I'm fairly new to calorie counting and come from the Weight Watcher world of counting points which worked for me after having my son in 2003. But this time the weight is going nowhere and I gave it a month. I was also really alarmed that I was eating way less than 1200 calories on days that I only ate my 22 points. It was crazy. I honestly think my body was shocked by eating such a slow amount that it is no longer losing. I lost 2 lbs and then 2 weeks later gained one of those lbs back and I have at least 20 lbs to lose to even be in a normal bmi!
So,long story short : I'm switching over to calorie counting and was wondering how many calories roughly I should give myself. I'm 29, 5'4 and 161 lbs.

Thank ya!

BTW: I'm on MFP too under the same screen name if anyone wants to add me. 2sparetires

I'd recommend checking a few calorie counting sites. They have free calculators that figure out how much calories you should eat. Generally though, it takes a bit of experimentation. These give you an idea or a range and then you start playing with it until you see losses.
Hope this helps! For calculators, just google something like "how many calories should I eat" or "calorie counting websites". There's a lot of them out there, and you can decide which one(s) you like the best. My preference happens to be caloriecount.about.com.

I'm jumping on this bandwagon, too.
I've done all sorts of crazy dieting, and the only thing to ever really help was cc.
But I hated it.
So I'll just have to figure out a way to like it!

The things I love about calorie counting: it's FREE and I can eat whatever I want, as long as it's within my calorie allowance. By default, I eat healthier, because I can eat much more eating healthier foods than not. But, if there are days I want pizza, or whatever, I can have it. I just can't eat too much else.
What works for me: I eat Fiber One and Fiber Plus bars and brownies for sweets cravings and feeling full. I try to drink a lot of water. I eat quite often. I eat A LOT of protein, which also keeps me full. When I exercise, I eat a high protein meal or snack afterward, so I don't feel deprived. I eat back some of my exercise calories. I stay on plan by checking in here, and by wanting very badly to be healthier. It's hard work, but it's so worth it!

ETA: I agree, check different sites. A lot of it depends on the rate of loss you want too--half a pound a week, etc. I wouldn't go too extreme since you don't have a whole lot to lose.

I think you'll have to give us a bit more of the details. How many calories are you eating now? How active are you?

I typically read on here that people seem to lose more and lose it quicker there first go around with dieting. Then the second or third or fourth time seems to slow down their rate of weight lost. I don't know why this is - I could make some intuitive guesses, but nothing resembling fact.

It doesn't mean that you can't lose, it just means you'll need a bit more time, patience, consistency, and movement this time around.

I know this time around for me, since November has been super slow. I've been consistent, I'm still losing - but along the way I'm hitting plateaus, I'm not seeing big enough losses some weeks to register on the scale (though my clothes are looser).

You could have also simply weighed in on a day where you are retaining water.

We are all one big science experiment here.

I love the part where you said we are a big science experiment...that's exactly how I feel! I was eating roughly 1200 calories a day when I ate more than my 22 points but on days I ate solely 22 pts it was closer to 800-950 calories! It amazed me! I like WW but I don't want to starve myself into a lower metabolism. So I researched and came up with alot of articles that said to eat at least your bmr which for me is 1440 calories. So I'm slowly increasing my calories to get to that point and hope that the extra calories are what my body needed. I just started working out like 2 weeks ago so I consideer myself 'sedentary' and until I'm in a place where I am working out consistently than I'll leave it at that.

Is this the method you all are following?

I was doing fantastic today up until dinner, then I ruined my calorie count. :P

It's ok, though. I'm learning as I go. As long as you've learned something, you haven't failed.
Tomorrow is a new day!

I have been counting calories for about 6 weeks and I have lost 33 pounds. I stick to 1200-1300. I do not work out, because of being at school and work. I have done zumba a few times and on those days I tried to eat around 1500 or so.

I agree with what others have said about trying various calorie counting sites. I like the following one, though, because its default is the Mifflin St. Jeor formula for calculating calories, and I've read that that one has, statistically, been found to be the most accurate: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm