Should I eat all 1900 calories they advised??

I just joined calorie count today even though i have been working out and eating well on my own.  My problem is I am just not losing number weight. I am toning and my clothes are fitting better but I am not losing in the number area.  I am always friend to eat a lot but then people tell me i don't eat enough.  When i joined the computer gave me 1900 calories, but is that to lose weight? Should I stay under that if i want to lose more weight???

The 1900 calories is your target to help you lose weight.  You should eat close to that number or right on everyday.  If you don't consume enough calories to support your activties, your body will conserve the calories you do consume (this is called starvation mode) and you will not lose weight.  Eating enough calories daily assures your body that it will get what it needs and you will begin to lose weight.

Why are the numbers important?  Are you in a weight loss contest?  Are you a jockey, boxer, wrestler, or something else that requires you to be in a particular weight class?

You say your clothes are fitting better and you are getting fitter (toned) so what difference does the number on the scale make? 

CC only gives a recommendation.  It is an estimate based on what information you provided.  Most people go with the recommendation and see where it takes them.  If they aren't happy with the results after a month or so, you can modify things. 

Hard for us to judge without knowing your current weight but if you are anything over 190 pounds then definitely eat the 1900 cals as otherwise you are probably going to eat too little and then your body will just go into starvation, store fat and you won't lose weight.

When I started I was 210 pounds and it recommended me to start at the 1900 level which I  did and I lost 2-3 pounds every week, week in and week out with some walking.

Now I am down to 1350 per day and one of the problems you have if you start your cals too low is that you have no room to decrease them as you lose weight.  So if I had started at 1400 per day I would have plateaued pretty quickly with no room to move to decrease my cals.  Also by eating too little you have a risk of bingeing and not sticking with it as you are basically denying yourself food.

Hope this helps

I'm 174lb now.  I read something that said i should stay about 800-1000 calories less than my burned calories.  So for example yesterday i burned about 2600 calories so i set my goal for about 1600 calories. i'm not sure if that's accurate, but i think 1600 is a little better range for me than 1900, that seems like a lot.

Lisa, I think your advice is spot-on. I think that's the best explanation of why someone might plateau that I've ever read. It also explains why upping your intake can boost your metabolism. Thanks!

When I started CC, I weighed about the same as what you did.  I lost weight by averaging about 1700 cals/day.  Mind you, I'm now 139 (yay!) and losing weight by averaging about 2000 cals/day with more exercise than I used to do.  So, you want to factor in how active you are.

Personally, I think a deficit of 800-1000 calories is a bit much for most people in that it'll leave them tired and hungry.  I've had much more success keeping my deficit in the 500-700 calorie/day range. 

thank you, that helps a lot.  I am pretty active. I walk about 1/2 hour on lunch every day, do spinning 2-3 times a week, a barbell class once a week and the other 2 or so days run on the treadmill and lift weights manually.  So i try to get in about 5 days a week, 6 if i can.  For example my burn meter was 2600 last night and i only ate about 1600 calories so i guess i should up my intake a little, especially on days when i have spinning.

PS - congrats on 139..i hope to be there one day!

i just joined five days ago, this whole calorie thing is very new and something that i never worried about in the past. it never even crossed my mind. When i put my stats in light activity and hieght and weight, it told me 1500 calorie goal, (of course i can eat more if i workout) i started a 160 lbs. i wanna lose 30 lbs. Since I love food I haven't quite learned to say NO to my favorites and i go over my recommended calories 4 out of 5 days, about 500-1200 over. Today I weighed at 157. I have been more active since I joined.  Basically, I'm agreeing with everyone else as burn more than you eat and you should be fine.

The other really important thing is that muscdel weighs more than fat.....keep that in mind when your paying attention to that number.

One thing to remember, muscle weighs more than fat. If you are toning up your muscles that could be why the scales are not going down. The best thing I recommend is follow the recommended calories, don't worry about what the scales read if your clothes are fitting better. The tape measure will tell you what you need to know.