We've talked about this before. Here is the formula. Remember this is with no activity.
Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy your body needs to function at rest. This accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of calories burned in a day and includes the energy required to keep the heart beating, the lungs breathing, the kidneys functioning and the body temperature stabilized. In general, men have a higher BMR than women. One of the most accurate methods of estimating your basal metabolic rate is the Harris-Benedict formula:
Adult male: 66 + (6.3 x body weight in lbs.) + (12.9 x height in inches) - (6.8 x age in years)
Adult female: 655 + (4.3 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age in years)
I come up with 1561.5 for a BMR. This is interesting since I aim for 1400 and allow a range of 1200 to 1600 or so. I do more than breathe fortunately, so that probably accounts for any losses.
sooooo i get 2140. and i'm eating about 900 - 1000 a day. soooo.. the eternal question... why the plateaus that last weeks??? intellectually, i know why [body adjusting, a whole lot lost in a short time, yadayadayada], but inside i'm really screaming!!!
after allm, rumor [and calcuations!!!] say that i'm burning up more than 1000 calories every time i swim a half mile, which i'm doing 3-4 times a week... so, where's the energy going if not into weight loss???
all right. i'll calm down now, but it's so damn frustrating!!!
Gah. I cannot handle the sheer math involved w/that.
My dietician told me to aim around 1000 for 2 weeks to jump start a loss, then 1400-1500 after that. That was in 1995 when phentermine was called Ionamin or Pondimin, can't remember which. I didn't follow all of her advice, but some of it was good. I still have the purple book she gave me from the American Dietetic Association (?) w/portion sizes.
Usually I try & stick to 1500-1800, now that I know more.
yes, i've been told repeatedly NOT to go under 1200. (well, a jump start is ok).
your body goes into starvation mode, your metabolism slows down, and you stop losing. now this isn't what we want... not eating wonderful food AND not losing?? argh.
so i try to hit at least 1200 nowadays. it's been keeping me full, too.
Wendy.. each point is worth about 55 calories.. so I divided it and it works out pretty good!
I'm slowly learning free foods aren't really free ie. ff cool whip...LOL the whole tub is not 0 points !
Dana - That's why they adjusted the WW slide rule a few years ago. Foods like All Bran cereal were working out to be 0 points, so people just figured they could eat a whole box for free.
How many calories do I need?
ie. ff cool whip...LOL the whole tub is not 0 points ! 
