I'm not stupid I promise but.....

MFP does know your BMR. MFP caloric intake guideline is based on BMR+activity multiplier - deficit, then when you exercise it adds back those cals. So if you are sedentary with a BMR of 1500 and you chose a weekly weight loss goal of 1lb/week MFP would give you1300 cals (1500*1.2-500) then when you exercise you eat those back to keep your deficit at the same 500 cals (1lb loss/week) so say you don't workout today, MFP says eat 1300 cals, then tomorrow you burn 600 cals from exercise, MFP says eat 1900 (1300+600) to keep your deficit at 500 for the day.

You should change your goals on MFP.

That's exactly what I'm saying, I use that to find out what I need so why is MFP telling me to eat 1200 when they don't know my BMR or my BF etc?

MFP's standard caloric recommendation is set really low. I know when I first joined, looking to lose 5 lbs and then maintain, it told me 1200 calories. So I followed that for about a month and found I was always hungry. ALWAYS. I asked my friends, who told me about the Scooby calculator and I've been doing great ever since I upped my calories (2104 for my activity level! These days I seem to be netting around 1850-1900 or so).

I customized my goals and set the calorie amount myself based on what the Scooby calculator told me.

If you're using a calorie formula you're working out your BMR. You'll have an activity factor (from 1.2 for very inactive to 1.9 for very, very active) you need to multiply your BMR by, to get your total energy expenditure for the day (TEE or TDEE). Then you take 10-20% of your TEE and subtract it from itself to get a good starting point for losing weight.

Monitor your weight while sticking to that number and adjust as required. Losing more than 1lb? add 5% of your TEE back on. Losing less? take 5% off.

If you're very obese you can take 30% off your TEE to rapidly reduce your weight for a couple of months, but then kick it back up to 20% to create a more sensible deficit for your decreasing mass.

I would also use Mifflin-St. Jeor over Harris-Benedict to calculate my BMR.

So, for an example, if I get 1400 as my BMR, I would multiply that by 1.6 (because I'm pretty active) to get 2240 as my TEE.

10% of 2240 is 224, so 2240 - 224 = 2016
20% is 2440 - 448 = 1792

These would be my calorie goals to lose weight slowly (2016) or slightly more aggressively (1792).

This is how MFP works, but it underestimates your needs, in my opinion. So customise your goals, instead of using the guided tour.

If that were true then surely my calorie goal would change when I upped my work out hours? THis was not the case

No, MFP only accounts for exercise that you enter into the exercise tab, not planned exercise. You have to enter it in the exercise tab, under cardio for it to adjust you cals. this way only exercise you actually do, not planned on doing, gets factored into your calorie goal for the day. If you don't enter exercise there, MFP assumes you didn't do any and hence you don't get the cals for it.

Meet Scooby..

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Aw, Scoob... :c

That is not how MFP works, MFP ignores exercise in your caloric intake, meaning you enter a lower activity multiplier, but then log exercise when you do it and your cals go up. Sometimes MFP goal is much lower, but that is usually because the user set a too aggressive weight loss goal (2lbs, when 0.5-1lb/week would have been more appropriate)

I have a feeling you misunderstood what I wrote, yes MFP has an activity factor multiplier, on the goals page where it "does the work for you" it asks you if you're sedentary, active, etc. etc. which will give you your TEE.

The dedicated exercise that you undertake is extra to your TEE (on MFP).

This is why it doesn't mention anything about working out in your activity factor, it asks you separate from it ("How would you describe your normal daily activities?") it works out how much you would need to eat taking into account what you are currently doing and THEN gives you more advice based on how many calories you burn through extra dedicated exercise, not the incidental exercise of your daily activities (work, travel, and so on).

The advice I gave works in the same way, it just doesn't treat exercise as extra to your TEE (which is why, I suspect, people get confused about whether they should be "eating back" exercise calories, or not).

Meet Scooby..

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Wow I just used this & my BMR is 1360 cals, on MFP my BMR is 1600.
So glad I didn't up my calories to 1600.

You are likely confusing BMR with TDEE and TDEE-deficit.

Well I went to the chart and next to the letters BMR it said 1360. I don't know how I can be confusing that.
Then underneath it states TDEE to maintain.

Meet Scooby..

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Wow I just used this & my BMR is 1360 cals, on MFP my BMR is 1600.
So glad I didn't up my calories to 1600.

You are likely confusing BMR with TDEE and TDEE-deficit.

Well I went to the chart and next to the letters BMR it said 1360. I don't know how I can be confusing that.
Then underneath it states TDEE to maintain.

And yet , here on MFP land, the "Net Calories Consumed* / Day" is equal to TDEE-10% or 20% not BMR...

Here on MFP I clicked on Apps then BMR and it came up with 1600.
In my original statement I never even mentioned TDEE. All I was stating is that there was a significant difference in my BMR between the two sites.

Meet Scooby..

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Wow I just used this & my BMR is 1360 cals, on MFP my BMR is 1600.
So glad I didn't up my calories to 1600.

You are likely confusing BMR with TDEE and TDEE-deficit.

Well I went to the chart and next to the letters BMR it said 1360. I don't know how I can be confusing that.
Then underneath it states TDEE to maintain.

And yet , here on MFP land, the "Net Calories Consumed* / Day" is equal to TDEE-10% or 20% not BMR...

Here on MFP I clicked on Apps then BMR and it came up with 1600.
In my original statement I never even mentioned TDEE. All I was stating is that there was a significant difference in my BMR between the two sites.

You wrote "So glad I didn't up my calories to 1600."

Why would you up your calories to a BMR level when you should up your calories to TDEE-cut? Not BMR.

You should have mentioned TDEE because one ups their calories to TDEE or TDEE and a cut, NOT BMR.

Hope that helps.:flowerforyou:

I see, but my TDEE was around 2400cals, so I should be eating 1900cals a day? for a 500cal deficit.

Meet Scooby..

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Wow I just used this & my BMR is 1360 cals, on MFP my BMR is 1600.
So glad I didn't up my calories to 1600.

You are likely confusing BMR with TDEE and TDEE-deficit.

Well I went to the chart and next to the letters BMR it said 1360. I don't know how I can be confusing that.
Then underneath it states TDEE to maintain.

And yet , here on MFP land, the "Net Calories Consumed* / Day" is equal to TDEE-10% or 20% not BMR...

Here on MFP I clicked on Apps then BMR and it came up with 1600.
In my original statement I never even mentioned TDEE. All I was stating is that there was a significant difference in my BMR between the two sites.

You wrote "So glad I didn't up my calories to 1600."

Why would you up your calories to a BMR level when you should up your calories to TDEE-cut? Not BMR.

You should have mentioned TDEE because one ups their calories to TDEE or TDEE and a cut, NOT BMR.

Hope that helps.:flowerforyou:

I see, but my TDEE was around 2400cals, so I should be eating 1900cals a day? for a 500cal deficit.

That is correct

Meet Scooby..

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I disagree with his calculator. If I consumed >2000 calories, my weight goes up, and I log chewing gum! I also do not take into account net calories. 65lbs. came off with no exercise all while consuming <1700 a day. After my son's death I put some weight back on and then after a couple of months started back at my journey. Hitting a longer plateau than I've ever had, I used Scoob's protein/fat/carb ratios to adjust and it's coming back off.