im new and really confused

Your Food Diary should be showing you daily Calorie Goals along with a breakdown of Carbs, Fat and Protein. Log in every single thing you eat. Every time you enter a food the program will show how many Calories you have left for the day. Your goal is to eat as close as possible to the Calorie Goal. Basically you want to eat lean meats, lots of veggies, and be cautious with starches/carbs.

What I did at first was just eat as normal and log everything for about a week. This gave me a really accurate (and scary!) idea of what I was really truly eating in a day. I was able to look at the food and see where I needed to cut back or remove all together.

Different people like to follow different plans: Paleo, Keto, Low Carb, South Beach, etc. That choice is going to be personal to you and what works for you

Try eating what MFP suggested for at least two weeks and see if you lose. When you hit a plateau and stop losing weight try something different. For many people its recalculating based on our new weight and eating less, but some people swear by eating more. You have to find what works for you and not blindly follow anyone else!

It just seems like So little compared to everyone else. I've seen women on the site with 1800

Check how much they exercise and what their current rate of loss is for the full picture.

The 'eat more' they're talking about could be more often rather than more calories. We've all heard that its better to eat 5 to 6 small meals per day. It makes it easier to stay to a lower calorie count, too, since you never get really hungry.

[So if I had 1186 calories remaining yesterday, is that bad? And why is my goal on the app 1780 while my BMR is 3414?

If your Calorie Goal is 1780 and you had 1186 remaining that means you only ate 594 calories. So yes, you did not eat enough calories yesterday to even sustain your body at it's resting state.

Are you doing massive amounts of exercise? that may be adding to your calories. Some folks do well when they eat their calories gained added through exercise, others do well by ignoring that.

You might want to decide on a method and give it 2 serious good weeks. See how you feel and your results. Don't forget your body measurements! Often the results are in actual decrease in size rather than the scale number moving down

When they say "eat more, weigh less" it doesn't mean eat 5 whoppers instead of one, it means eat healthier foods frequently throughput the day. Eating large meals is a no, no if you're serious about losing weight. Instead, snack frequently on fruit, nuts, veggies, ect. Your body will boost metabolism and not expend the extra energy burning off food it can't use. NEVER go hungry! Also, pay attention to WHEN you eat! Largest meal first, lighter foods as your day comes to an end. So if you want that burger n fries or cheesecake our whatever it is you crave, it's OK!! Just eat it early enough to where you have all day to use those calories.

Ok, so eat a cheeseburger every night before bed for a week (keep it in your calorie range for the day) and tell me it doesn't make a difference. not a myth. Done it. Makes a HUGE difference. I work nights, so when I get home, I have to fight that urge (even though I have the calories to use) when you sleep, your body is storing most of that, not using it. But, if you want to believe that calories are the end all to weight loss, it's a personal choice. It's greatly helped me, though.

BTW: could you explain your display picture? Are you saying that starvation mode actually works?

Not quite sure what you mean, it was a poke at the notion that there is a "starvation mode" where as some would have it "your body turns everything you eat into fat" or "preserves all your fat to ensure survival". Quite what the mechanism or logic for this would be escapes me.

I have no issue with other uses of the term for example to describe the reduction in metabolic rate due to a high calorie deficit or as a result of a weight loss. The guy in the photo was eating more than his initial BMR but the high carb diet and 50% energy restriction didn't do him any favours physically or mentally.

Ok, so eat a cheeseburger every night before bed for a week (keep it in your calorie range for the day) and tell me it doesn't make a difference. not a myth. Done it. Makes a HUGE difference. I work nights, so when I get home, I have to fight that urge (even though I have the calories to use) when you sleep, your body is storing most of that, not using it. But, if you want to believe that calories are the end all to weight loss, it's a personal choice. It's greatly helped me, though.

