CICO?

Yep, that's the gist of it . You can then exercise to give yourself more calories to eat (or some people go for creating a larger deficit to lose more quickly), but so long as you are eating at a deficit you will lose weight without exercise. Exercise of course has a multitude of benefits and ideally should be included in a healthy lifestyle, but you don't have to.

ShawnaDrew wrote: »

Thanks!! I keep hearing you can eat too little calories too. So is there some magic deficit or you just need to find what works for you?

You are female so the general, one-size-fits-all-for-some-reason recommendation is no less than 1200. (On a regular basis. I mean, I would not let 1169 keep you up at night.) For males it is 1500 or 1800 depending on where you look.

Other people recommend not eating beneath your personal BMR. This is the number of calories your body burns taking only itself at rest into account. (Like if you slept for 24 hours.)

Normally your maintenance would be: BMR + lifestyle (calories burned from general motion, like showering) + exercise (your workouts).

MFP will not recommend below 1200 for you.

MFP is a great tool that will figure out your calorie target for you though. Set a goal for weight loss per week, and it will tell you what to eat. If you choose not to exercise, you'll lose. If you exercise, log it, and if you like, you can eat those cals back. (Often recommended to eat 50-75% though to correct for any overestimations)