This is a question specific to my own situation but I'm not sure where to find the information. I plan on exercising 3-4 times a week with step aerobics and I'm 5'8" and about 275 lbs. Can anyone recommend a specific amount of calories I should start out at to lose about 1-2 pounds a week? Thanks!!

http://health.discovery.com/tools/ca...sal/basal.html
You can figure out your bmr at this site, and it's usually best to go a few hundred below that.

Plugging in your info, I got about 2022 if you're 30ish
1975 if you're 40ish.

1600-1700 would be a good place to start. If you're comfortable with it, you could try 1500 for a week or so and see if that works for you, also. I would just recommend trying various levels between 1500-1700 until you find what you're comfortable with.

Check out the link below. It's got a lot of good information there.

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=120806

A couple of good websites that can help you track those calories are fitday.com and thedailyplate.com. Track really carefully so you can know how to adjust if need be. To get the most from those calories make sure to choose, healthy, nutrient rich food. Lots of veggies, proteins, whole grains and some fruit. VERY satisfying and will keep you full longer, thus helping you to stay on plan, and of course be healthier.

I'd follow Robin's suggestions and read that thread. I'd say start at 2000, make sure that you're tracking really well, and figure out how it's working a couple of weeks in. I still do ~2000 cals/day and manage to lose between 1 and 2 pounds a week (usually closer to 2). You've got plenty of time to drop your calories later. You want to make sure that you get enough calories to stay active - not just your regular exercise, but the rest of the time (ie. park further away, take the stairs, etc.).

Best of luck!

Oh, and by the way, your BMR is based on staying in bed all day. It's not really a number to use for cutting calories. Try using this one instead:

http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

Using my gender (female), age (42), height (64") and 16 hours resting, 4 hours very light, 2 hours light, 2 hours moderate - I get a BMR of 1813, and activity calories of 982. This give an approximate calories burned of 2800. That's the number I would use to decide what to cut. ie. 2300/day for a pound a week, 1800/day for two pounds a week. Although personally I'm not likely going to eat 1800 because it's below my estimated BMR. Some people will tell you it's no big deal, others will say that it is. I'm not entirely sure where I stand on the idea, but as I still keep losing weight, why drop my calories?

(Oh, and I don't spend 16 hours reclining, but I'll admit that it does tend to overestimate a bit. So I plug in the known general activities, and then put the rest in resting.)

I like this one as well.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

I agree to go to www.freedieting.com calculators~THEY ARE AWESOME.