BMR---how much should i eat???

I have seen alot of posts about BMR and minimum calories in the past few days. I guess that I should be eating no less that equal to my BMR, is that right??? I need advice from someone who has tried this and knows from experience that it works!

The BMR calculator that I went to told me that mine is 1600. (I am female, 5' 9", 16, 163 pounds). I have been trying to eat 1500 calories a day, tho I snack alot while i am cooking so I think my totals are probably higher than what the log is telling me. But I just wanted to see, can anyone tell me if eating equal to my BMR (1600) is really important or if i can lose weight eating less....???

It's just that there are so many different theories I don't know what to trust!

Thanks for your help!

Personally, I lose weight when I eat at least my BMR. But remember that everything is an estimate, so if you are 100 shy of your BMR, but you ate a spoonful of brownie batter or a few extra pecans, you might have made up that difference without realizing it.

Are you losing weight? If you are, then you are probably doing fine. If you are just starting, give it some time, and play with the numbers (you probably wont' always be exact anyway) if you need to.

Yeah, that is totally true. I have lost weight but I just want to make sure I am doing it the healthy way and so that it will be permanent. Thanks for your help!