Hi everyone!

In the past when I have lost weight, I have always stuck to really low calorie (Under 1200 or lower). This time around I am trying to stick to the daily requirements for the Canada food guide, and by the time I eat all those, I have eaten 1800-1900 calories for the day. Has anyone lost while eating this much??? I have never tried eating a 'normal' amount, it has always been either higher or lower. According to the calculators online, I should still lose weight, but just wanted some 'real people' to ease my mind.

I would like to cut my calories down, but gradually. I do know that on 1200 calories, I do not feel good.

Ilove your hair, BTW! Mine was pink when I was younger!

I watched one of the shows Supersize vs Superskinny, where a woman who weighed 350 was put on a 2300 calorie a day diet and she lost 50lbs in 3 months!

Awesome!

I still lose weight on 2000 cals/day (although for this month as I'm not doing as much activity - busy, just not active - I'm working on 1800/day). I'd keel over (and kind of have) on 1200 cals, but that's just me. A lot will be determined by how active you are all day. I'm not specifically talking about exercise, but general moving around. On a busy day I find I do more than 10,000 steps without any regular exercise. On a slow day I might only do 3000-4000. That's going to make a huge difference on how many calories I burn those two different days.

I seriously wish that I understood that when I first started (seriously) trying to lose weight. I say it a lot around here, but you don't always need to eat really low calories to lose weight. I'm hoping to lose as much of my weight as possible without going down much lower than I am now. It might be unrealistic, but I really am far more active than I think (a great deal of the time). I love the fact that at the level I am now I can walk 6 miles just because it's a nice day and I feel like it.

However, I'm not unrealistic in the fact that as the fall/winter rolls in that I'll be way less active than I am now... so I'll adjust as needed.

I started calorie counting at 280-something and eating 2000 calories/day. I lost 100 pounds in 55 weeks... though by the end I'd lowered it to 1800 calories/day. I've never eaten consistently lower than 1600 calories/day -- though you can see my success didn't continue below the 170 pound range.

Our bodies are all different, but larger people need more calories because it takes more "energy" to do everything -- from walking a mile to brushing your teeth. I do believe that many very heavy people make a mistake by eating too few calories. It might be okay for a while, but I don't think it's sustainable. I think it likely contributes to binges and going off plan, and often staying there. I'm not saying that's true for everyone, but it seems to be a frequent occurrence.

I first lost weight eating around 1500 a day and lost 20lbs in one month, but paired with an agressive exercise regimen, it was too much for me to keep up. Then I got a full time job (previously I was freelancing) and it decreased my free time. I'm finally learning how to make time for me... and this time around I am sticking to a 2,000 calorie diet. So far I've lost about 6lbs in almost 2 weeks, which is not bad. The Daily Plate originally started me on a 2400 calorie regimen, but I thought that was a bit too much. Most days I feel satisfied on 2,000 calories.

PinkFlamingo, I think 1800 -1900 calories a day is pretty high for someone as short as you are and 1200 is too low. If I were you I would try 1500 and see what happens.