Cardio and calorie intake

[Gen]

So I'm not sure how ridiculous this is. Maybe I'm overthinking it.

I'm 5' 8", 160 pounds. I want to be 140. So, maintenence is about 2400 and I need 1900 a day to lose. Awesome.

I burn roughly 2000 calories throughout the week at the gym. I walk during lunch from work for about 150 calories about 4 times a week and then three or four times another 450 after work either running on the treadmill or hardish intervals on the elliptical.

Should I add that 2000 calories into my weekly caloric intake? That would give me 2100 a day. Or should I split it and add 1000 and use the other 1000 as my 'cheat meals'? Or should I just eat the 1900. That would be like eating 1600 after the exercise calories are subtracted - and 800 calorie a day deficit (only if I never cheat though).

I'm over thinking aren't I?

 

[Steve]

Haha.

Here's what I would do.

Not worry about it and base decisions on your rate of fat loss.

If you're losing too quickly, you know you're not eating enough.

If you're not losing enough, you know you're eating too much.

This rule of thumb doesn't work in all instances. For instance, if one were to be coming off a long diet and intense training with little respect for rest/recovery, plateaus could be stemming from maladaptation.

Assuming you're not in that camp, the easy rule applies.

I also don't go through all the trouble of worrying about energy expenditure. I admittedly have before with certain clients who we just couldn't figure out why they weren't losing, but in most instances, I simply take a multiplier and apply it to weight in lbs to get a generic maintenance intake and cut from there.

Said multiplier is usually somewhere between 13-16 calories per pound.

 

[Gen]

This rule of thumb doesn't work in all instances. For instance, if one were to be coming off a long diet and intense training with little respect for rest/recovery, plateaus could be stemming from maladaptation.

Assuming you're not in that camp, the easy rule applies.

Nothing like that. I've been eating around 1600 on "good" days and way more on bad days for the past two months which has been equalling out to maintenence, if not a tiny loss that I can't see but supposedly my husband does.

So 1800 to 1900 with a buffer for one or two small cheat meals should be easy, now. Thanks!