Calorie Question

[laura.schoenig]

Last week I had my fat percentage measured in a Bod-Pod machine at my gym. It also told me that my RMR (resting metabolic rate? is this the same is a BMR) is 1194. I work at an animal clinic where I spend about half of my time sitting at the front desk and half of my time on my feet going working appointments. I am wondering based on my RMR and lifestyle how many calories I should be eating to lose weight?
I am 22 years old (female), 5'6, and weigh 132 pounds. I still have a few more pounds I want to loose to get down to my goal weight, around 128 or 130. I do the EA personal trainer on my WII 5 days a week (burning 120-180 calories per session) and burn about 330 calories on the eliptical 4 or 5 days a week (or do a a class at the gym burning about 500 calories an hour). I know I shuoldn't go below 1200 calories, but on the days I don't work out I don't understand how to still get a calorie deficit based on my BMR. Thanks!!!

[GameGal]

Your Current BMI: 21
Healthy BMI: 18.5 - 25

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), measuring your Body Mass Index (BMI) is the most reliable way to calculate a healthy weight range for your height.
On the other side of it is your RMR ( 1194). That is the rate/amount of calories you burn each day even if you just lay there not moving a finger.
So what you have to do is this:
figure out your daily exercise amounts.. for instance, I took what info you gave ( the sitting half the day, and helping in the office ( standing/walking) the other half. and heres what it looks like.
4 hours (light office work while sitting, general (lab work, light use of hand tools, light assembly/repair, reading, driving at work)
= 455 calories burned.
4 hours of standing/walking = 698 calories burned.
Let's say for the sake of the explanation here that after work you immediately went to bed until the next day....
So you add up the 1194, the 455 and the 698 = 2347.

(Obviously since you dont go immediately to bed, go to fitday activity tabs and find your other activity and add it to the list.)

So you burn 2347 just by being alive and working 8 hours a day.
The other side of this equation is that it takes 3,500 calories to gain or lose 1 pound.
If you wanted to lose 1 lb a week, you would need to cut 500 a calories a day from that 2347.. which would be 1847calories a day to lose 1 lb.
As I said, that isnt accurate because I have no clue what other activity you do per day, but it shows you the method of figuring it out :-)

Good luck!

[tandoorichicken]

You seem to already be really close to your goal weight. If you were to increase your daily physical activity just a little bit, and hold your current caloric intake constant, then you would drive up your BMR/RMR a little bit and therefore push up the current deficit.

Another thing you could consider is dropping your carb intake just a little, on the order of maybe 20 - 40 grams less per day than what you normally eat. The way carbs are stored in the body makes them hold onto triple their weight in water, so this will also help get rid of water bloat (which, incidentally, is the reason pants fit on some days but not on others even when your weight doesn't change much). Shedding the last few lbs of water will get you spot on your target weight.