Anyone besides me Starving?

here is the best path...google harris benedict formula. its usually in metric, so you'll have to convert your weight and height into metric..centimeters and kilograms. that will give you your BMR..basal metabolic rate. after that you'll need to multiply in the 'activity' level number..there are sites that describe this. its like 1 is sedentary, 1.2 is lightly active, 1.5 or something is moderately active..etc. (not sure of the exact numbers btw)..

now once you have this..you subtract calories from there for how much weight you want to lose theoretically in a week. like 500 cals for one lb a week.

my BMR with activity level is around 1800. so if i wanted to lose lb a week i'd need to intake 1300 cals a day.

I'm on 1300 calories a day and sometimes have to eat a handful of peanuts to make it up to that level. What are you eating?

A good daily workout could add those extra calories back on for you. I have 1280 calories a day so I'm usually pretty stiff with my calorie spending. Often eating proteins can keep you full for longer, especially in the morning. An egg is only around 95 calories or less if you get eggbeaters. What helps me is putting in what I am going to eat before I eat it. Then I can look forward to my food without guilt while I'm chewing. Also it helps to take smaller bites and remember to drink loads of water. Don't kid yourself though...hunger means you are doing this right. It means your body has to use those fat reserves to support itself. There are tons of low calorie snacks out there too. It's all about how you spend those calories and if you have earned more by exercising.

We need to see your diary to answer this properly but no, if you are eating well, you should not feel too much hunger.
Your body will get used to less food. Eat things that are high in fiber and drink plenty of water.
If planned well, you should eat every few hours so you should never get hungry.
There is an acronym halt (hungry, angry, lonely, tired)
Never allow yourself to HALT when frustrated with dieting.
If you feel hungry, fix it or you will fall off the wagon.

That's because 1300 is a very low calorie amount, and could be borderline dangerous.

The MFP calorie goal is designed to make you lose weight EVEN IF YOU DON'T EXERCISE. If you DO exercise, you need to eat more on top of that 1330 goal. Other sites tend to give you a calorie goal and then tell you to exercise to create your deficit. MFP builds in the deficit for you. Think of it this way, when you put your info in on MFP, even if you tell it you plan to exercise 3, 4, 5 times a week, MFP says 'yeah right, I'll believe that when I see it. How about you just eat 1330 calories and then let me know if you actually get off your butt today'. So then when you do get off your butt, you need to log that exercise in the exercise section, and MFP will be like 'dang, are you serious? You REALLY exercised? Wow, I didn't see that coming. Okay, well since I told you to eat 1330 b/c I thought you weren't going to exercise, now that you DID exercise, you have earned a snack'. MFP will give you an estimate of the calories you may have burned during your activity and it will add those calories onto your 1330 goal for the day. So if you burned about 500 calories during your activity, your new goal for the day will be 1830. A lot more like those other sites, huh? That's b/c those other sites take exercise into account BEFORE you do it. MFP doesn't take it into account until AFTER you have proved that you got off your butt today. LOL

My goal without exercise is 1390, but I routinely burn 400-600 per day through exercise so I get to actually eat closer to 1800-2000 and still consistently lose weight. If I'm not able to exercise on a given day, I stick closer to that 1390 'lazy' goal that MFP gives, but when I do my workouts I add back those exercise calories and eat more.

If you want to be more accurate about the calories burned during exercise, you might consider investing in a heart rate monitor with a chest strap. A lot of people on this site really like Polar FT4 and Polar FT7. You program in your info and wear it while you workout, and it gives you a really good estimate of the calories you've burned during your workout. It's still an estimate, but it's much better than MFP b/c it actually takes your effort into account.

Thanks everyone! Excellent advice! I'm embarrassed to make my diary public . I am weening myself off of Regular Dr. Pepper at the rate of 2 cans per day vs. the previous 4 per day. If I go cold turkey, I have severe headaches and withdrawal. I'm not looking to lose weight fast. I figure I gradually put it on and if it takes me a year to lose 30 pounds, that is okay. I'll just keep inching along.

This morning I had Special K (1 cup with 2/3 cup milk) and was still hungry afterwards. I need to start tracking my exercise.

You're drinking all your calories! No wonder you're hungry! You're not getting enough nutrients with the amount of calories you're consuming...I would definitely start off with more calories until you get off the soda (or switch to diet). Then you can decrease them again. Also, protein, fat and fiber are all important in keeping you feeling fuller longer.

My very strong suggestion is to start out slowly. Set yourself to maintain your current weight and eat that many calories for a week, then knock off 100/day for a week, then another 100 the following week, etc. That's what I did when I started and it made all the difference in the world!!! There was no way I could eat so little right off the bat, especially given the way I used to eat (likely close to 2500 calories on average) so easing into a new way of eating was essential to my sticking with it. It worked for me and I lost weight even in the first few weeks, and more importantly I wasn't a food-obsessed starving *****y lunatic! Good Luck!

This is great advice. I usually go over my calorie target about 500-1000 depending on the day, but it's still way better than I used to eat! I just gradually try to get closer and closer to my target, and I'm still able to lose this way.

I'm not saying soda is evil and you can't ever have any, but you are basically "wasting" 300 calories a day on soda. Meaning 300 calories of real, nutritious food that you aren't getting. I would say you should eat 1200-1300 calories a day of real food, plus your soda - then you can continue weaning yourself off of it.

The headaches and withdrawal are probably just from caffeine - have you tried an alternate source of caffeine, like diet soda, coffee, tea?