Eating over BMR

goldengirl28

Now this is probably a stupid question, but why do we calculate our TDEE and then work out our cut.

My hubby said last night, why don't you just work out your BMR and then add X amount of calories to keep you above it, then you've only got 2 numbers to worry about and not three.

what he meant e.g. BMR 1500 Add 200 cals and eat 1700.

I couldn't answer the question, so just said "I dunno"

what's your views Thanks

angelina2585

I'm guessing here but if you add a random number how would you know it's the right number for you? You could have 2 people with the same BMR but different TDEEs because of activity levels so for some the 200 would create too big deficit for one and too little for the other.

You'd still have to keep an eye on exercise calories in case you net below BMR.

I think however you do it, you still have to keep looking at the numbers.

Zylayna

We use tdee to create consistency in order for your body to trust you that you will feed it. One number every day and if you have calculated tdee with the appropriate exercise level, then you rarely (if ever) have to worry about netting below BMR.

If you do it the other way around, you would have to figure out what you burn each day for exercise, tack that burn on top of your BMR number (so if you burn 600 in a workout, you'd add 1500 + 600) plus, you'd then need to add in some wiggle room for day to day activities such as washing dishes, house cleaning, grocery shopping, etc, etc, etc. Then you'd take your cut off the top of that and hope you started out with the right top number. It actually gets a wee bit more complicated if you do it from the bottom up. It becomes a day to day, inconsistent issue instead using a weekly tdee that averages out over the week and doesn't change.

If you use the example of 1500 + 200 = 1700, what happens there when you burn 600 in the day? You are below your bmr by a LOT. Your deficit should never be taken out of your BMR number...only your exercise/daily activities calories above bmr.

goldengirl28

thanks both, thats makes perfect sense.

when he gets home i'll read the response to him and make out like i know what i'm talking about LOL