Thanks for the support guys. It means a lot to me. As for why my calorie intake is around 2300 as opposed to your 2500-2800 bigguy, my job involves sitting on my butt in front of a computer all day, and as a wannabe novelist it's more of the same at home. So excepting my morning exercises, I don't really get that much of a workout during the day. If I start walking more or working out more with weight training instead of the calisthenics I'm doing now, I'll likely have to increase my calorie intake to compensate. But 2300 does seem to be working well for me, provided I can stick to it.