How do I know who to believe?

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I was looking at a few different BMI calculators online and on WebMD it says to lose 2lbs a week (same goals as i have set for MFP) I should only be eating 1200 calories. MFP tells me I can have 1520....How do I know who is right/more accurate?

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  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,522 Member
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    Trial and error
  • mamitosami
    mamitosami Posts: 531 Member
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    Trial and error

    Hmmm, this puts a lot into perspective. I agree. You have to be patient (ahem, so do I), it takes time to figure it out.

    It seems there IS a magic number, it's just that it is different for everyone. I am in the process of trying to figure out just what you asked OP.

    It's not easy, and it can be frustrating. But stick with it. (I should really listen to my own advice, and drop the pretzels!)
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    I used five or six different BMR calculators/formulas, three or four TDEE calculators/formulas and about the same number of any different body measurement calculators/formulas I could find and pumped my data into all of them. Then I average them out and went from that. It helped put things in perspective and broke a long plateau/into period of gain and I've been losing since the. It was literally three pages of numbers, but it helped.

    Oh, and trial and error, lots of it. ;)
  • JRhinoC
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    http://nutrition.about.com/od/changeyourdiet/a/calguide.htm

    Use this to calculate how many calories you need a day and then subtract 500 a day for each pound per week you want to lose. Just remember this is an estimate. It's not going to be exact, nothing will. Although along those same lines, your calorie counting from intake and exercise isn't going to be exact either.