Another calorie question

Last time I was on CC, I was about 160 lbs. CC recommended I eat 1400 cals a day, and I lost weight. Now, at 180 lbs (obviously gained when I stopped CC) I was instructed to eat 1250 -- which to me is ridiculous. I opted for 1600, which is my BMR, but don't feel like I need to be that high. 1400 for max fat loss and still be healthy, 1500 in the middle, and 1600 at the end of the fat loss scale. I know that 1600 is my BMR, but does 14 or 1500 sound completely unreasonable this early in the game? I know I can adjust my cals when I stop losing, but for now, do you think that eating 100 or 200 calories below my BMR is something that will be detrimental to me in my early stages?

Yes.

Your BMR is the amount of calories you need just to keep your body working. Plus, starting at 1400, you don't have much of anything you can reduce to when you get closer to your goal. You don't have a lot of room to play with there.

It depends on if you are exercising as well. I will use myself as an example....Im 5'6", 24 years old, and about 118 lbs. Im at my goal weight and I am doing NROLFW 3x weekly, and light cardio 2x weekly, and I am maintaining on 2,000- 2,300 calories per day. My CC calculator says that sedentary I burn 1600 so I would assume yours would be higher. I would say start at least at 1600-1800, incorporate strength training and some cardio (don't go overboard) and see how that goes. Everyone is different, but I have learned that a combo of diet and exercise, plus making sure you are eating enough is the best way to attack weight loss. You want to keep your metabolism alive and burning so you need to give it fuel...( food :) ) Eating five or six meals a day also worked for me, plus loads of protein.. Plus you need to make changes that are realistic to long term weight loss, so don't deprive yourself, make changes you can LIVE with! I hope I have helped....I got assistance from so many people here and I hope I can now start to pass the wisdom on...

I was under the impression that if I started at 1400, when I got closer to my goal, I could start zig-zagging the cals -- like eat 1600 one day, 1400 the next, etc. Maybe that makes no sense, and I should stick to 1600?

I was planning on zig-zagging, 1600 to 1400, but now I am not sure THAT is even a good idea.

did you allow CC to choose your goal date, or is your goal date to short?  If so, you would get the default of 1200 calories.  Now that you have more weight to lose, you might want to give yourself more time to lose it. 

I'd start with figuring out your burn by using the most appropriate activity level setting then adding in any additional exercise.  Once you have that information, you can deduct 250 to 1000 calories to lose 1/2 to 2 pounds a week, never going below the minimum of 1200 calories.

Hope this helps.

CC picked my goal date, and it was 1250. It said my goal date was July 9th...but I am thinking that it's not at all possible, and I will shoot for this time next year to hopefully be done with it.

I burn 1960 cals a day, just being alive. I did the equation, and it said to eat 1620 cals (I adjusted to 1600 cals) per day. If I subtracted 200 cals, I'd be at 1400, and if I wanted a 1000 cal deficit, I'd have to work out to give myself a deficit of an extra 500 calories.

I was wondering if 1400 was too little to eat, or I can get away with 1400, and then zig zag my calories when I stop losing with 1400?