ok guys here we go

It depends on where you think your problem areas are.. I for example cut out Mountain Dew and am drinking more water and trying to eat more fruits/veggies.. You can do it! Feel free to add me

I am 37 and my all-time high was 307, I used to weigh around 260-275 for many many years (more than a decade).

Honestly the biggest thing that has helped me is MFP! Logging calories. Knowing where I should be and hitting that target has helped me so much.

I've lost almost 100 lb in 5 years. It took 4+ years to lose the first 1/2 and only 7 1/2 months to lose the last 50 lb. That is because of MFP.

Yes, eating healthier is going to help you lose weight and improve your health in the long run. But DO NOT get totally overwhelmed right from the start. You can still eat the same food you have been eating, just be sure to log it and stick to the calories MFP sets for you.

I personally think your 275 lb goal is a PERFECT idea for now. That was my initial goal, too, to be around 260-280 range and when I reached that I felt very different.

Honestly from 260 down to 211 (current weight) I don't even feel that different (!) although of course I've gotten smaller. I bet once you get to 275 you will have decided on a new goal, but again I think 275 sounds perfect for NOW and will seem a lot less overwhelming than saying "Oh I want to be 210, 160, etc" Some people on MFP will disagree, but I think it's easier to handle large losses in smaller chunks.

Things that have helped me the most:

logging EVERY bite of food and staying JUST under goal every day on my calories and sodium, and watching other stuff a bit (mainly sugar and fat) but not being TOO paranoid about those.

drinking more water - I don't love it, but II have made it into a HABIT and sometimes by noon I've had four or five 8 oz servings w/o even realizing it.

eating breakfast. I have always been a breakfast eater, but now I eat the same stuff pretty much every day and NEVER go for fast food breakfast like I used to do. The calories may not be bad, but one breakfast burrito from a fast food place can suck up a TON of your daily sodium...no thanks!

trying to make the vast majority of my meals from produce and other unprocessed or less-processed food.

paying careful attention to the amount of condiments I use. If you gradually step it down, you will find that you need less and less to enjoy its flavor.

not eating anything I hate just because it's "good for me", but being SURE to try new foods along the way.

never depriving myself completely. I make Halloween candy or ice cream fit into my daily calories. I don't have that stuff every day, but I've had it a couple times per week EVERY week since I started MFP.

getting regular exercise even if it's nothing "major" or terribly strenuous. Progressively longer, brisker walks can do a LOT especially at a very large start weight. Don't get bogged down in all of the "lift heavy!" and "running, spinning, Zumba is the only way" posts...same with the fad diet posts.

measuring myself. Sometimes when the scale stops moving it gives me the motivation I need to see another 1/2" off my waist or hips.

I've also stopped eating beef, poultry & pork...95% of the time. I will occasionally have some shredded chicken in a wrap or something, but it's rare. I add this not because I think it's key to weight loss - for me it truly wasn't - but because for SOME people it does help.

It can vary, eat what you like to eat but measure a little bit more, I always use 1 cup or 1/2 cup of whatever I want to eat to make it easier to control. This was yesterday....

Oh...by the way, always remember that if you workout you should eat more, depending on how many calories you burned.. Good Luck!

Breakfast
Calories
Fruit - Banana, 1 banana 110
Fruit - Banana, 1 banana 110
Nabisco - Oreo Cookie Snack Pack - 6 Cookies, 0.33 pack (2 oz.) 89
Add Food Quick Tools 309

Lunch

Chicken - Breast, meat only, cooked, roasted, 1 cup, chopped or diced 231
Homemade - Grilled Vegetables - Zucchinis, Peppers, Onions, 1 cup 100
Add Food Quick Tools 331

Dinner

Minute White Rice - Instant Enriched Long Grain - 14oz - Rice -instant, 1/4 cup (dry) makes 1 cup cooked 100
Hill Country Fare - Texas Style Buttermilk Biscuits, 1 biscuit 100
Guadas Del Monte - Cut Green Beans Canned Low Sodium, 0.5 cups 20
Gordon's - Crunchy Breaded Fish Fillets, 2 fillets 250
Add Food Quick Tools 470

Snacks

Blackberries - Raw, 0.5 cup 31
Strawberries - Raw, 0.5 cup, halves 24
Add Food Quick Tools 55 13 0 2 2 8

Totals 1,165

Thanks guys you guys have already been a help to me. When I played college football I was always around 300-315. I currently coach football and baseball so the activity is not a problem i can lift regularly. Here is where my sticking point is my diet.

Could someone give me an example of a 1200 calorie diet??

As someone over 300 lb, you should not be starting out on a 1200 calorie diet.

Set up your goals here on MFP and it will tell you how much.

For example, I started at 36, female, 262 lb...I think I had to start with 1600 or 1700 calories and then after every 10 lb loss it recalculates. Currently I'm 37, female, 211 lb and 1,410 calories per day (not including any exercise calories).

I am set to lose 1.5 lb per week. You can choose between 1, 1.5, and 2 I believe...good luck

First, you do need to do the research to find out where all of your calories are coming from. Look up the calorie counts of the foods you eat most often and be honest about the size of your portions. For example, for me, a box of Triscuits is two servings, one today and one tomorrow. So that is about 600-700 calories in salty snacking at my desk. And it's not as if I skip lunch or dinner because I ate half a box.
Next, you make some easy changes to reduce your calories. Obvious changes are drinking more water instead of high calorie drinks and counting out junk food portions - 3 cookies or 10 pretzels or whatever. I no longer keep boxes or bags of salty snacks at my desk. I put single portions in snack bags.
Over time, make additional healthy changes. Choose grilled or baked foods instead of fried. NEVER skip breakfast and make sure it has protein and fiber to stick with you instead of just sugar and fat.
The best exercise to start with is just walking.
It is never a good idea to jump in with a starvation diet and hope to stick with it. It has taken a lifetime to get wherever we are and we need a plan that works for the rest of our lives.

if not 1200 calories what should my caloric intake be?

As others have said, if you use MFP the way it's designed to be used, it will tell you. In the "My Home" page, click on Goals and then Change Goals. Then choose the Guided method. Answer the questions, choosing a weekly weight loss goal that seems reasonable to you, and MFP will calculate your calorie target.

The one thing to keep in mind here is that MFP asks for your activity level excluding exercise that you log separately. I spend 4-8 hours a week on my bike, and another couple hours walking. But I set my MFP activity level to "sedentary," because I log that exercise separately. A corollary is that you should make sure you're not overestimating exercise calories; MFP's database inflates calorie burns for many activities.

As long as you meet your calorie intake goal, you don't have to change what you eat. Just change how much. I haven't made any major changes to my diet since I started my weight loss in January. Breakfast is usually still toast and butter, but I have one piece of toast, not two, and less butter. I have a cheese course with dinner only a couple nights a week, not 4 or 5, and I eat smaller servings. I try to take seconds at dinner only if I am really still hungry and I have the calories left for my daily goal. But I haven't cut out any foods, only cut back, because I'm not going to make any changes I can't live with for the rest of my life.