Calories per day

Hi. I'm 18 years old, and 192.5 lbs. I'm 5'10", and exercise every day for about 50ish minutes.

Does anyone know what my caloric intake should be? I've been struggling to eat the proper amount of calories, and have been eating about ~1400. From what I've heard, I need to eat about 2000 in order to properly lose weight. Is that true? Does anyone know what number I should be looking for?

You are male, correct?

Based on Your Estimated BMR (calculated at http://phord.com/cc):
BMR=1902 :: RMR=2282

Your customized recommendation:
EAT 2318 calories :: BURN 3281 calories :: LOSE 1.93 lb per week

I set your activity level to very active (hard exercise or sports 6-7days/week)

No matter what, you NEED to be eating more than 1400.

Original Post by xorph:

...and exercise every day for about 50ish minutes...

You'll need to be a lot more specific about this if you want a good answer (not the Amethystgirl's answer wasn't good for the limited info she had). Exercising for 50ish minutes could mean anything from walking around at a pace slow enough for snails to pass you to running sprints up and down a hill dragging a volkswagon behind you.

I run on the treadmill at a consistent 4.5 mph, or I do the elliptical with the resistance up at 6.0.

In order to not damage your metabolism you need to take in 2,596 calories per day to keep your weight right where it is. That's included in your body description and the amount of excersize you perform on a regular basis. Your Resting Metabolic rate is 1888 calories. That means that if you slothed around the house all day, you'd need 1888 calories to maintain your weight.

The calculator I use is from www.caloriesperhour.com and is incredibly accurate. I've been sticking to it for years with absolutely consistent results. It neither overestimates or under estimates if you use the 24 hour calculator (where you literally type in how many minutes per day you spend doing variaous activities throughout your day, even things like showering, eating, sitting, talking, ect like here)

For a balanced diet I would structure it like this (if in fact your are not a vegan or vegetarian)

You need about 70 g of protein per day (meat, beans, nuts, lowfat dairy, eggs, seeds)

... 45% to 65% of your calories to be from carbohydrates, mostly complex. (bran, barley, maize (corn), cornmeal, oatmeal, pasta, brown rice, potatoes...) 

...8.7 mg or iron (chicken liver, beef, clams, oysters, turkey, lentils, lima/navy/black/pinto beans, spinach raisins, oatmeal, iron fortified cereal, enriched bread)

Fruits are great but simple carbs and sugars. eeat plenty of them, but keep the ratio to complex carbs slightly lower for fruit.

eat dark green leafy vegetables (spinach, romaine lettuce). eat LOTS, but try not to absolutely fill up on these. These should compose a good 3rd of your diet. Yeah, tell me about it. That's a lot of salad, but it's good for you.

Drink plenty of water, but not enough to make you feel sick. Listen to your body. This will take several weeks perhaps, but learn to rely on your signals: eat when you are hungry(can be weakness feeling, lightheadedness, hunger pains, stomach growling, shakiness, fatigue for 'no reason'), drink when you are thirsty, but just in case you hardly ever get thirsty, drink atleast 3 or 4 20 oz water bottles a day.