Hi all! My name is Natalie, and I've been a 3FC member for about 5 years now (crazy it's been that long!)--anyway, my weight has fluctuated most of my life, and even though I'm not at my heaviest right now, I haven't lost any weight in a little over a year: I keep losing and regaining the same 10 pounds. (Ugh.) Tuesday is my 22nd birthday and the day after I'm planning to revamp a bunch of areas in my life, including my eating & exercise habits. I want to develop some kind of plan/routine and stick to it for a year (and then see what happens), but I'm having trouble deciding how many calories per day would be good for me (I think that's the route I want to go, since it seems the most basic & sustainable). I'm also going to stop drinking soda & eating processed junk, etc etc. At my heaviest, I was 323-326, and I lost about 20 pounds on Jenny Craig, and then the next 30-40 on my own (low carb, calorie count, whatever I felt like)...but I want to design something I can really stick to, something a little more planned.

I thought 1,500 at first--I think I've done anywhere around 14-1800 in the past. Maybe I should cycle them? Like, on days I go to the gym I eat more? I was hoping someone could offer suggestions/insight. I do plan to go to the gym at least 3 times a week to start, hopefully more as I settle into a routine (I just started a new job, and they'll give me a set schedule once I'm trained). In addition to losing weight, I just want to FEEL better. I've felt so yucky lately. I've been heavy since I was 10 and I don't want to be anymore! I've said it thousands of times before, but now that I'm done with school (pretty much--a few more classes) and am home with my parents for the next year until I get my degree and move on to somewhere new, I want to spend the time working on bettering myself...getting healthy, and in a way, preparing myself for the future.

I appreciate everyone's opinion, and thank you for taking the time to read all this, as I tend to write a novel when I post things! Hahahaha.

Well I put all of your stats into a calorie calculator with you saying that you're planning on exercising 3x/week. The results I got were:

Fat Loss: 2216 calories
Extreme Fat Loss: 2014

How many calories were you eating before when you were calorie counting? My recommendation is not to start off too low. When I first started changing my eating habits, I went straight to the 1200 calorie limit, so I lost weight at first, but then it left me no room to restrict more calories as I lost weight & I eventually started to lose veryyy slowly / plateau.

If you would like to have some days to "splurge" a little more (say weekends or something) I would recommend calorie cycling. I tend to eat more during the weekends since thats when I tend to hang out with friends, or I'll eat more when I'm doing a more intense exercise to give my body the fuel it needs.

Also one thing I found that helped me is a lot is adding more protein to my meals! It leaves me feeling fuller longer and sometimes its hard to reach my 1,500cal limit because I still feel very satisfied from the food I've eaten throughout the day.

Sorry this is so long...but hopefully it helped some

I would also suggest not to start out too low. I do not count calories... I just know how many calories are in the foods I eat. Like for example I use about 1,200 calories to start. 1,200 divided by 3 is about 400 calories per meal. If any sort of food is more than that.. I do not eat it. I also eat very healthy.. if I eat bad food I tend to feel sick.
Good luck at starting your new lifestyle! Sounds like you are very determined

First of all! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
I think that delyn hit it right on the head! You want to start out a little higher, dont get to 1200 right away or you will platue and weightloss will come to a sudden stop. We have all been there, its not a fun place to be!

Good Luck!!

I have a BodyMedia Fit armband, and it helps me calculate how many calories to eat and how many to burn. For my current weight (230ish), I eat 1600 calories and strive to burn 2600 calories per day (though I never actually hit that big of a deficit). I almost always burn 2300 calories per day though. And when I do this with good food choices, I lose between 2 and 3 pounds per week.

But everyone is different and needs to find the right balance for them. I have learned that for *me* it is not as simple as calories in/calories out, despite what the nutritionists say.

Goodluck on the changes! I hope you don't try to do tooooo much all at once. Or when you do, with the knowledge that nobody is perfect and hat you will have off-days or maybe ven an off-week but can always get back on. And that messing up one meal does not mean you should mess up all the other meals. Those are the traps you can fall into when you set yourself a lot of rules at once.

As for the calories, I would not do 1,500! It's too low for your hight and weight. See how you do on 2,000 and if needed lower it by a 100 per day for a weekor 2 to see how that works. You don't want your body to become so efficient at using only 1,500 calories that after the year you can't eat anymore than 1,800 or so without gaining. I've found on several occassions I do better in a bit of a higher calorierange (for my hight and weight it's 1,500 to lose weight right now!).

Goodluck. And please, don't set yourself up for failure by demanding EVERYTHING right after your birthday. Slo changes and slow progress stick.