First, I'd suggest going back and read again how this works, your questions mean you don't understand fully, and that could spell bad news later.

Because if you don't understand, you'll fail to adjust correctly as needed.

And life is nothing if not changes, activity and diet included.

Second, MFP was designed to be used a different way, so this method is working within that framework and tweaking it to be used this way, so terms and math will NOT be correct.
Your Goals - custom - net eating goal gets your eating goal, cut value. But it's NOT NET now.

Did you include exercise in your estimate of weekly activity to estimate your TDEE?
Then it's accounted for if you did.
Anything extra is not planned and accounted for, so you would eat it back.

Forget NET, doesn't apply, eat your goal daily. Simple.

What are your stats age, weight, height?
Can you describe your activity?
Exercise? Whats your work (sitting/standing) ? What about home ie chasing kids, pets, laundry? Most people first joining EM2WL underestimate their activity.
For example, my CUT level is 2450 bc I workout at the gym plus walk around alot carrying heavy bag plus one day of work at a hospital

Hi Jill. Thanks for sharing. I was thinking your numbers seemed pretty low with a cut value of 1653 and that's why I asked. You'll find most people here are at least eating 1800 and most people are eating more than that. I am still pretty new at this and started about 8 weeks ago so I am not an expert but I posted a lot during my journey increasing my calories, which you can read here if you have some time:
community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10134868/week-6-5-update#latest

I was coming from eating really low calories too --- I am a super active person. I started EM2WL eating between 1200-1400 a month and ended up finding my TDEE to be about 2850. I kept increasing my calories until I started gaining. That's how I found my true TDEE, rather than just go off of a calculator estimate. It wasn't easy upping but I am pretty happy I did it and the people here were supportive. You should put your activity level to what it actually is and go off of those numbers so that you don't lose focus. Get an idea of what your real numbers are and take your time climbing your calories back up to where you need to be. As a SAHM and small business owner, you probably do a more moving around than you realize.

If you've been coming from a really low calorie background, it's a good idea to up your calories all the way up to your actual TDEE and stay there for awhile to repair your metabolism so that you see the results you want when you start a cut. Make sure to read all the stickies then read them again. Watch the videos and even check out the forums on eatmore2weighless.com/. Don't be alarmed if your weigh spikes up. This is part of the process and it's water weight. Seems like a really big part of this process is stop being so attached to the number on the scale. Maybe you aren't losing lbs but are you gaining strength? Do you have more energy?

A lot of people starting EM2WL will come in and start eating at their cut value. They will see an immediate drop in weight (2lbs-ish) and then stall out again and not lose. I think that this is because they didn't give their metabolism any time to repair with a full metabolism reset and their metabolism is still supressed.

I hope this is some food for though anyway. Some of the more regular people with more experience are quiet on the weekends, so this is a least a start for you. Work your way up increasing your calories at your own pace, but don't stop once you get to to a cut value. Use your real numbers, and head up towards your TDEE. I made it from 1200 up to 3000 calories then back down to 2850.... with some definite battles along the way, but it feels so good to eat more

IronJill2015 wrote: »

Hi MandaLeigh123!
Thanks for your time
Here's my stats.
37 y.o
5'3''
148 lbs.
I'm a stay at home Mom, and small business owner...
Since February I workout 6 times a week ( Mostly Beachbody programs...) each one between 35 to 60 minute.
In March, I created a Hybrid calendar: Body Beast ( which is more lifting) with Turbo Jam ( more cardio)
I came from a diet with a very LOW calorie intake... Which I now KNOW is BAD!!!
That's why I'm working toward upping my calories little by little .. starting at an ACTIVITY LEVEL below what I'm doing in reality... and to get to my accurate CUT VALUE... in about a month...
So At a moderate level I would get these numbers:
BMR: 1415
TDEE: 2193
Cut Value: 1864
( I consider that it would be a step too big for now...)
Am I wrong to think that way still?

You selected a TDEE level of 1-3 hrs of activity weekly, and that is only about the exercise, not the fact you have increased daily life.

But you workout 6 x weekly for 35 - 60 min = 3 x 47.5 = over 2 hrs

So lightly active and lightly active added together - Moderate for sure.