Switching from WW

[EabhaDuff]

I have been doing WW since Sept 2010 and I lost 25lbs. Last year I hit a very long plateau but I lost 5lbs in Jan of this year but since then I've plateaued again. So I've decided to give calorie counting a go to see if that will help break the plateau.
I have done a lot of research on it but I have a few questions that I'm unsure of.
1) What site do people use? Calorie counter or my fitness pal.
2) Do people consume their exercise calories? This is my biggest concern when it comes to how many calories to eat. I estimate I should be consuming between 1200 and 1300 calories to lose weight at a sedentary lifestyle. I'm worried that I'm not eating enough so should I eat more?
I am 5ft5, 22 years old, female, 166.5lbs. I would like to get to 140lbs but for now I'm focusing on 150lbs. I have a few of Davina's exercise DVDs so I do them five times a weeks and roughly you burn between 300-400 calories with each workout.
Myfitness pal says that my nutritional goal is 1200 calories and my exercise goal 730 calories so do I need to consume that 730?

 

[KatiePillow]

Welcome to CCing
I use myfitnesspal, and love it, loads of people on here are members too so it's great for support etc.

I also eat my exercise calories, I have 1200 a day on a normal day and as this is the minimum you're meant to eat I think it's best to, I think it's best to start out eating them and if you're not losing weight then try to cut them.
Although if I'm going to go out I tend to save them up a bit, like some people do with points on WWs.

 

[EabhaDuff]

Thanks for your reply. I think I'm finally getting the hang of it now. I've been eating my base of 1200 and exercise so it's coming in around 1,600 a day.
I'm trying to come up with new meals and I was just wondering does anyone eat normal pork sausages? I avoided these on WW because they were high in fat but looking at the calories for 2 sausages they would fit into my daily allowance no bother.

 

[KatiePillow]

I have eaten them, I don't tend to eat much fat in general, so a little bit isn't too bad, I know on WWs your points are a combination of calories and fat, but as long as you're not eating awfully (and my fitness pal has recommended gs of fat on your food log, which goes red if you go over it) you should be fine.
I really miss sausages