I wanted to add: at the beginning, I just focused on counting calories every day and staying below 2000, because I was eating about 3,000/ day before. After I felt comfortable there, I went down to 1900, then 1800, and now I'm at 1700 and losing about a lb a day, and I'm about 50 lbs less than you.
My mom always told me "don't make it harder than it has to be." sure you'll probably lose at 1000 calories a day, you're going to feel awful and this is going to feel like a punishment, which means you'll be more likely to give up and go off plan. Why cling to the edge of the cliff when you can sit a few yards away from the edge, enjoying the view and eating a nice (healthy) picnic?

When I put my stats into a calculator, it states that I should eat 2600 calories or more a day, I started at 2300 which I knew I could sustain and now eat around 1800- 2000 and I'm consistently losing. I eat more fruit, veggies, protein, and whole foods and eat fewer carbs and fatty foods. You don't HAVE to change what you eat...portion size and preparation makes a big difference!! Im 24 started a few months ago at 380+ pounds....believe me I wish I had started when I was 20 and 330 pounds, but I wasn't ready at the time and now I am. I hope you stick with it, and wish you the best of luck...remember that it doesn't have to be torture! If you want to chat about anything feel free to message me.

That's why I said and pointed out the word generally Freelance, because I KNEW someone would comment about it. You're right though, I should have said 'people at a normal weight' instead of her specifically.

When I first started I didn't eat anything other than junk food. It was very comforting to know that I could eat almost the entire burger and most of the fries and still lose weight as I hated everything that looked like real food. I lost about 20 lbs before I started caring about what I was putting in my body. Now I'll eat almost everything. Even if I absolutely hate it.

So, my advice to you, is to start slowly. You don't need to eat the healthiest foods there are right now. You're lucky, in a sense, in that you can eat a lot of calories and still lose weight. So, do that. Eat whatever you like --but in controlled portions. Learning how to control your portions is very important. Then you can add exercise, incorporate more healthy foods into your diet, start drinking more water if you're not getting enough, etc. Get one thing down and then move to the next and do it at your own pace. Sticking with this for the long run is much more important than eating healthy foods that you hate for 3 weeks and then giving up. It will benefit you more in the long run.

I don't know if the above made sense, it's too late here and I'm sleepy. But anyway, those are my 2 cents.

Wow, I was NOT expecting so many replies and encouragement. Thank you everyone!
It's my TOM and I guess I was just feeling...moody, to say the least.
I am definitely going to try to eat more then I have been, and I think I did that today. I still kind of feel like I shouldn't be eating so much.
Today I had:
The whey shake(with added fiber & multivitamin) made with milk for breakfast,
(I'm going to have these until the powder is gone.)
A turkey sandwich on whole grain rye bread with mayonnaise, lettuce and cheese.
carrot sticks with a tbsp of ranch
Two small hamburgers on cheese buns(guilty) with some BBQ sauce and lettuce.
two cups of iced tea.
Celery sticks.
I tried about half a cup of chocolate soy milk today, it wasn't bad but I didn't realize till after I bought it that it says DARK chocolate, lol... could get used to it though.
of course my 8 cups of water
and I just had an apple.

writing this down makes me realize it's still probably not enough but its definitely more than I've been having.

Hey for long term result, I don't think it works that way. You must have balance nutrition in your daily meals. Foods that should be staples in your healthy meal plans include fresh fish, naturally raised meats, organic poultry, organic whole eggs, raw nuts, fresh herbs, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Anything boxed, frozen, jugged or canned is considered processed and has no place in a healthy diet. Use right kind of oil (olive oil I suggest) to prepare your food.

Good luck!

Based on what I know about my own weight and metabolism, you should be able to eat minimum of 2,000 calories and lose pretty rapidly. I'm 22, weigh 218 and am 5'2" and I can eat 1800 calories a day and still lose about a pound a week. So you should be able to eat much more than that since you are bigger and taller.

Right now I'm in love with this food journaling website--it tells me how many calories to eat and also helps track how healthy I'm eating (whether I'm getting my vitamins/minerals, eating too much fat, etc). It's www.nutrimirror.com and I'd highly recommend it (it's how I've lost 30 lbs.)

Disclaimer: I'm not paid by this website or affiliated with it--I'm just so excited to have found it! And btw, it's free and it's not a 'gimmick' to get you to buy stuff.

Hazyl - I don't see what I did wrong there other then just not eat enough? I didn't have anything processed....if I use nothing frozen.. like veggies or fruit then I'd have to be a millionaire to even eat healthy...

Thank you Shepherdgirl! I'll have to check that out.

Where do you come up with this stuff? It is your kind of thinking that leads so many people to failure because they think it has to be all or nothing.

So long as your macro and micro nutrient needs are being met a "healthy diet" can take many forms.

Have you? I have seen several posts about what you're eating but I haven't seen once a calorie count from you.

I'm going to tell you everything you need to know right now.

Calories determine fat loss or gain. Sufficient protein is necessary to maintain muscle while dieting. Everything else is secondary.

To put it another way, you need to eat at a caloric deficit and you need to eat protein.

Exactly how many calories you eat is up to you but from the posts I've seen from you so far you're at a number that is way below 1,000 with only a small amount of protein. Long term this is bad news.

Calorie counting programs will also calcuate your protein intake. I'd suggest at your height you need at least 70g of protein a day.

Get adequate sleep.

Get at least 20 minutes of exercise 3 times a week.

John! THANK YOU for this!
This made me feel so much better and it's what I needed to here.

I tried counting calories and failed majorly, because I would spend so much time on the computer or on my phone trying to add them up with apps and such.
The people around me get angry and then I end up on the computer or on my phone all night, like now.. and not ending up getting enough sleep...

I do not sleep enough and working night shifts for six nights in a row doesn't help.

THANK YOU again for telling me exactly what I needed to hear,
I will try(very hard) to get at least 70g of protein a day, now that I know how much I need.

John, I would have messaged you but I don't think I can, because I haven't been a member for 20 days yet.
If I eat nuts to get some protein, and they are salted vs unsalted,
what are the pros(probably none) and cons?

You need to stop worrying about nonsense like this. Organic, raw ... blah blah blah.

Focus on getting the fundamentals right.

Calories, protein, sleep, exercise.

Everything else you can worry about later. As time goes on you can worry about details but if you worry about them now it will take away your focus from the fundamentals. Keep it simple.

There is not need to spend hours logging calories. It takes a little bit longer initially but once you have it dialed in it shouldn't take longer than 5-10 minutes tops.

Thank you again.

To save time on counting calories, I just glance at the brands on the packages and remember them. From there you can just find on whichever calorie site you use, and most of them have a huge food database with nearly every food stored already. And if the database doesn't have it already, then you can google it and enter the stats. I find this much easier than trying to copy the info from the boxes and whatnot. You might already know this, but it's a huge time saver how these sites have the foods built in.

I prefer caloriecount.about.com, because I find their food database is accurate. Sparkpeople and MyFitnessPal didn't always match the packages when I went to count. These sites should also give you a proper amount of calories to aim for after you enter your stats. When I used online calculators, they gave me ridiculously high numbers that I couldn't logically lose on, but these sites always give me a realistic number, and they base it on a healthy 1.5-2lb weight loss a week.

It looks like you got some great advice though! Feed your body right, and remember that weight loss doesn't have to be miserable!