Mindy,
In my experience, losing weight really does boil down to calories in vs. calories out. The type of calories matter in terms of health, energy, and an overall feeling of well-being but you'll lose weight as long as you burn more calories than you consume (regardless of where those calories come from).
There are many formulas to be found but I've always used the basic "body weight x 13" (use 14 if you are very active) as a way of calculating how many calories I need to maintain and then subtracted 500 to 1000 calories from that number in order to lose. Honestly, though, there are so many variables to losing weight, specifically how active I am at any given time. So, I'm not implying that is the most accurate way to determine what you need but rather that it has been an accurate enough platform to begin with as I tried to determine exactly how many calories I needed through trial and error.

Also, there are several on-line calorie needs calculators out there. You can find them by googling. The one I use is at http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/calories-burned.php. I don't know how accurate they are, but for me it seems to give a pretty reasonable answer (1800 a day, in case you were wondering!)

Oooh! Oooh! I'd love to join, though I already started anew on Thursday of last week. Back in August of 2006, I changed my ways and lost almost 25 pounds. In 2007, I fell off the wagon and landed in a bed of chocolate chip cookies, carrot cake, and pumpkin ice cream from B&J. I also managed to not exercise. Needless to say, it was a disaster. The good thing? I didn't gain weight! A miracle! However, 230 doesn't look good on anyone, and that includes moi. So, I've crawled back up on the wagon with everyone else. I swear I didn't shove any muffins in my pockets. Okay, maybe one, but a girl's got to live, right?

So, it's wonderful to meet all of you. I need to be around people who are in it to win it and will give me a cyber slap if I binge on banana nut loaf at the grocery store. I also need people to brag to about my success. Because I WILL have success, dammit! And hearing others brag about their achievements motivates me to do better. Who knew I had such a competitive streak?

Other bits of interest: I'm a ovo-lacto vegetarian. This just means I eat eggs and diary, but no meat. Don't worry, I'm not one of *those* vegetarians that tries to convert everyone. I prefer the 'can't we all just get along' method to relationships. I love to read fantasy novels. I'm a crazy knitting fiend. I spend far too much money on anime and manga (Japanese comic books). I'm a crazy libertarian. I have way too many CDs and not enough time to enjoy them all. I develop crushes on fictional characters, not real people. I've promised myself a tattoo of Elvis Costello once I get down to 160. And I have a pair of size 18 khakis that I WILL fit into (without pinching my body in half and slicing off at least two inches of my ***) by this summer.

Cheers!

foucault- I promise to cyber slap you should a banana nut loaf incident occur! I am definitely in it to win it and appreciate your enthusiasm, it has rejuvinated my own.

I must admit as the day wore on and THE DAY came closer and closer "the doubts" started to creep up on me again. But no more. "the doubts", I banish thee!!!!

January 1st is upon us and I just wanted to take a minute to wish the best of luck for us all. I have great hope of success in 08. I just need to remember that the first days will not be perfect so don't give up. You can not get from here to there without taking just one step at a time. So put one foot in front of the other. Then repeat.

Happy New Year! 2008, the BEST YEAR EVER!!!

Hi foucault, and welcome!

I'm not a vegetarian, but since I've started my new way of life I have cut back on the meat by a substaintial amount. I've always been one to eat my veggies, and I happen to think that many vegetarian preparations just taste good.

But I still have to be careful with it. I know I could get very fat if I ate as much Hummus, avocados, and nuts as I'd like too!

Happy New Year everyone! It's technically January and time for us all to get on track. I've managed over an hour without sweets. I rock! I went shopping today and bought so much healthy food that I've got fruits and veggies taking up all my counter space. This works in my favor because I had to toss the chocolates to make room for the oranges. I highly recommend this method. It felt great at the time. I know I'll be kicking myself in three days when I want a chocolate, but I have will power of steel and I will beat it.

I hope everyone is doing well. I've found that a food diary works wonders. I kept one and lost 25 pounds. Within a week of abandoning the diary, I fell off the wagon. I'm back on the diary track now. It helps more than I can explain. So, if you're having trouble keeping yourself straight with the food and calorie intake, starting writing it down in a notebook. I got some cut polka dot ones at Wal-Mart. It reminds me that I look like crap in polka dots now, but once I meet my goal, I might be able to pull it off. ;-)

Well, I just weighed myself for the first time of the new year and I am at exactly 180. I was at 183 a week ago, so this is actually good news.

I'm looking forward to this. I want to power through the 170's! I want to see what I look like in the 160's. And I know I will!

Happy New Year!

I weigh 161.4 this morning. I am not setting a final goal, but trying to take it one pound at a time.

Today I will get some exercise (I may have a rest day from the gym) and eat no more than 1500 calories.

Happy New Year everyone!

