RDI feels really off...

Okay, so I'm kind of new to the whole "eating right, exercising, and not subsisting on fast food 24/7" thing, so maybe I'm just not aware of what my caloric intake was before, but I feel like 2700 calories a day is way too much for me if I want to lose real weight.

I'm a 24 year old male, 6' tall, and around 260lbs. I'd really like to get down to 200, maybe a little bit less. My job has me sitting around for 9 hours a day, and I don't get to exercise a lot, so I was really hoping to cut as much as I could intake-wise so as to speed up the whole "I'd like to fit into any of the pants I own before winter gets here" process.

Any advice you guys could offer would be great!

I would also like the same thing. I'm a 22 year old, 5'1" woman around 165lbs and it says my RDI should be 2100 cals. I did another program like this with the same info (I believe) and my RDI was 1500 cals. That's a big gap...

To me, your RDI sounds about right. It's not about having a HUGE calorie deficit, it's about having the RIGHT deficit. If you go too low, your body will not run optimally, and you will long term lose weight at a slower rate. At least, this is MY experience. If anything, shave off a few hundred calories from what Fatsecret recommends and try going with that.
I hope it helps.

go to this website. It'll help you all figure your rdi and bmr. freedieting.com/tools/calorie_counter.htm

it depends on the activity level you input so if you put sedentary it is probably right. In my experience it is a good aproximation, in any case as for all type of calculators you cannot expect it to be 100% right for everybody.Just follow that RDI for 2 weeks and see if it works, if it does not you can always readjust up or down by 1-200 kcal.

Given your height and weight your resting metabolism is likely to be well over 3000 kcal a day, so 2700 should be low enough to allow you to achieve a deficit of at least 500 kcal/day that will allow for about 1 kg fat loss every 2 weeks, which is an ideal pace really

You don't have to listen to your RDI just listen what your body tells you. If you have lots of energy and are not hungry all the time you can live with a bigger calorie deficit. With your sedentary lifestyle you will lose with your 2700 calories per day 500 grams a week like paperiniko said. For me that's just too slow.

wondering if you put down sedentary? My husband was about the same as you and he only had 2300-2500 as his RDI on I think low active or sedentary. ( he was laid off) When he went back to work ( painter) he put in active and it increased it some( around what you have I think). but unless you exercise, I think it should be sedentary for a desk job.

sorry, just noticed your age so you probably are right or close to it due to him being late 50's. He lost about 40 lbs by using the RDI so far though

Wow! Thanks for all the replies.

@LuluRich Thanks for the link! It gave me 2700 as a "maintenance" intake, so I might shave it down a few hundred.

@jann1033 I definitely put down sedentary. I work a desk job 40 hours a week, and my hours are terrible (2-11PM) so my activity level is next to nothing.

I'm going to try this level for a few weeks and see what happens. Hopefully, I can get down to my target weight by the holidays.

I think finding a good RDI is very important, the link above is best and especially if you get your bodyfat percentage (electronic scale or calipers), it's a great calculator to use. I tend to take the average of the two weight loss RDIs and use that. I lose about 1-4 pounds a week when my exercise is on and diet is totally clean and free of cheat days, etc.

While you may find that your personal caloric needs vary slightly from someone else with the same general weight/age/activity level, you need to start with some target number and then be diligent about recording everything you eat. I can't stress this enough, because it's critical to weight loss. This way if you are losing weight or aren't losing weight you can review your numbers and figure out what needs to change... too many/too few calories, too much sugar, too much fat, not enough protein, etc.

Even with good logging habits, it's still a bit of trial and error to figure out what affects your body. Stick with it, don't give up if the pounds aren't coming off as fast as you'd like. I know it's hard being patient and disciplined, but it's the right way to lose weight and to change your lifestyle for the better.

Just make sure to recheck as you lose weight..... Because it will get lower...