First off congrats on your sobriety! I do count calories. I started on Jan 1st of this year and was eating at 1400 calories. I did find a little snag though. My weight had plateaued on such a low calorie count that I had to up it to 1600 and alternate between 1400 and 1600. I also had to up my fitness to get out of my plateau. I hope you have lots of success on your journey. If you should plateau add some calories on. I guess our bodies don't like to budge when we eat that way. In January I lost 16 pounds and half way through February I lost an additional 9.

I count calories. 1200-1400 a day plus exercise class a min of 5 days a week and other random exercise thrown in. Generally, I can lose about 10lbs a month sticking to this.

I do eat a fair amount of pre-packaged items (slim fast snacks, lean cuisine etc) which helps me to know exactly how many calories I am eating (some items are more and some are less, hence the 200 calorie per day range). Pre-portioned is important to me since I have serious portion issues!

I try to eat something every couple of hours (6AM, 9AM, Noon, 2pm then dinner) to keep my energy up.

It works. It works well. So long as you STICK to it. It is about doing the same thing everyday (with a treat meal maybe once a month - none for the first two months) day in and day out. Eat the same amount of food, do some sort of exercise - increase amounts and intensity as you progress. Oh, and liquids count too as you know!

Losing weight is not my problem. Keeping it off is!!

HI! Just like Harriet, I count calories, too.

I'm currently eating 6 small meals a day which includes salads, and on days where I work out, I'll eat 1500 calories. On days I dont work out, i eat 1200 calories.

It's been working SLOOOWLY but surely. I've been losing a pound a week.

3 days a week, Ill do zumba for an hour, cardio for 1.5 hours and half an hour weights.

I count calories (currently on 1,500)! My boyfriend tells me it's a waste of time but I don't do it because "oh no, there's sooooo many calories in this massive burger I will die if I eat it", it's more so that I don't overeat and have too many snacks.

Hi gingerkibble,

how many days a week do you exercise? Also, are you doing a ton of cardio?

I started a new approach to weight loss about a week ago. I eat something several times a day, but usually each item is under 200 calories. I write down what I'm going to eat, how many calories, and what time. I eat something at 8,10,12,2,4,6, but it's still only 1,300 total for the day. I don't feel deprived and it's working very well.

For me it's the same way. It's also really helped me to understand servings sizes. It also, sometimes, help me to not binge if I know how many calories I'd be taking in. However that has also increased my shame if I did slip up and binge. But I feel that comes with any diet plan and the goal is to learn how to cope with your emotions to get back to being healthy.

I've been calorie counting for years. It gives me a sense of control. I've been doing something similar to Harrypotterrocks. I eat around 300 calories every three hours 4 times a day. I leave 100 calories for a treat after dinner and then I'm done at 1,300 calories and I'm not hungry. I'm not perfect about it, but I generally follow it so I'm not left without any calories too early in the day. I can maintain at about 300 calories extra and maybe more if I exercise.

I count calories. I do 1200, spread across two meals and a snack. Since I don't eat before 12pm, I can break meals up into larger chunks and it works for me. It does mean I work out fasted but I enjoy that. I use MyFitnessPal for tracking and have had good luck with accuracy!

I'm going start counting calories. I have never done that before. From how many calories should I start per day ?

I'm doing a combo of south beach diet and counting calories. I personally need accountability of measuring and counting. I also bought a food scale. I measure everything. I use my fitbit to log everything in. I try and stay around 1500 a day and so far I've lost about 27 lbs. I'm working my way up exercising and my goal is 5 days a week for an hour. I've been at 45 minutes, then one day a week we go on a long walk through a park/beach with many hills. I now eat the same stuff a lot - for breakfast I have steel cut oatmeal and a cup of berries or two eggs and turkey bacon for example. Now I'm getting the in groove I don't count every single day. If I see I stall I check calories a few days, and many times having a glass of wine or a meal out - not going crazy - gets me going again. I think it's the opposite of what people think - you usually need to add a little to get things going, not cut back more. Unless you are cheating or fudging the numbers. My goal for now is 2 lbs a week, which means I cut out 1,000 calories a day by food or exercise. I like the number aspect of it, seems more controllable to me than just assuming eating until I'm full of healthier food will do the trick.

I do, because I find I tend to massively overestimate how many calories I eat in a day and counting them helps me not freak out that "I ate SO much!!" when I really didn't.

hi congrats on stopping drinking. I do both low calorie and low carb. I found that doing one without the other did not bring the results I wanted. Eating sugar ( fruit etc) just makes me crave more food on an ongoing basis. If I can eat low carb then the cravings are not as bad