How Many Calories Do You Eat? (Weight Loss)

[VeloVT]

This is a timely topic for me too. Last year from Thanksgiving to New Years I gained 5 or 6 pounds which I vowed to lose over the summer. Although I rode a decent amount (less than I wanted due to schedule and life events), I didn't lose a bit this summer. (Last summer I got my bike and the pounds just melted off, I expected a repeat...). Then school started, and suddenly I found myself having a really hard time fitting in exercise (this won't be a lasting phenomenon, it's just because the first few weeks can be like that) -- and looking another Thanksgiving in the face, I don't want to add another five pounds this winter and wake up in 2008 ten pounds heavier. I've realized that, in addition to starting to train regularly again, I need to diet if I'm going to take the weight off (I'd like to lose about 10lbs, then I'd really feel like I was down to fighting weight).

Here's a website I found that has a pretty good piece of software for tracking diet and exercise. I'm doing the free trial right now but I'm seriously considering buying it, it makes calculating net calories very easy & much less tedious than the old-fashioned way:

http://www.calorieking.com/software/ckdietdiarymac.php

Of course, it still doesn't answer the math question in any kind of definitive way...