[HopefulAgain]

Hi everyone!

I have a quick question regarding calorie use just on a day to day basis.

I'm a bit of a noob at this whole calorie counting thing. I've been working out really religiously (6-7 days a week) for the past 6 weeks and I've only had a ~7 pound weight loss. I feel more fit, but the numbers aren't going down and that frustrated me, so i decided to start trying to calculate my calorie intake for the day for about a week so I could get an idea of what exactly I'm eating and burning.

I use FitDay. It's telling me that since I am mostly seated throughout the day with some movement, I burn 3080 calories daily. ????

Then when I add in my 30-60 minutes of TurboJam (I use Aerobics-high impact, btw...nothing else seems to match.) daily that ups the number of calorie burned by 275-550 (which is chump change really compared to the number I burn just working. )

So that means if I eat 2000 calories, theoretically, I should still be losing weight, right? That 3000 calories is really confusing me. If I burn that much by just living life, what need is there to exercise? I should be losing 1 pound every ~4 days, no? But I'm not.

Also, where do you think I should limit my calories to lose the maximum amount of weight in the shortest time SAFELY, of course? I'm 25 years old. 5 foot 10 inches. I weight ~233 pounds. I work out 6-7 days a week at least 30 minutes doing cardio and/or weights.

I appreciate any insight into my confusion. Thanks alot!

[Desiderata]

Seven pounds in a month is actually a very good loss -- be proud of that!!

There's a lot of information that isn't in your post -- such as how active you were before this exercise regimen, how many calories a day you're really eating, etc. If you suddenly kicked up the intensity/frequency of your exercise, there will be a lot of changes going on in your body not reflected by the scale. Muscles begin to store extra water (and glycogen) for repair, and water is heavy! It's great that you're feeling more fit -- have you taken any measurements? That can be a great way to see progress, especially if you're losing from exercise more than diet. A lot of us seem to find that exercise slows down the rate of loss on the scale -- but, in the long run, exercise will be what helps you achieve the smaller, fit body you want.

How many calories are you eating? And, are you really weighing and measuring everything? Beginning intense exercise regimens can really amp up some people's hunger! You might be eating more calories than you realize. (There's also the possibility you're eating far too few -- you didn't say, so it's hard to know. )

Finally... to answer your actual question -- I'd say set fitday to the most sedentary level, and only add your exercise to that. I seem to remember reading here many a time that fitday's count is a little high. 3000 sounds pretty high to me. Try googling RMR or BMR calculator. I used one with your stats, and it said that your BMR is 2250.

[Karen925]

Howdy,
I think of calories burned by exercise as a bonus. I used the sedentary life style then adjusted from there for me. I figured if I lost too fast I could add in more calories if needed. Didn't happen:-)