Help not losing weight

If you click on the activity app, then click on today's ring, it shows you total calories burned as well as your 'active calories' (the red ring).

I am logging my food intake on myfitnesspal and making sure I eat less than the calories burned, and it is working.

I don't know how accurate the calorie burn measurement is but I figure it's all comparative for me so it doesn't matter if it's not scientifically accurate!

I think fitness trackers can encourage some people to develop a warped relationship with physical activity.

Mine has helped me. I realise even though I run everyday and walk just about everywhere I cannot match my DH's energy consumption even on days he does very little formal exercise. We can run together at the same speed and he'll burn more calories! I tell him that's because I'm very energy efficient! Come a zombie apocalypse and I'll be laughing!So I have reduced my portions! Because we used to eat very similar amounts.

This gives an idea of calories burnt and activity levels:

tdeecalculator.net/

NB: with a 50 minute run plus a long walk I can easily burn over 700 calories.

As previous posters have said you typically need a healthy deficit (upwards of 500 cals deficit) to see weight loss. Anything less than that and weight lost will be slow.

There are a couple of complications, if you build muscle you could be gaining muscle mass. Fat testing and measuring your body would show this up. Also the macros of the food you eat can make a difference. Sugar and simple carbohydrates are metabolised very quickly so (unless you are exercising intensely at the time of consumption) your body needs to be able to store the excess energy as fat, which means your hormones will be optimised for fat storage instead of fat burning. Some foods and alcohol will also encourage you to retain water which will affect your weight also.

So initially try tracking your food intake along with what you are already doing. Look at calories and macros. Monitor any changes in the size of your body by measuring or trying on tight clothes. Then tweak things according to any patterns you notice.

Women generally need and burn around 2,000 calories a day

They really don't This is high and a mythical number.

which activity monitor do you have, OP? Brand & model, I mean.

What are you actually eating?

OP I lost a stone last year. I did it with a combination of things- 7 minute workout app (I found the calories they said each exercise burned matched what my phone said), zumba classes , portion control and I did a couple of months of predominantly vegan diet. I also did yoga to help with flexibility. The exercise massively improved my fitness levels but tbh, I think it was the portion control that helped with the weight loss.

The inability to understand daily use of calories on this thread is kind of baffling. Women generally need and burn around 2,000 calories a day - that includes all of your breathing, sleeping, standing etc. Watches that tell you your activity = a certain amount of calories are doing you a total disservice because most people won't understand what it means to have burned 700 calories in one day.

OP, you need to address your actual calorie intake and get this under control into a calorie deficit. Sure, be as active as you can be, but this is not how you address the problem of having too many calories in your diet. James Smith uses a good analogy of a leaky bathroom tap which has created a pool of water. The leaky tap is your overeating, and the pool of water on the floor is what has resulted from overeating, i.e. body fat. You're choosing to mop up the water rather than fixing the tap, whereas you need to address what's causing the leak rather than the results of the leak.

I'm on 557 calories so far.

That sounds right for everything you've done (the actual exercise and the normal living).

Do you feel hungry?

557 in total for the day isn't probably far off.

Sorry I thought the 700 was just exercise. Over and above the basic. So is it 700 usually plus the 580, so on average with your exercise you burn in the region of 1300 calories a day? Is that what you're saying?

I think the issue here is that you're mentally including basic moving-around, such as the school run, housework, and looking after a toddler, as "exercise." In doing so, you're kidding yourself that you're doing more exercise than you actually are, and feel hard done-by as you're not losing weight.

Whereas, in reality, if you didn't have the watch logging everything, then surely it wouldn't occur to you to even consider this basic daily activity as exercise. This is one of those scenarios where the fitness tracker may actually be doing you a disservice.

So in reality, today you've done 20 mins of exercise over and above the baseline daily activity you presumably would've been doing anyway. And 20 mins of HIIT is probably the equivalent of about one biscuit.

