I'm pretty sedentary (student, coding) with a BMR of about 1700, and my TDEE is quite low without exercise. I eat at maintenance level (1800 kcal), and then create my deficit through exercise, burning a total between 2200-2300 daily.
So, for those who run a typical 500 calorie deficit and prefer to create it through exercise, what do you do? My difficulty is burning the required amount on a consistent, daily basis, mainly because so much cardio involves the legs.
For example yesterday I went for a 3 mile walk and later in the day did 30 mins of jump rope. Today my legs were wasted so I opted to use my arms and chop wood with a splitting axe for two hours.
One of my favorite ways to burn them is just to go for a long walk, like over 6 miles. That usually burns around 500 calories if you do it in under 2 hours. It's so easy going, however not very time efficient.
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[–] voatkick [S] ago
Yeah, I'm about 15-16% b.f. and I want to get down to ~10% I think. I know eating less is an option but I already get somewhat hungry during the day @ 1800 so I'd rather not cut my intake any more unless I absolutely will have to. I hope I can go all the way down at 1800. The math says I should be able to but we will see in reality I guess.
[–] dirkgently 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
What is your weight height? I have somewhere in the same range of body fat % but it's thrown off by my gut. I have like nothing through most of my body but it concentrates it my face and gut. I lift 5 days a week and and medium active the rest of the week, My maintenance level is about 2000, right now I am taking in 1200-1500 calories a day right now and I'm losing body fat. I will say that i have noticed that no matter what the calories are, if I eat carbs, I can not loose body fat. Maybe because I'm not running currently but that's just my experience.
Also when I was really shedding fat I ate like 800-1000 cal a day and you learn to be hungry, its pretty easy once you get over that first week. I almost look at it like the feeling of hunger is really my body digesting its own fat and that is a good thing.
[–] voatkick [S] ago
5'11'' (180 cm), 158 lbs (72 kg).
I used to do low calorie and alternate day fasting diets for a long time and that didn't work out so well for me, so I'm treading cautiously this time around. I'll see how far 1800 kcal can take me and then if I need that final push I guess I will just have to commit to a bit more exercise every day. It should get easier when it comes time to maintain as I'll be able to eat a couple hundred kcal extra per day.