I've been "practicing" staying on track for the past two days and today feels like "Opening Night". You know....where it's time to see how you will perform when you step on stage, in front of everyone. Jan. 1 is the "in front of everyone". Well..I want a standing ovation when the curtain closes on 12-31-08! It's sort of scary...I don't want to mess today up...my goal is to not be perfect today but to be happy with myself when I go to bed tonight because I did the following: 1. Posted here--and got myself a shot of daily motivation. 2-Read a chapter of my newest diet book..again...getting that motivation. 3. I have done the task for today that my diet book tells me to do. 4. I will do my stretches today (giving myself today off from cardio--I'm worked out Sun and Monday because I knew that I wouldn't feel like it today--we are big New Year's Eve people and I'm tired from the party last night. 5. I will start writing down my food today so I can see how much I really am eating--this one is so hard for me to keep up....someone help me with this!!!. I always start and then end up not being able to keep up and so I abandon it..I know this is the start of my downfall when I abondon it. I don't want to do that this time.

My weigh-in will be on Thursday. I am hopining and working for a loss!
I'm starting to get hungry..better go get my ceral...and write it down!

tealeaf - Congratulations on the even 180! By the end of the year, I hope to see 180 myself. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the scale dip below 200. I might do a Snoopy dance once I see 190-something. I haven't been below 200 since I was 16 and that was 10 years ago.

WardHog - I love your attitude about just taking it one pound at a time. Some people get depressed when they only lose a pound. I celebrate when I lose a pound. It's just one less I have to worry about. I don't have a hard goal weight that I want to be, but I do know I want to get out of the obese range, and then out of the overweight range.

Susie - I know what you mean about the food diary. It's hard to continue it sometimes. I carry mine in my purse. When I eat something, I write it down right away. If I don't, then I get behind and I'll miss recording a day or two. So, my advice is to carry that little notebook with you *everywhere*. I also date mine in advance and write down the meals I know I will have during the coming week. This advance logging helps keep me on track. When Thursday comes I know I have to have my veggie sandwich because that's what I wrote down on Sunday. I know from experience that if I stop logging my food, I won't succeed. That's motivation enough for me to keep logging my food.

My weigh-in day is Thursday, so I'm going to stay off the scale until then. Sometimes it's hard because I want to see how I'm doing. But I know it will only mess me up if I start doing it every day.

Okay we seem to be posting where we are today on Jan.1 and what we are planning. Thank you for the advice about calorie-count.com. I figured out my daily calories to lose and it is 1650. Oh my god, that is so much food. I have been journling food for the past 4 days and haven't even come close to 1650 except New Years eve. I have been averaging 1200. I don't know if I can eat that much and do I really need to? I am in the habit of weighing myself daily and can't seem to break it. I was 243, then down 1/2 then up then down. Now I am at 242. Friday is my official weigh in date. Hope it looks good then.

I have exercised either an aerobic workout of curcuit training every day except one. So far tody I have shoveled or snowblowed snow for about 2 hours. Since I live in Michigan we got about 6 or 7 inches last night. That was a fun aerobic workout. Later today I will do the circuit training routine.

Keep up the good work everyone. Stay motivated and enjoy the ride.

Mtiger - Definitely try to eat the amount of calories you are supposed to in order to lose weight. If you don't eat enough, your body will go into starvation mode and you won't lose anything.

Well. I followed through on day one. I got up this morning and started wk 1 of the C25k porgram. I made smart food choices. We even had a new years dinner at Outback. Did I have the prime rib. I did not. I had the chicken. Did I have the mashed potatoes or a baked potato. I did not. I had the steamed vegetables. Did I have a soda as my beverage, diet or otherwise. I did not. I had iced tea with splenda. Did I have the bread and butter...well...yes actually I did. But I digress. I stayed under 1400 calories for the day, which was my goal.

I hope you all had and eaually successful day.

How is everyone this morning?

Yay, bumble! Glad to hear that you were able to curb your desire for what you usually get and have something that sticks with your new food plan. I managed to avoid my late-night craving for hot chocolate yesterday evening, so that was good. I like to make it with milk and that makes a cup of it about 8 fat grams. And that's quite a bit for a little cup of liquid. I'm on track this morning. I had a tiny bowl of Mini Wheat (I actually ate just one suggested serving size!), a banana, and some yogurt. For lunch I'm having a Tofurky (soy turkey - it's really good, I swear) sandwich with an orange and some carrots.

Is anyone taking any supplements? I've been reading up on flax seed and fish oil. I don't eat fish, but I'm not opposed to taking fish oil in capsules. So, I started taking both those things yesterday. I'm also taking dandelion capsules (they are a diuretic and help with water retention) and a multi-vitamin. And, I'm doing a body cleanse. I started a few days ago, and I should be finished before this month ends. It's just a couple different pills you take twice a day. They are packed full of herbs that clean out your lungs, liver, bladder, colon, stomach, etc. I've noticed a difference, and I've only been taking them about a week. The entire program lasts for about 30 days. I'll let everyone know how it worked for me once I'm finished.

Hi y'all. I went to the gym for a couple hours of light cardio yesterday and also stuck to my eating plan.

I went again today and did 45 min of cardio and a Group Power class (60 min weight lifting class). Eating is on track so far. I hope everyone is doing well.

foucault, I take a multi-vitamin and also glucosamine for my aching joints. I read one of Jillian Michael's (The Biggest Loser) books and she recommends some stuff. I tried guarana extract (it's just caffeine) for a while but it upset my stomach a little.