Ok, so I did that 'measure your metabolism' calculator thing on MSN, and it said, with my working out and whatnot, to maintain my current weight, I could eat 3,500 cals...huh?

I've done those BMI and BMR calculators, and I always get around 2,800, and 3,500 is a significant leap, ya know?

My question is...who to believe? I mean, honestly? Who to believe?

Who to believe? YOUR BODY.

Figure out what you're eating now, on a typical day. Are you maintaining your weight at that amount? Lower by about 500 a day to lose 1 lb a week, or 1000 a day to lose 2 lbs a week (you can accomplish "lowering" by either burning more calories through exercise or consuming fewer calories, making sure you get enough calories daily for adequate nutrition).

Calculators can only provide you with a very rough estimate of what you are burning. They can't, regrettably, tell you exactly how many calories you, specifically, need to be eating. I can tell you that, even at your starting weight, I couldn't eat above 1800 calories a day and still lose...that's how my body is. Your body may be different.

The fact is they are all estimations, based on averages (and like all averages, they vary depending on who, when and how the results were measured in the first place).

I've used variation of these calculators over the last 25 years or so, at weights ranging from 155 to 394, and I can tell you they are much more accurate the younger you are, the less you weigh and the less you have dieted previously. The more I weighed, the more I dieted, and the older I got, the more the calculators overestimated my calorie range. I believe that weight and age and every repeated diet tends to slow metabolism.

In graduate school, I weighed 308 lbs and maintained it for several years on at least twice the calories it takes now just to maintain my weight between 350- 355 now. It kills me that trying to lose weight is such a struggle now, when if I was eating 20 years ago, what I'm eating now, I would be losing 10 lbs a week.

Calculators can give you a ballpark estimate, but the only one way to find out what your calorie needs are, is trial and error. Documenting your calorie intake and watching the scale.

Are you male? Are you an NFL football player? Because otherwise, I'd think 3500 sounds a tad high...

I did that same calculator at my current weight. I use "Very Light" activity because my job is sedentary. I got 1706 as my maintenance level--which is a little high compared to FitDay, but only by 50-100 cals.

I always add any exercise I do to my calorie burn--I get a more accurate number that way.

I think that overweight or obese people often have a different metabolism than "normal" people--and these quick tools can't take that into account.

Jay

Yeah, I can believe that. At my present weight, I can eat around 2400 calories a day (even with no exercise) to maintain. But as the others said, it's all about you... your age, etc.
As Kaplods said, "trial and error".

You may want to check with your doctor too! Your doctor can assist you in choosing a healthy way of eating as because he /she knows your body already! Good luck!!

I mean, I know how to loose weight, thats not really the question. It was just an odd little quirk that I saw on MSN, and decided to question it. It seemed interesting.

WoW!
MSN told me that I need 3058 calories a day to maintain my weight (I chose moderate activity because i have a very physical job and spend about 9 hours a day walking and lifting heavy loads)
I also just did thier BMI calculator and it asked for waist measurement.. so i gave it to them.. and it told me to re-measure my waist because it seemed inaccurate and that it was unlikely for someone with my BMI to have UNDER a 40" waist! (mine is 32"..my hips are 40") well.. that's not exactly what it said, but it said that if my bmi was over 30 and my waist was under 40 i needed to remeasure!
gah.. this is why i dislike bmi so much!

whoops.. the 40 was for MEN 35 for women. guess i need to learn to read!