[Hawkwind]

Well...I'm going to go against the flow just a little bit here.

I'm not a fan of lots of cardio as it can do a number on your hard earned muscle.

I am a fan of HIIT style cardio. In short...short intense sessions of cardio. And a clean diet. But...I don't tend to give anyone a set number for daily caloric intake. Basically because there can be many factors to figure in for their caloric needs.

As a case in point...I'll use myself:
When I returned to training after my 4 year lay off I was able to get away with just lowering my normal caloric intake (I had tracked my diet for a couple weeks to see what my daily intake tended to be.) by 500 calories. Taking walks since that was all I was capable of at the time and returning to light lifting. I lost 25 pounds in 5 months, just by making those small adjustments.

Now as I began to lift heavier and gain muscle mass my weight went back up a bit. That too is normal. I was finally able to start powerwalking and lifting heavier and even though my weight had remained steady I was still losing inches.

Now I'm at the point where I want to get my bodyfat down a little bit more, but due to my training I have to manipulate my calories more than the average person. I basically had to learn how to do a version of carb-cycling.

So, age, height and activity levels can all play a role in how well you lose bodyfat.

I had to calculate my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), then figure my estimated bodyfat/lean factor and estimate my daily activity level to finally get to my estimated daily caloric needs.

It all sounds more complicated than it really is...you can get an estimate of your daily caloric needs by going to fitday.com.