Target calories too high?

Hey, so I'm super-new here and this is my first time doing any kind of calorie counting so I can honestly say that I have no idea what my average caloric intake was before two days ago, but the tool at CC has set my calories at 1800 a day. I lurked around on the forums some and used the another tool that was suggested (http://www.phord.com/cc/) but it's still telling me 1300 a day. The problem is, when I'm recording calories, I've been eating between 900 and 1100 calories. I'm not TRYING to eat less, that's just about when I'm full. But I've been gaining weight the past few years (or at least gaining body fat) eating probably about that much, so... what gives? What should I do?

Eat more - without knowing your stats, it's hard to say if CC or phord is right (methinks you entered something wrong in one of them), but eating 900-1100 calories (assuming you are counting accurately) is very bad for your healthy. You might gain some when you start eating a healthy amount, but you need to let your metabolism recover.

Checked the data on both, they seem to be entered in right. The phord one actually says 1333/day but close enough. And I'm pretty sure I'm counting accurately- I'm recording everything and I'm using either the labels on the packages or the information on CC. Actually, that reminds me, the information on the package and the site is different sometimes. Which is more accurate? I'll try eating more for a while if that's what I need to do, it just seems kind of counter-intuitive since you're not supposed to eat if you're not hungry.

Usually the package - CC's info might be outdated.

Do you mind sharing your stats (age, height, weight, gender, activity level)? It might be easier to give suggestions if we know more about you.

Sure. I'm 21 years old, female, approximately 5'4", 128 lbs, and I just started a walk/run program for 4 days a week, been at it for 2 weeks. Before that I got no regular exercise. I'm within normal BMI and all, but I felt really out of shape so this is more of a lifestyle change than a get-skinny-fast deal.

I just put your stats through CC... I think the 1800 is what you burn at lightly active, not your calorie target. Perhaps you used the burn meter tool, instead of the calorie target tool?

If the number in your Eat Meter box is wrong, you can change it manually under Account Settings.

Oh! I didn't know that. Well it IS displaying in my eat meter not my burn meter, but maybe it's just a glitch... I'll go manually change it to 1333 and try that for a while, since that's a little more reasonable. Thanks for all your help, I'm impresse. One last question though; you said I'd gain some at first, which makes sense. But how long should that last, approximately? I'll try eating target calroies but if that IS too high for me for whatever reason, I wouldn't want to gain indefinitely and I'd go back down to my usual. I mean, I would like to get back to 120 eventually, since that's where I was before I got the freshman 15. So... about how long should I expect it to take for my metabolism to "catch up"?

Partly depends on how long you've been undereating, and partly just depends on you. A lot of people have found that they only gained a few pounds, and after a few weeks, started losing again. You are going to have to try it and see. One thing is for sure - you won't gain indefinitely, and any gain you do see will well be worth it.

Definitely at least eat 1200 calories a day. Anything below that for women is starvation level, and your body will stop burning them so fast because it thinks it needs to conserve. This means that you can gain weight on less food, but you'll still feel tired because your body is just trying to keep up. Once you start eating more, your body will stop freaking out and start burning calories normally again, and then you might see some change. Good luck!

That 1333 figure is NOT "what you should eat", it is your estimated BMR.

What's BMR? It is the amount of energy your body needs just to keep going. It is about the amount you would need if you were in a coma.

A BRIEF period of less than your actual BMR shouldn't do any lasting damage, but a prolonged period is almost certain to do so.

I wouldn't go below 1500 a day - I am 25, 5'5" and I maintained at 118lbs on little to no exercise (very very sedentary + 30 minute walks 4-5 times a week) on exacly 2000 calories.  Since you're in the normal weight range, it would be better for your body to lose slowly.  I'd gradually increase up to 1500 & stay there for a week or two to see how that feels.