I didn't like Fitday, there wasn't enough food for me to choose from.
My food Diary was great, but hard on my eyes after a while, but more than anything, it took me so much time to count my calories-- I feel like I am balancing my checkbook sometimes.
Anyway, I started on my daily plate.com
Any suggestions for starting out again...

First of all - congrat's on losing the 15
I am working on this as well - starting up - I have been told by a nutritionist that you must do whatever it is that you are making the change for 14 days so that if you cycle in and cycle out before that you are still trying.

So, I say - take it one day at a time with a timeframe of 14 days and then try to continue on from there. I use anthemrewards.com program to keep the count of my calories and meals - it is very easy to use and - I use many of the suggested meals as well.

Hope this is helpful. I am at the beginning to lose the 15 that you have lost.
Congrat's again!
linda

Are you saying that you're using the Daily Plate just to count your calories for the food you eat, or are you saying you'll be following that site's guidelines on how many calories you can eat in a day? I haven't had much experience with that site, but from what I've heard, TDP tends to overestimate the "calories burned" from exercise, so it will tell you to eat probably a lot more than you should for weight loss. I think it's a good one for tracking daily calories and nutrient ratios, though, so you could certainly use it for that purpose, if you ignore the whole "you could have eaten another thousand calories" bit, and just find a daily caloric intake that works for you. Good luck, and congrats on your weight loss so far!

This is why I am here... 2872 Calories today, (yesterday was 1675)
just shoot me!

Can you be a little more specific about what we can do to help? Are you looking for a range to start with, or having trouble sticking with it? I'd like to help, but just not sure what you're asking, exactly.

As far as it being like balancing a checkbook, well ya gotta admit - it really is just as important (if not more so) and therefore any and all time spent on it is more then well worth it.

I found that calorie counting got easier for me as I became more familiar with the counts on the foods that I was eating. Once I find foods that I love, I repeat them over and over again. So it really does get easier.

I would rather just be able to eat whatever I want and not have to count my calories, but I just can't. "Watching" my intake was never good enough for me. I absolutely need the accountability of counting the cals. Time consuming - yup - worth it - WITHOUT A DOUBT.

I agree with rockinrobin. Counting your calories is tedious sometimes, and expecially at first, but it works, and for me it's the only thing that has. I think I have food amnesia when I don't keep track of it all. Like she said, it gets easier as you go on because you acquire a certain mental database of food values.

I use FitDay to keep track of everything, but not the website. I bought the desktop version in 2004 when I first lost weight. It worked great (I got to 172) and is still working great with my current "must practice better maintenance" return to calorie counting. I found the website version difficult and frustrating to use, but the software is great, and really has many more foods. I just plan out my lunch the night before and enter it in or, if there's no time for that or I have a sudden lunch meeting instead, I jot down what I ate on a post-it note to enter after work.

I also like the charts and graphs, since I'm a sucker for visual images. The weight goal chart also gives a projected weightloss for 4 and 12 weeks based on your progress, which is uplifting as well. It may not always turn out to be true, of course, but for some reason it makes me very happy to see that my computer thinks I'll weight XXX in a month.

i came up with 1700-1800 with help from the daily plate.com,
now, how should my pie chart look-- what percentage of calories should be coming from the categories, carbs, protein, and fats,
I am on a light workout plan about 2x a week (being honest)

Also, as a side question, my bf is 5'7, 265, what should his calorie range be? What is the highest he can go for mantianing? He is not working out now.

vixjean, you can find nutrition information (amounts for your pie chart) here:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nut...calculator.htm

Notice that it depends on what kind of plan you're following. I like the "zone" plan myself.

Don't worry about your boyfriend--concentrate on yourself!

Jay