So, I'm doing this weight loss thing on my own...no Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig, so I'm curious what others think of my plan.

I've decided to set my daily calorie intake at 1400-1450. If I exercise, I take the amount of calories burned and minus it from my intake and add calories with in my meals to get back to that 1400-1450 intake.

Does that sound ok?

My exercise so far has been on my Dance Dance Revolution. Does anyone use that? I've been doing this almost everyday for 30 minutes/ 200-250 calories a day.

Within the first 5 days, I've lost 2.4 pounds.

I never really count on exercise/calories burned estimations being that accurate, so I never subtract my calories burned from the calories I need to take in every day. I just aim for my caloric goal and workouts are a bonus that I don't track. They just "are".

I don't ever eat back my calories. It's a bad idea, IMO, because there is no science to how many calories you actually burn, it's all estimates. As someone pointed out in another thread, a 160 pound woman is going to burn calories differently than a 230 pound woman. So you can't guarantee that you are really burning what some calculator says you've burned.

I also think your calories might be too low for your current weight. If you only eat 1400 calories now when you are over 200 pounds, where are you going to go when you are 150 pounds?

How did you come to the 1400-1500 a day number? I would agree that it's low to start out. I started at 1400 but later wished I'd started at 1500 or 1600, to give me more wiggle room as I moved down. If you google "calorie calculator" you'll get plenty of links. My suggestion is try a bunch of them and decide on an average. It's all an experiment anyway!

I do not add back in calories burned and many don't - there's a thread right now about this, in fact. But some do. Try it if you like it and see if it works for you. If it does, great. If not, try not doing it for a while.

But for exercise in general, DDR seems like a good, fun place to start! I love the Just Dance for Wii. I don't count it as my usual exercise but it's good to move to.

Congrats on your loss so far - 2.4 pounds is great! A word of caution, though. Don't be surprised or discouraged if that slows down after a week or two. A lot of initial weight loss is water and that's goes quickly. It's taken me a long time to lose the weight I have, and some weeks haven't shown any loss, but I know I'm making good choices and the weight will eventually follow.

Good luck!

I do see that the calculators say I need around 1600-1800 calories to get to my goal weight. I think I will start using the 1600 calorie mark. I don't think I will be taking my exercise calories out now. I'm going to have a talk with my doctor too. I'm just so new at this. Thanks for the advice!

I'm not familiar with your workout, but if you burn an estimated 200-250 calories on days you do it, I'd say you could eat an extra 100 calories if you're hungry on those days. Think about how intense your workout is before eating extra. Did you walk a mile, or did you put in a Biggest-Loser day at the gym?

Don't worry about asking questions, that's what 3FC is here for! We were all new once (or, in my case, about three times! )

A couple of things -
1. Definitely discuss things with your doctor. BUT, don't be surprised if he/she doesn't really know anything about weight loss beyond the standard "eat less, move more" rhetoric. Especially be suspicious if they tell you to go to 1200 calories a day. The problem is that most doctors have very little education/training in weight loss, so they tend to give really non-specific, and occasionally bad, advice. This isn't true for all doctors, of course, but many 3FC-ers have been surprised by how much their doctors didn't know.

2. OK, I'm going to botch this explanation, but a 3FC user named Shmead gives a great explanation for why fewer calories isn't always better. (So, if you want the good, clear version, search for her! ) Basically, yes, we need to create a calorie deficit in order to lose weight. But the greater the calorie deficit doesn't necessarily mean the weight loss will be bigger. In practical terms, I personally lose weight eating a daily average of 1300-1350 calories a day (I'm shorter than you, and I've had to bring my number down as I've lost). You'd think, then, that if I lowered my calories to 1200 a day, I would lose more, right? Well, no. For whatever reason, I lose at pretty much the same rate as at 1350, and it takes much more planning, and I'm occasionally hungry. So why go lower?

I would apply this same situation to you. Why start at the lower end of what the calculators suggest? My advice is still the same - start at the higher end, try it for a 3-4 weeks (at least 2) and if you're not happy, you can lower it then. It's always easier to get stricter with your calories if you need to when you start out high, but if you start out at the lower end, it can be difficult to find the "wiggle room" that you need to go lower.

JenMusic:

I thought your explanation was great, as are Shmead's.

Lostangel:

Congratulations on your loss so far! I echo what the majority of others have said about eating back the calories you work off; it's so hard to estimate exactly how many calories you've actually burned that it's probably easier to consider exercise and caloric intake entirely separate values.

Good job on the DDR, though; even if it didn't make you lose an ounce directly, the exercise you're getting does a thousand other great things for your body. Rather than see exercise as a weight loss tool, I've learned to see it as a fitness enhancer, a mood elevator, a hunger suppressant, a pain reliever (works better than Midol!), and a permanent alternative to Spanx.

I went from being as sedentary as a sea sponge to getting about an hour of fairly vigorous activity of some sort daily and although I haven't quite lost 20 pounds, I've lost 3.5 inches on my waist, 4 inches on my hips, and 1.5 inches on each thigh. A lot of that is due to exercise tightening everything up and reining in some of that wild visceral fat. I look way better than a 19-pound loss would suggest, and it's thanks to exercise--but it's no substitute for calorie reduction.

Well, I was feeling a little discourage yesterday, but all of your comments have helped give me some direction so thanks! I weighed myself this morning (day 7) and have officially lost my first 5 pounds. I'll continue to make changes to my plan the more I learn from you all and the information I have access to, but so far so good.