A little background: I weight 211 pounds and am 5'6 tall, almost 30 years old.

I get so confused with calorie intake, because I've heard so many different things. I've heard:

You weight 200+ lbs so you should get at least 4-5 days of cardio in and 3 of strength training/weights. But eat only 1200-1500 calories.

Then I get these dvd exercise programs that say in their little brochures because of my weight I should eat 2000 calories a day. What? Isn't that not going to help me lose weight? Here are the dvd's I have:
Beach body - Slim in Six
Beach body - Turbo Jam
Beach body - Hip Hop Abs
Jillian - BFBM, Yoga Meltdown, 30DayShred, No More Trouble Zones
Winsor Pilates New Sytem with the Bar.

Oh, then I twittered Debbie Siebers and Jillian Michaels and they said 1200 a day so I need HELP.

Here is my exercise plan, tell me if this seems good.

M, W, F - 2 of the 20 minute Winsor Pilates DVD's (Weight Resistance/Toning)
M, T, T, F, Sa - Jillian Michaels Burn Fat, Boost Metabolism (Cardio)
Sunday - Rest day

How many calories do I need to eat to lose weight? I have a long term goal of getting form the size 16/14 I am to a 6/8. But I would like to know, how possible is it to lose 20-30 pounds by October 7th? If not possible then how many pounds. Thanks.

Try this site.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Everything is really just an estimate and you need to experiment to see what works for your body, because everyone is different. But online calculators are a good starting point. I really like that website. It has a bunch of different calculators you can try out.

Forever, there is no way at all that a brochure can know anything about what you need. The online calculators which estimate how many calories a person uses in any given activity are based on an imaginary norm. Who knows what standard of measurement the software programmer used? A 160-pound, male, Olympic athlete who is 22 years old and has 9% body fat?

Women have more fat and less muscle tissue, which means we use up fewer calories doing anything than men.

I read some very eye-opening threads on this subject in the Maintenance section here at 3fc.

We each have to try out different foods, different amounts of foods, calories, how much fat, protein and carbs we eat. What kinds of foods we eat, when, how we can handle the way they are prepared, etc.

Same for exercise.

Finding a food plan that nourishes our health, long term, and supports our metabolism using up our fat stores and keeping us healthy while we are doing that is paramount. Exercising because we enjoy how it makes us feel is next.

If it interests you, Gary Taubes book, "Good Calories, Bad Calories" explains a great deal about fat and calories, and how the body uses them.

No computer software, online calculator, chart, or calories-burned counter in a machine can figure what a specific individual's metabolism is doing. It is based on statistical averages, and as far as I know, those averages are based on men burning calories.

Tiffany put it well. Everything is an estimate, and we do need to experiment for ourselves.

The online calculators have me eating calories which would make me gain weight. My metabolism is slower than their software calculates. I don't use up anywhere at all near what any of the charts or programs state that I do.

My best information came from reading the Maintenance forum. I thought of subjects that interested me, used the Advanced Search, and looked in all the sections of that forum. It was great.

Hope this helps a bit.

Sending you all best wishes.

20-30 pounds by October 7 is not a reasonable expectation. 10-15 is.

When i was confused when starting back to counting calories i went by the suggestions on this thread and it worked like a charm. Check it out

CALORIE COUNTING-Frequently asked questions-PLEASE READ!