If a woman needs around 1200 calories a day and I am only using 150 when exercising

[FabIsGettingFit]

how am I ever going to lose any weight? Do I really have to exercise for hours?

An average woman (whatever one of those is) burns around 2000kcal a day during normal activities.

To lose weight you need to, input less than that in food, work off more than the excess in additional exercise or do both. The amount you lose will depend on how much of each you do (broadly speaking).

2000 a day? Really?

So far I have lost 2lbs so happy with that. I have only been eating really properly this week since Sunday and have been exercising for the last 2 months using the wii and lost zilch. I am now doing the EA and it feels more like a work out. I am also walking as much as I can. The kids are not happy.

On 1200 calories yor body will soon be in starvation mode. You seem to be goign round in circles fab. YOu need to decide which diet works for you, and tbh I've never gotten on with calorie counting though I don't doubt it works for others. And exercise shouldn't be a chore. It's a beautiful day, bundle any preschoolers into their buggy and get out, walk to not quite the nearest park, go feed the ducks. I've lost nearly 5 stone and haven't done any form of organised exercise. For me, it was all about cuttign out sugar in particular and beign more active day to day. I easily cover 5 miles a day just walking around, and then take my dc to the park after school pickup and run around with them there. If it was something I felt I 'had' to do, I'd have given up ages ago. And, I've said it before, the wii is not going to be enough. Get yourself outside.

There are tools on the net where you can work out your basal metabolic rate. Which is the amount of calories per day your body uses just living.

To loose weight you should eat the same as or less than this. Plus the 150 cals you are burning is on top of what your body uses just to function normally.

FAB - I use food focus it tell you how many calories in what you eat and how much you burn during exercise. It also has an assessment section which takes age/height/current weight and activity levels into account then figures out how long and how much you need to lose to reach your goal.

Yeah, it is around 2000kcal a day but the variability is dependant on activity levels (a professional gardener will burn more than a tele-sales work and that kind of stuff) and your size and muscle mass - the heaver you are the more energy it takes to move about and the more muscle you have the more you burn at rest.

I've always found I am my biggest enemy when it comes to weight loss, I do a bit of exercise and decide I have earned a treat (which prob has more calories than I exercised off). I can only lose weight if I stay focussed on both aspects at once.

I am not calorie counting as I know I couldn't keep it up for everything I eat. I am not going round in circles as I have got my mind straight with having breakfast, fruit between meals, drinking water a lot and not eating past 8pm. the original question was one I had been thinking about before.

I am enjoying the exercising and it isn't a chore. I walk to and from school twice a day and are constantly up and down the stairs as well as working out on the wii.

Thanks for that shiny. Off to school now so will check that out later.

I second oopsandbabycoconut's recommendation - Food Focus and Calorie Count websites are both really good for calculating how many calories you need and have used. I find it really useful having to write down everything you eat in a day - seeing it all on the screen makes you think more carefully about what you're eating. 1200 cals a day sounds far too low.

I used to do the food focus calorie counter but got fed up that it didn't have most of what I eat on there. I also don't want to get obsessed with counting calories though I obviously need to check what is the right amount of calories for me to be eating each day.

Breakfast is porridge.
Lunch is a salad with chicken and/or cheese, olives, tomatoes.
Dinner is a cooked meal with dh at 7 and meat/fish and lots of veg.
Water throughout the day with one glass of juice.

If you did want to use of one those sites, CC might be better as it has the option of adding foods that are missing from their database and you can save them so you don't have to look them up every time you eat them. If that makes sense. I've lost 2lb this week by eating sensibly and staying under the number of calories it recommends - based on height and weight and how much exercise you get. I would have had no idea how many I should be aiming for otherwise.

I did just register in FF but I am not sure how long I will do it for. I am eating better and exercising a lot more so hopefully I will lose the weight that way. I have no idea when the extra weight I am carrying from having dc3 went on but since I have noticed I have stayed at this weight pretty much. I tend to stay as I am so if I woke up tomorrow 3 stone lighter and ate as I do, I wouldn't put any weight on iyswim.