One thing to keep in mind

I know a lot of you have started this program at 1200 calories and while that is not a bad thing exactly, it doesn't leave you a lot of room to change things up a bit should you hit a plateau.

I know if you only have a few pounds to lose, 1200 isn't an unreasonable number. BUT, just keep in mind that you can eat significantly more than that and still lose regularly. I am down to 187 as of this morning (down 83 lbs since September), and on days I work out and burn around 700 calories, I eat at least 1800 calories and days I don't work out, I eat around 1450 calories. When I first started this, I was eating around 1700 calories even when not working out.

My point is that I have slowly lowered my calories as I have lost and gotten to a lower weight. And even at 1450, I still have room to lower my calories should I hit a plateau. I lost 2 lbs this week eating that.

I am not saying this exact combination will work for everyone but don't be opposed to starting with your calories a little higher and slowly bringing them down as you need to. You don't want to hit a plateau at 1200 calories and have nowhere to go to shake things up a bit.

Just my bit of advice!! hehe

Tami

Congrats on your weight loss...that is awesome! Can I ask what you are doing for workouts to burn 700 calories? Also, how often are you working out. I feel that I have hit a wall, I was losing at a pretty good pace for a few weeks and I haven't lost anything in three weeks and I am very frustrated. I am currently eating 1340 a day when I don't work out and about 1500 hundred when I do. I weight less now than I have in about 3.5 years and I haven't weight much less than this in the last 8 years, so I am not sure if my body is just revolting to this lower weight or what....

I work out on the elliptical at the gym for an hour (55 min on random setting, level 18 + cool down). I have slowly worked up to that. The machine actually said I burned about 820 but the machines aren't super accurate, so I always bring it down to around 700. I also did a bit of strength-training but didn't include that. I do that 4 days a week, and on those days I eat around 1800 cals. The 3 days I don't work out, I eat 1450ish.

Great news! I didn't even consider that, and when I go over my 1200 I feel like a failure. That is great advice, and I feel quite a whole lot better about this now. For awhile I was worried about trying to stay right at 1200 every day, but that makes perfect sense. There is a lot of random exercise a person can get that isn't easy to factor in on this site. Thanx for the tip! :happy:

Hey! I just saw on your profile that you are 22 and looking to lose 75 lbs. Knowing that, you can definitely eat more and still lose. I am not an expert of course and everyones body responds differently but I would say you could eat around 1600 and lose nicely (and eat even more than that when you exercise). Often the more weight you need to lose and the younger/active you are, the more you can eat. As your weight gets lower and lower, at least you have room to tweak your calories a bit.

What is your height by the way??

Great news! I didn't even consider that, and when I go over my 1200 I feel like a failure. That is great advice, and I feel quite a whole lot better about this now. For awhile I was worried about trying to stay right at 1200 every day, but that makes perfect sense. There is a lot of random exercise a person can get that isn't easy to factor in on this site. Thanx for the tip! :happy:

Hey! I just saw on your profile that you are 22 and looking to lose 75 lbs. Knowing that, you can definitely eat more and still lose. I am not an expert of course and everyones body responds differently but I would say you could eat around 1600 and lose nicely (and eat even more than that when you exercise). Often the more weight you need to lose and the younger/active you are, the more you can eat. As your weight gets lower and lower, at least you have room to tweak your calories a bit.

What is your height by the way??

Well, my height is FIVE FOOT EVEN. So I believe that classifies me as "morbidly obese"? :sad: I HATEHATEHATE that term! That is great to hear, though, because I have gone over my calories several days in a row, now! I'm trying really hard to be positive about it, and not beat myself up when I do go over. Thanks again! :happy:

Morbidly obese is just a stinkin word! I hate it! I have gone from 270 to 187 in 8 months and my BMI has gone from 45 to 31.1 or still "obese". But I am very active, healthy and energetic. So, whatever! Stupid word!! HAHA!

Also, I am sorry to keep nagging you, but what is your current weight? That will help you to figure out your BMR and from there you can have a better understanding of the deficite you need to lose weight. You may have already done all of this but I just want to make sure you are informed on how your body works. That is a huge part of weight-loss success I think.