The bare minimum required to meet essential nutrient intake is 1200 through natural food alone. obviously sythesised nutrient intake (pills etc) can reduce this but whether pills are any good is unproven.

you need to create a weekly deficit of 3500 to lose 1lb of fat. now look at the following two statements carefully and think about what your first answer would be.

1. to lose weight i must consume less calories than i burn.

2. to lose weight i must burn more calories than i consume.

now i'm betting 1. you think diet. and 2 you think exercise. this is a simple trick of the english language both statements are correct and mean the same thing. however no 1 is generally promoted to females via magazines and infomercials. and no2 is generally promoted to males via the same mediums.

but what they don't tell you is burning more than you need is better than consuming less. when you exercise your metabolism is increased during the exercise this burns calories. (ok you know this) but when you finish exercise your metabolism doesn't instantly return to base rate. it takes hours thats right hours to return to base level. so the treamill says you only burnt 100 calories on that walk but over the next 3 hours you may well burn 100 more than base as the metabolism gradually slows down.

if you cut your intake initially you lose weight. however after a shockingly short period of time the metabolism starts to slow down to the new energy intake level this is why your weight loss slows and you eventually stop losing weight. if you run at 1200 calories a day you will eventually adapt to 1200 calories a day. this is your plateau.

at your plateau you are now back at square 1. you have to resort to the above 2 statements again. if you come off your "diet" and revert to old habits. (hand up here guilty, many many times over) but if your body is adapted to 1200 a day and you suddenly go back to 1400 then 1500 etc with junk and fast food you will put weight on and the body annoyingly takes longer to build up its metabolism than slow it down.

Bottom line raise amount of energy used not the amount you consume its the best way all round..

On any given day that you weigh yourself- that weight is just one brief moment in time. That number is an indication of food eaten, energy expended, hormones, movement, water, medication, and other biological functions. A person doesn't always lose weight even when they feel they 'deserve' to because of all the above. I am learning ( I hope ) it as much about having sanity around food than the number. That number can be a guideline.

Congrats on starting over again. I think that's always the hardest step.

As for the number of calories, 1700 is much better! I started out at 1200, but struggled. I'm up to 1800 now and I haven't gained but lost instead. Not to mention, I'm much fuller throughout the day.

It takes tweaking and experimenting. Just remember, you lose calories as you lose chunks of weight, so finding the highest point you can be at and still lose I personally think is a big factor in sticking with a plan.

but, I'm also new at this, so I'm still learning too! lol

I just wanted to say just take it one day at a time and one pound at time. It is great that you are starting again and working toward your goal. Find what works for you and stick with it.

Welcome back!

I may not be the fastest loser on the planet, but I aim for moderate and consistency. Looking to lose 1-1.5 pounds a week (about a 500-750 calorie food deficit a day) is easily maintainable, not terribly restrictive, and can be achieved comfortably while still filling you up.

Isn't it better to shoot for a slower loss you can maintain for the rest of your life, than to shoot for a steeper loss curve, feel deprived, binge like mad and gain it all back?

I strongly advise you to start out at closer to 1800 calories and drop them from there to a point that is comfortable for you. Even if you only lose 1.5 pounds a week that is 75-ish pounds gone FOREVER, every year you stick to it.

Focus on your goals and commit to making changes you will stick with forever. My personal philosophy is that I won't even try something if I know it won't work for me through all the changes life can bring. So no four hour gym sessions, sauna visits, pills, liquid diets, or other junk. Moderate exercise I enjoy, healthy and filling food, and food journaling to count my calories.

That's what works for me, your mileage may vary . The end result of a healthy, maintainable loss is the goal, however you choose to get there.