This thread is for those who understand the concept of the Basic Metabolic rate, or BMR, and why we need to eat at least that many calories per day.
My calculated BMR for a 5'8", 172lb, 21 year old woman, is 1600. or 1690.

I've been starting to work out more, and eat just that amount every day. I know i cheat sometimes, and i'm not perfect. But when i do good, i do really good.

I firmly beleive in the calorie counting method. and after hitting a platuea in may, after eating as low as 1100 calories some days, i researched the BMR method.

So my question is.
If i exercise, do i still need to take those burned calories into account, even if i hit my BMR of 1690? Do they get burned away? Or does it not matter?
What i'm thinking the answer is, no. I can exercise all i want, and as long as i hit the 1690 number, i won't burn my food away into oblivion, and go hungry. because my basic metabolic needs were met.

Also, i'm starting to think, (this could just be the easy answer that is also the hardest), i need to just cut back on grain foods. Most of my diet, when i have a good "diet" day, consists of "healthy" grains, like whole wheat bread, etc, and lots of fruit. Lean meats, etc. Healthy fats. But still, probably too many grains.
So is that just my problem? Too many grains? I don't know anything about blood sugar, but i do know that grains and excess sugars raise it higher. I don't understand, but acknowledge, how that effects weight loss.

Pleeeaaaase let me know what you think, if you follow the BMR method, and any other advice.
*other tips about me: I don't smoke, drink, do drugs, or drink soda. Just water for me. lots of water.

I think you need to learn AMR and let go of BMR.

Basal metabolic rate is what you need to keep from being dead.

Active Metabolic rate figures BMR plus what you need from being active in whatever it is you do. Subtract 500 from THAT to lose 1 lb a week.

Punch in your stats.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Proceed from there.

Because giving your body only enough to not be dead and then demanding it run around exercising and whatnot? That's a recipe for disaster.

Can't comment on the grains without a food log, but I think the main prob is that you are too low in calories to burn. Fat loss is a body chemistry thing. I don't know how you expect to make a fire without any fuel to burn.

Fuel your metabolism so it can do the job. AMR, not BMR.

A.

Thanks for the advice, this has answered my question
and as for the grains thing, im cutting out processed food/sugars.