This addresses something I have been wondering about for a long time: why don’t the formulas work for me?

Every time I use a formula to calculate how many calories I should be eating, whether it’s The one you just provided, or any weight loss app, it tells me that I should be eating far more calories than I do. But that doesn’t work for me. And I know it doesn’t work because I have been tracking every calorie that goes into my mouth consistently for the past four years, and for the past 10 years or so in consistently before that. I do some kind of light exercise at least five days a week, usually six or seven. By light exercise I mean using my elliptical machine for 20–30 minutes, doing yoga for 30–60 minutes, or going for a 2-3 mile walk. I have a sweet tooth that I occasionally indulge, but most of my eating is reasonable and healthy: I cook for myself, eat a lot of vegetables, I avoid processed products. I do not drink soda or eat potato chips or other package crunchy treats at all. Yet I am obese. I mean it’s only technically obese, my BMI is literally only 30.1, but it is disheartening to have my personal experience not reflected anywhere in any article that I ever read, and believe me, I read articles about fitness and weight loss a lot! I have discovered through trial and error that I can usually lose weight fairly slowly if I keep my daily calorie intake to around 1500 to 1600 cal, but by fairly slowly I mean about a half pound a week. By every Weight loss calculator I’ve ever used, I should be able to lose about a pound a week by eating 1800 cal a day. NOPE. My thyroid has been checked, multiple times, apparently it’s fine. The only conclusion I can come to is that my metabolism is slower than most peoples, but it’s not so much slower that it’s considered a problem — but I have to be hyper vigilant about what I eat and how much activity I do even to maintain my weight. whenever I tell people this they tell me oh you must be counting calories wrong or your calorie tracking is off, and you know that’s a good point that could happen, but I do weigh my food frequently enough that I have a pretty good idea of the portion sizes I am entering and I literally have years of data to back up what I’m saying since I count calories so consistently.