Hi everyone I'm new to counting calories, but unfortunately not to dieting. I've been on everything out there it seems. Anyways, I'm ready for a lifestyle change I can live with. My question is .. how many calories do I get? I've found conflicting answers and youguys seem to have it down! Awesome job everyone .. such inspiring stories! Ok, here are my stats...I'm 26, female, nanny job 8-5, exercise 5 days a week for 30 minutes, walk the dog daily about 2 to 3 miles, currently 248 lbs.(was 251) and my goal is around 188 ... I'm 5'11".

Ok, part two
I read the Sticky about counting and they suggest I start around 1800. So yesterday I ate 2400 and burned approx.400 calories ... so should I count yesterday as eating 2000 or 2400? Or today if I eat 1800, then burn 400 .. do I eat another 400 or no? Sorry guys!!

I've been using myfitnesspal.com to track my cals. I love that tool. On that site they ask your current weight and your weight loss goals and they give you an amount of cals to reach each day. Also, that site encourages you to eat back your exercise calories. It's working for me as of this morning I'm down 20 lbs!! I net 1400 cals a day. So if I want to go have a big dinner for say, a birthday, I'll have a harder workout so I can give myself "extra" calories.

Awesome!! Thank you .. I will check it out I also noticed your goal is to be baby ready ... mine too!!! How exciting!

Welcome to 3FC!

There are plenty of calculators out there that can give you an idea of how many calories you should be eating to lose weight. 1800 sounds about right, but your mileage may vary. You're going to have to experiment a bit to see what works for you; I bet just about everyone here has had to adjust things along their journey.

Be prepared to adjust your calorie count along your journey, as you get smaller you're going to burn less calories at the gym!

I think you mostly have to go by trial and error. For me, I've lost weight before (and regained) and tend to have a really slow metabolism so I can't eat the number of calories that calculators say I "should" be able to eat and lose.

I track using MyPlate at livestrong. If you exercise they add what you "earn" in exercise to the calories you have availble for the day. So if you would have 500 calories "left" for the day and then go exercise and burn 200 calories and record it they say that you now have 700 calories left. However, many people do overestimate how many calories they burn so I am very careful on that.

Bottom line, though, is that you have to pick a number, try it and see if you are happy with your rate of loss. If not, then you can modify it. At Myplate they do have a questionnaire to help you come up with a number. However, for me it says that I can eat 1324 calories a day to lose 1 pound a week. In real life, though, I average about 1150 a day and lose about 3/4 pound a week. When I average 1300 or so calories a day I maintain and don't lose.

So use that kind of thing as a guideline to get started but you may have to adjust it depending on how well it works for you.

I should add....I've been logging my cals for 60 days. Since I started logging my cals I have lost about 15 of those 20 lbs lost, give or take. I love calorie counting. I can still have a treat once in a while and it's okay. I have also tried just about every cal counting site before I found my favorite. I even had expensive software from when I took a nutrition class (for school) and I actually like the free site much better.

That's great we have similar end goals!! I'm excited for children...and I want to do this right. Pregnancy seems hard enough...why make it harder with the extra weight? Good luck with your cal counting and if you decide to join myfitnesspal let me know I will add you as a friend!

Congratulations, Lucy! Which site do you use?