Ok I wanted to know how many caloreis my body needed per day for its normal functions so I wen to this calculator thing and this is what it said...

Resting metabolic rate requires 1508 calories per day (basal energy expenditure). This is the amount of calories required to maintain the body's normal metabolic activity ( respiration, maintenance of body temperature etc. )
Important Details
Maximum calories/day in order to lose weight: 1385
(In order to lose 1 to 1.5 pounds each week or (4-6 pounds/month) you must subtract 500 calories from your estimated daily caloric needs (1885.0). This total is derived based on the activity level you chose above and your basal energy expenditure.

Ok I don't get it because if I subtracted 500 calories from my 1885 ( my daily coloric needs I would end up below 1508 which is supposedly the amount of calories I need to maintain my metabolic activity.

So I'm still just as confused as I was before I read all that. I want to eat as little calories as possible without my body trying to store fat or eat at my muscles. How do I figure that out?

Plus all that defecit is only to lose 1 lb per week what if you want to lose 2 or 3 lbs per week?

welcome to the wonderful "science" of calorie calculating.

Every. Single. Body. Is. Different. That is why there is no magic formula that works for everyone. Some of our bodies burn calories faster, some have more muscle to increase our metabolisms, some people just run cooler than others. There are people who can lose on 2000 calories a day, and some that the scale won't budge at the end unless they eat 1200-1300.

The only way I know of to really figure out how many calories to eat is to experiment and adjust every few weeks or so.

Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) isn't what is necessary for you to EAT to maintain normal body functions, though, it is what is burned by your body daily at rest. So eating below that isn't going to shut down your body or anything like that. It simply means that the calculator has estimated that, at rest, you burn 1500 or so calories a day.

Hope that helps! Just keep experimenting and you'll find the right level for you.

I'd say that if you want to lose 2 lbs, then you add exercise on top of restricting your calories. I'm not sure there'd be any other way, save from getting even lower on the calories, which is not recommended.

As Amanda said, too, every body is different. Normally an active adult woman is supposed to be able to eat around 1800-2000 calories a day, but seriously, if I'd eat that, I'd gain weight. Calculators are good for giving you an approximate estimate to start with, but after that, you're basically on your own and have to go through some kind of trial & error process until you figure out what works for you.

I like using FitDay for this purpose, although I had to figure out how to set it by trial and error, as Amanda said.

It gives my daily calorie burn at a sedentary level as 1,485 cals., plus digestion (yes, digesting food burns calories) puts my daily burn at 1,650 cals. If I do any exercise, I add that to the Activity Log.

I'm using the downloaded version of FitDay, btw.

To lose a pound a week, I'd need to eat 500 cals less than I burn per day, or intake of 1,150. As you can see, I need to exercise in order to keep my intake above 1,200. Or, I could simply be happy with less than a pound a week.

Sometimes it's almost impossible to lose more than 2 pounds a week--you'd have to eat too little to make it.

In the last 3 weeks I've eaten an average of 1,500 cals a day and burned an average of 1,850. That means a deficit of 350 cals per day, average. So, in 21 days I would lose 2 pounds, and actually I've dropped 3. I think some of that is water weight, but who knows.

Don't worry about resting metabolic rate. If you aren't eating enough calories, your body turns to its reserves, and hopefully, mostly the fat you've stored.

Jay

Thanks ladies. I feel a bit more clear. I think I'll just do what you all have said and just try everything out and see what is best for me. I also set up a fitday account online, it seems really cool.