How exactly calories work? I know I know this has probably been asked 100000 times... SORRY

ok... so say my breakfast shake this AM had 220 Cals and my walk after breakfast burned 265 cals. Does that mean I burned off my breakfast plus 45 cals worth of fat? It's probably not that simple is it...

Yes and no. Food calorie counters are estimates, as are the estimates for activity. Everyone's metabolism is slightly different, so you may burn more or fewer calories than listed. But basically, yes. If your calories in are the same as your calories out your weight will stay the same. If you eat less or burn more you lose, and if you eat more or burn less, you will gain.

The problem is, that knowing exactly how much you are taking in, and how much you are burning, isn't as easy as looking it up on a table. Your metabolism can fluctuate, so you can't really know for sure how much you're burning, and the calorie content of the foods can vary, so you don't really know how much you're taking in. As long as you realize it's estimation, and needs some trial and error to go in the direction you want, and you don't get obsessed with the numbers, calorie counting works pretty well for many people.

I like WW point system (the points are based on calories, fat, and fiber) which for me, is easier and keeps me from obsessing whether an apple I'm going to eat has 50 calories or 75.

Kinda yes ... you've chosen a pretty narrow window of time
What I do is try for a calorie defict each day ... more specificly, I want to burn more calories than I consume on a constant basis. However, it's taken me a while to learn just how many calories I REALLY do burn. And it does take a while to come up with an efficient method of counting the calories you take in. This computing has led more than one beginner right to the cookie jar!

A calorie is a unit of heat. All foods contain enough energy to have a measureable unit of heat (number of calories). When we move, breath, make new cells ... we use energy. We use a certain number of calories.