I've done a few different calorie calculators online and I've gotten some results that are around 1500 a day, but more often, they say 1200 is my limit. That seems really low to start with doesn't it?? I mean I've been reading these forums and everyone says that if you start at 1200, you have nowhere to go after that.

Maybe it's because technically I'm already in the "normal" range of weight?? On July 1st, I weighed 171....I started doing low-carb then and lost 15 pounds by August 3rd. Then I decided that if I look at one more piece of meat I was going to vomit. LOL I did one day of fasting on Thursday (I read something about that "resetting your body" if you're switching diet plans). I lost another pound from doing that. Then yesterday I started calorie counting but I somehow only managed to eat about 800 calories...Lost another pound this morning.

But my point is, I am now 17 pounds down and weigh 154 and I'm 5 foot 7 inches tall. That is considered to be the high end of normal. My goal was 150, which is only 4 pounds away, but now that I'm so close to that and still have some flabby I might try for 145 instead.

So, should I really go with 1200? Or maybe try for 1300?

It's hard to say, because everyone's body is different. In order for me to maintain I should supposedly eat around 1800 but I'm very active so I eat more than that, and have even accidentally lost a few more pounds recently. So the online calculators are just an estimate, and you really need to experiment to see what will work for you. Also, are you exercising? If so you should probably be eating a little more as well.
However, I would agree that you probably shouldn't start out at 1200. Do you know approximately what you've been eating? Start with cutting out a few hundred calories a day, by eating less and exercising, and then slowly decrease calories more if you need to. You'll find the "sweet spot" where your body is happily losing and then decides to even itself out. It's a process.

I have no idea, because I was doing low carb and not paying attention to calories. Are there alot of calories in meat? I was eating lots of chicken, pepperoni, beef, etc...

But before I started that diet I am SURE that I was eating around 2000 calories if not MORE. I ate whoppers, chipotle burritos and fast food burgers/fries several times a week and my usual late night snack (at 10-11pm) was an 8 ounce block of sharp cheddar with crackers....I know, horrible!! I could generally out-eat my husband and any other man. LOL

I know that I've always had a really good metabolism too, if that matters. Up until this year, I could eat literally anything and everything and stay around 150....Something about turning 35 has slowed it down But considering all the crap I've been eating the past few months, I suppose it's still working somewhat decently.

Being on the carb diet for a month did cause me to not eat so much, just cuz I was sick of eating meat all the time....So I'm not sure what kind of calories I've eaten in the past month. And I have also stopped eating after 7pm, which was one of the hardest things I've had to change

Oh and for exercise, I am soooo out of shape that I can't do ALOT yet. I've been power walking around my yard (no sidewalks here) about twice a week for 20 minutes each time....and I do the 2 mile "walk away the pounds" video about twice a week also. Once in awhile I do some hip-hop abs too instead of walking.

I do have 5 children also and we go to the park, we swim in the pool at least 5 days a week...not to mention the huge amounts of daily cleaning and mopping and things like that because they are little piggies

I am also a shopaholic so I know I walk alot doing that too

Are you looking at "fast" weight loss numbers? 1200 is probably about right if you want to lose 1.5-2 lbs a week, but you are only looking to lose 4 more lbs, so why do that to yourself? Eat 1500 calories a day, and it will take you 9 weeks instead of 4 to get rid of those 4 lbs, but who cares? You'll drop them without stress and can ease into maintaining.

If it's not sustained activity for at least 12 minutes that raises your heart rate, it's not aerobic exercise.

Since you are so close to goal 1200 is probably right for you to lose.

I guess it's confusing to me because I always assumed that someone who had MORE to lose, would need the lowest amount of calories....while someone looking to lose just a few pounds, would be able to eat a bit MORE calories. I guess I have it backwards. LOL

I just did another calorie counter and it said 1600 to lose. So I've tried several and I've gotten anything between 1200 and 1600. I think I'll start with 1400 then and see how it goes for a few days. Does that sound reasonable? Figuring my body was used to 2000+ every day before, this would still be a drastic drop for me.

