need tdee help, ive read the posts but very confused.

Ok, first mistake I noticed is you are not sedentary if you work out moderately for four to fives times a week. If you base your TDEE on a sedentary lifestyle, you will probably still not be eating enough.

Secondly, it is not about low fat. That's the trap many people seem to fall into. Fats are good for you.

It's fairly hard to judge what you should be eating as we don't know your stats, but if you go by MFP, you should be aiming to lose 1lb a week and with a HRM should eat back the majority of your exercise cals.

My dietitian and physician both say that under NO circumstances should you eat back exercise calories UNLESS you are a fitness buff and workout strenuously such as a professional athlete or Olympic competitor. Eating them back is a maintenance rule. MFP is crazy to suggest to all users. It's probably o.k. to eat back a small amount, but the purpose of exercise is to burn calories and lose weight. Eating them back halts weight loss. It's ridiculous to listen to people on here who have no idea what they are talking about. Listen to your dietitian and your doctor and follow what they tell you. I guarantee that there is NO dietitian who will recommend eating back the calories you burn during exercise if you are overweight and trying to shed those unwanted pounds!

You must not have fully explained to them how MFP works. I normally eat back my calories because I still have a large enough deficit to lose. MFP is set up to eat them back, unless you are someone who includes exercise in your TDEE and manually change your calorie goal, then you should be eating them back.

look,,, all formulas and charts and blah blah are here to assist you,,, it may not me correct for everyone,,, i personally do not use all this stuff,,, i just make sure i hit my macros because i bb,,, i start my self off at a certain aount of cals per week if i see o change i take it down a bit an go from there,,, every work out isnt going to be the same,,, every expenditure isnt going to be the same,,

When it comes to you not losing weight,,, theres 3 thigs that can be going on,,,
1) you're not measuring your food properly,,, which means youre eating to much
2) you're not exercising as much as you think,,,, which means youre eating to much

If theres a deficit, you WILL lose weight...

3) If you're a hundred percent certain of your deficit,,, seek medical attention, there could be an underlying cause

just to let everyone know i adjusted my calorie goal to 1730 from 1580. i am going to try and be a better logger and eat some of my exercise calories back and see how that works. Thank you everyone for your responses.

1730 is significantly closer to your TDEE (maintenance) at sedentary. Standing around for 2 hours 40 minutes a day 5 days a week is not significant enough activity to suggest a higher activity level. This is based on your BMR determined by your doctor, not by websites.

If you eat this amount and do not exercise, you should keep at the same weight roughly. If you create a 500 calorie deficit a day, every day of the week, then you should lose 1 pound of fat. This deficit can be done by eating less and/or exercising more.

If you exercise 500 calories a day, 7 days a week, you can still eat 1730 a day.
If you only burn 250 a day, 7 days a week, then you'll have to eat 1480 a day.

When exercising, it is VERY important you get enough protein. The FDA suggests 15% of calories from protein for the AVERAGE American. People that exercise are NOT average. They require more, roughly 25% to 30% of calories from protein.

My suggestion for now: Eat 1550 on days you do not exercise. Eat 1700 on days you do exercise. Get 30% of your calories from protein every day and drink plenty of water.

ok i changed from lightly active to sedentary. And will log in my exercise. So i am at 1560 now. we will see how it goes.

Try to eat "clean" whole foods and log everything that crosses your lips.

this is why i am confused. THe hospital body scan says my bmr is 1445. Other calculators say its 1600-1700. and then the tdee difference is over 200 so i really have no clue where i am at. i've tried 1900 1700 1300 1500 and i can't find the perfect place yet. and i have tried eating all my exercise calories, eating only some and eating none, and i seem to get the same result, initial loss and then stagnant. it's just so frustrating really. and then some people say eat all your calories, my doctor says eat a straight 1700 and up to 1800 if i work out. and then some say eat only some calories.

ONe doctor told me i should only eat 800 calories a day. This was unsolicited advice when i did my health check a year ago. He had me in tears. He treated me as if i didn't know how to lose weight. i said to him eating 800 calories a day is not a great way to lose weight and i couldn't do it.

A hospital body scan didn't say your BMR was 1445.
It told you your % of bodyfat likely.

What was that? BF%.

That will help nail your BMR better, and indeed, as other posts have shown, BMR based on age, weight, height, you have less LBM than expected, so your BMR is lower than those other estimates, so your TDEE would be lower, so you would eat less.

Use the spreadsheet linked here that will use your bodyfat% they scanned you with, or get it from them, don't accept their BMR number, because usually they hand out an RMR number even, which is actually 150-250 more than BMR.

Plug in your real activity times at the different levels, be honest if on your feet.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

Read the descriptions of BMR/TDEE if not really understanding it, otherwise skip to the bottom for the link.

It can take up to 30 days for your body to adjust from eating too low of calories. If you had been eating way below your calorie recommendations, what happens is your body slows it's metablolism to try to counter that to keep you from becoming malnourished. It can take up to 30 days before you will start seeing results after adding in the neccessary calories. Just keep it up! If you are still not seeing results in January I would speak to your doctor about rethinking the 1800 calories. So stick with the 1800 calories and just be consistent. This is a long, long, long, process and it is easy to get discouraged when that scale is not budging. So I would also recomend getting rid of the scale, and only way yourself when you check in with your doctor.

As far as fat is concerned, don't worry about it too much. I would check to be sure you are not over your carb limit though. Sugar, and high starchy foods can also deter weight loss. More fresh produce is always a good way to go.

Hope this helps.