Are the rules different for obese people regarding calories,

I have over 100lbs to lose so i know where you are coming from. My plan lets me eat 1650 cals a day, i have lost 26lb in 6 weeks so only goes to show that 2lb a week doesnt come into it.....add me as a friend. ill help anyone out x

I do believe the more weight you have to lose the more you can lose per week at least initially. Once you are out of obese into overweight it will probably slow to around 2 pounds a week. You need to make sure you are eating enough to fuel yourself though and eat the right kind of foods - lots of lean protein, whole grains fruits and vegetables. These are the foods that will not only help you lose fat but be healthy!

As far as I know the rules aren't different...I am in a pre-op group at the hospital...There are about 20 of us in the group and honestly from what I have learned it is the same as what I see everyone else post here aside the pre-op surgical piece which doesnt apply.

...And I have 85 pounds to lose.

I've been having the same experience - only first 10 days into this but 7 lbs lost.

The problem I'm having is - if I go even a little bit over my calories for the day - I will be .5 lb heavier the next morning OR if I don't eat a lot more protein. I've already gauged that my little protein/carb/fat goals are not for me- but it might be because I'm pre-diabetic but I seem to lose and feel better when I eat a lot more lean protein than it tells me to and very few carbs (and by carbs - really I mean veggies).

Any advice or anyone who is trying to lose about 100 lbs want to exchange tips and inspiration - I'm open to becoming friends!

I've also read that you shouldn't lose more than 1% of your body weight per week. So for someone in say the 170's that's less than 2 lbs. per week. But for someone like me that's nearly 3 lbs. per week. Right now I am just seeing how it goes.

Aim for 2 pounds per week. You may lose 10 pounds really fast but this is just your body getting rid of the junk. Any more than two pounds per week after the first couple of weeks, isn't considered healthy weight loss. As you get smaller, your suggested calorie intake will be smaller. That's because it takes fewer calories to maintain a smaller body than it does a bigger one.

I have been watching Heavy lately and they are all on a 1200 to 1400 calorie diet and working out around 4 to 5 a day. No eating back their exercise calories and they don't seem to worry about starvation mode. Why is that? Is it because they have so much to lose?

The slower more natural rate you lose fat the better the chance it will stay off. 2 lbs a week goal is just fine, you may lose faster but it isn't a real big deal. I found that weight fell off of me the heavier I was. As I slimmed down it was harder to lose at a quick rate. I'm still losing but at a close to maintenance rate.
Try to avoid fad weight loss methods. Eat what you plan on eating for the rest of your life. You'll quickly find out by strictly counting calories what food you should and should not be eating. Calories isn't the only piece but nutritional content is important also.

Personally when I started June 15th I started with 2000 cals a day and I worked out and concentrated on eating better. I didnt have any cheat days unless I dropped cals for another day. Tom Venuto says it best. His opinion is if you smoked 2 packs of cigs for 20 years would you have cheat cigs? It makes yah think. I think changing your lifestyle and be consistent is important but you have to find your groove too.

I am going for 115 pounds myself. Take a look at my blog entry "My MFP Math" at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/dengarrett for some info regarding the settings I chose.

My goal is 1650 a day i think but i tend to average out about 1400 a day. Obviously some days its higher and others its lower but it seems to be working for me. When ive exercised it obviously puts them up higher but i dont tend to eat those calories back, although sometimes a may eat a few. I just kinda take each day as it comes and try to get as close to my goal as posiible

It's really going to depend what your eating habits were previously. My BMR for my starting weight was 2400 calories, and I had added 15 lbs in a year so I was certainly having more than that. And I was just eating, I'd go to the store my once a week, hey it was an 80km return trip where I live, buy a bag of cookies, chips etc. But all too often if I didn't portion the items out as soon as they came into the house they would often go from new bag to garbage bag in an evening. Mindless calories at work, grabbing a chocolate bar just to be "busy" between customers, popcorn fills that void now if I need to be eating something and water isn't cutting it. But with eating like that the weight was creeping up, SEEING how many calories it took to maintain that weight I realized just how much I was overeating with my snacking etc, I joined here and set for 2 lbs a week loss, I've had a few slips and overages but now that I've cut out fast food, and am logging what I'm eating, if it passes my lips it gets logged. It has led to overall loss in my time here.

I don't think the rules are different but our habits sure are, my weakness was mindless eating and lack of portion control, now that I'm logging everything and weighing my portions the weight loss is happening, and it's leading to losses.

Meant to add in here but forgot because lunch is ready! Today I'm heading to a birthday party where dinner is potluck so I'm making myself a nice healthy lunch just before I go to the party and will have and enjoy my piece of cake and maybe some snacks but knowing I won't "pig out" just because there's basically a buffet of food available to me.