I have a book, but it's not rock solid information. How many calories should i be eating if I'm' 5'9" and weigh 216 pounds currently? Also, how do you track? Did you buy a special book? Do you reward yourself for tracking for a whole week?

I would guess you would need about 1850-1900. There are plenty of sites that will estimate it for you though. My reward for tracking is weight loss--better than anything else I could do! I wouldn't "buy" any books. There is simply more info. online than you could ever purchase and it's free!

I went out and entered your stats into an on-line calorie calculator. I didn't know your age, but that doesn't tweak the numbers too much. I got a range of between 1750-2033 for someone your height and weight for a weight loss of between 1-2 pounds a week -- which is a pretty good speed for a healthy program (Most of the literature says no more than 1% of your body weight per week unless closely supervised by a physician.

When I was losing my weight, I planned an off-plan meal about once a week to once every two weeks. I didn't go over-board. I was still careful what I ate, but I'd have a glass of wine with dinner, and not "track" the exact number of potatoes, etc. However, I did find that if these off plan meals had too much sodium in them, the next day I would weigh in a couple of pounds up in water weight...which in the beginning was very upsetting. So for a while, I skipped the off plan meals and just stayed on plan, with the occasional piece of dark chocolate as a "treat" -- but always inside my calorie count for the day. After a couple of months, I loosened this policy, and went back to the occasional "special meal".

I tracked/still track my calories the old fashion way -- in a little spiral notebook I carry in my purse. I have a book with a lot of calorie amounts, and for things that aren't in my book, I look them up on CalorieKing or a similar site.

Great, thank you guys. I'm 27 by the way. I think I'll aim for 1800 calories and see how the weight loss goes. If I lose too much I'll raise the calories a bit. My goal is one pound a week for a year to reach my goal. I know that some weeks I'll lose more and some weeks I won't lose, but that's my goal.

This time around I'm doing everything the right way. I'm giving myself a whole year, a reasonable target and tracking. I've also ordered a meal planner so the hubby and I can do some advanced planning.

I'm 5'4" and between 235 and 240 these days, and I usually eat between 1400 and 1700 (completely random calorie cycling as to when I eat less or more), with some exception days. It works well for me- I've lost 50 pounds in the last 3 months. I feel full and satisfied at any point in my range. In my opinion, 1800 seems a little high, but it's totally up to you.

I track online using The Daily Plate at livestrong.com. I find it easier to track online since I'm on the computer mostly all day.

For me tracking and MEASURING food is very important. I've always eaten reasonably healthy stuff, but in excessive quantities. So measuring and weighing rather than eyeballing is super, super important to me.

I do not "reward" myself for staying on plan. For me that could be a dangerous slope. But I do have one meal a week where I don't count calories. It's NOT an "eat anything I want" as in eat a bag of chips or a box of cookies, or whatever. But I will go out to eat with friends and order what I want and not worry about calories. That means I can go to Five Guys and have a burger and fries and a coke. Or I can go to the steakhouse and have a steak, a salad, and a baked potato with sour cream and butter. And I can order dessert. And not worry about it.

BUT ... that is ONE MEAL. That doesn't mean I can then go to Cold Stone and have a double ice cream. Or go home and eat lots of cookies. Or whatever. It's not an excuse to go (if you'll excuse the phrase) hog wild. One meal. When I get up from the table, my no-calorie-counting meal has ended and I'm back to my normal eating plan.

Hope that helps you some.

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I use fitday.com to track and log everything. I measure more now and watch my fat intake along with how many calories.

I do reward myself, usually on fridays or saturdays, where i allow myself to eat a lot more than I do on a normal day and it never seems to hurt my weight loss. So for me, if that means going to happy hour to have some drinks and unhealthy appetizers, I know it's just one day and I've been good all week.

I reward myself with new workout clothes or a new book. I am working towards a mani-pedi, I get after 30lbs are gone!! But not so much with food, like some of the ladies I do allow one meal a week that I dont track.

I just stick to the plan and my morning weigh-ins are my motivator. Part of my plan is having several no worry days in the year. For me they are Thanksgiving, Christmas eve, Christmas day, my birthday and the 4th of July.

The rest of my plan is putting my weight and weight loss goals into the Daily Plate and letting it tell me how many calories to eat a day. Some days I go under and some days over but my calories for the week are on track.

I'm currently using a weight loss goal of 3lbs per week so my calories are at around 1850 at the moment. If I go under 1400 for a day I eat something at the end of the day to bring me at least over 1400.

So far it's been working great for me. I have lots of energy and the scale moves down a bit every day (maybe .2 lbs only, but still it's fun).

rodeogirl, I like the idea of choosing a few days a year instead of once a week. I know my birthday should be a fun meal as well as Christmas (I have no control over that day anyway), and my husband's birthday. I find that when we go out I'm able to stay in range better than when I'm home alone.

Yeah having a meal off once a week works for some people but it's not for me. It takes me awhile to get into a routine. Eventually i might try once a month but not this soon.

If you're looking for a nice conveniently sized notebook get a moleskine. They are worth spending a couple extra dollars.