[BJLewis]

I have got to do something-- several months back I tried SBD for all of a few days and flopped--

I need to lose at least 50 lbs-- back when I was a teen I used to count calories--

Two questions to help me decide on a path--

how do you know how many calories you need??

and is the calorie counting working for you??

[MtaTJac]

This page HERE has a calculator to tell you how many calories you need in a day, and I believe you subtract 500 calories to lose weight healthily.

As for calorie counting, it's always worked for me in the past, although I get bored with it easliy

[3fcuser1058250]

Calorie counting certainly does work... Losing weight isn't rocket science, it is calories in vs. calories out equaling weight loss.... How many calories you need depends on how much weight you need to lose to start off with. There are many calorie calculators around even one on this site, so that could be a good place for you to start. For me they don't work, they say I could eat a LOT more to maintain whereas I need to eat closer to the lower end of the to maintain...

Here is an interesting calorie calculator for you to try... To help with your calorie counting you can try www.fitday.com it's a great tool...

Hope this helps and keep us posted on your progress...

[srmb60]

I love calorie counting and fitday.com. There's my vote

[djstorey]

Well, I've lost 80 pounds counting calories so I'd say it does work. Can't say that that's all I've done to lose weight. I also exercise 6 days per week. I decided that I like to eat, so exercising lets me eat a little more.

Counting calories gives you a lot of freedom. I like that fact that I don't have to follow someone's "menu" or some kind of food list. I pick what I want to eat and if I blow it by eating something high calorie, well, I just have to make up for it later in the day.

I must say though, that I know that some people do better with an actual weight loss plan like weight watchers, nutrisystem, etc..... They say they really need more structure in their diet and that's fine. Everyone is different. You need to find what works best for you.

I agree with fitday too! I love it!

Joyce

[djstorey]

Should have added one more thing.... To figure out how many calories you need, go ahead and try the calorie calculators but just use that as an estimate. None of them are perfect and every body is different. I used an average of 3 or 4 calcultors and used that as a starting point. From there I had to make some adjustments until I was losing weight at the rate that I wanted.

[Heather]

I have also lost 80 pounds calorie counting -- for me it is a great option because I want the flexibility and I want to be able to focus on healthy eating and to actually track how I'm doing. I also feel like I get to eat great food that satisfies me -- which is important for me. I like not having to cut out any foods or food groups entirely, though I will say that I choose NOT to eat what I think of as junky foods more often than I choose to eat them.

That said, as others have mentioned, there is no solution that works for everyone. Let yourself try different approaches and see what works for you.

I also agree that the calculators are general estimates and fit some people better than others. I am lucky in that the calculations I receive from nutridiary.com seem to be accurate for me.