I need a straight answer from people wit experience!!!!

usually that should be ok but one thing you need to know when you work out and you put your time in your calorie count for the day will go up try not to use those extra calories

Yes. You can choose to eat your workout calories or not. I don't, but others do and we all still lose just fine.

YEP! you seem to eat well, last thing you want to do is listen to people who eat 2 calories everyday and then burn it all off. there are many ways to lose weight, but YES don't be afraid to eat, seems like you got it under control, great job so far.

Click on My Home, then Goals. It'll give you an overview, including "Calories Burned From Normal Daily Activity", which is obviously just an estimation based on your "Activity Level" that you set (Sedentary, Lightly Active, etc). It'll show you your estimated deficit and such.

You can get your estimated BMR by going to Tools. Everything is going to vary person to person based on height, weight, activity level - even how far you have to walk to go to the bathroom will add up over time - so it's really hard to know. You just need to make sure you are eating enough. As strange as it sounds, and I'm sure you've heard this around, you sometimes have to eat more to lose more.

Your food diary is alright, but I would probably try to cut the sugar out a bit more and less processed food. Cereal is one of the worst things in the world IMO. Full of sugar and empty carbs. Try Braums carb watch bread too. I dunno if you have a braums in your area. Other than that. Work out at least 5 days a week, but thats just my opinion as well. good luck to you!!!

My BMR is 2290 I usually do 2 60 minute strength cardio workouts and 3 just cardio workouts a week! I am still learning!

Then you should be fine! The BMR is as if you're just laying in bed not doing anything. Between your workouts and just everyday life, you should be at a decent enough deficit to lose! Keep up your good work and you should see results

The system works... That is why so many people follow it. As long as you are making healthy choices, following your calories, and eating back your exercise calories you will loose weight. It may take longer than some crash diet but you will keep this weight off as opposed to putting it right back on.

Good Luck!

p.s. It is with not wit.

Yes. You can choose to eat your workout calories or not. I don't, but others do and we all still lose just fine.

One word of warning about this: if you let MFP estimate your calorie burn during a workout then you will probably be overestimating the number of calories you burned and if you eat them back then you will think you have more to eat than you really did. I have seen a lot of posts on MFP where people said MFP overestimated their calories burned (and some said it underestimated but they seemed to be a small minority.) So, if you are going to eat your exercise calories back then I would suggest you get a heart rate monitor. I got a Polar FT7 and love it. It says my calorie burn for my exercise bike rides are routinely way less than MFP (by a factor of up to 2.5 or so.) For example, I rode this morning for 35 minutes at 21 mph and got a calorie burn from my Polar of 555 but MFP estimated it at almost 1400!

My BMR is 2290 I usually do 2 60 minute strength cardio workouts and 3 just cardio workouts a week! I am still learning!

We all are. When I started out I was 275 and my nutritionist recommended I eat 1700-1900 calories/day and limit my carbs to 19 servings (one carb serving equals 15-20 carb mg). That was assuming I would exercise most days to create a little larger deficit. Now I'm down to 222 so I eat closer to 1500 calories/day since my BMR has gone down. Good Luck to you, stick with it and remember it's a lifestyle change that will have the best and longest lasting results. Don't get sucked into the quick fix mentality. I've been at this for 2 years and I have about 45-50 more pounds to lose.

If you can afford it, you might want to consider getting a Bodybugg or BodyMedia Fit armband (the Bodybugg is the one the Biggest Loser contestants use). You basically wear them 23/7, and it tracks how many calories you burn throughout the whole day, not just when you exercise. If you only had 25 pounds to lose, it wouldn't be worth it. I have 75 to lose (almost 1/3 of the way there), and I'm finding it to be very helpful information. You do have to pay a small monthly fee to sync your info with their website, but for me, it's money well spent. I found I'm burning about 2100 calories on non-exercise days, and about 2500 on exercise days. It helps to know how much I'm burning so I know how much to eat. Some days at work are more active, too, and when I go home in the evening and sync it, I can see how much more I should eat at dinner and my nighttime snack. I'm not dropping weight in any speedy fashion, but it's coming off slowly but surely, which is the best way to do it.

You can check ebay and craigslist to see if you find one of these cheaper than paying full price. My plan is to use mine until I hit goal weight, then through about 6 months of maintenance so that I have an idea of my maintenance calorie level. I'll probably sell it on ebay or craigslist after I'm done with it. So I'll use it probably about a year and a half.

If you can't afford one of these, at least invest in a good heart rate monitor. That will help, too, in determining what you're burning when you exercise. Often, MFP's numbers aren't accurate (and how could they be, really...it's an estimate based on averages, not on you personally and how hard you work).

Good luck, and hang in there. You can do this!

I never eat my exercise calories. But that is my personal choice and my nutrionist agrees. It works for me, I lose 1-2 pounds a week. I know a lot of people do eat theirs but some of them are into heavy workout sessions, which is something I cannot do. I've had 2 knee replacements (one this year) so I limit my exercise to acquatics classes at the YMCA two times a week. After this week, I intend to add another exercise day as a mini-goal.

In regards to the Biggest Loser, I've always watched and loved the show. However it is not a reality show. I believe when you lose weight at the rate they lose it, you are setting yourself up for disaster later on.

When people ask me what "kind" of diet I'm on, I say "I'm on the original diet plan". Ohhh, what is that, some new fad diet they say. Nope, it's the diet that has worked since the beginning of dieting. It consists of LIFE CHANGES, reduction of calories which I monitor every single bite and some type of physical exercise above and beyond your normal daily exercise of cleaning house, doing laundry etc. In the long run and it will be a long journey for me to obtain my goal weight as I started out at 290 pounds, I'll be ready to embrace the life changes and not revert back to my old ways. Hopefully the life changes by the time I reach my goal will be second nature for me and I wont even think about it when I go into maintenance mode.

You can but you'll lose more, quicker if you eat 1800 or so calories. That's a good healthy amount. I'm 165 and I'm supposed to eat 1800 a day.

And the OP is also close to twice your weight. I'll never understand why people advocate eating less than they *could* eat while still losing weight.

check out weight watchers guidelines as they take in to account age, weight, height, gender, etc.