MFP says I can eat 3800 calories a day. Is that accurate?

I know, I was just as shocked as you when I found out how much I'd actually been eating! Even a handful of m&ms is worse than I ever imagined! Anyways, I would go with the number MFP set for you to start. It doesn't hurt to stay under, but it does to go over If you feel after a few weeks you can handle fewer calories than give it a try, but don't be too drastic! Good luck on your journey!!

Until you accurately log all the food you used to eat to prove otherwise, that is probably a very good estimate.

For 2-3 weeks you could probably get by with 1000 less than that, but then get it back up to the goal MFP has set, for whatever the new weight is after that time. Because it will lower automatically every 10 lbs.

At the start of a journey that is going to be long, do you really want your body burning less than it could daily because you made the deficit too huge?

And get ready - that is your non-exercise day goal. And hopefully you honestly selected the activity level, though I'm guessing sedentary desk job may me more correct.
MFP makes an eating goal with a deficit to lose weight for non-exercise days. Exercise days you burn more, and it takes away the same deficit so you lose the same amount.

But when you exercise, you log that, and eat back 90% of those extra calories, because you just burned more.

So understand and follow the way MFP works since you have no experience in calorie levels to decide what seems high or not.

And yes, you probably burn upwards of 3800 daily as sedentary. Add exercise, you burn even more.
You did pick a 2 lb weekly weight loss goal, right?

MOst definitely you have a lot to lose therefore you can eat "more" while losing x

Great question and welcome to the MFP.

I'd stick with the amount the MFP gave you, being a bigger man weight/height you will burn more calories. Start off slow so that you don't starve yourself. Also weight loss experts recommend going no higher than 2 lbs per week because you can cause permanent damage to yourself.

It's easier to eat that many calories than you think. If you go to cheesecake factory and get the Alfrado pasta, that's a whooping 1,800 calories for just that meal.

A slice of pizza from the costco food court is 680 calories, 150 calories from a bottle of pepsi and etc. if you were like me growing up and drink 5 sugared sodas in a day and 4-6 slices a pizza in a sitting, 2720 (4 slices of pizza) + 350 (3 sodas) that meal could be 3070 alone.

It's easier to eat more calories than you think especially when you don't know how much calories something has. Record everything and start to learn how much calories each of your favorite foods is packing. You dont' have to eliminate any food, but you will have to practice portioning and make smarter choices.

Double-check to make sure that you input everything correctly into MFP, then do exactly what it tells you to for a month. Log everything exactly, weigh everything you put in your mouth, and eat back 50-75% of your exercise calories. Don't start changing things until you have a good idea of how your body reacts to the tool's recommendations. As you lose weight, you're going to have to drop your calories anyway, probably more than once.

Sounds about right, I use the TDEE method and this has you at 4786 to maintain (with a moderate exercise schedule - nothing heavy duty - like 1-3 hours a week). So 3800 is deficit that will give you just about a 2 pound loss.

You can check this out and other calculators as well and it will give you an idea as to where you should be.
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

I would say 3800 is a good number you don't want to create too large of a deficit, not fuel your body properly and then falter and give up. Take it slow and steady. Good luck!

Alright, thank you all for the wonderful advice and information. I guess it was just a bit of "sticker shock" when you're used to hearing that 2,000 is "normal." I didn't know it was this bad. Thank you again.

2000 is average for females, 2400 or 2500 for males.

Average, not normal. So that means average height, weight, and activity level to lead to that average for population in general. You can imagine the bell curve with all those averages thrown together.

I'm betting you are pretty aware you are well above average in 2 out of 3, and perhaps are trying to be on the 3rd too.
And you always will be.

I show even at a goal weight of perhaps 225, your non-exercise maintenance for sedentary would be 2700. Start adding some exercise, decently more.