Alright. I know that this has been probably asked and said roughly three billion times, but I searched the forum for a good 20 minutes for an answer to this, or a reply, or whatever.
So I'm sorry if this is a repeat.

MyFitnessPal says that I need to eat 2,386 calories. Holy bananas.
I do 45 mins of cardio on an elliptical and then I do Jillian Micheal's body revolution (for thirty minutes)

Other than that, I am not very active at all. I do secretary work most of the day.

I was eating ~1200 a day, and my old personal trainer said that wasn't enough, but he couldn't tell me how many to eat unless I purchased a meal-plan from the gym. (Which was expensive)
So I upped it to 1500.
Which still makes me feel like crud for some reason, I feel like I'm over-eating.

Soooo, this darn site is saying 2,386 and it's throwing me into a panicked tizzy, I gotta tell you.

Any insight?
I'd call my doctor but he seems to know diddly-squat about nutrition.

:c

Any help is welcomed, appreciated, and encouraged.
Thank you!

Are you looking to lose weight still, or maintain? I can see that as maintenece calories for sure. I use myfitnesspal on my phone and under my profile I have to pu tin that I want to lose weight, otherwise its telling you maintenece calories. I hope this helps!

I agree with wannaB, that sounds like what it would take to maintain your current weight. I was just checking this out myself and to maintain I need to eat about 2000 calories to give you a reference point. Without knowing your age, plugging your physical stats into a calorie calculator quotes you at needing between 2000 and 2400 calories to maintain depending on your activity level so those sound more like maintenance calories.

I'm trying to lose, in the beginning when I signed up I put in that I wanted to lose 1 pound per week. o:

And thank you for replying :]

Well to lose a lb a week its 500 less calories a day. It sounds like you are not used to eating alot of calories, so it may sound like a lot still, but you could do the 2,386 and subtract 500 to start with. That's 1,886 calories. If it does guess that you could eat 2386 and lose 1 lb a week then you would just be eating at a rate to lose 2 lbs. But in case it somehow is set for maintenence then your on track for losing a lb a week still. Whatever you decide to do you can always adjust later on. These programs are making best guesses based on formulas, but they wont work perfectly for everyone. So maybe give whatever sounds best a try for a good month or so. If you arent losing like you want, or if the weights coming off too fast/ and or you dont feel satisfyied, then switch her up.

Good luck. And figuring out calories to eat a day has been one of the hardest parts for me. I still havent mastered it yet.

Unfortunately there's no magic number. MFP tells me I need to eat a lot more calories to lose 1-2 pounds per week than I actually do. It 'adds back in' the exercise that I do- but I try not to use those calories. Plus it 'thinks' I burn 700 calories on the elliptical but I seriously doubt that. Even the machine, which overestimates, doesn't say I burn that much.

If 1500 is working for you, keep it there. You can try adding more too, if that feels right, but no one formula is going to be able to tell you what's right for your body. You want to have enough to support your exercise, but not too much to counteract your hard work!