Daily Calorie Goals - Need Some Advice!

GroovySloth28

Hi MFP community! I've been using MFP for a little while now, and in that span of time I've gone from using the MFP recommended calorie goals, to aiming for 15-20% less than my TDEE, and now to my own customized goal while eating back my exercise calories.

The only reason I'm back to eating back (*some of) my exercise calories is because after an indulgent summer that included lots of not-so-healthy choices due to social circumstances as well as being diagnosed with PCOS and dealing with the frustration that came with "unexplained" weight gain, and I've found that keeping track of how much I burn is motivating. I know it's probably not as accurate as a TDEE calculation, but for the time being it helps mentally to look at it this way.

So that's kind of the backstory. My question, however, is if I am planning to eat back (*some of) my exercise calories, what should my net calorie goal be, and how much should I eat on the days with no exercise? Currently my net goal is 1650, which is about 50 calories over my BMR. I guess I'm concerned that if I eat at or below my BMR on the days I don't exercise, I'm hurting my body in the long run. What do you think? :flowerforyou: