Budgeting for Weight Loss

I've often said, "anybody can do anything for a little while." Usually it's in terms of having a second job, or cutting out unnecessary expenses so you can save a chunk of money or pay off debt. It's almost always in reference to finances. I started thinking about this yesterday in the midst of my stuck-ness.
So, how long do I really need to do this? How long to I need to stick to cutting my calories? I thought that if I was asking myself this question for a money issue, I would certainly come up with a budget or a forecast...so that's exactly what I did!
I calculated that I would be collecting 700 calories a day, between cutting them out of my diet and burning them through exercise. A pound of body fat equates to approximately 3,500 calories. Divide that by my 700 calories, and it means I should be losing a pound just about every 5 days. I estimate I'll be needing to stick to this for a total of 100 days.
It seems like a lot until I think about how many more days I plan on being alive after that, which is like 80 million. If I can stick to this hard-core for about 3 months I can just work on maintaining my weight indefinitely. I can do that!
You've heard the phrase, "numbers don't lie." So, let's come up with some numbers. First, you need to figure out how many calories you should be shooting for to lose weight. I like the daily calorie counter on www.prevention.com because it includes your height, sex, activity level, and age into the formula. Your results will tell you how many calories you should be eating to maintain your current weight. Figure out how many calories your cutting and how much you're exercising (just google for calorie estimates for specific exercises), and you come up with your daily number. Divide 3,500 by your daily number and that's how many days you should lose a pound in. Multiply that number by how many pounds you want to lose and you have just figured out how many days you need to stick to this to get to your goal.
The great thing about losing weight is that you get to see results. It may come slow at times, but changes...good changes are still happening. I finally got un-stuck this morning and am celebrating that another 1/2 pound has vanished! That's 4 pounds gone and never coming back. I want to hear your celebrations too!