Did you use a website, or a phone app? If you did, did you 'tweak' it a bit, or use the numbers the gave you exactly?

I think I started off WAAY too low, and now Im slowly trying to get on the 'right' track, rather than the 'fast' track.

If you could also include your weight, just so I can compare. I've been struggling finding someone who was around my weight, and height.

I am 5'3, I am currently 136. I would be happy at 125/120. We shall see

Thanks Guys!

I used Jillian Michaels method for caluculation and then zig zagged it...but all the calculators around suggest more so I am thinking maybe i should increase it. But currently im on 1800 calories and im 270 pounds and 5"9

I just did a search for calorie counters.. live strong (daily plate) has a good site.

My iPhone LoseIt app told me 2200, but I got a second (and third and fourth and fifth) opinion from online calorie calculators, averaged them out and came up with 1400-1500. So I zig zag between 1200, 1300, 1400 and 1500. I just eat what comes naturally within reason.

I just use the recommended minimum for women, 1200/day. I don't usually get hungry, but I make sure to keep it under 1500 if I really need more food.

I am starting my 11th week and have lost 24 pounds. When I first started I was way under calories and did 600-700 a day. I was very hungry but wanted to loose weight so bad. After my first month I upped my calories to 900-1000. I am no longer hungry but this last 3 weeks I have upped it to 1200. I WANT TO LOOSE IT THE RIGHT WAY NOW, NOT THE FAST WAY. I mainly eat whole foods now and I am feeling great! I realize my pounds will come off slower now but I am still hoping for 8-10 pounds a month, but I will have to wait and see.

I spoke with a registered dietician to help determine how many calories to eat. I eat between 1200-1800 calories per day.
My height and weight are on the side.

I've been using LoseIt and it puts me somewhere between 1300 and 1400 at 5'1" and 135 lbs. Last week I switched over to zig zagging, which I found at freedieting.com. I still log through LoseIt but change my limit each day to the zig zag schedule.

I am 5'0", 145, and aiming for 135 to 130 for now. I eat about 1300 per day, which I found on a couple websites and Lose It. I use Lose It to log my calories and I do eat some of my workout calories. I am losing weight at about 1 lb/week, which is what I want. I usually keep it low during the week and eat more on the weekends, as I go out to eat more then. I also try to cycle my calories.

I focus on whole foods.

I am doing between 1300-1700 calories a day. I loosely count because by now I know the average count of most of the things I'm eating. I cycle calories and it Has been working beautifully. When I first started out I was eating way too little and exercising way too much. As soon as upped my calories the weight started falling off.

My goal is 1800. If I go under or over a few 100 I'm okay with that. I used a cal calculator, but 1800 is a little below what they told me. I'm comfortable at 1800, meaning I don't feel I have to eat or that I'm depriving myself.

As you can see the numbers are all over the place because this is such and indivual question. For what it's worth, I started with the LoseIt app on my phone (they also have a website) and started at 1300-1400, I found this to be too low for my activity level and not sustainable so I checked out freedieting.com and went with their zig zag schedule. I round it down to the nearest 50 cals and I give myself a range between the 3day a week exercise and 5 day a week exercise option. Some weeks I'm hungrier than others so I end up at the top of my budget. I'm losing 1-4 lbs a week consistantly and this is what my schedule looks like.

MThSun 1600-1700
T 1300-1375
W 1775-1875
F 1450-1550
Sat 1900-2100

I cross referenced these numbers with my BMR and AMR formulas (Basal Metibolic Rate and Active Metibolic Rate) and they were very similar. I want to also do this the right we. I am very against too low calorie levels because I feel (this is just my opinion) that going too low for too long will slow your metabolism down and make it more difficult to raise your calories once you reach maitenance. I also want my losing to look as much like maitenance as possible so that the transistion is seemless, this is my life now and I am NOT on a diet, I am changing my eating habits. Good luck.

It took some tweaking. I started out at like, 1200 - 1300 and ended up obsessing over the calorie count, trying to keep it down, and ended up binging.

Then I calculated my BMR on a few different sites & figured out my body was burning about (ROUGHLY) 2000 calories a day through regular activity. I try to burn 500 calories a day through exercise & eat 1500 calories a day so my calorie deficet is at -1000 (1000 x7 = 7000/2 = 3500, so 2 pounds a week). So far it's working & helped me bust through my plateau