I am currently eating 1500~1600 cals most days. A bad day like when I have lunch out once a week is 2000. I weigh 230 and walk between 50-100 minutes 5 days a week. What is everyone else doing?

I'm 5ft 3in, and I'm calorie cycling lately for an average of about 1100-1200 a day (with the exception of a HORRIBLE last couple of days b/c of TOM)

I'm doing strength training with machine weights at the gym for 1 hour 3 days a week, and 40 minutes of cardio on the treadmill 3 days a week (I alternate days). I also recently took up Pilates with a video at home-I've only done it 5 times, but d*** is it a great workout!

about 1,000
890 from food & 120 from V8 fusion juice

I am 5' 3" and currently weigh about 118 lbs. I exercise for about an hour every day, cardio 3 days a week, weight training 3 days, and swimming 1 day. I eat around 1500 calories a day, but am transitioning into maintenance. When I was trying to lose weight, I ate 1200 a day to start with and slowly worked up to 1400 a day by increasing my exercise.

- Barbara

I eat 1600 3-4 days a week, 1800 2-3 days a week, and 2200-2500 one day a week. This is approximate. 1620 is my low, but if I feel truly hungry I'll add up to 200-300 calories. I also have a treat meal once (occasionally twice) a week.

For exercise, I strength train pretty hard 2x/week and take cardio classes 3-4x/week.

I lose 1-1.5 lbs. a week on this plan. That may be a little slow for some but I feel like I can live my life, relax, and socialize, and that works for me!

I'm eating about 1200-1300 daily, but lately I just haven't had the time for exercise (I know, I know...!). When I'm working out regularly, I bump it up to 1400-1600.

I am also calorie cycling. I have been doing it all along (unintentionaly) but recently I have decided to get a little more strict. If I do happen to have a higher/lower day I switch it around a bit but my schedule tends to be:
1200 mon 35 minutes stationary bike/20minutes weights/45 minute walk
1200 tues 35 minutes stationary bike/20minutes pilates/45 minute walk
1400 wed 35 minutes stationary bike/20minutes weights/ 45 minute walk
1500 thur 35 minutes stationary bike/20 minutes pilates/
1700 fri 35 minutes stationary bike/20minutes weights/
1700 sat 1.5 hour walking/ 20 minutes weights
1400 sun 1.5 hour walking/20 minutes pilates

My average is 1450 a day.

I lose about 2 pounds a week with this schedule, of course unforseen or even forseen events may change my workouts and or caloric intake. Tomorrow I am taking my little sister to her soccer game then I have to work right afterwards so I may not get my entire walk in (but she has to be at the field 45 minutes before the start of the game so I will get half in.)

I've been doing about 1400

Sounds good everyone. I was just wondering cause I just recently switched to calorie counting. I had lost alot but mainly thru exercise and changing what I eat. Like hardly any fried foods any more, cut out the soda, alot more fruit and veggies, switch to chicken most days and only red meat once or twice a week. Started doing slimfast for lunch, etc. The big switch was to mainly boneless skinless chicken breast. That helped alot. But then as I started to hit a plateau, I realized I really need to start watching calories or somthing. So I am doing that and am continuing on to lose. I just wasn't sure how many cals I should be doing. Plus I want to leave my body room, if I deduct more later. Know what i mean? So i am thinking most days I will try to do 1600, like 4 days a week. Then like the other 3 do about 2000 calories. Then maybe when I hit 200 I can lower it. Does that sound about right?

I am the same way. I know I could of lost more than 50 this past year but i am making lifestyle changes, not dieting. What I do has to be comfy to do for the rest of my life. A really hard one was giving up the potatos. We still have them once a week but I used to have them almost every nite!

I tend to stay between 1200 and 1400 calories a day.

Is that how you lost your 62 pounds? Are you hitting any plateaus? Do you exercise as well?

It sounds like you are losing weight at a reasonable rate; if so then you are eating the right amount of calories. You probably want to be losing at least a pound per week, 4 pounds per week at the most. A good strategy is to eat as many calories as possible (focusing on eating foods that are good for you, as you are doing) and still lose weight (and this amount varies widely from person to person), rather than trying to drastically drop your calorie intake. As you wisely point out, this will give you some room to drop your calories as your weight gets lower.

- Barbara

Thanx Barbara. Well the trick is I only recently started counting calories. lol I had lost the weight previously thru changing eating habits and exercising then hit a plateau and realized it is because I need to work on my portions and calories which i am now doing. Well i think i will try the 1600 most days with a few 2000 days and see what happens.

I started out with Atkins and lost 40 pounds. Then I started calorie counting and so far have lost the other 22. I was at a plateau last month, but I've been steadily losing. I actually gained 15 pounds during the summer, but I don't want to update my coutner. That's what sucks about losing weight, it's so hard to take it off, but it's easy to put it back on. I'm not a big cardio person like I used to. It feels like a chore to me. So instead I walk around my school (a huge university), and I do yoga every day for either 30 minutes or a hour.

about 1500-1700 calories a day.