Do I have this right?

mine has me at 1200 cal a day to loose what i want but im eating around 850 and doing cardio for a hr a day so it knocks me down to around 300 cal im actually consuming.im not sure if this is good but i feel great and full.:flowerforyou:

clcomb3,

300 Cals that sounds dangerous to me you dont want to put your body in starvation mode!

I agree with the above statement. You are definitely not eating enough.

Mecanicmom,
It sounds like you are headed in the right direction.
Can you tell a difference in the way you look? Are you putting on muscle?

Well mechanicmom, that all depends.
I read an interesting story about metabolism yesterday and I think that I will post the link on MFP so that you all can read it too.
I have a couple of questions first.
1: Are you still losing about 1 to 3 pounds a week doing it the way you started out?
2: Have you stopped losing weight and seem STUCK at one weight?
3: What exercises are you doing? & do you like them?
4: If weight lifting, are you still lifting the same weight as when you started?
The reasons that I ask these 4 questions are this:
1- If you are loosing a pound to 3 a week the same as when you started, Keep up the good work and do not change things yet. This says to me that what you are doing is working, Why mess with perfection.
2- If you have stopped losing, there are a few reasons for this, but more often then not it is because your body has gotten used to this routine and is not going to do anymore till you RAISE the bar if you will.
3- If you are stuck one of the reasons could be that people that do not LIKE the workout that they are doing have a tendency to do them 1/2 A$$ed If this is the case find a workout that you like better and watch your body change before your eyes.
4- Just like 2 if you are lifting the same amount as when you started you are not training your muscles to grow anymore then they are, they are where they think they need to be, and will keep themselves there as long as you keep doing the same thing. As a rule you should try to up your weight every 2 weeks. Even one pound more weight will jump start your system back into gaining fat burning muscle.
Which will in turn burn more fat weight.
--Diann...

Diann,
I lost three pounds the week before Christmas and honestly I have not idea how since I was pigging out that week.

I think you have your answer. Try adding a few hundred calories a day. With only 13 to go, a 1/2 lb a week would be done by summer. It would also get you used to maintenance.

It's pretty simple, but it took me awhile to believe it, you do have to eat in order to loose weight.

When you started you put in your information and set a weight loss goal. The calories you are given automatically is the amount of calories you need if you were to just get up and do what you do everyday. When you add exercise to your day you are given extra calories to eat because you have increased your activity.

Example: I am allowed 1380 calories a day, if I was to do nothing but my normal routine that is all I could eat. If I exercise and burn 600 calories I then have 1980 calories I can eat and still have the same expected weight loss.

What is hard is to get used to is that healthy food has less calories than junk food so you feel like you are eatting way more food than you used to but if you take your weight and say you are trying to maintain it you will see that in order to maintain your current weight you have to eat a lot of calories that you probably don't realize you have been consuming. Eat healthier food and eat the calories alloted and you will find you start to loose. Also make sure you update your profile as you loose because your calories will actually increase the closer you get to your goal weight!