I have a question..about how many calories do you allot yourself?

I've been to a few sites and this is what I get:
To lose weight:
Monday 2120
Tuesday 2120
Wednesday 2544
Thursday 2120
Friday 2120
Saturday 2332
Sunday 2120

And then this
You need approximately 3485 calories per day to maintain your healthy weight, based on your current activity level.To take off one pound per week, you'll need to reduce calories by 500 per day
So basically the same 2100-ish

To me..that seems to be way too many calories to be eating..to lose weight.

I think I know where you're coming from. You see all over the place that the "minimum number of calories you need is 1200, don't go lower than 1200!", right? So seeing numbers considerably higher than that, in the 2000's, seems like such a huge amount. I struggled with that when I first started counting calories, and so I was eating right around 1200-1300. While the weight went quickly the first couple of weeks, it sloooowed right down after that. Since then, I've been following the numbers from the freedieting calculator and the weight's been coming off steadily.

I'm eating:
Mon 1430
Tues 1430
Wed 1720
Thurs 1430
Fri 1430
Sat 1575
Sun 1430

Keep in mind that I'm only 5'0". I'm almost 31yo and 179lbs. I exercise 5x/week. My maintenance cals are 2120. I don't know your age or activity level, but using my info and changing to your height and weight, I'm coming up with slightly lower numbers than you posted. Check out the calculator at freedieting, I know a lot of girls here use it.

Remember, too, that the amount of calories you need to maintain your weight is going to decrease as you lose weight. So will the amount of calories you can eat in order to lose weight. If you start out too low, you won't have anywhere to drop your calories as you get closer to your goal!

everyone's metabolism is different, so all of those calculators are just a starting point. You could try that range for a couple of weeks, see what happens and then adjust.

But I will say that seems very high for loss to me too, so I'd probably knock off about 300 calories a day from those numbers, and use that as a starting point and see what happens.

I agree with PeanutsMom, don't be afraid to play around with your numbers for a couple of weeks at a time until you find your personal "sweet spot".

I was trying to keep it around 1500 or so..but my exercise habits are zilch right now.

I was going to start the C25k today but it started hailing. I know excuses..excuses. I'm just waiting out the hail...then I'm gonna go walk my puppy for my C25k warm up..baby steps

freedieting is where I got that info from and I input as sedentary since technically I still am at the moment and this is what I get:

Maintenance:
2333 Calories/day

Fat Loss:
2120 Calories/day

Extreme Fat Loss:
2120 Calories/day

I was at 1450 and the weight was just creeping off (1/2 lb a week maybe). I switched to freedietings zig zag and now it's just falling off. The first week I lost 3 lbs, the next 1 lbs, the next 2 lbs and this week I've already lost 2 lbs. I do tweak it a little though, I round down to the nearest 50 cals and I tell it I only work out 3xs a week when I really work out 5-6xs. If I'm feeling too hungry then I'll add a 100 cals or so. Here is mine (I'm also almost 31, I'm 5'5 and 172)
M 1650
T 1400
W 1800
Th 1650
F 1650
S 2000
Su 1650

It doesn't hurt to try it for a week or two, I think you'll be suprised.

Hmm..I think I'm gonna try it...however I got to 1,700-ish last night and was pretty full...so I think I'll try the zig-zagging. Except I'll take 300 off of the free diets numbers like PeanutsMom said

Monday 2120 goes down to 1820
Tuesday 2120 goes down to 1820
Wednesday 2544 goes down to 2244
Thursday 2120 goes down to 1820
Friday 2120 goes down to 1820
Saturday 2332 goes down to 2032
Sunday 2120 goes down to 1820

I'll try that til the end of March..seems like enough weeks to get a feel of tweaking if needed

Thanks for all the advice

Make sure you come back and update! Good luck!

Will do

Well i started off good and then fell off the wagon...I quit logging my calories...but I stayed the same weight. April 1st I will start 30 day shred...and I will get back on track dang it...I have finally reached my fat breaking point!

Carleee, right now is as good as April 1. The sooner you get back on, the sooner you can take off a few pounds. We'll support you :-)

Barb

Thanks Barb, I'm actually going to start tomorrow..since it's nearly 1am right now. I just wanted to make the official 30 day shred day as April 1st..so it's actually 30 days.

This is an interesting concept. I am doing eucalorics (from the Calorie Queens book), and I eat 1800 calories a day. Some days I eat more and some less, so I do guess they zig-zag from week to week. But in a week's period of time my calories never average over 1800 a day.

I am losing slowly, and happy with that.

I see how successful you guys are from your stats and it's awesome.

I think it's sad that something as simple as just lowering calories is not as popular as the "fad" diets out there.

yeah, calorie counting is not sexy enough to be popular! lol!

I'm always amazed by the people who say "oh, I can't count calories, that's too hard, too restrictive" and then they do things like live on protein shakes and eat zero carbs and live on meat and fat. Except that every single person I see doing those extreme things always has "well, of course, except for this and except for that" with all of these reasons why they can't stay on plan certain days.

Now I'm not claiming to be perfect with calorie counting, there are still a lot of temptations out there. But when I plan enough, I can stay on plan, even with dinners out and celebrations and all of that. I don't have to go off some extreme diet to enjoy a treat, I just have to make sure I limit myself to a small amount and plan the rest of my calories around it.

I weigh 273 pounds and i do a mixture of days between 1500-1900 then one super high day of 2600 (I do my super high day on weigh in day) and this seems to work out well for me...it balances out to 1800 per day on average