The sad fact is that the less we have to lose, the slower it seems to go. I believe thar about 1500 calories a day would be about right. It takes a little experimenting to find what works for you. It sounds like you are doing great on exercise. PS I thought I would never lose the last 10 pounds, they were the hardest to lose, but I persisted and finally found success.

Yeah so I hear....I dropped quickly on the low carb until I hit 160, which was 10 pounds from my goal. Then it kept going up, down, up, down. LOL I fasted for a day on Thursday (to switch my body from low-carb to this) and that seems to have jump started some weight loss again.

I even ate some taco bell yesterday (wow, did I miss that on low carb!!! ) and had lost about 8 ounces this morning.

I respectfully disagree with this generalization. Or at least suggest that it's a generalization, and not true for everyone. I did not have any more trouble losing as I got closer to goal even though my weight is pretty low.

I am always an advocate of starting high and lowering your cals rather than starting low and risking frustration, misery, etc.

I'm in with the starting higher and lowering crowd, but it's not like you're just starting to lose weight, you've been doing it. So even if you haven't been calorie counting, you're still in a lower process in your weight loss. Still, 1200 seems low. I plugged my numbers into one of those counters once and got a number that was about what I figured and what works for me. I plugged my goal weight into that same calculator (for the record, I'm 5'7.5'' and looking to be 145-150) and it told me I would be eating around 1500 to maintain with the amount of exercise I put in. Given your activity (I have two kids, I get it, lol) I would say try 1500, you need to fuel your body. But that's just my advice. You'll have to figure out what works for you. Trial and error works, as long as you won't freak if you gain a tiny bit as you figure it out.

Think of it this way: if I handed you a 17 lb backpack to wear every minute of every day, would you feel like it was taking work/burning calories to haul it around all the time? Well, that's the exercise you are no longer doing--in fact, you weren't just hauling around 17 lbs, you were keeping it alive, pumping blood through it, breathing for it, everything.

You have to chose between speed and quality of life. I went fast because I want to have a baby and had a "hard" deadline of this September. But if it weren't for that, I'd have chosen quality of life, and it's what I intend to do if I get pregnant/have to go back down in a year. Suffering gets you no bonus points.

I see, so basically you burn more calories when you weigh more, because you're carrying more weight. That makes sense.

I'm going to stick with 1400 and see how it goes. 1200 seems REALLY low to me so I'll start high and move down if I need to. Thanks for the help everyone!!

One more question....If I do end up having to do 1200 calories, does that mean I stay at that amount forever? Or will I be able to up that once I've lost what I want?

Absolutely not! Right now, you are trying to eat fewer calories than your body burns so that it has to burn fat instead.

Think of it like this: if you had an unexpected expense one month and had to cut your grocery bill in half, would you let your kids starve? No, you'd go into your pantry and find all the old-ish cans of beans and bags of rice or whatever and eat all of that. Your body is the same way: it needs energy to survive, and if it can't get it from food, it goes into its pantry--the fat.

Once you aren't trying to "empty the pantry" any more, you can eat a little more. But you will still have to watch it: if you eat on average just 100 more calories a day than you burn, you'll gain ten lbs a year. Finding that sweet spot where your weight maintains is a process of trial and error--but it will certainly be higher than what it takes to lose weight.

Note, too, that this is all about daily averages. Maintaining doesn't mean never, ever eating over your calories--but it means that if you have a special dinner one night, you need to eat less the day before and/or the day after to keep that average in line.

You have had some good feedback but I just wanted to suggest something. If you are in the "normal" range for your weight but you are finding you are flabby perhaps you should focus more on strength training to tone yourself up. There is a thing called skinny fat where your body consumes some of it's muscle as well as fat during weight loss leaving you looking flabby due to loss of muscle tone. You may need more muscle to help firm your body. If you are weight training and exercising, don't forget to eat a bit more to fuel your body properly