I just started limited my daily caloric intake (I'm not sure by how much), and exercising/physical activity. I'm feeling a little weak. Is this normal? I was just wondering, because it's either that or I'm getting sick. I'm not sure which one it is. Did you feel weak when you first started?

I was feeling uncomfortable, but not weak. Can you eat something just to see if you feel better? I think it's important to track your actual caloric intake to make sure you're getting enough calories. I find that my concept of food and hunger can be very skewed and it helps me to know how many calories I can have based on my current weight. I use something called Lose It and it's an application for my iTouch, but my husband told me they have it online. It's free and very easy to use. I know some people use fitday. I hope you feel better.

I did. I started losing a bit of weight by going to the gym 1-2 times a week, but did not change my eating habits. A while after I became serious about weight loss and set my daily calorie intake to 1500 (from approximately 2,000-2,250 calories per day). For the first week I was extremely weak - I couldn't go to the gym and felt dizzy whenever I stood up or walked around for too long. After that I was just fine. I think it was just that I cut back on calories by a significant amount in a short period of time.

How many calories are you consuming each day? Definitely don't go to the gym if you feel weak, we wouldn't want you to faint or anything!

I agree with the idea that you should really know how much you are eating! I don't know if you're like this, but many people who start dieting believe it's about eating as little as possible -- they actually starve themselves.

There are many many of us who have managed to lose weight -- and keep it off -- while eating actually quite a bit of food. We plan carefully the kind of food we eat so it will fuel our bodies and keep us feeling full... we might get hungry, but we aren't starving.

Do you have any idea what you've been eating?

I use to be one of those people but thankfully I saw the light and I eat a sensible, low calorie, healthy diet now

My guess is that, before I started on my journey a couple of days ago, I've been eating about 3,000 calories daily. So far today I have eaten 1,599 calories. I'm keeping a food journal on fitday and it really helps to see what I put into my mouth compared to how I've been eating. I ate a nice size dinner and now feel better, but I think it's because I've cut back on sugars and stuff that is not good for me. Otherwise, I have kept my diet pretty much the same. (I used to have chocolate several times a day, but haven't had any in two days.) According to my weight goal of 175 pounds by June 5, 2010 (my birthday), I am supposed to eat 2,019 calories a day. Does this sound right?

If that is right, I can have about 450 calories by the time I go to sleep. I'm really confused about all of this.

Alyssa, I don't know how old you are, but I would expect that anywhere between 1600 and 2000 calories daily would probably be a healthy amount of food for you to eat. The posters above were afraid that you were eating less than 1200 calories daily. I think that you probably would want to start somewhere around 1800 calories (smack in the middle) and try for 3 or 4 weeks and see how everything goes. From there, you can readjust either up or down. Your first week or so your going to be hungry/uncomfortable (as long as you don'g have any health conditions, like diabetes), but you should be able to adjust quickly. Glad you've started out with a reasonable plan.

I eat approx 1600 calories daily and still loose steadily (just for a reference, YMMV.)