You may well believe that his regimen helped you but I'd guess it was the fact that you were staying within you calorie and macronutrient goals that really did it. When you eat late at night, or anytime for that matter, you have an insulin response based on your intake. Your body stores some of your intake and burns some, whether that is at night when you eat or anytime, When you sleep for 8 hours, you effectively fast for that period and you body uses what you stored. It uses more, if you are in calorie deficit. According to Lyle McDonald the renowned author and exercise nutrition expert, the individual cycles in 24 hour period are not what matter but the whole macro cycle of 24 hours. Your metabolism slows down when you sleep but it doesn't stop. You are still burning your BMR all 24 hours you are alive.

To use your example, if someone were to eat a cheeseburger every night but stayed within thier calorie range, they may or may not gain weight but if they did, it would related to timing only in that they would not sleep very well with such a heavy meal in their stomach. Poor sleep leads to cortisol release which leads to fat and fluid retention. Even that is a stretch but I'm trying to give your rationale the benefit of the doubt. You say that you have to "fight the urge" with calories left over. I'd say have something to eat. One of the primary reason for diet failure is lack of compliance due to burdensome restriction. You can eat to satiety with good choices. A cheeseburger isn't your only choice. That is a fallacious argument. I believe you are sincere in your suggestions but you are just passing on myths that someone passed on to you.

To the OP, it is just not as complicated as all that. Eat in deficit, exercise and eat back your exercise calories to lose weight. Eat clean for your health and it may help you weight loss if you are not eating heavily processed foods. Until you get closer to your optimum weight, this simple approach should serve you fine and not overcomplicate things. When you get closer to your weight goal, your body may attempt to trigger adaptive mechanisms. That's when you might need to use some Jedi mind tricks like intermittent fasting or taking a 2 week break and eat at maintenance for a hormonal reset before going back into deficit but you've got a ways to go before then.

Edit to add: 1800 may not be bad for a calorie goal right now but MFP is setting that based on what you input. What did you put for the number of pounds you want to lose in a week? Did you set it to 2 lbs? If so, that may be why your goal is so low. You are setting a goal y a certain date. I always think, that's a hard way to do it. If you hit a plateau or stall, you will be off track and may get discouraged. Might be better to just set a weight target or, as in my case, a body fat% target and then set you intake goals to lose 1 lb per week. Easier to comply with generally means higher success rate. And yes, eat all of your daily allotment most days as well as eating back any exercise calories! Good luck!

Are you sure that your BMR is 3414?

How did you set up your profile with MFP? What are your weight loss goals set to? Since you only have about 30lbs to lose, I would suggest making your goal no higher than 1lb/week, to make sure that you're losing at a healthy rate and not losing lean muscle.

Also, if you had 1186 remaining, that's definitely not good. You want to make sure that your remaining is as close to 0 as you can get it.

This guy is right on. Although I have had mine set up to lose 2 pounds a week in the past and it seemed to be ok. Now that I'm close to goal weight I have it set up so that I should lose half a pound a week and my suggested calorie intake is 200 higher than it was before.

Thank you guys for all your help and advice. I ate the 1800 calories that mfp recommended and lost 7 lbs in the first two weeks but aafter my third week, I had not lost anything. I guess I just have to figure out how to adjust to start losing again?

7 lbs. in 2 weeks is a lot. Don't be surprised if you lose in 'fits and starts'. Keep doing what you're doing, at least another week. It never comes off perfectly linearly. You'll have terrific weeks and 'flat' weeks. But if you refuse to wait another week to see, go ahead and drop your intake some, if you can do so without awakening the deprivation monster.

Not all of us women get to eat 1800 calories a day. I eat more like 1200-1400.

I went back and read this thread again. You're a guy, right? And you mentioned that you have seen women with a similar calorie goal to yours? Just to give you some perspective my husband is also on mfp and he started out with about an 1800 calorie goal and did very well. But I will say if you are getting a lot of exercise you will want to eat some of the exercise calories as well. You are right that 1800 isn't that much for a guy. If you try this a few more weeks and always feel like you're starving, go back to your profile and adjust it so that you are set to lose a pound a week instead of more, and it will adjust your calories to something that is easier to handle. My husband is now set to lose one a week, I think, and I think his calorie goal is like 2100 or something.