Netting BMR

emgel9

So I have been playing around with upping my calories, but want to make sure I am doing this 100% right. My BMR is 1400, my TDEE - 20% for cut is 1700 (not such a big difference there) - I got these off the scoobyworkshop website. The 1700 already takes my activity level into account, right? But I never want to "net" below my BMR...I burn, on average, about 500 calories in a day exercising so if I eat 1700 calories and do my usual workout I will net 1200 calories - is the position of EM2WL that I then eat back 200 more calories so that I net my BMR?

This is my only source of confusion here...I like that the calorie recommendation takes your activity level into account.

tangiesharp

I can't tell if the 1700 already includes activity level. On the scooby site, you put in your activity level.

You are right that you never want to Net below your BMR (1400). So if you exercise and burn 500 and eat 1700, then your net is 1200 which is below your BMR. In this case, you would need to eat at least 200 (1400 BMR - 1200 Net) more calories for the day.

But, I have a feeling your BMR/TDEE are low. What info did you use to calculate BMR/TDEE (age, height, weight, activity level)?

ladyace2078

If you consistently net below your BMR then either your TDEE is not accurate because you are short changing yourself on your true activity level, or your cut from TDEE is to great--use a 10% cut instead of a 15% cut.

emgel9

Thanks for the responses! I don't think I calculated anything wrong using the scooby site, but here are my stats:

Age: 26
Sex: female
Height: 61 inches
Weight: 136

I put activity level "moderate" - I do about 50 minutes of cardio 5 days a week, and am planning to start lifting soon (going to get free weights this weekend). Scooby has my 20% cut from TDEE as 1700, I can eat more to net my BMR if needed!

Thanks for your help!

HeidiHoMom

You should actually probably go with a 15% cut instead of 20 since you don't have a lot to lose. So you would be eating 1850 calories per day.

If you had NROLW on top of all your cardio then you should bump up to strenuous. ALSO you might consider not doing as much cardio.

emgel9

Thanks for the reply! Maybe a 15% cut is a better (I was just following the scooby site...as numbers aren't my thing). That still leaves me with the question of netting my BMR, although it is on rare occasion that I would burn more than 600 calories in a day - so I guess that takes care of the problem!

As for the cardio - I am a distance runner and constantly training for 10 mile races and half marathons (it's how I stay sane) so my cardio isn't going anywhere Adding in weight lifting will be new for me though!