Not sure if calorie goal is right

miriamtob

I'm using MFP's calculation rather than setting my own goal calories. It gave me 1770. The thing is, I'm almost always in a calorie deficit of several 100 calories. I'm dubious because I love food and always eat when I'm hungry, only do moderate exercise. I just used a different calculator from IIFYM.com and got 1688. Not a huge difference, but which one should I trust?

Liftng4Lis

MFP's deficit is already built in. Use that one, as you get to eat more and still lose weight.

terbusha

What I do and what I recommend to people is to eat at a calorie level that allows you to make good progress towards your goal. If you are trying to lose weight, eat so you drop 1-2 lbs/week. This assumes an average calorie burn from you getting in all of your workouts. This will be different for everyone, so you'll have to do some trial and error to figure it out. I'd start ~1600 cal/day. Hit this goal, along with your macros and getting in your workouts, for a week. If you lose 1-2 lbs, you're good to go. If you lose too much, increase your intake and repeat. If you don't lose enough, reduce your intake a bit and repeat. After a few weeks, you'll figure out what works for you in your situation.

segacs

Start by using what MFP set for you. Follow the plan for a while. Adjust if it's not working after a couple of months.