..at least an hour a day. Although the exercise part is probably the most difficult thing to accomplish. I wasn't really too sure where to post this as there's so many different subtopics but I guess this is close enough.

Any support or tips or anything else would be appreciated. It might help!

You have found the right place. Do you have a free account at fitday.com? It's quite valuable if you are counting calories.
Tell us a little more about what you'd like to eat and do for activities.

I have a weakness for pasta and I eat a lot of sandwiches (on whole wheat, though.) Lately I've been eating a LOT of eggs, eggsalad (sooo many calories with the mayo). I find it hard to just eat a protein and vegetables for dinner, I always want a side dish like pasta, or rice, or instant Idaho flavored mashed potatoes, lol.. or something cheesy.

I like to dance for my exercise and I've got a few leslie sansone and Firm tapes. I'm going to that fitday website immediately! Thanks for the tip.

I make egg salad. I love it too. I use four eggs but only one yolk, chopped onion and ultra low fat miracle whip. Usually I use it like a dip for vegetables. Today I had a sandwich (that I bought!) ... it was delicious!

I love pasta and cheese too. I've been incorporating those things into my diet, and although I've not had a problem staying within my daily calorie goal, I am losing weight very slowly so I'm not sure if I'm eating too many carbs.

I like egg salad too -- I make mine with Kraft fat free mayo. Susan, I like the idea of using less yolk. I will try that.

Calories in vs calories out is what it's all about. If you're having no trouble staying within the numbers you've chosen and you're losing at all .... you're doing fine.

Thanks for the encouragement!

I have a concern. When I hit my goal, how do I add calories to my diet without gaining my weight back. I mean, I don't want to add them all back. But let's say I cut 7000 calories out of my diet per week to lose 2lbs per week. "(7000 cals=2lbS) How do I add about 3500 cal back to my diet without slowly gaining 1 lb per week?! I dont wanna consume 1200 calories forever!! Help!

You know, this is a good question and one I've pondered often. I'm looking forward to maintenance, but at the same time I'm a little scared of it. I'm so used to cutting calories to lose, I have NO idea how I'm going to incorporate more calories back in to maintain.

What REALLY bothers me is I've been maintaining my weight now for over a month. And I only eat between 1200-1300 calories a day, 1400 MAX, and those are on rare days where I eat a little more than usual. So if I'm maintaining at such a low calorie level, will I have to stay at this calorie level for the rest of my life?

I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Once I get down to goal (*IF* I ever get down to goal) I'll up my calories like by maybe 100 per day for a week or two and see if that makes a difference. If I maintain, great. But if I start gaining, then it's going to be obvious I can never eat more than 1300 calories a day. Ever. Not unless I wanna gain back everything I just lost.

So maintenance, for me, will be an "experimentation" stage. I guess it will be just like beginning your journey to lose - you'll just have to find the right balance for YOU.

I think I could do it, though. I mean I'm not starving or anything. I've become so accustomed to eating such a small amount now that I don't think it would bother me if I couldn't up my calories. Cuz I'd rather stay at this amount of calories than put back on any weight. But it sure would be nice to eat a little bit more without thinking I'm sabotaging myself.

Thanks for the replies. I guess I will have to just experiment also. Trial and error. But I hope I can go back up some. I went to calorie calculator sites and put in my goal weight and calculated the calories to maintain that weight, and hopefully after I get to that weight, I can use those calories and stick to it. Along with a little exercise.

Bobbidipity - Susan's right re: calories in vs. calories out but you have to be mindful of where the calories are coming from. I was feeling discouraged last week with the same complaint (and suspicion) as you. I'm within my range but losing slowly and I thought it might be too many carbs (rice, bread & pizza being my weakness). The math was right but it wasn't adding up (or subtracting LOL!). I asked my trainer at the gym and did my own research on the web and I got pretty much the same answer: our bodies use the different macro nutrients differently so not all calories are created equal. This past week I lowered my carbs by half my normal amount and I lost a pound in less than a week. Up until that point I never paid attention to my macro nutrients. I found a formula online to figure out the ratios and I'm trying my darndest to stay within that range. If I continue to lose with this new ratio then I'd have to say that at least for me limiting carbs has helped!

MiaManning? Have you gone reading in the Maintainers Forum? There's lots of wonderful info there from folks who have lost and stayed slim.
Most importantly, remember that you will learn as you go.

Thanks bella for your advice too. Where did you find the formula for calculating the macronutrient ratio? I'm curious as to how that would work.

In response to MiaManning's question ... I've been thinking that after I reach my goal weight, I might be able to up my daily calorie intake by a hundred or two, but I'm really looking at a permanent lifestyle change in terms of my diet (I've been lurking in the Maintainers Forum too). That's why I don't want to excessively limit myself in ways I know I won't be able to maintain for the long haul. I'm very accustomed to smaller portion sizes, even though I've only been doing this for a month. It's the thought of it never again being "okay" to snarf up a hunk of chocolate cake for breakfast that challenges my resolve. And I'll need to figure out how to handle the inevitable "splurge day" (Thanksgiving, for example) without falling off the wagon. Unfortunately, it may be thoughts of my parents' lousy health that ultimately brings me success.

I managed to make a somewhat lowfat/low calorie eggsalad the other night. I can't use full out Miracle Whip 'cause I don't really like the taste. So what I did was after hardboiling 2 eggs and cutting it into tiny pieces, I added some salt and pepper for taste, then I put in one tablespoon on real full fat mayo (Hellmans, 90 cals per tablespoon) and one tablespoon of miracle whip (45 cals I think.) It still doesn't taste like the full fat egg salad but it's still pretty good, I just put it on whole wheat and scarf it down.