I am trying to lose about 50 lbs and get in better shape. I want to be toned, not grossly skinny- I am 5' 2" and my goal is 125.

What is a realistic timeframe for achieving this? And I'm confused by how many calories I should be consuming per day. I read that I should be around 1400-1600 calories or so right now- however, when I eat 1400-1600 cals and then exercise, my net calories for the day sometimes fall below 1000. Is that right? Or should I be consuming 1400-1600 calories post exercise (meaning I'd eat approx 2000 calories per day and then exercise enough to burn approx 500, leaving my net calories for the day at about 1500).

Any advice would be great.

Thanks! :D

Hi, I'm 5'4" 139 pounds and I recently loss 60 pounds. I started exercising and eating better around Halloween 09. So, it's taken me 7 months and I still have 9 pounds to go to reach my goal weight. You may well be able to do it sooner. I spent years as an emotional eater, eating to fill some hollow emptiness in my heart, in my life. So it has taken me months to really deal with the root cause of my poor eating. The exercise and healthy food were easy in comparison.

To be healthy, and not feel too deprived, you'll want to shoot for no more than 1200 calories per day. Drink lots and lots of water, do not give away daily calories to juices and soda and the like. And when you get a craving for ice cream, skinny cow makes great ice cream sandwiches w/ only 140 calories that taste great! Hope this helped! Good luck.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement! I am wondering... is it that I should eat 1200 calories per day, plus exercise? Or should by total calories, once I figure out how many I burned through exercise, be 1200?

Thanks again!

Just concentrate on eating no more than 1200 calories per day and being at least moderately active. Exercising will create a calorie deficit. Say you run on the treadmill and you burn 500 calories. Cool. That means that not only was your metabolism raised by activity, but that there is a caloric deficit for the day (as a woman your height and weight you need to take in about 1300 calories per day to maintain your current body weight, 2000 per day for a man) so your body will begin to lose weight. So if you stay under that 1300 per day you will lose weight, and by exercising consistently you will lose it sooner.

Ok- I was worried that it was unhealthy for my net calories for the day to be around 800, but I guess this is a good thing?

You also have to be very consistent. If you want, pick a day that you can have a meal where you can eat anything you want, but keep it to one meal and work out on that day. Everybody needs an 'out' sometimes. It's very tough to stick with low calorie diets for a long period. VERY difficult. And I think most people do not give themselves an out so they quit. Don't expect miracles either. Don't expect to see 6lbs loss a week. Expect 1-2. The important thing is that it may look like a little progress, but it adds up very fast.

Just remember, the time is going to go by anyway. You might as well be 50lbs lighter at the end of your period, right?

I had my 'day' yesterday- and I think I went a little overboard- about 2,000 cals for the day. I did exercise though. And I woke up this morning, did 40 min on the elliptical, ab exercises and some light weights. I've planned my meals & snacks for the day to be about 1500 calories- so figuring in that I burned about 500 cals this morning, that's about a net 1000 cal intake today.

I remember reading somewhere that having a "cheat day" or "cheat meal" can actually help your metabolism- any truth to that? Or am I just hurting myself by allowing a weekly splurge?