Hi my name is Christina I go by Tina though. I am just starting to count calories and have a few questions. I am not doing any sort of plan or under the care of any doctor. I have about 20 more pounds to lose and would just like to become more aware of my intake so when I reach my goal I know about what my calorie range should be. I am 162 pounds and according to a few various websites to maintain my weight they say to eat anywhere from 1800-2100 calories a day. So then I would plug in my goal weight and they would say to eat 1800-2100 calories a day. Ok I am not getting something. I took it upon myself to put myself on a 1900 calorie daily and to burn at least 300 daily. I just started this Sunday and so far my daily intake has been between 1500-1650. I have been burning through cardio at least 300 daily. Ok so here are a few of my questions. Ok say for example I eat 1500 calories for the day and burn 300 through cardio does that mean my intake is 1500 or 1200. The reason I ask is I don't want my intake that low. I feel great and the food that I am eating is all healthy. I just want to make sure I am not doing more harm then good. I eat three meals a day and three snacks a day. I don't feel like I am depriving myself and like I said I feel great just wondering about the numbers. I try to get in at least 30 min. daily of cardio and more often then not it is 60. I would love it if someone could clear some of the mystery up for me or direct me to a website or book that would be helpful. All your help would be greatly appreciated. Hope you all have a great day!

OK ... let me see. I'm sure I'm going to screw up all those numbers but bear with me ... and please feel free to ask questions. If you are eating 1500 cals, you are eating 1500 cals. The trick is to create a calorie deficit.
You lose weight by burning more calories than you eat. But besides the 300 you are burning with cardio, you also use calories just by living. That's a basal rate.
So, if you are eating 1900 calories and staying at a constant weight ... you must be using about 1900 calories as well.
If you add in the 300 cals of cardio, you then have created a calorie deficit ... you are using 300 cals more than you are eating and you will lose weight. If you choose to eat 200 cals less (as well as your cardio) you then have created a 500 cal deficit.
How are we doing so far?

I think I may be getting it. I am still a bit sketchy on having to burn more then I eat though. I don't understand how I am supposed to burn 1500 calories a day. I do understand though that besides the cardio I do I burn just through daily activities. I guess I am asking if I eat 1500 calories a day and burn 300 through cardio and however many else through life is that the right way to do this. I hope I am not confusing you anymore. I think I may need to order myself a book or go to the library. I guess also if I see the scale moving it is working and if not I may need to make some adjustments. I really appreciate you taking the time to try and explain this to me and I think I may be getting it. Sort Of!!

How did you lose the awesome amount you've lost already?

I just have watched what I ate and through exercise. Lots and Lots of exercise. I never really knew how many calories I was eating though and I was trying to get a general knowledge of it just to help me be more aware.

You could try entering everything into fitday.com

I just registered into Fitday and I am still trying to work my way around there. Thank you for taking time to help me.

No problem! Let me know if you have any troubles with fitday. It has it's flaws

Wow I was just looking at your tracker you are really close to your goal! How does it feel. I sometimes get so wound up just thinking of when I hit mine. Did you hit any halts during your weight lose? I have been pretty steady and am hoping by switching up the exercise weekly to keep the body burning. Anyway keep up your great work you are sooooo close!!!

Sorry one more thing. I don't mean to be nosey but how tall are you? I am asking because I just found out I am 5'6 not the 5'8 I thought I was and I see that my healthy weight range goes from 150 to like 115. I think you would have to call out the search and rescue if I hit 115. I am worried though because I look at my body and to reach my goal it is only 17 pounds but I see alot more that needs to go. I just can't imagine being in the 130's. I don't think I have been in the 130's since junior high. I guess I will see when i reach my goal where to go next.

Sorry, I had to get out for an hour. The real estate people were showing our house.
I'm 5'3". I thought I wanted to be 130 but when I got there I didn't like it much. I have been 122 and I liked it.
Halts? Uh yes! I've been back up to over 140 once and 138ish a couple times. It was actually 2003 when I started losing. My challenge would appear to be maintenance

You'll have to wait and see how you look and feel. If you're toned, 150 may be just nice. It's all about being flexible and learning as you go.
You should be very proud of what you've accomplished already. I have no doubt that you will continue to make wise decisions.

