Clear up my confusion

[pinkyponkyplink]

Hi I'm quite new here but have been doing a bit of reading alongside trying to lose weight.

I'm calorie counting and using MFP. I'm doing between 10,000 and 15,000 steps a day on the school run, dog walk and exercising. I have a cross trainer and been using that 4-5 times a week on a 30 minute programme. I'm aiming for 1200-1400 calories a day, usually ending at 1400 end.

I'd like to use a stone in 6 weeks 😨😰

I keep reading that exercising doesn't help weight loss. Why is that?

Also, my cross trainer can say 300 calories burned but my Apple Watch says 250. Why is that?

What are the active calories and total calories? Why are there two calorie records on my Apple Watch during a work out?

Amy suggestions please?

Of course excerise helps burn fat, and it makes you fitter bit losing weight is 80% diet 20% food. I would try to avoid eating the calories that you burn.

I don't know enough about apple watches but check your settings.

Recent research has suggested that when you exercise continually your body starts to reduce the amount of calories you burn, sometimes by up to half. It essentially becomes more efficient.
The fuel that you put into your body has a bigger effect on its fat burning capabilities. It can either burn fat or sugar for energy. If you keep eating sugar it uses this rather than fat stores and then adds to your fat stores with the excess sugar/energy you've eaten. Fat burning is called Ketosis but as it takes a while to get to this point it's mainly achievable through managing your diet.

Try the caveman diet 80% of the time. Ketosis will kick in and you'll burn fat quicker. You can eat as much as you want of fat / protein and most fruit and veg but not overly processed foods like bread etc.

I read that we all underestimate calories we consume and over estimate those we burn. That's why you should concentrate on measuring what you eat and not rely on burning your surplus calories exercising.

Why are there two calorie records on my Apple Watch during a work out?

Could this be...

suppose you lay in bed all day doing nothing. In that scenario, I burn 55 kcal/hour just staying alive.

But suppose I got up & jogged for an hour. Then I might burn 500 kcal that hour.
55 to stay alive, +445 extra doing some exercise. So I'm guessing if I wore OP's watch, I might see (per hour burn) 445 as "active calories" & 500 as "calories"

fwiw, if I lay in bed all day I'd need 1300-1350 kcal to not lose weight. I actually eat about 2500/day. Because ("ta da!") I get that much exercise. 1150/day. In spite of a sedentary job, too. if did all that exercise & only ate 1350/day, I'd lose about 2lbs/week. It'd be a fast weight loss rate.

i was told that most machines are 1) automatically pre set based on a 160 lb man. 2) you're apple watch has your morning weight to the oz.

Even if you have set your machine to your current weight the formula used might be a bit different. your apple watch will not record exercise calories if your heart rate does not increase (so the beginning of a workout. example some leisurely walks will not register as exercise at all).
as above total calories includes breathing and ordinary metabolism, exercise is calories burned just from exercise.
when it comes to exercise and weight loss: you can't outrun a bad diet.

“ You can’t outrun a bad diet.”
I shall have that printed and put up in my kitchen. 👍