Women who have around 100 lbs to lose til a healthy BMI...

i just have it set to sedentary and to lose a pound a week but i generally have the amount of calories required to lose about 2 pounds a week. i just eat when i'm hungry and set proportions. the rest i try not to think too much about. i won't force myself to eat exercise calories if i'm not hungry and i won't force myself to starve either. it's just about finding a good balance for yourself.

I've met my goals, but I can tell you that I always ate a big chunk of my exercise calories (the deficit you need is already built into your goals BEFORE exercise) and that I rarely ate less than around 1500 calories as a base.

I currently weigh 358 lbs i have about 170 lbs to lose to get to my goal weigh of 185.

My Current calories are 2890 a day and yes i do, for the most part, eat my exercise calories.

For example me and my boyfriend go out to dinner on Friday nights as well as get ice cream. So i know on Fridays i do and i work out extra hard so i can eat what i want and not have to worry about it. Some days its hard to eat ALLLL of your calories, i just do whatever feels comfortable. Some days yes and some days no. just all depends

I currently weight 93.9kg down from 108kg. I dont eat my exercise calories. My body will never starve, i have plenty of fat im carrying around everyday with me. My intake is between 1400 to 1600calories a day. My exercise burns are between 300 and 1500. I dont deprive myself, i pretty much still eat everything. Just in moderation. I lose an average of 0.8kg a week. Good luck!

Right now I'm set at about 1260 calories a day and as much as I don't want to eat above that I usually do. I'll work out a little longer to make up for the calories that I've overeaten during the day and I get frustrated with myself each time I do that... But I can't seem to stop. It started on the days that I knew I was going to have a big dinner (usually knowing that I was going to eat out at a restaurant that night) but now it has become a habit. I want desperately to break out of it so I can see some results but I feel stuck.

@ Chalesie, so you are at 1260 and never eat your exercise calories back? have you tried upping your daily calories to see if you can deal better and lose more?

I started out eating around 1400 and eating half of my exercise calories, but I'm not very happy with what I've lost so far, since I started at 250lbs. ( I've lost 6 lbs. Since Jan. 12) So I upped my intake to 1700

It gets confusing because I keep reading that if you're obese (me) and have a lot to lose, you can do a bigger calorie deficit. I just want a steady 2 pound loss until I get to 220 at least but don't know how to do it.

That's excellent progress for 3 weeks. You are losing 2 pounds a week! You'l be in the 220s in no time! Don't forget to strength train so you'll see inch loss faster!

After seeing several comments of some misguided advice, and even experiences that are working for now, wanted to share some details for those asking in several posts.

No matter what weight you are, your body requires a certain level of energy to take care of all the cells in the body, and that actually includes the fat cells, obviously muscle, brain, ect.

That is the BMR. And the reason the BMR goes up with weight is for taking care of more weight.

And while you get a calculated healthy BMR from MFP that may not be your true BMR, it's probably not far off.

The basal metabolism can NOT be supplied from the body. Now, the fat at rest is obviously providing the main energy to supply it (around 70%), but that energy ultimately has to be taken in.

And if you constantly underfeed it, it will slow down.

The deficit to get your weight loss should be coming from your normal daily NON-exercise calories. In other words MFP maintenance minus 500, 750, 1000, whatever the goal is.

That is because those types of activities are mainly low key enough to have fat as it's main energy source.
And as possibly noticed, your activity calories are higher, because it takes more energy getting around right now. So you can probably get to bigger deficits and be safe.

But deficit should NOT go below your BMR on constant basis, otherwise your body will just slow down to meet what you are feeding it.

So what use to be a 2000 cal BMR for instance, if you eat at 1500 long enough, it will lower, and be 1500.

There goes 500 calories that were being burned every day by your metabolism. Gee, 500 per day, that's like 1lb / week!

The problem is, now that the BMR has lowered, your activity level based on that, and now maintenance level, have actually lowered too in reality.
So if 1500 used to be a 1000 calorie deficit off the 2500 maintenance calories, your maintenance is now at like 2000 actually, so not only has your BMR gone down by 500, but now your daily activity has gone down by 500. Gee, 1000 per day, that's like 2 lb/ week!

