Can this be an Accurate Suggested Calorie Intake.....

1550 actually looks low

Also, MFP only wants you to lose 2 lbs per week because that is what dieticians have determined as "healthy weightloss" though not fast enough for most of us :-)

To me this looks low! My friend who just double majored in Nutrition and Sports Science took me on as her pet project. She told me to take my present weight and multiple by 7 to get the daily caloric needs for weight loss ( in your case around 2,030). You never want to eat less than 1200 as you will put your body into starvation mode. You will also need to adjust your caloric intake as you lose weight and reach your goal weight. You also want to make sure that you spread your calories out over the course of they day with the smallest meal being the one closet to bed time. She has me eating 5-6 times a day. I had hit the dreaded last 10 pounds when I met her. She has tweaked my diet and exercise and I've lost 3 pounds. Doesn't sound like much. I would lose some and gain it back over the past year. With her help I've been able to keep it off!

Thank you fro everyones responses....

I made a mistake my SHORT term goal is 240 my overall is 165 but that was to great of a number

The calories you're given are based on your current height/weight/gender/activity level, etc. They are not based on your goal weight.

I weigh 141.... Which means I would have to eat 987 calories to lose weight? Does that mean if I eat 1200 calories I will gain? Is this right?

I weigh 141.... Which means I would have to eat 987 calories to lose weight? Does that mean if I eat 1200 calories I will gain? Is this right?

The multiply your weight by 7 that I gave earlier was a general guideline that my friend uses. I weigh 133 and eat about 1200-1300 a day. I've been losing about 1lb per week. The real key is to make sure you burn more than you eat. You could in theory eat 2000 a day if you are burning more than that!! When I was a competitive swimmer, my workouts consisted of swimming an hour in the am , an hour of weights three times a week in the afternoons, and the running stairs for 45 minutes the other days. I would consume anywhere between 2500-3000 calories a day. The day before a meet we would carb load (eating roughly 65-70% carbs). I was 5'2" and 100 lbs. As you can see, the more active you are, the more you eat.

I agree that 1500 sounds a bit low. I am quite a bit taller than you, at 5'10", but I too started at around 300 lb. I've lost a very steady 1-2 lb per week eating around 2000 calories a day.

Remember that these are all just general guidelines. Everyone's metabolism is different and burns calories at a different rate, with more or less efficiency, based on everything from your genetic ancestry to the altitude where you live. There are a lot of things that can affect it. This program tries to estimate how many calories your body burns naturally throughout the course of a day, and then sets your calorie goal below that, so you'll lose weight. But if the estimate is off, say you have a really slow metabolism, then the whole calculation will be off. Just use this as a guideline, guesstimate as best you can, but then listen to your body. If you're hungry & tired all the time, you probably need more calories than you're getting. If you're not losing weight at all, you need to either lower the calorie count or adjust the nutrient ratios. Sometimes your body can be better at processing one kind of calorie over another. For example, my body doesn't process carbs at all, so I could eat a "calorie deficit" for months and still gain weight. I had to drop my carb ratio to less than 10% before I could lose weight.

I guess my point is that this is not simple. There is no simple formula; your body is very complex and there are a lot of variables involved. If it was easy, no one would be fat. Just listen to your body, trial & error, figure out what works best for you. The MFP recommendation is only a starting point; don't be afraid to tweak it if you feel it's not quite right for you.

Good luck to you!

Again, general guideline for the more overweight. She specializes in people who need to lose 100+ pounds. She doesn't use this for those that get close to their goal weights or on the lighter end of the spectrum. She didn't even use this to calculate my intake. Mine is based on my BMR and daily activity level. She has a very complicated formula that she learned in her nutrition classes that I don't even want to try to understand. If she is your nutritionist, she makes you record your meals and daily activities for two weeks before she will discuss what changes need to be made. From measurements, activity level and goal weekly weight loss (no more than 2 lbs a week, usually 1), she then calculates the intake amount. Since the original posted stated where she was starting and where she was wanting to go, I posted the x7 as a general starting point. I'm by no means a expert and was just sharing the knowledge that was passed to me.

I understand and didn't intend to come off as a peckerhead, just for the record

But I do think that 7xBW is quite on the low end.

Oh, and I wasn't offended!! I've had a terrible week and today was the worst day of all so if I came off sounding B!#@&y, I did not intend to.