Does anybody lose weight using FatSecret's RDI?

FatSecret has calculated my RDI to be 1700 calories a day. I typically stay under 1300, and have lost 42 pounds in 51 weeks. I averaged 1700 calories one week in December, and gained three pounds that week.

I lost 2 pounds last week, then gained 3 this week, without changing anything else. I'm fine with the slow weight loss - I never feel deprived - but I don't understand why it's not more consistent.

Is my calorie intake too low?

My RDI says I need to be 1900...there has been one handful of times that I got that number cause those were my cheat days or meals since August. I have lost 39 lbs myself by staying under normally between 1100 - 1300 and that is with working out at home by finding you tube videos I have gone up some days and go down the next so yes that is part of a healthier lifestyle. I like the slow weight loss as well so I'm learning along the way and to keep it off.

Every day I look at the amount of calories I would burn based on 16 hours of resting and 8 hours of sleeping. Those calories I consider my metabolic rate. This is the number of calories I burn basically doing nothing so if I eat that many I should break even. Every day when I enter my weight Fat Secret changes what those values are accordingly.

Because of this I can set my goals on a daily basis. For me right now my daily goal is to beat that number by at least 1200 calories (1 lb loss every 3 days) and hopefully by 1750 (1 lb loss every 2 days). This allows me to figure out how hard of a workout to do each evening. I have been very successful using this method while dropping my winter fat.

I agree the recommended RDI here is too high, and they don't let you target more than 1 lb/week in loss. However, when you calculate your RDI, you can ignore their recommendation and just enter your own target, that makes sense for you. They told me to target 2,500 but 1,600 is working much better for me.

Try this tool, developed by Dr. Carson Chow: http://bwsimulator.niddk.nih.gov/

Thanks for the link Draglist, that's neat.

I don't get it either.

LiveStrong says my RDI is 1612, and it's worked great.

FatSecret says my RDI is 2300, but at the same time it says I'm burning 1794! I set it to weight LOSS, but it's clearly setting me up for GAIN!