What's a safe calorie amount to be netting?

amusedmonkey

I have taken up brisk walking (9 min/km or 4 mph) and I burn 774 calories for a 90 minute walk as per MFP and about 995 as per my heart rate monitor.

I have my calories set at 1800. Is that a safe number or should I increase it further?

amusedmonkey

bump

sunflowerhippi

Above your BMR but below your TDEE. I know that is a vague answer but without your specs it is hard to give more.

You should also aim to Net your goal, so eat back 2/3 of those workout calories. If you burn 700 that means a net of 1100 which in most cases is not enough.

amusedmonkey

My BMR is around 1800, so basically I should be netting above that. TDEE is 2200

parkscs

There's nothing special about netting above your BMR nor is there anything worrysome about netting under your BMR. What matters is the size of your deficit relative to how much fat you have on your body. If your TDEE is 2200, 1lb/week would put you at 1700 calories which is fine. If you wanted to go a bit more aggressive (say 1450 calories), you certainly could but you need to go by how you feel. If you're going hungry / lacking energy at a more aggressive deficit, you're better off slowing things down.

amusedmonkey

There's nothing special about netting above your BMR nor is there anything worrysome about netting under your BMR. What matters is the size of your deficit relative to how much fat you have on your body. If your TDEE is 2200, 1lb/week would put you at 1700 calories which is fine. If you wanted to go a bit more aggressive (say 1450 calories), you certainly could but you need to go by how you feel. If you're going hungry / lacking energy at a more aggressive deficit, you're better off slowing things down.

To be honest, I am more comfortable losing more than 1 lb a week since I still have a lot to lose and it may take somewhere in the realm of 2 more years if I stick to 1 lb.

I have done fine on any number of calories depending on occasion. I don't have a set number, I go with a range (last range was 1200 - 2200). On some days I'm too busy/not hungry and on others I need a little extra, so I used to have my calories set at 1200 to mark a minimum. My workouts were not as regular or as intense in the past, so I just ate half of them back on days I did work out. Now that I'm more consistent, I'm not sure what minimum I should have.