Calories for Super Obese

I am 5'6, 434lbs in the sedentary category and desperately need to lose this weight. I've been doing a lot of research and am still confused about how many calories I should be eating. It seems because of my weight, none of the normal rules apply. The first week I always lose 5-7 lbs and then just seem to stall. I've been eating around 1800 calories a day. I saw a nutritionist and she told me that seems about right but she didn't know for my weight . Here are the calculations I've looked at:

MFP
Calories per day 2330 - eat back exercise calories

Fat2FitRadio
Harris Benedict BMR 2670
Katch McArdle 1303
Calories per day 3204 - 30%= 2243 - do not eat back exercise calories

Scooby's Calculator
BMR 2667
TDEE 3200
Calories per day - 2400 - do not eat back exercise calories


I've had my RMR tested which came out to 2064. Any ideas on where I should set my calories? Any other feedback or suggestions are also welcome. Thanks!

Well, if you had your RMR tested at 2064, then your TDEE for sedentary would be approx. 2475. This would be theoretically how much you could eat to maintain your weight if you were sedentary. This might be where you are stalling out at. If you were to eat at your RMR every day and not exercise, you are only creating a deficit of 310 calories, which is about three-quarters of a pound a week, which isn't much when you have a lot to lose. If your RMR is correct, I would aim to eat around 2100 calories per day with no exercise calories and aim to be lightly active and work up to more exercise more regularly. Light activity would give you a TDEE of 2064x1.375 = 2838, which would allow for about 1.5 lbs per week loss, and if you work up to moderate activity, your TDEE would be 2064x1.55 = 3199, which would allow for 2 lbs per week loss.

ETA: What do you define as a stall? When you lose very quickly, it's usually a lot of water weight and you can often see a rebound gain. If you continue eating the appropriate calories and exercising, you should see the downward trend continuing after a couple of weeks. Of course, if that also happens to coincide with monthly water weight gains, it could take longer. I say monitor every single thing you eat (weigh and measure) and try to accurately track your exercise and see where you are in about 6 weeks. You really have to be vigilant about tracking every single thing, though, because one "bad" meal or day can really be a lot more calories than you would think.

Your ranges are only about 2200-2400 - well within the margin of error for the calorie counts on foods. After all, I don't know about others, but I do not measure my bananas, I just put in a consistent 105 calories.

Therefore, I also suggest sticking with MFP. Try the first two weeks without eating back your exercise calories and see how you feel.

Set your goal to however many pounds you want to lose a week. Follow the instructions. After a week re-evaluate. If you have too much, then up your cals by 100 a day. If you have not lost enough then decrease by 200 a day. Keep doing this until you lose a safe amount every day.

You must see your doctor in case there are safety issues.

Without looking it up, I would hazard to guess that you'd drop weight quickly at 3000 calories or more. Find a TDEE calculator and enter your stats.

Ok, I had to look...

Your TDEE at sedentary is 3000 calories. Eat at 2500 and lose a pound a week. Work on upping your output.

The thing to remember is that if you move or take a walk a few times a week, you'll bump up from sedentary fairly easily. At your size, it doesn't take a lot of exercise to burn a lot of calories. Consider a recumbent exercise bike if getting around is a problem.

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php