BMR results - your opinion??

I was debating this exact thing this week; my BMR is around 1450 and I was eating 1200-1400 daily and not eating exercise calories most of the time. Someone linked me to a post that equated your BMR with what a doctor would feed you through a tube if you were in a coma; i.e. your body needs that much just to keep your organs functioning properly. That scary imagery was enough to help me decide to bump up to 1500 calories! Also apparently if you don't eat your BMR your body will lose lean instead of fat for some reason... there are several good threads on this if you use the search function on the forums. Good luck! I only bumped up this week, so I can't attest to results, but there are a ton of people on here who can.

this makes sense to me/what I've heard. BMR is enough to just...exist. (organs function etc..) then you need to factor in your daily lifestyle (throughout the day/what your job is/etc...) I have a desk job so the calorie burn/movements associated with that is about 400+- calories for the day. Then if you exercise, you've burned another round of calories. You have to factor in all of those things.

here's a little formula
so for me... 1361(my RMR/BMR) + 408 (desk job lifestyle) - 750 calories (lose 1.5lbs/week) + 500 (exercise burn) = 1519 calories/day, on a workout day, for me to eat to lose 1.5lbs/week.

I've been wondering the same sort of thing. The BMR calculator on MFP said that my BMR is about 1,770 calories/day. When I started about 5 weeks ago, MFP had me set at 1,260 calories/day. I have a pretty sedentary lifestyle (work in an office and have a side job delivering pizzas so I'm driving or sitting most of the time) but I work out at least 30 minutes 3-5 days a week. I've only lost 10 pounds in 5 weeks, and I'm generally staying very close to MFP's calorie goal. I eat back my exercise calories.

What concerns me is that after losing those 10 pounds, MFP has now set me at 1,210 calories/day. I still have over 90 pounds to lose! Where is it going to put me once I start to drop weight? Under 1,200? I'm set at 2 lbs/week (which clearly isn't happening) and I don't think that's unreasonable when my CW is at 226.

Should I be eating closer to my BMR? Or should I stick to the calorie goal that MFP gives me? I've noticed that when I weigh in a day or two after my "cheat" days, the scale seems to plummet. (Edited to clarify... I seem to plateau until the cheat days and then the number on the scale goes down a pound or two after the cheat days).

I went to the tools option to check what my BMR should be. It says that I should be getting about 1400 calories a day. Until today I have been staying under 1200 and some days it's hard to get that many.
Do you think I need to get 1400 calories in one day or stick with what I'm doing? Trying to lose about 30 pounds.

None of the above. You need higher. I was stuck in your situation as well, and am now down 29 pounds. Read my profile. Read this thread full of both sides of information (warning, it's long, and you should read all of it before you decide)

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/559046-mfp-warning-about-eating-under-bmr

My BMR is 1,245 calories a day and I've been eating under 1,200 a day for a couple weeks and not losing weight. I'm only 5 calories from my goal weight (I've lost 27 lbs. so far) so I know the last few are the hardest, but I'm getting frustrated that I'm not losing anymore. I'm considering bumping up my calories even though my mind is telling me to eat less. It's hard to believe that eating more can make you lose weight! I'm not sure what to bump my calories up to though. I've also been eating back my exercise calories but I'm considering stopping that, and changing up my walking routine by doing something else. How did you know to bump your calories up to 1,500 calories, Hannah? Or is that just a number you pulled out of a hat? I'm 5' 6", 134 lbs, and 50 yrs. old.

I chose 1500 because my BMR is 1450 (I'm 5'7" 150 lbs) and I wanted to make sure to get more than that. My TDEE is around 1800, so ultimately I will try to get up to that, but a lot of people say it's best to bump incrementally so as to not freak your body out too badly. I'm going to stick with 1500 for a couple months and see if I get results, and then possibly go up by another 100 if it's working. If I were you, with a BMR of 1245, I'd start by bumping up to maybe 1350/1400 for a month or two and go from there?