OMG - I've been doing the burn meter wrong this whole time!!!!!!

I feel like SUCH an idiot! For the Burn meter and the Calorie Target, I put in that I was "lightly active" and I was also logging in my exercise for the day! That's "doubling" my activity...I'm so stupid.

I just got it...you should put it as "sedentary" and then log in your activity...right?

I feel like all my happiness for the past few weeks was just taken away from me. I thought I was doing great! Eating just the right amount of calories...now I find out that my calorie intake to lose weight should be 1200!!...I'm so disappointed.

cells444--

I'm a newbie so you might want to hear from more experienced users.  But I think you were right originally.  I think the burn meter is set up to take in the proportion of muscle and fat in each person's body.  If you have been moderately active for some time, you have more muscle and burn more fat just in living than someone who has been sedentary for years.  

But if you just recently started exercising, and you have been sedentary for some time, then your new strategy would be right.

It's just a computer program--don't worry about it so much--it's not the ultimate truth.  The burn meter told me to eat 1900 a day, but like you, I think that's too high.  I'm aiming for 1500, which many sources say is a reasonable amount for slow, steady weight loss.

good luck!

Wait a minute!  If you were eating 2100 cal/day and losing weight then that is the right number for you.  Successful and healthy (and more likely to keep off)weight loss rate is 0.5 -2 pounds a week. 

In theory, yes, you should put sedentary and then log exercise, if you really are sedentary except for you exercise. Sorry lulu, but the burn meter doesn't take into consideration your muscle mass, and doesn't have anything to do with your activity in the past. Yes, it's all estimates, so if you do have more muscle, you'll burn calories faster than it estimates, but if that's the case, just eat a little more.

Also, remember that the calorie intake tool only knows what activity level you give it - if you then log exercise, it doesn't know that - so the recommendation will be off.

In general, I think CC gives underestimates for people's calories - in other words, it sometimes recommends that you eat too little, especially if you aren't very active. Try www.phord.com/cc for a second opinion - it was created by a CC member, because a lot of us have found that it's better to eat at minimum our BMR (the amount you'd burn in a coma), and the tools on CC only have a 1200 cal minimum (for women; 1500 minimum for men).

I found the same thing as far as the BMR goes. CC told me 1200 when my BMR is 1400 and I found on my very sedentary days that I should still eat 1400. Also, what I do for the burn meter is this: what is my life like without the extra exercise? My "job" is to clean and maintain the home and chase after child(ren) all day so I put lightly active and THEN I also add the extra exercise I do like jogging and such. So far so good and I have managed to almost get to my goal weight since October. Good luck!

1200 seems way too low, stick to 16-1800.

I am very petite and 5'1" tall. I lost 30+ lbs using this site eating no less than 1500 calories.

I suggest you do the same.

You can eat 1200 per day on occasion but eating only that for extended time period may lead to plateau plus you may be hungry leading to a failure in being able to sustain the weight loss plan.

Eat 1500 and you will be much happier and you WILL lose weight.

The Tools are probably telling you 1200 as you have made your goals very strict. Give yourself more time to lose slowly and you will find it easier and keep the weight off longer.

No, you were right the first time.

If you are lightly active, you'll burn more calories throughout the day because your metabolism is higher than a sedentary person.  Amounts of calories burned through working out are additional amounts that should be logged.  That said, I find that caloriesperhour.com has a better, more individualistic approach to determining how many calories an activity burns. 

Also, I don't log in simple activites like brushing teeth and putting on makeup, because I assume those were included in the calorie-count estimate of calories burned per day.  I may be wrong there, but I do like to stay on the safe side.

I agree with using www.phord.com/cc I like how it shows the exercise deficit in the calculation so it's easier to see how much i need to burn through exercise then this site.  Light activity or moderate activity could be taken differently by different people, so for phord.com, putting in moderate activity for my stats means i need to burn 440 calories through exercise.

It all depends on how active you are without the exercise, but the quick answer is you were right to begin with.

I have two small kids and almost never sit down. When I am sitting, it's to work on the computer. But since I work from home, working at the computer means getting up and putting a load of laundry in the machine along with various other things. Plus I walk or ride my bike as my primary form of exercise. Which means I'm lightly active, and actual exercise (running, classes at the gym, etc.) would technically be added on top of that. Just like you were doing.

HOWEVER. I have found that it is easier for me to stick with my daily goals if I keep my activity level in the system at sedentary and log my exercise on top of it. The difference is 200 calories -- I burn 1500 sedentary and 1700 lightly active. But since CC isn't precise, and I can sometimes avoid that chocolate chip cookie if I realize that my daily deficit is less than 200 calories, this strategy works for me. 

Not sure if there's a nutritionist around, but when i was in pharmacy school we did a rotation in nutrition... what we were taught (this was about 4 years ago now) is that if you want to weigh for example 120 and you're 5'4, you should be eating the BBE (basal body expenditure- about 1250) for that height and weight. Taking this into consideration, the CC count was dead on for me and my goal if i do absolutely nothing all day but lay in bed.