The prob with the cals is not the "net" or "gross" cals, it's that there is X amount of nutrients in X amount of calories of food and you are trying to reduce nutrients overall (jsut like your point about the sodium). So even if you DO burn a lot off, your body still digests and has access to ample amounts of nutrients present in the greater amount of food, KWIM??
People conceive baby girls every day of the year doing things that are NOT the LE Diet - it's just that I believe for optimizing results, the LE Diet guidelines are best. Gotta do what is right for you tho.
You might want to read the exercise thread here -
http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gend...h-genders.html