Basal Metabolism - Still Confused - Please Advise

[californiacasey]

Hello All:
I am still confused. Can someone knowledgable please respond?

I went to this site: http://www.room42.com/cgi/basal.pl to get my basal metabolism results and here are my results:

Based on Your Individual Criteria:
Input Weight is: 257 in U.S. Pounds
Input Height is: 65 in U.S. Inches
Input Age is : 27
Input Gender is: female

The Metabolism Results Are:
1864.8 calories per day is your Basal Caloric Rate.
2424.3 calories per day recommended for your Active Caloric Rate.

No less then 1364.8 calories per day recommended for safe consistent Weight Loss.
At this safe consistent Weight Loss Caloric Rate,
you will lose 1 pound every 7 Days

Based on personal experience:
To lose weight, you must eat less calories then your Basal Caloric Rate.
To gain weight, you must eat more calories then your Active Caloric Rate.
To stay the same weight, eat no less then your Basal Caloric Rate and no more then your Active Caloric Rate.

Questions:
***Do I need to eat 1864.8 cal/day? What if I eat less (I usually do, I eat around 1500). I don't know how to keep my carbs under 20 and get my calories to 1864. This site says I can eat as few as 1364 and still lose weight. I am so confused.

Do I eat less than 1864 so I don't maintain and DO lose weight?

Do I eat more than 1864 so that I don't go into starvation mode?

Please advise. Thank you!

[Isabeau]

Generally speaking, you eat above your bmr and below your amr to lose weight. Your bmr are the amount of calories burned just to keep your body alive. Eating this way gives us a great appetite suppressant. You just want to make sure that your not eating, like..800 calories every single day. If you were to eat too few calories every day, you may put your body in 'starvation mode' which may stall your weight loss. Sure, some days you might eat only that, other days you may eat well over your bmr. Since you are still in induction pay more attention to following the rules of induction. Eat all your veggies. Eat 65% fat, 30% protein and 5% carbs. Hope that helps.