Net calorie goal Q.

crux

Ok, so as far as I can work out, my BMR is approx 1950 calories, Meaning that if I'm sedentary I will burn around 2340 calories a day.

6 foot tall, 37yr old male, 197lbs as of today. 25.2% body fat.

I do pure cardio 3 days a week which measured on HRM averages at 650 calories per session, I also do Strength & Cardio another 3 days/week for a total weekly calorie burn of 4450 calories or 635/day average (Sunday day off).

So I burn roughly 2975 calories/day including exercise.

I aim to lose 1.5-2lb a week so my target for actual calories I eat each day would be 2000 ish.

My question,

Can I make averages like this or do I really need to go day by day making sure I never have a net calorie deficit greater than 1000 cals (inc exercise) on that day? Does it mater if some days you get huge deficits and other days you have hardly any?

Any guidance appreciated.

maritzausa

I would figure out what your deficit is supposed to be over a week and try to meet it that way. It does matter if that is not met on a weekly basis. This will allow you to have some days where you may have higher net calories and some lower net calories.

lt_mrcook

Go day to day...but don't worry if your net negative is too large. If you eat until you are full, and aren't sluggish the next day then you're good. If you don;t get enough calories, and you start to feel sluggish then you should do something to try and close the gap.

crux

Ok, i'll make sure I meet it per week and also listen to the body