So, I was poking around the site and checked out the BMR calculator. It says 1731 cal a day for me. I have my settings at 1.5lbs a week and I'm a home-based mama so I've put lightly active as my daily activity level. MFP suggests 1590 calories a day before exercise but I have 70 lbs to lose (I'm 5'9") and I keep seeing posts about people who have a lot to lose and their daily cals being lower. I'm asking because I don't want to be on the wrong track. Opinions??

Also, I'm breastfeeding and I would love opinions on factoring that in

it depends on your body build. I have a feeling all the people on here who's cals should be around 1200 are very petite (short) the taller you are, the more cals your body is going to need just to keep alive. I'm 6'3 so my cals for weight loss are 1700! So i'd stick with what the website tells you, because it is factoring in your height.

If you work from home which is most likely a desk job- your activity lever should be sedentary-- lightly active is for people like nurses or sales people that are walking or on their feet moving around--

The 1731 cal/day is what you would do to maintain your current weight. The 1590 cal/day will help you lose the weight in a healthy way. If you eat less cal/day your body will think it is starving and it will hold onto the stored fat intsead of burning it. Stick with what the MFP tells you and you'll do fine. Good Luck!

Good question, and like it was brought up, it really depends on your body...
BTW Congrats on the Baby! and when it comes to Breast Feeding and weightloss. Ooooo IT ROCKS!

I am not sure why FOR SURE, I guess I could ask one of the nurses here, but I feel the explination is a tad detailed for the day before the 4th of July.
What I do know if that in order to make milk for the baby you are burning 2 times(give or take) the calories as you would as a none breast feeding women..But I digress...
For this one being a NewBee, I would keep a weight loss jounal.
Take what you calories are that you consume each day. Add that up each week and then weigh yourself...
Write that down and ask yourself these 2 questions.
How much did you lose/gain.
How do you clothes feel on you this week. (Mind you sometimes women gain, because Muscle mass starts out as a gain on the scale before it starts to lose weight. Just do not want you to be suprised if this happens.)
If you lost your 1.5 that week and you consummed about the calorie content that was listeds then fine keep that.
If you lost more then that, And chances are with breast feeding you very well might. Then stay at that.
Remember that when you stop breast feeding that you will have to adjust for that.
I wouyld also go back and change your activity leavel to the next highest activity area. Because I do not THINK that they have a spot for factoring in breast feeding. But I think going up one might tweek it right .
Good Luck Dear.
We are pulling for you!.
--Diann...

Yet another reason I hate being short!!!

I couldn't be farther from a "desk job" life. I am occasionally seated during the day (MFP, for example!) but have two VERY active children aged 3.5 yrs and 17 months. I did some more reading after my post and realized that I'm probably not burning anything significant with breastfeeding since my monkey is mostly eating food and just nurses intermittently throughout the day.

I bumped my loss up to 2lbs a week to see how that goes for 2 weeks. I'm not going to weigh in until 2 weeks from now. That will be tough but I need to not obsess! When I bumped it to 2lbs it altered the cals to about 1350. Thanks for all the input everyone!

This isn't really right. 1731 is the BMR which is what you need to LIVE. I.E. if you were to be in basically a coma all day and do absolutely nothing but breathe. RMR is what your regular calories are. your BMR is about 70% of your maintenance calories. So for you 2230 or so is your maintenance calories, which would make your 1.5 lb a week about 700 calories below your maintenance, or ...(wait for it)... about 1500. Tadaaaaa!

Banks you're a saucy one, aren't you. That 70% bit helps make a lot more sense of it. Now let me pick your brain on THIS!: I've opted to up my loss target to 2lbs a week. Considering I've just finished week 3 and my body is doing exactly what you mentioned in your "expectations" post, in your humble opinion is this a bad time for me to limit cals further?

If you're breastfeeding, I would ask your doctor. I have no children but it seems to me that breastfeeding would make a difference in your calorie needs.

And, it's not just height that contributes to calories--it's weight, too

It seems from all my reading that once a baby is on solids (and ESPECIALLY once they're almost 1.5!) the calories don't make a difference. It's probably 50-100 cals a day and since I've increased my loss target to 2lbs a week I'm going to try to go over by about 50-75 cals a day to be safe. But I checked in this morning and I'm down 2 lbs AND I've lost at least an INCH at each site since 5 days ago!! WOOHOOOOO!!!!

Thanks so much for all the great feedback!!!

It's kind of a bit of a trial and error because everyone's body reacts differently. 2 lbs a week may work for you, or it may be too much and you're body will reject it. The only way to know is give it a shot. If you try for about 3 weeks or so and don't notice any significant change, then I would probably drop back a bit.

good call. That's the plan!!