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The calories that you require to maintain weight
The calories burned if you stayed in bed all day. Your daily calorie intake should never be below BMR.
TDEE is a measurement of how many calories you spend every day. So should your calorie intake be equal, less or more than TDEE? Well, it depends on your goal: lose, maintain, or gain weight.
If you are trying to lose weight or fat, your calorie intake should be 200-300cals less than TDEE. This will create a calorie deficit and if you are in a caloric deficit, you will lose weight.
For example, if your TDEE is 2500calories, and you are trying to lose weight, then you should look at consuming 2200-2300 calories per day. This is a safe calorie deficit zone. If you create a more sudden and bigger calorie deficit, the body will start losing its metabolism. Staying in a big calorie for the long term affects your metabolism poorly and you will end up gaining more weight than you ever lost.
The crucial thing to remember is to never drop your calories below BMR. This may result in poor bodily functions.
For gains, your calorie intake should be 200-300cals higher than TDEE. How much higher you should go, also depends on your activity levels. Similar to the calorie deficit, a calorie surplus should also not be drastic and sudden. A gradual increase from TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) or the maintenance calorie, is great for gradually gaining lean mass.
Weight training, combined with optimum nutrition helps in muscle growth. While increasing the calorie intake, ensure to increase all the macros, protein, carbs, and fat, in proportion.
If you are trying to maintain your weight, it’s advised to consume calories about equal to the TDEE. The calorie requirement is dependent on your activity levels. Based on variations in your activity levels, you will have to adjust your calorie intake as well.
You need not consume an equal amount of calories every day. Calorie cycling is a great way to make you learn balance. Calorie cycling means to keep varying your calorie intake through the week, in such a way that your overall weekly consumption aligns with your calorie requirements.
For example, if your TDEE is 2500 Calories, your daily consumption over a week could look like 2200, 2100, 3300, 2200, 3000, 2200, or 2500 calories.
You can easily create a diet plan for yourself based on your BMR and daily calorie requirement. The steps required to create your own diet plan –
For your ease, I have created a sample diet plan which offers 100gm protein, completely from vegetarian food sources.
Download this free diet plan of 100gm Protein. You can adjust the quantity of food according to your needs.