So confused... how many calories?

I know this has probably been asked to death, but after some googling I am completely lost.

Is MFP accurate at figuring out how many calories I should be eating every day? I am 224, it is set at 1700 a day (that included the 1.5 pound loss a week).

I always eat back my exercise calories, because the majority on here say that is best.

I want to lose the weight slow in hopes of having less loose skin after this is all done.

Please help me! Thank you.

Just like everything else, MFP is an estimate unless you decide to get metabolic testing. I would suggest only eating 75% of MFP's exercise calories as it tends to over estimate. Or what you can do, if you exercise regularly, is include exercise as part of your active level and not worry about eating back the calories.

This is another way to calculate it. It seems to be much more accurate

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/538943-how-to-calculate-calorie-goals-according-to-nrolfw

I have noticed on days when I eat according to MFP, I don't lose weight. But on days when I eat more, I lose. It confuses me so much. Weight loss is something you need to study in university lol.

The site's numbers are an estimate. They work fine for me, they might not work fine for you. Use them as a base and experiment.

Also keep in mind that as you lose weight, you'll probably want to go back through the setup process again and re-set your goals so it recalculates your calories, etc. You've lost 39 pounds (congratulations!), so you're a very different person than when you started your diet.

Based on your experimental results from the post above, I'd say you've discovered that MFP's calories may be too low for you. Try eating a little more for a week. If you continue to lose weight at a healthy pace, you've found your new calorie level. If you don't, then try bringing it back down and see if that works.