Calorie goal. Confused & need insight

AngiMoss

Under the tools tab, I found all the handy little calculators and checked out what my BMR is. It told me 1,401.
Now I know a lot of people get into a uproar about anyone going under 1200 a day & I fully understand those reasons.
However, I also know that every person is different and this BMR reading may mean that I am one of those people that actually does need to consume under 1200 a day to lose weight. According to this reading, I'd have to consume 1150 a day to lose half a pound per week. Better yet, supplement that with exercise so that I can eat more & get all of my needed nutrients.

So, I went up to the goals tab and started looking around at those numbers (thinking I was going to change my goal) and noticed on the right hand side is said "Your Diet Profile...Calories Burned From Normal Activity" and that number was 1,750.
I'm not sure how this number was calculated? It's all the same info that was given to the BMR calculator.
If I was to follow that number, to lose a half a pound a week, I should eat 1500 calories a day. That's a much different number than 1150.

A little background so you can understand why I am frustrated & trying to pin down what I need to be doing.
Last year, I joined Weight Watchers. I went from 170 to 135lbs. I was very good about staying within my points range, but I found that if I tapped into the extra 35 point per week that ww allots for splurges and such, that I wouldn't lose any weight. So, I stuck to my strict regiment & was successful. Then they switched the program up & since I was skinny again, I fell off from logging my foods everyday. I put 16lbs back on over the winter. That's when I found this site. A few initial pounds came off, but my weight had been relatively stuck for the past 6-8 weeks. I've read up on all the plateau postings & thought that maybe I needed to increase my calories to shake things up. But to be honest, I feel like maybe the reason I am not losing is more along the lines of that I could just be eating what my body needs to maintain.
Maybe I do actually need to set my calorie goal lower (1100 or so) and stick to making sure I get in my daily exercise in? I would be happy to eat more if I thought that was what needed to happen to move things along, but when I compare my typical days worth of food, compared to what I would eat in a day on ww (and was successfully losing each week)...I eat way more now. So, I am having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that I need to increase my intake EVEN more.

I am 32 years old.
5 foot 7 inches.
Currently weigh 145.2
BMR: up for debate, according to this site
BMI: 22.7

Any help or insight would be appreciated. Why would the same website give me two much different numbers for the same thing? Help!

sweetheart03622

Your BMR does not take in to consideration your activity whereas the other number does.

kimmerroze

You are confused at what is your BMR and what is your maintainence calories...

your BMR or base metabolic rate are the calories you would need to consume if you slept all day or were in a coma... this is NOT your maintainence calories, which is your BMR calories plus your calories burned from daily activity...

this is what MFP generates your daily calorie goal at.

so in reality you are not one of those people who "needs" to eat below 1200...

and in reality a lot of people would say that you shouldn't eat below your BMR... I am one of those people... Since I bumped my calories up from 1200 to 1480 (which is my BMR) I have lost more weight than I was losing at 1200.

nab22

Follow the number MFP says to eat a day. The BMR number is if you were in a coma, which I assume you're not, so because you walk and talk and pick up pencils and open doors you need more than the BMR number to function.

kimmerroze

ALSO!!! you are much closer to your goal now then you were when you started WW...which means that as you get closer to your goal you must eat more so that your body wont be afraid to get rid of its fat stores.


I am not sure what you eat all day, but now that you are within 10-15 pounds of your goal weight... you need to be seriously careful about having a clean diet or the simplest things will make you retain water.. which will make it seem like your weight isn't moving...

and the reason you gained 15 pounds back after you quit WW is because thier program doesn't teach you how to eat right to eventually maintain your weight, they teach you how to lose weight...MFP teaches you how to lose weight slowly and make healthy life style choices so that eventually it will be habit and you wont have to calorie count.

mkennedym

bmr is the average number of calories a person of your height, weight, age and sex would burn if they didn't leave their bed in a 24 hour period. since you most likely leave your bed, your maintenance calorie number is higher than your bmr (usually at least a couple hundred calories).

CWRose

The bmr are the cals needed just to be alive without any activity at all. If you are active in "any" way you need more cals. Hope that helps. Good luck!

AngiMoss

Thank you everyone!
That had actually occurred to me, but I suppose I needed someone else to convince me that the 1401 calorie number was my "coma" number. This has been my first plateau and I guess I just needed some guidance to ensure I am on the right track.
I was hoping to get a few more pounds off before a big vacation at the end of May (then go into maintenance) but I've spent the last 2 months stuck at 145-146. I didn't want to spend another 2-3 weeks fiddling around with the wrong numbers!
Thanks everyone.

I must say that while I was more successful in weight loss with ww, I do actually like this site quite a bit more. I now watch my sodium & sugar, etc and I have learned so much more. I just wish there was more guidance sometimes. I guess that's why ww gets to charge people to use their site.