Never mind that bolded part - In my opinion.

JFC! There are a bunch of dumbasses in this thread.

From the FDA:

Why 2000 Calories?

When developing the new food label a base for % Daily Values was needed — a new feature to help customers see at a glance the fat and other nutrient content of a certain food. A mathematically simple 2,000 calorie-a-day diet was chosen so that consumers could easily calculate the Daily Values needed for their own diets.

This is the amount of total calories per day that a moderately active adult female (weighing approximately 132 pounds) would need to maintain her weight. However, if you do not fit this description, your caloric needs will vary. It is important, therefore, that you adapt the new food label to make the best choices for your own diet.

Hmm... What's 132 x 15? 1980 calories. 15 calories per day per pound of weight is a good estimate for maintenance. A 200 lb. person needs 3000 calories to maintain their weight.

A 132 lb. woman that consumes less than 1300 calories is considered under nourished. A 200 lb. man that consumes less than 2000 calories is also under nourished. That's fine for a weight loss plan, but detrimental as a "normal" intake of calories.

BTW, if you eat at restaurants you're probably consuming way more calories than you think. There have been several lawsuits brought against food chains that claim "low cal"... but when tested there was nothing low cal about it.

So, what you are saying is that - for myself (225 lbs.) - in order to maintain my weight at 225 lbs I should be consuming 3,375 calories per day (225 x 15). Is that correct? I'm new to this whole eating better, exercising, and being more healthy deal so I'm learning.

That my fitness pal app is for shit when trying to put your exercise into your net intake of calories. I can put in the exercise and its there but doesnt become a part of thenet calories for the day. This negative calorie intake or whatever they call it is the shit. Rant over.

Exercised 1006 calories which were not included in my total and I still had 863 calories left for the day.

My day yesterday was 2,020 calorie goal; 1,957 food; 650 exercise; total calories used 1,307.

From what I've read, the government recommendation of 15 calories is way too high. Most others say 10 calories.

It doesn't add it to your overall daily calorie goal. It gives you your daily goal (mine is 2,020 calories). Then, it subtracts your food and adds your exercise.

Mine for yesterday looks like this

Goal......Food....Exer.....Net
2,020 - 1,957 + 650 = 713

Good for you buddy! keep it up!

Had a good time yesterday. Ham and eggs in the morning, a small popcorn without extra grease at the movie and lunch/dinner at Costa Vida (which turned out to be almost 2000 calories according to their website - holy shit!) and some random munchies at night. Weight was 222.4 this morning.

Down day today so most of that should drop off.

apparently I'm only going to lose 3lbs - I've not gone above 1,200 cals in 10 days - not sure what the deal is. I was expecting 5lbs by now.

so it only adds in the exercise if it needs to keep you at your calorie goal?

You drinking a lot of water or other zero calorie liquids to compensate for food cravings etc...?

water yes.

but not for food cravings - I've always drank a shit load of water

Lost 3 pounds earlier after a giant clean breaker was unearthed.