May I ask where you read about this lifting ratio of 22% deficit and your eating goal?

Eat 1750-1850 or so calories daily(depending on how active those workouts are, the higher you eat), don't eat back exercise calories and adjust after 4-6 weeks depending on results.. thats at a 15% deficit at moderate exercise. Rest day you eat the same amount as well.

My 2 cents

Thanks for your input

I was advised to use a calculator from another EM2WL member's profile page on here.
But the calculations just don't seem to fit for me unless there is something I'm missing?, I'm 5 weeks into a 6 week trial of eating as above so will know next week when I compare photos & hopefully see inch loss whether it has been successful or not.

From my limited understanding you need to make a steeper deficit when lifting heavy, as it causes you to retain LBM
So the 22% deficit is based on 11lbs left to lose with my cardio to lifting ratio.
Eating at 22% deficit 6 times a week, then 1 day at TDEE to allow reset/recovery.
But the flaw comes where a 22% deficit is only 181 calories away from my BMR and all my workouts are over this figure.

What I am doing currently netting 1500 & eating exercise calories means I range from 1479 (lowest) on a rest day to 2225 (highest) on a lifting day with a daily average of 1770 excluding exercise (basically -15% on TDEE) so I guess I should just stick with this for now & wait for the results next week

From what I understand if you only have 11 pounds to lose your cut % is too high. Drop it to 10% or 15% at the very most. Others can chime in on this but that is what I have learned. in my few days here.

But the flaw comes where a 22% deficit is only 181 calories away from my BMR and all my workouts are over this figure.

Your workout calories for lifting are based on HRM perhaps?

Totally invalid and really inflated.

Take the HRM estimate by 1/4 to 1/3.

Why? HRM calorie estimates are only valid for steady-state aerobic, where it takes 3-5 min of steady exercise to reach a level of accuracy.
Lifting and HIIT is anaerobic, and with fast drops and fast builds of HR, totally fooling the HRM into inflating the calorie burn estimates.

Frankly, every single study of even the poorly maintained VLCD's show muscle is retained if resistance exercise is done, imagine that, eating 800 calories and retaining all your LBM. But that is under Dr supervision, they drink shakes with total nutrients required, have blood workup, ect.
And they usually don't sustain well on their own when the study is over. And they probably lucked out it was only 6-16 weeks long in the first place.

Hence the reason to avoid that direction.

But really no need to go to the other extreme either, unless you have a lot of stresses in life and health issues that warrant taking it slower than needed.

But - here's a study of already athletic folks that didn't have nearly as much to lose, on a deficit equal to 0.7% of their current weight. They lost fat and weight, and actually gained LBM, and muscle according to the DEXA scans in this case, and increased strength and endurance.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/447514-athletes-can-gain-muscle-while-losing-fat-on-deficit-diet

You can take, don't have to, but can take a steeper deficit if lifting heavy and not doing a lot of cardio, even if some days you dip below BMR (which I doubt really happens if you use correct calorie burn).

There are already 13 ladies using those same results in the spreadsheet (yours will vary of course because of cardio to lifting ratio) actually showing in their measurements and estimates of LBM they are losing more fat while gaining LBM, and losing weight. That is the kicker usually, going too slow on weight loss by over-estimating the TDEE.
Or worse yet, keep gaining LBM slowly but surely while losing fat is great, but maybe your joints would appreciate less weight right now. Bigger deficit that is still reasonable hasn't shown to result in LBM loss if resistance training is done.

You can also use the TDEE Deficit tab, the the normal probably 12% deficit value that is given there. At least it's based on better TDEE estimate.

Obviously, slower is better than too fast, but slower because of suppressed metabolism isn't, and slower because of overestimating everything isn't necessary either. Studies show there are safe ranges, but you have to nail the BMR and TDEE best you can, then do the exercise and eat the protein to support what that safe range is.

In my experience & opinion, 22% is too aggressive. If you're lifting, you want to feed your muscles, not risk losing them with too big of a deficit.

The EM2WL group recommends 15% as a maximum cut.

If you really don't have much to lose, again, I recommend a 10% cut.

Also, keep in mind that the scale may not show the body composition changes that are occurring. And you retain fluid while lifting and this all contributes to what is on the scale.