That is why you see weight slowdowns and stalls. It is your body adjusting in a very bad way. So if you take the advice to eat less and exercise more, you are really just suppressing the metabolism even more.

Don't eat your exercise calories (accurate estimates of course), and that amount will lower your BMR even more. You are already getting a deficit to the BMR, now the remaining 1500 calories to be used for BMR, was just used for your workout. Do 500 cal exercise everyday without eating it back, now your BMR is getting 1000 calories to work with. It will eventually lower.

This is an terrible downward spin you can never win.

And yes, MFP will take your weekly weight loss goal no matter what it is, and happily give you a daily goal calorie below your BMR.

If you aren't really familiar with what BMR is, please research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_metabolic_rate
energy in this state is sufficient only for the functioning of the vital organs, the heart, lungs, nervous system, kidneys, liver, intestine, sex organs, muscles, and skin.

http://www.shapefit.com/basal-metabolic-rate.html
Your basal metabolic rate, or BMR, is the minimum calorific requirement needed to sustain life in a resting individual. It can be looked at as being the amount of energy (measured in calories) expended by the body to remain in bed asleep all day!
BMR can be responsible for burning up to 70% of the total calories expended, but this figure varies due to different factors (see below). Calories are burned by bodily processes such as respiration, the pumping of blood around the body and maintenance of body temperature. Obviously the body will burn more calories on top of those burned due to BMR.

As to ability to lower it and miss out on calorie burn, here is good example.

http://www.exrx.net/Questions/StarvationEffect.html

A similar case study was published by Jampolis (2004). A 51 year old patient complained of a 15 lb weight gain over the last year despite beginning a strenuous triathlon and marathon training program (2 hours per day, 5-6 days per week). A 3 day diet analysis estimated a daily intake of only 1000-1200 Calories. An indirect calorimetry revealed a resting metabolic rate of 950 Calories (28% below predicted for age, height, weight, and gender). After medications and medical conditions such as hypothyroidism and diabetes where ruled out, the final diagnosis was over-training and undereating. The following treatment was recommended:

Increase daily dietary intake by approximately 100 Calories per week to a goal of 1500 calories
32% protein; 35% carbohydrates; 33% fat
Consume 5-6 small meals per day
Small amounts of protein with each meal or snack
Choose high fiber starches
Select mono- and poly- unsaturated fats
Restrict consumption of starch with evening meals unless focused around training
Take daily multi-vitamin and mineral supplement
Perform whole body isometric resistance training 2 times per week

After 6 weeks the patient's resting metabolism increased 35% to 1282 Calories per day (only 2% below predicted). The patient also decreases percent fat from 37% to 34%, a loss of 5 lbs of body fat.

---

So her RMR went up over 300 calories. 2100 calories of free burn had been lost each week at the lowered BMR level.

I dont eat my excersise calories back.
I know so many people here are against it, however Ive lost 4kg in 2 weeks and am happy with those results.
I change around my calories and vary my excersises and make sure I do pleanty of weights to build muscle .
If i plateu, I will change my diet around again and maybe consider taking in more calories. However ... with over 100 pounds to loose I dont see my body running out of fuel any time soon.
Do what works for you, so many people preach on here about different things, so be careful and maybe just some trial and error and see how you go.
Try to take notice of some peoples weight loss tickers when theyre giving you advice also, I think its interesting to see how much weight theyve lost when theyre telling you how to live through your journey

I know so many people here are against it, however Ive lost 4kg in 2 weeks and am happy with those results.

Try to take notice of some peoples weight loss tickers when theyre giving you advice also, I think its interesting to see how much weight theyve lost when theyre telling you how to live through your journey

Or how long they have been on their journey!

Some people can only learn through the school of hard knocks.

Some people can learn from the accomplished experience of others or research and then apply.

One has an easier route.

Thanks, I know that trial and error + research seems to best way to go. I thought the hardest part would be hunger and trying to stay below my calorie max, but now it's the opposite. There is so much chemistry, math and experiments involved, I feel like I'm back in my high school science class that takes place in a gym, haha.

I can see it now, table set up, pictures all over the stand up boards, these nice graphs all showing arrows going down over time, and snacks of almonds.