ive been cutting for a long ass time and i never really understood this. in calculating your matenence calorie needs, you need to know your activity level. well when you do the calculations do you include what you do for cardio as activity level or are you just supposed to use like what you do for a job and dont count the cardio you do toward the equation?

if you have been cutting for a while it shouldn't matter, you should know your cal. needs by now, but yes, you include any activity you do, job and exercise

if you have been cutting for a while it shouldn't matter, you should know your cal. needs by now, but yes, you include any activity you do, job and exercise


yeah youre rihgt, but as ive progressed, ive been getting more and more hungry. im down to 165 from 200 now and its getting to the point where i wanna say screw it and start bulking, but i still have fat to lose so i just wanna make sur eim actually making the right calculations.

If you calculated the amount required for cutting and have had success, add 500 calories to that number and adjust accordingly. I've learned that you can make all the calculations you want, but you won't know if they're right for sure until you actual do it. Even then you sometimes have to adjust on the fly.


Jason

If you calculated the amount required for cutting and have had success, add 500 calories to that number and adjust accordingly. I've learned that you can make all the calculations you want, but you won't know if they're right for sure until you actual do it. Even then you sometimes have to adjust on the fly.


Jason

so maybe i should up my calories? with 10 more pounds to lose think itd be a good idea to go from 1800-2000 to 2200-2300? ive been reading around and it seems like its a good idea to up calories when you start getting closer and closer to you goal, which seems like the opposite of what you should be doing, but since when does life make sense ya know.

ive kicked cardio up to 4 days a week, which brings me to burning just over 4000 calories a week, about 600 cals a day, plus lifting.

Give it a try.

I cut on about 2000 calories. I went on maintenance for a few weeks at about 4000 cals. I am now cutting at 3000 cals, who knew?

3000 cals is alot more comfortable than 2000, and I am cutting just as well if not better. YMMV, try it out, learn what your body will let you get away with.

DTRG, everyone's different, so take this with a grain of salt. I am 22, ~152 lbs. and eating around 2000-2400 calories/day, 5x/week and about 3000-3500 calories/day, 2x/week. I've been doing cardio about 3x/week, but I just bumped that to 5x/week as I try to shed about 5 pounds of fat in the next 6 weeks. I also lift 4x/week.

I consider my calories a bit high for cutting, but it's working and I've always had a fast metabolism. I do find that I cut fat better when I eat more than less. Last year I was trying <2000 cals/day and getting nowhere.

For your original question, yes, add in cardio/lifting to your activity. You can do that in different ways, just make sure you're eating enough to support both activities.