@coach.jinger.g I calculated a range since I often vary from moderately active to quite active and came up with 2555 to 2874.
I generally eat plant based which means lots of fiber. How does that affect the caloric estimates if at all? Also how do these calories get timed throughout the day? I try to eat my calories early to mid day but don’t always succeed.
Great questions @JSampson! Eating lots of fiber is excellent- do you know approximately how much in a day?
With respect to timing, I do agree that larger meals earlier can be beneficial in many ways- do you also train earlier in the day? Do you still eat smaller meals in the evening?
Hi @bfrostie ! Clearly you are doing something right! So perhaps there is no need to count. My first words of advice with respect to eating is to regain the sensitivity to listen to your body, eat when you start to feel hungry, and intake raw foods that you enjoy!
@CPT_A I agree totally!!! When a device shows a calories burned metric it does NOT mean you should eat those calories as extra!
@Sir_Alan- Eating and activity balance are SO individual. It sounds like you have a confident sense of where you are and what makes a difference. That is critical!
@titanicus Have you ever tried logging your food for 3-4 days with a weekend included? Tons of cool apps that make it easy. I would not recommend it every day- but super helpful for a few days 1-2 times per year.
My next challenge for you is to log your food in an app for 1 full day- without changing what you would eat- and being honest about portions. If you want to give it a go one of my favorite tools is my fitness pal.
I did use MyFitnessPal for a while, generally because they had a good integration with Garmin Connect.
I’ll admit that I got a bit tired of scanning in the barcode for the foods I used (the generic selection never really seemed to fit, for example, “a pizza” always seemed too few calories than an actual product) and then I found I couldn’t estimate the quantity of a food like rice or pasta without actually weighing it, which I didn’t do just for me.
This added up to being a bit ineffective and ultimately useless. I had not thought, however, about doing it just every so often, so maybe I will try that approach and see if I get reasonable numbers.
Thanks for the tip!
@titanicus I totally agree about the drag of scanning and entering food data- I wish there was an easier way.
But the occasional honesty check can be helpful and less annoying!
Interesting. So BMR at 1,582. And with a 1.6 multiplier I get up to 2,532.
Depending on motivation I’m somewhere between a 1.6 & 1.8 multiplier.
I used MFP last year and it said if I want to lose weight, I should aim for 1,500 per day, but that’s before any multiplier, and then they add extra based on cals earned through exercise. I still felt like I was hungry alot of the time
So interesting to think about choosing the right algorithm to hold or lose weight, as there’s 2 method at play. I suppose the key is to pick the daily reduction you want, then use the appropriate model and see how you go.
Weighing is a pain, but after a week, it also gives a sharp reality check in portion size if you’ve lost your way 
I’m no expert, so please @coach.jinger.g correct me where I’m wrong.
From what I’ve picked up over the years is that 0.5kg per week weight loss is sensible.
Seeing that fat holds just under 8000kcal per kg, you should aim at a deficit of 4000kcal/week, i.e. 570kcal per day.
That means that in your case, you should aim for taking in 2000kcal a day.
It does mean you’ll be hungry most of the time as your body is asking for more. A whole different type of suffering.
MFP? Yeah that’s nuts. 1500kcal/day is below basic body function needs, and considered by medical experts (I can cite if you insist) to be about bare minimum for an adult male, below which you start damaging your body. Not to mention your metabolism will think you’re starving and kick in VERY quickly to shut everything down and start cannibalizing itself (see damage to body).
Agree with another poster that .5 - .7 lbs per week is more sustainable long term.
@BeatsMe YES! It is trial and error for sure… it took me about three years to get the right balance for my training schedule and how to make small modifications based upon my current goals. Totally worth it to find healthy foods that you enjoy eating and provide optimal fuel for performance and recovery.
I absolutely should have made it clear that my suggestion for My Fitness Pal was ONLY as a tool to see your calorie count for a day and be able to appreciate the percentage ratio of CARB/FAT/PRO. NOT for their recommended calorie intake!
1500kcal/day is NOT recommended or safe for nearly anyone.
Yep! These estimates are a great starting place… and 2000kcals is still low considering your training load. So if you feel that your training is suffering to the point that you cannot execute planned workouts- increase by 200kcal per day for a week to see if there are improvements. Keep adding until you find a minimum that still allows you to maximize the intended intensity and distance for your training plan.
Yeah, I’m broken. My BMR is all I can eat daily and not gain weight even with moderate workouts 3-5 times per week. Even when I get up to 6-8 hours of workout per week. 
How does one un-break an abused metabolism??
My dietician doubled my calorie intake and dropped my cardio and added in resistance training and made me prioritise sleep. Diet was also tweaked in terms of proportion of macros and voila, the weight just started coming off. Very slowly mind you, but that’s because I’ve picked the cardio nack up and we’re both fueling that and trying to sort body composition at the same time, which means slow going. But it’s sustainable change.
Wow! That’s fantastic @DameLisa. What adjustment did you do to macros?
I would love to be able to eat! I’ve been living on 1200 cal or less since I was a teen.
I have a really stressful job, too, and that doesn’t help. I’m working on mental strength to lower my stress response, I’m doing a HIIT heavy training and starting to do more strength training rather than endurance. I haven’t seen any weight loss on the scale yet, but I feel like there is a slight shift away from storing fat. (Probably wishful 
)
Where did you find a dietitian?
Dietician I found through word of mouth recommendations, then followed her online for ages to see what her style and approach was. I’d had a disaster with a dietician previously so was pretty picky. My current one is an endurance athlete herself and really good at keeping up to date with the most recent research. The trick is to find someone you are comfortable working with that doesn’t do anything too extreme. Previous dietician had me eating almost entirely carbs and nothing else, the focus was filling up with high bulk low calorie food to drop my calories. I needed to eat more, not less!
I am loathe to share my macros as these are pretty individualised, and may not work for you, and I don’t want to give you wrong advice for you. I am really focussed on hitting my protein target each day, and it is in the 2g per kg of body weight range, although slightly less because I am working on dropping body fat. This target will gradually be lowered in incriments until body fat is sensible. I also eat a TON of veg and salad. Think salad and veg bowls the size of your head with protein and some healthy fats added in. 
Timing of what I eat is also pretty crucial. It’s also worth mentioning my dietician (she’s also a nutritionist!) works with my Dr as well. My Doc specialises in women’s health. Together they picked up some pretty severe deficiencies and that has helped things too.
Stacy Sim’s book, though a little out of date now, was also pretty helpful for me. Many of those principals are still valuable.
@coach.jinger.g calorie intake for me in her method above is around 2,400 cal a day to maintain my current weight. I was eating 1,200 a day before and gaining weight and barely functioning. Currently I probably average around 2,200-2,300 cal a day, and weight is dropping off at about 1kg per month. Slow, but if it was any quicker than that, I wouldn’t be able to get fitter on the bike as well. Am fueling my rides as well as slowly dropping body fat. Am miles nore functional mentally and am getting power back on the bike, which was all I wanted.