BMR (arg!) Question

Ok, so if the BMR is the lowest you should eat (mine came out around 1400) why does CC keep telling me 1200 calories/day?  I am 5'5 and 180, I walk/run 4-5 days per week for about an hour and am not losing.....should I be eating more than the 1200 that CC says? 

Any help with this is appreciated!!

Thanks!

CC defaults 1200 if you selected an aggressive goal date or sedentary for your activity level or both.

If I knew your age I could help you better (ie if you are a teen, 1400 is still too little even if it is your BMR, 1500 is female teen min).

But the idea is if 1400 is your bmr, then your sedentary burn (without exercise) is 1680, meaning if you eat your bmr you have an auto deficit of 280 with walking for an hour for 4-5 days a week roughly I'd guess you burn an additional 250ish calories (more if and when running) meaning 4-5 days a week you have a 500+ deficit (or 700ish deficit if you are eating 1200 cals).

If you are eating 1200 it could be causing water retention (over restricting can cause water retention), having too much sodium or adding/changing up exercises from a once inactive lifestyle can have temp water gain too.

Plus how long have you been doing this? You should be should loss eventually even with water retention but if it is still early days like under a month could just be a water retention thing and eating min BMR with activity, keeping sodium in check and drinking enough water your body will sort it self out faster :)

Thanks so much for the response.  I'm 40.....When I started I was around 215 and lost a bunch with CC (eating around 1200) and then went off the "plan" for about a year after reaching a low of 165.  Now I'm back up to 180 and have been trying to lose again.....the 1200 just feels low, I feel hungry and am not loosing after 3 months...maybe I need to up the calories for a while and see where it goes?  More thoughts?

Yes, 1200 is pretty low especially when used as a long term intake (I don't think I could do it more than a couple weeks without eventually binging or giving up, I found BMR min easier to do longer term and exercising more if I want to eat more, in combination with calorie cycling). I would at least trail BMR as min. Maybe change up your activity. Or maybe even try calorie cycling. Hope this helps and good luck on your weight loss journey :)