I have a few simple questions I'm curious about.

1. Where did you to find out what your 'maintenance calories' amount is?

2. What's your calorie deficit goal? -500? -1000?

And how did you decide on that? Why not more or less?

Thanks!

(And maybe this will help me clear up some indecision/confusion I'm having).

I aim for daily average deficit of 1167 so I'd be losing 1 lb. every 3 days.

I use mypyramidtracker.gov and it calculated what I'd need to maintain my weight based on age, height, sex. Because I also log my exercise there it tracks my deficit for me as well and I run the graph that averages 30 days.

I aim for a 300-400 calorie daily deficit from food and an additional 300 - 400 calorie deficit if I exercised (about 3 times a week). That's a max of -4,000 calories a week. Since I'm close to goal, it's a little harder to make a big deficit without feeling deprived.

My daily deficit runs around 750 cals, sometimes a little more. Through trial and error I've discovered I can do pretty much nothing and maintain on 2500 calories a day. Once I add in exercise I can do 2750 and higher and not gain weight. (I know this because I did it on purpose a few weeks back.)

One thing I sometimes point out is that I'm actually eating more (~2000 cals) than I was at 358 pounds (where I started this time). I move around more, and am generally more consistent with my weight loss. I really, truly believe when you start at a higher weight it's really important to (a) track everything very carefully, and (b) not start too low. I'm sure at some point that I'll have to lower my calories... but the later the better.

My deficit ran about 700-1000 calories per day (including exercise). I aimed for 1-2 lbs per week, and averaged 1.7 over my journey (more in the beginning, less as I got closer to goal)

My maintenance level picked me, I didn't pick it. I currently maintain on about 1500-1600 calories per day.

I've heard countless times that your weight loss slows down A LOT over time, so I'm wondering which is better in the long run, starting with a 500 cal deficit or 1000?

Why not start with a higher number and see how you do. You can always add more calories back in.
At your weight, you might want to try 1800-2000 calories and see what happens. Evaluate, and tweak as needed.

I tried to stay around1500-1600 calories when I started. I did move down to 1200 as I got closer to goal.

I averaged a 3 lb per week loss at the beginning, it slowly tapered down, even as I dropped my calorie intake. The last few months before I hit goal, I only lost 3-4 lbs per month.

As you lose weight, your body will need fewer calories to function, thus it is very difficult to accomplish a high deficit without very vigorous exercise - and then you NEED the extra calories (fuel) to function properly.

I used an online calorie deficit calculator to figure out apx how many calories I'd need to maintain (about 2200 for my age and activity level), and I'm currently eating around 1400 calories a day - an 800 deficit.
Theoretically that works out to about 1.6 lbs lost a week at my current weight.
Maintenance at my goal weight should be about 1900, which seems extremely high right now but I plan to monitor that pretty closely.
I was eating 1200 calories a day for the first month I was doing this, but I thought it would be better to increase that slightly so that I have room to decrease again if I need to when I get closer to my goal.
If you google "calorie deficit calculator" you'll have lots of options to choose from.

I have no idea what my deficit is. My body has lost weight so far on an average monthly intake of like 1900 calories. In the beginning I lost about 2 pounds a week, and now I'm losing 1.5 pounds a week. I really don't want to lower calories and slow my metabolism if unnecessary though, so when I have a bunch of lower days I try to have a higher one again to keep my metabolism going.

I aim for a 1200 calorie deficit. I usually hit between a 800-1200 deficit range. I use a GoWear Fit to track my burn so that and what I eat determine my deficit.

I have tried a variety of calculators I found thru google, many of which give me different answers as to what my maintenance calories are, but on average, I figured out it's around 2650, so I'm taking in 1800 to see how that goes for now.

I was just so paranoid about my metabolism.

Thanks ladies!

Hi - I started with FitDay, which calculates my maintenance calories at 2,240. I started out aiming for ~1400 cal/day. I decided on that number based on lots of discussion on this website. That, in theory, would be an 840-calorie deficit every day (plus exercise, which makes an even bigger deficit). I think those numbers are too high for me.

Then some chicks were talking about a calculator found @ http://www.freedieting.com/tools/cal...alculator.htm#

I found that website to be more useful for calculating caloric needs, as it takes into consideration your age and you can have it calculate using several different methods, including using your current body fat percentage. Anyway, based on that I came up with 1,844 for maintenance, and ~1350 for a 500-cal deficit (not including exercise), which IN THEORY leads to 1 lb/week weight loss.

Actually, the theory was working out (based on the freedieting.com numbers) until I got out of my routine for the last two weeks

I calculated about a 900 calorie deficit. Wow!!!! I hope this works because I feel fine on 1600 cals/day. I have been able to calculate a whole day's menu and I am really motivated to try this out.

I aim for 1000 a day, but it normally comes out to more like 800 per day. It's the little things that will put me over, a careless snack or soda. If you google "calorie intake calculator" you can get some good ones that you can input your weight/height/activity level and it will show you how much you need for maintenance and how much to lose. I try not to go under 1800 as it kicks in "starvation mode" and will kick my metabolism into low gear. I think these levels are different from person to person based on metabolism rates.

I had been aiming for 1500 for awhile but I've backed down to 1000 the last few weeks. As I get lighter it was getting harder to fit in 1500 deficit. I already train 2-3 hours 6 days a week. That's quite enough thank you.