Shmead, that's true. It certainly is worth it to find that out. I'm a little nervous, though, because the last few days I've only been eating 800-900, and I've been dropping about .2-.4 pounds a day. That may have to do with TOM, but it doesn't seem likely that I'd lose anything at 1800 (or even 1400, really). Was your daily limit that high (1800) when you started? I see that our height is the same and your starting height is my current. Were you losing steadily at 1800 or so when your weight was up there?

I am only about 30 pounds lighter then you and i have done around 1800 calories per day since at about 300 pounds. Whilst i hear what you say about "im bigger so i should lose bigger amounts" unfirtunately it doesnt always work like this. Aim for 2 pounds per week...anything else is a bonus. That said with the 1800 calories...i burn around 400 calories on average per day.

I actually started at 2200 or so. I was more concerned, at first, with finding new, healthy food I like and getting in the habit of recording than anything else. After about six weeks I started gradually cutting calories. I didn't weigh for the first six weeks (starting weight is an educated guess), but once I started weighing I've lost a pretty steady 2.2-2.5 lbs a week. I've only had 3 weeks (including this one, grrrr) where I didn't lose any weight, and they were always followed by big whooshes.

Anyway, at one point, 3 or 4 months in, I had cut down to 1300 calories. I went up to 1500 almost on a lark, and discovered that I lose the EXACT SAME. No more, no less. So that's an extra 200 calories a day--a McDs ice cream cone or a POUND of broccoli or cauliflower or 2 pieces of string cheese or 2 tilapia fillets or 2 packets of oatmeal or 2 single serve bags of popcorn that I get to eat every day and it's not hurting me at all. This is a huge improvement of my quality of life and I would hate not to have taken the chance and eaten more to see if it worked.

Also, if you don't mind: you sound like you are panicking. The trick to successful weight loss is restraint: restraining your eating, yes, but restraint in everything else, as well: you have to make all your choices carefully, based on logic and reason and long-term stability, not what feels right (or wrong, if you tend to think suffering makes weight come off. It doesn't) You have to come up with a plan that you can follow NOT just on "normal" days but on HORRIBLE days, days when you are exhausted and frustrated and cranky and depressed. Such a plan covers not just how much you will eat, but what you will eat, how you will obtain it/prepare it, how you will pay for it, when you will eat it--and answers all those same questions for exercise.

Once you have such a plan in place, you'll endlessly tweak it. But you need to start with a plan, not with lots of dedication and motivation and desperation. Those don't last.

You're not going to lose weight every single day. It's just not possible. I think you're setting too high expectations and you're going to end up disappointing yourself. You need to be realistic about this if you want to be successful

Paradise, I admit I haven't read all the replies to your thread, and I'll bet you received some great answers, but here's my two cents....order the book Calorie Queens from amazon.com!

When I finally came to the realization I was through with all these expensive, popular diets and just wanted to go back to simple calorie counting I didn't know where to start. In the past I always used the magic number 1200, because that is what is most recommended, but I was always starving and the dieting never lasted.

Calorie Queens uses a method called eucalorics, which is explained in the book. Basically you eat the amount of calories for the weight you want to weigh. The rest is explained in the book, which is a funny, entertaining and highly informative book. I just love this book.

So I eat 1800 calories a day, I'm slowly losing WITHOUT ANY DEPRVIATION, and can easily live this way the rest of my life.

I also bought the new Mayo Clinic Diet book which gives great tips/information on lowering your calories.

Calorie Queens and The Mayo Clinic Diet are two great books and helping me so much.

I don't know if this helps or not, but when I started at over 300lbs my doctor said 1200 calories a day and 20 grams of fat. Yes it is not much, but you do get used to it. I stuck with it for a year and have been successful. I have just recently had to increase my calorie intake due to being more in shape. I would also give the advice that on days you do exercise a lot eat a little more and that usually helped my metabolism.