Tina -- Just wanted to add that it sounds like you really want to go about this in a reasonable way, and that's great. I'll try to tackle the calories burned question again. I'll use me as an example. I know me well!

I currently weigh 222 pounds, and use nutridiary (a program like fitday) to track my food and activity. According to my nutridiary calculations (which may be off, but seem to have worked well for me), at my weight, I currently would burn 1737 calories a day if I were in a coma -- the BMR Susan mentioned. These are the calories I would need to just do nothing and not waste away.

BMR is affected by, among other things, your weight. SO, back in August when I weighed 282 pounds, I burned 2003 calories just doing nothing. Again, these are just estimates.

Now, obviously, I'm not in a coma, and I burn other calories doing daily activities, like brushing my teeth, driving to work... all the little things. I set my level of activity somewhat low, and nutridiary says I burn another 685 calories, just by living a "lightly active" lifestyle.

So, if these calculations are correct, then if I wanted to maintain this weight, I should eat 1737 + 685 = 2422 calories/day.

But I don't want to stay at this weight -- I want to lose, and to do that, I need a calorie deficit. I want to lose 1 pound/week, so I need a 500 calorie deficit to get there (3500 calories in a pound... 500*7 = 3500). This means that to lose, I need to eat 500 calories a day fewer than my maintenance level... so, 2422 - 500 = 1922 calories.

What about exercise? You can think about that one of two ways. Let's say I throw in 300 calories of cardio activity, which for me, is not accounted for by my lightly active lifestyle. Essentially, I can add those calories to the calories I burn that day, so to create the 500 calorie deficit, I can now eat 300 more calories (2222 calories)

Basal Metabolic Rate*: 1737 kcal
+ General Activity*: 685 kcal
+ Extra Activity/Exercise: 300 kcal
- Weight Loss Goal: 500 kcal
Day Quota: 2222 kcal

(sorry, everthing isn't lining up!)

OR, I could choose to go ahead and just eat the 1922 calories AND exercise, and create a deficit of 800 calories (which if I did it everyday, should result in a loss of about 1 ½ pounds/week

Day Quota: 1922 kcal
- Basal Metabolic Rate*: 1737 kcal
- General Activity*: 685 kcal
- Extra Activity/Exercise: 300 kcal
Calorie Deficit: 800 kcal

I know that’s a lot of numbers. Does that help?

Hey Tina, looks like you've already gotten a great start and some more information. I just thought I would chip in my thoughts. Make sure you are understanding that calories are just energy. You said you weren't sure how you can burn over 1500 calories a day. Remember that first of all you have what we call your BMR or your "Basic Metabolic Rate". That's what you're burning without even moving, just by your heart pumping and you lungs working etc. Then there are the calories that you burn through your lifestyle so when you reach down and tie your shoes, when you wash the dishes or sit at the computer and type. Lastly there are the extra points we burn for our activities...those are the calories that you are mainly thinking of when you're thinking that burning something like 2000+ calories would be impossible. It would be. So activities are when you hop on the treadmill or walk to the store instead of drive or lift weights. That's where you're going to create your deficit. So if you want to lose a lb. a week you would focus on eating 250 calories less than you need to maintain your weight and burning an *extra* 250. That would give you your caloric deficit of 500 a day X 7 days = 3500 calories...3500 calories equals a lb. If you want to burn 2 lbs a week which is what I'm doing then you need to make sure there's a 1000 calorie deficit. Fitday gives a great breakdown of all the calories you're burning on their activities page. I just make sure that if I subtract the total calories burned on my activites page from my total calories eaten on my food page that there is a thousand calories between them. Ok, I'm rambling and you're bored so I'll stop typing, just thought I would take a few minutes out and try to help you. Look forward to seeing those lbs melt off you!

Just read through this thread more carefully and realized I just explained what other people had already explained ha ha...well good thing I have nothing better to do anyway!

Kristy, it never hurts to reinforce a good thought.
In a thread called Calorie Counters KISS ( keep it simple) that's what we do. We aim for a deficit each day and help each other achieve and better that. Everyone is welcome!