In comparison, the only calorie logging I do is my run training, and that's only because Strava automatically does it for me.
If I also started factoring in my 40-min bike commute, housework, "running around" after two kids, climbing/swimming/jogging with the kids etc into my "allowance" of calories, and eating more to compensate, I'd be bloody huge by now.

I think fitness trackers can encourage some people to develop a warped relationship with physical activity. Exercise isn't about earning calories to eat back, it's about being physically, and mentally, fitter and healthier. Which then, in turn, often leads to a better relationship with food and healthier eating; because if you're fit and active you quickly realise you can't fuel that activity on takeaways, booze and chocolate.

For everyone saying 700 isn't right, don't forget the heavier or unfit yet you are, the more calories you burn in general. So me and my friend can't do the same activity but she is a lot heavier and unfitter than me, and her daily calorie burn can be double mine...

Today I've been sat at my desk all day (except for this morning getting myself and my DS ready m and to breakfast club) but I did a 30 minute HIIT and abs session at lunch which was a total of 231 exercise calories. My total calories burned today is 441 so far, so thats 210 calories from doing nothing...
If I got a walk in or did more exercise after work I could get it up to 700 ish

I find my Apple Watch pretty accurate on calorie burn provided its set up right with my age, height, weight etc.

I've compared mine to stats using a proper chest based HR monitor and did some calculations manually to check (I know clearly I've nothing better to do!)

I've just looked back on my Apple Watch stats and the only days I've burned anywhere near 700 calories is if I've done some pretty high intensity stuff of at least an hour, aswell as 2 dog walks.

So one day last week I did 2x2 mile walks with the dog plus 1hr on my turbo trainer and my total burn was 729.

If yours is saying 700 just from 2 walks plus 1.5hr housework then I don't think you have the settings correct?

In regards calories in vs calories out, based on my BMR I need 1,500 just for "daily life" so if I do 700 exercise I can eat 2,200 and maintain my weight but if I want to lose weight I have to keep my calorie intake around 500 less than I've burned that day.

I'd second James Smith Academy, he talks a huge amount of sense: have a calorie deficit, be generally active in the day rather than specific "cardio", and lift weights. He's just about to bring out a new book "not a diet book". I'd immerse yourself in his strategies (his social media accounts are actually hilarious and informative) and you won't look back.

Don't think that any calories that your watch tells you you can consume on top of your allotted 1500 for the day. The James Smith calculator has already taken that into consideration by choosing the activity level. Keep on walking to school, that's a good thing. I'd switch to some weight exercises at home rather than just a "cardio" workout so you build muscle that'll help you improve your metabolism.

Well it can be used against diet, but you need to understand the more you eat the less weight you loose. So if you eat back your calories burnt you maintain.

Also those fitness trackers and watches notoriously over estimate calories burnt.

Coming off high blood pressure medication and maintaining optimal blood pressure purely due to exercise is not pointless! Building muscle in my back so I am no longer debilitated by the pain of disc degeneration is not pointless either!

You need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. The best way to do this is to use a TDEE calculator

www.jamessmithacademy.com/macro-calculator/ is excellent.

Choose lightly active. This will tell you your calorie target and protein target. Then weigh and log everything you eat on Myfitnesspal. I reckon you'll be surprised at how many calories you're consuming, I was!

Never eat back exercise calories. Don't even think "woohoo, I'm in a calorie deficit because I've burned 700 calories today so I can have this milky way!", the watches, etc are notoriously inaccurate.

Continue to exercise, it will be having a positive effect on your body, it just might not be a visible one yet

*forgot to mention you can just do the diet and do your own exercise if you prefer.

If you're wanting to lose weight I'd highly recommend Chloe Madeley 'Fat Loss Blitz'and do the sedentary plan (which actually wants you to exercise 5 times a week!)

Cardio exercise for health, endorphins and good circulation

Resistance training for building muscle and looking 'toned'

Calorie deficit through diet to lose fat

Best way! You're doing great with the exercise- keep it up!