industry has told us. It is certainly not, cut cals, workout til wecant do anymore, and hope for a loss. A healthy caloric level, a healthy activity level and a small cut level is what will enable you to LIVE life and not yoyo diet anymore.


If you havent already I would suggest reading through the stickies at the top of our community page to help you out. They give you a lot of information about this all and can really help answer some questions. Then feel free to ask away here and we can certainly help you out more:)


Kelly
Team EM2WL

MargoPrior

Thank you very much Raynn1, I very much appreciate you helping me to clear that up for me!