New Member: Any advice on calorie cycling?

Hello all-

I'm Pamela. 43 with about 18 lbs. left to shed, which makes my goal weight 140lbs. due to my medium frame...may shoot for 135 lbs. if all goes well, which would make me a size 4...plenty small for a 40-plus woman! :)

I'm moderately active, lots of yard work (putting in a patio myself) and also run/walk about 4 miles every other day on treadmill at gym. Just got out of these habits and overindulged for the last 4-5 months, thus the weight gain. UGH. I know I need to work in strength training into my routine as well.

Anyway, is anyone trying calorie cycling and any advice? My goal date is April 15 for reaching 140 lbs. so, according to the GOALS calculations on this awesome website, that puts my daily cal. intake at 1280.

I've eaten around 1,000 calories the past two days and have burned about 600-800 calories per day with yard work and cardio at gym. Today is a high cal. day with target calories around 1,800, and a day of rest, to keep my metabolism from stalling...Am I doing the cycling right? IE: Two very low cal. days followed by a high cal. day (but still staying at below 2,000 cal.)?

Thanks in advance for any advice, positive or negative about calorie cycling. Looking forward to getting to know the group and willing to offer advice as well as seek it from my online friends.

Here's to a healthy 2009 for us all!
Pamela

PS: LOVE the tools on this site as a way to keep up with my weight loss goals, daily food log and workout log. It's become sort of a game for me to see how many HEALTHY cal. consumed versus cal. burned. So far calories burned is winning! :)