Should the calories I eat daily be around my metabolic rate if I want to loose weight ? I know approx. what my metabolic rate is (it is around 1600) but i do not really know where I should set the numbers of calories I eat daily in order to loose weight.

I'm doing Jillian Michaels' plan (The Biggest Loser trainer) and they calculated my BMR at 2360, so they're having me substract 1,000 calories per day to lose 2lbs per week. But that's not counting exercise. But I'm finding that some days I'm not perfect, so it's leaving room for err by me eating that low AND working out on top of it.

So generally you should subtract 500 cals per day for 1lb of weight loss per week, or 1,000 cals per day for 2lbs of weight loss. But I doubt your BMR is that low. It is most likely over 2,000. Women should never go below 1200 cals per day, or else your body could go into fat storing mode, and your metabolism will shut down.

It might help if we know some more information on you. Height? Age? Weight? How much do you exercise? All factor in how many calories you should consume in a day. ETA: also how much you are wanting to lose

Isn't the basal metabolic rate how many calories you burn just by exiting? For example, the calories that you would burn if you were to just stay in bed for 24 hours, not moving?

I calculated mine on a few different calculators on the Internet, and it said that I was just around 1900, and I'm 244 lbs, 5'6''. Obviously, most people don't just lay in bed all day, so you burn more going about your day to day activities. If I were to subtract 1000 calories from my basal metabolic rate, I'd be way under 1200!

Depends how much you need/want to lose. People who have less weight to lose should set their calories at their BMR and create their calorie deficit through exercise...people who have more weight to lose (ie: 30+lbs) can go lower (as low as 1200)...like Michelle was saying.

When I got tested for my BMR it was 1590 something.. I know it isn't normal but that is what it was..My doc just couldnt understand why I wasn't losing weight with a 1500 calorie diet.
I Do between 1000 and 1200 calories a day because I exercise so much .. 2 hours a day,6 days a week, an hour of cardio and an hour of strength training.. Doing this I lose between a pound and 2 a week.

does anyone have a favorite online calculator? I'll go google it and see what I can find in te h meantime!

ETA, 1616 was what the 1st google search calced for me. Bummer, I usually eat 1500-1800 cal a day (based on teh days that I keyed all of my food into a cal calculator). No wonder I have a hard time losing weight!!!!

Well, trying to calculate how much you should eat to lose weight with online calculators, or your height/age/weight isn't always too accurate. I recommend the trial and error method. You can have two people of the same age, height, and weight, and they can have different metabolisms.

Check out the FAQ Sticky in the Calorie Counters section (under the Diet Central area, just like this section) and read. It gives more information.

Tigerchic---caloriesperhour.com has all kinds of calculators, including BMR.

I think the most important thing is to never eat LESS than what the Basal Metabolic Rate calculater says. This is what your body needs to survive on from just laying in bed, and your metabolism will decrease if your body gets less than that. For instance, mine is 1290 and I know that if I eat less than that to try to drop weight quickly it would actually prolong true weight loss because my metabolism would slow down from "starvation mode" I just need to make sure I burn at least 500 more calories a day than 1290 through daily activities.