I highly recommend you check out the web site linked below. I have learned so much (and am still learning!) about calories/nutrition, etc. It is a great site for losing weight, maintaining your weight, or even gaining if that is a goal. It can be overwhelming, at first -- but you can tailor it to fit your needs, and so you can participate in as little or as much as you want. It is completely free -- just time-consuming because it has SO MUCH to offer.

Your caloric needs depend on your current height, weight, activity level -- and whether you want to lose, gain, or stay the same. This site recommends not going below 1200 calories per day.

You can also (Google) search for a metabolic rate calculator, which will tell you your caloric needs.

Here is a link that might be useful: SparkPeople - a great goal-setting site!

This may be useful!

Here is a link that might be useful: Calories-Per-Day Calculator

Can you just eat LESS of any foods you normally eat while also choosing fewer 'white' foods? Moderation goes a long way. People often just eat and eat and eat whatever's in front of them.

DH and I dropped pounds years ago when I just stopped buying most crackers and cookies, nuts and chips. He stopped drinking sodas and started drinking iced tea or just plain water. When we do eat nuts, crackers, etc. we take out a 'portion' to eat -- never eat from the package. Find out what a reasonable portion of anything LOOKS LIKE -- and don't consume more. (A portion of lean meat shouldn't be larger than a deck of cards.) Don't trust what a manufacturer or a restaurant tells you is 'a portion' -- it's all too much!

Don't completely eliminate chocolate or other sweets, but enjoy one small cookie or one piece of good chocolate.

Counting calories daily would drive me nuts. (Or TO nuts!) Eating WELL and exercising will keep you healthy.

"...your body will go into starvation mode and you'll gain weight..."

Not true.

I also had great success with SparkPeople - I lost 23 pounds last year and found that the food logging tool was really helpful for calories and for nutrients. I tried to stay at about 1150 a day, but there are lots of variables so your mileage may vary.
I think you will find that it can be difficult to get all the nutrients you need while having a varied diet on 1,000/day.
Good luck!

Here's an easy formula I learned to find out how many calories a day you are probably eating, and how to lose weight from your current weight. Just multiply 11 by your current weight. So if you weigh 200 lbs you are probably eating approx. 2200 cals a day. If you want to weigh 140 lbs, multiply that by 11 and you come up with 1540 calories. So you would need to cut 660 calories a day and follow that to get down to 140. It takes a 3500 calorie deficit to lose one pound, so you would be deficiting 4420 calories/week for a weight loss of about 1.5 pounds. Now if you added physical activity to that it would speed up your weight loss. Even a 2 mile walk (300 cals approx.) 5 times a week would get you close to a 2 pound a week loss. Hope that's not too confusing.

If you are a man your multiplier would be 12 instead of 11.

How about this question: My weight has been the same 115 lbs for years, but...my arms and legs look thin and I've started to gain 'belly' fat. What's up with that?

I wonder if the OP didn't mean that your body would start to stockpile fat cells if you consumed too few calories? (Just a guess.)

Weight control is a complicated thing and admittedly I'm far from an expert on the topic but chisue it sounds like exercise is your issue. After the hospitalization last fall I couldn't eat much (yeah, unusual for me) and it was like when I lost weight years ago successfully. Hungry? Eat. Not hungry? *Don't* eat! Don't eat by the clock. Smaller portions help. Eating what you want satisfies the "want" in you. Eating a variety helps for nutrition. For many months I'd eat one meal about every other day with not much for snacks in between. I didn't want more. It worked for me but the usual disclaimer "YMMV".

I have been a member of Weight Watchers for 14 years, but always fall off the program after a few months. It works if you are dilligent, but I get tired of counting points and tracking. What finally has worked for me is just simply cutting my portions in half. I can eat whatever I want, so I don't feel deprived and it never feels like a diet. The older I get, the more time I have to add to my exercise program. My doctor said it's due to the decrease in hormones.

You can loose weight by increasing the calories burned by exercise and keeping the food intake the same. The hazard is that exercise can trigger a healthy appitite and you may increase your food intake. The best compromise is to reduce your food intake somewhat and increase physical activity. If working with gym equipment and performing a set or exercises is not your bag, then use walking and bike riding. When you walk, use a pace greater than a stoll. Slow walking is relaxing, but does not burn as much calories per unit of time than a vigorous walk.

Find excuses to walk: Walk to the post office; Walk to the neighborhood grocery store; Walk the pet; Walk a trail; explore part of your neighbothood by walking; rake the yard; Garden; Pull weeds; Play a round of disc golf; Take a walking tour with your camera; When it snows, dig out the fire hydrants.

At work, use the stairs instead of the elevator to go up or down one or two floors. You can do that in about the same time as using the elevator and as you physique improves, it will take less time to move one floor.

I suspect the 'belly fat' culprit is right in front of me -- time spent sitting here typing on the net!

DH and I are using the Wii Fit Plus every morning for 30 mins. each. Started that about six weeks ago. According to it, I'm underweight but my BMI is great. (What can it possibly know? LOL) *I* know my pants are tight!