> Losing weight is typically not about more exercise.

Losing weight is about figuring out a way for you to be in a caloric deficit. Once you learn that, you know exactly* how much exercise impacts weight loss.

300 calories is what I can typically burn on a treadmill session. That's accounts for about a third of my deficit goal. What it really means is that I can eat 300 more calories that day, which helps tremendously to keep me from feeling too hungry.

*okay, nothing is exact with weight loss but you get my point.

Agreed, I didn't lose weight by exercising. I lost weight by going into a calorie deficit. It takes about 3,500 calories to gain/lose one lbs. Like you, my target deficit is around 900 calories a day, I really don't count the calories in exercise. "You can't outrun a bad diet."

Can't really call it crazy without knowing what weight they started at. Plus, the goal isn't to have a sustainable calorie deficit. The deficit is a temporary thing.

I'm also in the same boat, trying for a 1,000 Cal deficit. I, personally, find it easier to do that than 300 cal. I can eat low calorie density foods and be satisfied at ~1,400 Cal a day, but at 2,000 a day it's too easy to slip to 2,400... I've been able to sustain that for 6 months at a time.

Remember, 1-2 lbs a week is generally what is recommended for weight loss, that works out to 3,500-7,000 Cal a week, or 500-1,000 a day.

It works out to around 1500 calories per day. I only do it for a month at a time, so it's not needed for long periods of time.

I lose 8 pounds in about 4 weeks and then coast for a year or so. The diet is just touching up my weight every once in a while.

Ok. I would call this shredding in the body building arena. This makes much more sense! I thought you were running a long term 900 calorie per day deficit. That sounds like an expressway to (emotional food hunger) hell.