For some reason, this stupid/simple concept trips me up and just eludes me. I've never actively tried to lose weight by keeping track of calorie intake and output, I've just kind of let it happen... But I'm curious:
According to an online calculator, my RMR is 1247 and my TDEE is 1852 (after plugging in that I do X amount of exercise at X intensity so many times a week). I'm a 5'4" woman and weigh 115-118 normally and 110-113 when at my fittest, but I don't find that weight sustainable over the year. I'd like to get there for October.
Supposing I want to lose those 5 or so pounds, do I try to eat less than that 1852 (approximately) -- OR do I factor in whatever calories I burned through exercise, adding that number to 1852 -- so I could eat say, 2000 and still lose weight slowly (assuming I burn 400-500 calories in an hour run and am thus at a ~200 calorie deficit).
I mean, writing it out now it seems obvious that the TDEE the calculator gives incorporates that activity but it's based on an average. I've been using a food tracking app for a bit that initially gives me ~1300 calories for the day, but that increases as exercise is added... So I've eaten ~1800 but still have 100 or so left. This, for some reason, makes things more complicated in my mind...
And supposing I wanted to maintain my weight, would I just generally eat my RMR's worth of calories plus the calories I burned through exercise?
Thanks for not laughing!