Hi! I was reading about calorie deficit and BMR and I was confused on what attributes to your calorie deficit. Do you include your BMR with the calories you burn during the day when you calculate your calorie deficit, or do you just take from the calories your burned during the day? Thank you so much! You're truly inspiring!
your BMR = resting metabolic rate = the amount of calories your body burns a day simply to survive and function. you do not want to eat below this amount of calories. your body needs this many calories to function. You can get metabolic testing done at a facility near you, just google it!
So, to put yourself in a surplus to gain weight/build muscle, you would need to eat above the amount of calories of your BMR + the amount of calories you burn exercising. This is why you want to do less cardio if trying to build muscle, because cardio will burn more calories, which is counterintuitive in trying to get into a surplus of calories. For example, if your BMR is 1800, and your training session burns 400 calories, you should be eating over 2200 calories to be in a surplus.
To put yourself in a deficit, you want to eat less than your BMR + the amount of calories you burn exercising. Because you shouldn’t eat below your BMR, adding more cardio increases the amount of calories you burn, allowing yourself a bigger deficit from exercise, therefore allowing you to eat over your BMR but still lose weight. For example, if your BMR is 1800, and your training burns 400 calories, you should be eating under 2200 calories to be in a deficit, but shouldn’t drop below 1800 calories. This is where increasing cardio would help further fat loss because your food should not go lower than your BMR.
To maintain your weight, you should eat the amount of your BMR + calories burned from exercise. For example, if your BMR is 1800, and your training burns 400 calories, eating 2200 calories will keep you maintaining your weight.
Perfect explanation for those asking about BMR + TDEE and which to eat in a surplus/deficit of
