Daily Calorie Deficit?

I'm no expert so whatever I say shouldn't be taken as sound medical advice!!

I have a daily target of 1710 calories as I started this at 292 lbs, but I don't worry so much about calorie target as making sure I have three meals a day at roughly 8am, 1pm and whenever I get in from work. This is something I never did and snacked at stupid times. For me MFP is a helpful tool i this process but my main guide is what my body is telling me, if I'm a little hungry I'll have a little snack but I will log it. What this place does is stops me going for the Mars Bar or the four bags of crisps or the Mars Bar AND the four bags of crisps.

If I've been eating properly and then complete some cardio exercise (mainly walking or running for me) then I don't necessarily whack a great deal of food into me and on those days my deficit is huge. I stick to my guide though of three meals and eating if I'm hungry. I never eat just to get calories in.

I'm fitter, faster, lighter and stronger than I was and I generally feel better. Could I be losing more weight by eating more to get the calorie deficit to be smaller? Possibly, but I'm not going to because I've eaten enough and the right sort of things to feel fine. I don't eat much bread for example and I see some diaries where nearly half of the daily calories come from bread. I can't imagine the large calories from that will be better than my smaller calories from vegetables or fish or chicken?

Deep down we all know if we're doing the right things or not and MFP is just a little tool to help that. It's good to look at and think of where you could improve and it gives us focus. So after all that i'd suggest that your body and feelings will tell you where you are much better than deficit figures (or surplus come to that).

The most important thing on here is not the figures, it's the support of people who will encourage and be there for you on the days when things ain't gone so well. It's nice when someone else says don't worry about it, move on and start again. If we all get 80% of this right we'll all see results :-)

Taking the time to go through the links and making the calculations will sort almost everything after doing it. You can check with others if your conclusions are accurate.

I'm going to make this really easy for you.

Eat 1,900 - 2000 calories per day (which factors in that you are exercising regularly.) in order to lose weight.

Assess after 4 week.

(ps you are confusing BMR and TDEE and if your trainer didn't explain the difference that is very poor.)

Aloha,
I'm ain't a doctor, but if you are eating below your BMR, that is not good! But again, I ain't no doctor!
I worked out your numbers with what info you gave me,
Weight: 190
Height: 5’8”
Activity Level: 1.3
Male or Female: M
Age: 26

Mifflin-St Jeor
(FOR MEN) BMR 1,818
Maintenance 2,363
Cut (@ 15%) 2,008 (500 calorie a day deficit, losing weight)
Build (@ 15%) 2,717 (500 calorie a day excess, gaining weight)

You can go to this google docs folder and download the spreadsheet and do it yourself. Anything in this folder is for the taking, so please use it and SHARE it!

https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B3kFzsaVmRjmd1k4YjA1SlVWaFU/edit

There is a page that is In Place Of A Road Map that will walk you through the process of getting these numbers

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

If you have any difficulty with the spreadsheets let me know and I will give you a hand!
My email is: mikeschratz@gmail.com

I don't eat below my BMR.

Dan explains it better.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

I followed this advice in these links and it worked for me.

What were you eating before you started this diet/lifestyle change? Probably over 2000 calories. So if you ate 1650, you would probably be eating with deficit anyway.

The reason MFP is telling you that you are eating too few calories is because you are. You shouldn't eat under 1200 a day, and if you're not eating back your exercise calories, then you're probably way under 1200. I think 1200 is too low for most people, and especially men.

I say follow everyone's advice and read those links. They are extremely informative and will also tell you how to use your BMR.

Just a guess here, but I think Nik is a woman.

If your BMR is 1650, don't eat less than that for any extended period of time. No idea why MFP is telling you to eat so little unless you have set it to lose 2 lbs. a week, maybe? Your trainer is telling you to eat to lose 1 lb. per week (500 calorie deficit). Stick with that. You need to know your TDEE for that, tho, since your 500 deficit is from the calories you burn for the day--use one of the sites. Regardless, try not to eat less than 1650. You really shouldn't net less than 1650.

I'm not sure what my actual deficit daily is. I'm a little confused on everything. MFP says I should eat 1230 daily and burn 2100 cal per week through exercise. My trainer did a body scan on me today and told me my BMR is 1650 (or close to that) and I should have a 500 cal per day deficit.

Today I burned 429 calories through exercise. How many calories should I have eaten today?

Pick someone to listen to... MFP or your trainer. Taking bits from one and mixing them with bits from another is a sure fire way to frustration. And probably failure.