[Samantha18]

So I get my treadmill on Thursday and I can't wait to start. I decided I'm going to go with calorie counting rather then the other plan I was considering (weight watchers).

But the whole calorie/excercise thing confuses me. I have decided I'm going to start by eating 1,400-1,500 calories a day and work from there. But when I excercise, and burn a lot but still eat 1,400-1,500 calories will it hurt my metabolism if I don't add more calories on days I excercise? Or does your metabolism only slow down if you eat too little calories, without excercise effecting it whatsoever?

I'm a yo-yo dieter and use to be guilty of eating like 900 calories for a few weeks so of course when I went back to eating like 'normal' I always ended up heavier then when I started (usually 10 pounds heavier). I just don't want to end up making my body clinge to extra weight because it feels starved (pfft it shouldn't) and idk if excercise effects that.

I hope this makes sense, not sure how to word it! =]

[bonnnie]

Your metabolism suffers when you eat too little because it starts "stealing" energy from your muscle mass (as well as your fat storage).

Less muscle mass = slower metabolism.

If you are not eating enough calories and exercising heavily, it seems counteractive. You have to eat enough of the "right" calories (lean protein) to feed your body and increase muscle mass.... in the end decreasing fat storage.

That being said, if your main form of exercise is a treadmill, then I don't think you have to worry so much about eating too few calories. 1400 - 1500 seems entirely appropriate. You don't burn that many calories by walking. It is a low-intensity level exercise.

If you decide to start running in the future, then you will want to re-evaluate your calorie intake.

[DixieAmazon]

Weight training is a good idea too. Check out strongwomen.com for some basic workouts.