How many calories can YOU eat and still lose weight? Formula...

Someone shared the following formula for calculating your BMR (basal metabolic rate). I believe the info was posted in Barbara Thompson's newsletter... Your BMR is the amount of calories you burn each day just merely living--breathing and digesting, etc...without any activity whatsoever. This is supposedly the number of calories you'd burn if you just sat on the couch or stayed in bed all day long--24 hours straight. If you eat 3500 calories less than that amount, you lose 1 pound of weight. So, if you ate 500 calories less than that amount every day for 7 days straight, theoretically you should lose 1 pound. 1000 cals less every day for 7 days would yield a 2 pound loss... You get the drift. Here's the formula:

To figure out your calorie expenditure using this formula

For women the formula is:

655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years) = BMR (Women)


For men the formula is:

660 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years) = BMR (Men)

Then you have to determine your Activity Level. This is where it gets tricky.
If you are sedentary: BMR x 20 %
If you are lightly active: BMR x 30 %
If you are moderately active (You exercise 3 to 4 times per week): BMR x 40 %
If you are very active (You exercise intensely 5 or more days per week): BMR x 50 %
If you are extra active (You do hard labor or are in athletic training, or exercise intensely 5 or more days per week for 3 or more hours per day): BMR x 60 %

Add your Activity Level number to your BMR = Daily Calorie Expenditure


SO, for me it would look like this right now:
655 + 881.5 + 317 – 192.7 =1660.8

Then, if lightly active (my life lately), you 'd add 498.24 more calories.
S655 + 881.5 + 317 – 192.7 =1660.8 + 498.24 = 2159.04

That means that in order to lose ONE pound per week, I just need to say below 1659 calories per day. To lose TWO pounds per week, I would have to stay around 1159 calories per day. I am here to tell you that this doesn't work for me! I don't lose even at 1100 calories per day these days. However, when I have those days that hit closer to 2000 calories per day (remember, I am over 2 years postop), I see a drop the next day unless it was a carb-laden 2000 calories... Stressful!! LOL