I was curious on how many calories some of you consume? I'm not really strict on my calorie intake however I keep breakfast & lunch around 300-350 and then dinner I try to keep it around 350-400 this way I can have upto a 100 snack in the evening while watching TV

I know right now since Im cutting back from what my "normal" behavior was......I will loose weight but once my body figures out this new normal I will have to take it down some......what would you all suggest?

My dr told me to take my ideal body weight(normal range) ( not what i want to weigh) and multiply it times 100. From what I have been told on here its better to not cut your calories to low. I was eating to few to start with. I know there is another method to figure calorie count. Good luck.

I'm using WW, but the points I was given to use when I began roughly translated into 2,000 calories. The amount I'm using now roughly translate into 1,600.

I lost weight eating 1800-2000 calories a day (more at the beginning). And I lost the first 100 pounds in 55 weeks, so I lost at a decent clip. I did start to do more and more regular exercise over the course of that year.

When you start at a high weight you DO need more calories to do EVERYTHING. So, we need to be careful not to go as low as people who are starting at half our weight!

What worked for me may not work for others, and people often have to play around with calorie levels to find out what works for them.

I started out around 1800 - 2000 calories and have had to slowly bring it down as I've lost weight. I second Deb's post about not bringing it down too low.

thank you all for you comments I really feel good this week...I only had one afternoon that I felt tired and dosed off on the recliner a bit......so I got up and ate a yogurt & drank some water....Im at roughly 1200-1350 calories......I may want to increase this next week a tad bit.....if I feel weak but I haven't so far....when I do introduce exercise I may have to bring it up a bit.

thank you so much!!!

Tammy how long has it been for you to gt to where you are?

I lost the first 100 lbs in about a year. The remaining 60+ lbs has taken another year and a half.

I just wanted to make a point -- I think Tammy and I are typical of people who lose a lot of weight and keep it off. We did NOT starve ourselves! And yet, we were very successful!

I think it really helps to think long term -- this is a marathon, not a sprint. You can eat few calories for a short time, but it is VERY hard to maintain long term. You are really not eating many calories for someone your weight and may be very successful raising your calories to 1800 a day (or even more) and find you can lose steadily.

yes I've been looking at it further & I believe you are right Heather about the amount of calories I need to consume & I think first I will STRICTLY count everything that goes in my mouth this next week......Im kinda roughly estimating....my calorie intake I know Im staying somewhere close to 300-350 per meal.....but if I really count every crumb I know it will be slightly higher because honestly if I was eating less than I should I would be sluggish......since that was the way I was prior to my healthy eating....cuz the calories I was eating weren't nutricious thus I wasn't eating good calories just junk & fat!

I haven't truely started exercising yet and I know once I do I will have to up it to more like 1800-2000 I just want to see a change on the scale to get me motivated first then I will settle in on a perminant amount.

I am looking at this in a long term thing.........my goal is to be at my GW by son's early summer wedding in 2010

as long as I loose something each week I will feel I've met my goal............I don't even care if its .1 of a lb! LOL its that much less fat on my body!

thank you for your comments and encouragement on healthier living!

I am currently eating around 1700 - 1800 calories a day and I know I was eating closer to 2000 when I was at your current weight. You can do this. There may be weeks of no loss even though you have been 100% OP, etc. but in the long run you will get to where you want to be when your body is ready to be there. Always remember, your body didn't read the book on less calories in....more calories out = weight loss. Sometimes it goes along smoothly and sometimes not so much. Hang in there when you hit those "not so much" stretches!

I started closer to 1800 but it really depends on how much exercise I get because I aim for a 1000 calorie deficit. These days I eat 1400-1800 still because I exercise quite a bit, but if I wasn't or it's my day off I go lower.

You gals are great motivators!!! Thank you so much for all your tips....I printed off the information someone posted on another thread from Shape up America even though my dh complained about all the ink LOL I have read through it and it has helped me to understand RMR and calorie intake.

Im really excited about this journey and hope that in 21 days I will still feel the same way.......then I will know its a life changing thing Im doing!!! My Dh is real supportive & he has lowered his calorie intake however I can't measure his and mine so I am happy with the fact that his Job is WAY more physical than mine & he needs more calories than I do .......one thing we have noticed is before I started cooking/buying differently he was sluggish all the time....Mountain Dew & fast food lunches will do that to a person.........Now he said he has more energy! He still eats two sandwiches for lunch but I pack them and they are turkey & LF cheeses on whole wheat bread.......nutritious snack items that he can nibble on all day. Rather than leftover heavy greasy foods that he has to sit down and devour in 15 mins on a break....

DMPLS -- I had a big shift in energy when I changed how I ate, too! Well before I noticed any kind of effect of weight loss, I noticed the energy shift from eating better. It was a GREAT motivator to keep going!

Hi - I'm new to this site, actually got here by searching how many calories I need, and I want to thank you both Heather and Tammy!
I have been on another diet site for a year, and the recommended 1,200 to 1,500 just didn't work. At first I dropped 30 pounds, then I started wavering, and in the last few months I gained back 17lbs of that(back up to 271).
I finally went to the mypyramid site, and discovered I needed 2,000 calories for slow weightloss. That was a week ago, and I'm already down 5lbs, mostly water, I'm sure, but I'll take that!
I was worried I was doing the wrong thing, though, as I kept coming across other dieters needing to lose 100+ pounds, who all kept saying 1,200 - some even 1,000!
Then I found this thread!
Thanks DMPLS for starting it!
I'm a lot more confident now.
Cindy

Hey there & Chsenoia!!!

I'm glad you found what you needed to do this properly. We'd love to know how things are going, so please do stick around 3FC & keep posting