So I am wondering How much exercise a day is enough. I know they say at least 30 min a day but I jest dont feel that is enough for me I weigh 285 pounds and I try to eat any where between 1200 and 1300 calories a day...

It's not enough for you. My personal favorite is freedieting.com, but at you're weight I would recommend 1500-1800 for starters and take it from there. That said it also might not be enough for you because of the foods you are choosing. It is possible to be satisfied on 1200-1300 with better food choices. If you're interested in help in that area and are comfortable post you're typical food plan for comments.

I heard 20 minutes a day to maintain health. I think for weight loss we need 20 minutes in the target heart rate zone for maximum fat burning. Unless I am swimming I have a hard time going longer than 30 minutes at this point. If I can make it 20-30 minutes on the treadmill I am happy. I want to work my way into a longer workout, but at this point it doesn't take much to get in to my target heart rate zone and in fact I am frequently over it and need to slow down.

As for your calories, I would be feeling starved if that is all I ate on a regular basis. Depends on the day. Today I am only at 1100 something and I feel exhausted - which is more about my level of physical activity today than anything. I may eat something else before I go to bed. If I don't I might find myself more hungry tomorrow. Anyway, at your weight you can eat several hundred more calories a day and likely have the same weight loss results.

I workout for 30 minutes...but I'm also burning around 400 calories, because I'm running some of the time. I think if you are going from a sedentary life, any amount of exercise is going to help. Of course as you lose you will have to have more intense workouts. Good luck!

I think the right amount of exercise is whatever you will stick with. Honestly, that's my best answer. It's more important that you move than that you focus on a specific amount of time. For some people that translates to standing instead of sitting at work, taking the dog for an extra walk, parking in the furthest parking spot, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, and the like. For others that translates to 3 hour workouts. It's whatever you can sustain.

If you are eating 1200-1300 calories a day your body is going to bulk at a lot of exercise because you may not be fueling it enough to sustain high energy lengthy routines.

Also time really doesn't say much. Thirty minutes of steady state cardio is a LOT different than 20 minutes of high intensity interval training (HIIT). The calorie burn for the 20 minutes of high intensity is very different than the thirty minutes of steady state. So people who are short on time could get in just as good a workout with HIIT as people who spend an hour at a steady state routine.

I agree with what Eliana said -

We are trying to build habits for a life time so you have to find something that you can stick with.

Better to start slow with the exercise, and build from there. It is very easy to try to exercise too much, get burned out, and give up. I started at thirty minutes 3 times a week, and increased from there.

Good luck to you whatever you decide.

Didn't a study come out not that long ago saying for women to lose weight they really need 90 minutes a day? Going to Google ...

I would start out slow though, like everybody said if you overdo you won't keep it up

Yep, found it:

"The 90-minute recommendation is for people who have been significantly overweight, lost a substantial amount of weight, and seek to maintain that weight loss in the long term," Pate tells WebMD. "Data from the National Weight Loss Registry indicates that people who have been overweight succeed in losing and maintaining weight loss for an extended period if they are highly active during the period when they are maintaining the loss."

Ninety minutes is the bottom line for people in this category, although some might comment that most people aren't even doing 30, so why would they do two or three times that?

"It looks different, and dramatic and potentially controversial," says Pate. "But whether you like the facts or not, it's important to base the recommendation on the best science available

You have had lots of good advice from PP so I thought I would just add in what has worked for me. I started out at 15 - 20 minutes a day, and am now at or around 45 - 60 minutes a day. I have found that as time has gone by I can now endure a longer work out, and I have to work out longer, to burn the same amount of calories I was burning a few months ago when I was heavier. As we lose weight, unfortunately, or calorie burn goes down and we have to work out more to get the same burn. I have seen that smack me in the face over the last 2 months. In addition to this I am trying to do 3 days of strength training so that I have more muscle to help burn fat more efficiently during my cardio work outs.

I started out at 330 pounds and doing 5-15 minutes walking in place a day. Now, I do 40-60 minutes a day on the treadmill but I break it up into 1 mile at a time because I get too bored to do a hour at one time but that is just me. I also believe anything can be better than nothing so find something you like and that you can stick with and just do it, be it for 20 minutes (or less) or a hour (or more)

My minimum daily walk is 25 minutes (that's the distance to the supermarket and back) but I try to do more. However, 2 months ago, before I re-started, I couldn't even be bothered to walk across the room to pick up the TV remote, so I figure anything is an improvement.

And, I know it's not what you asked but I think your calories are much too low. I'm losing an average of 2.25lbs a week on 1400, and won't drop to 1200-1300 until I've only a few pounds to go; or at all, if my body doesn't need it.

The bigger we are, the more calories we need just to sustain life. I don't think you're giving yourself enough to sustain life AND to exercise too.

Forgive the impertinence ~ but I know from oh so many previous attempts that to go too low too soon does not make weightloss any faster, quite the contrary.

Yes, this. But at the same time, it is HARD to push yourself at first so you might want to shoot for a certain time frame each day. The old adage of 30 min a day/3 times a week is what everyone should be doing, not people who want to lose weight.

For me, exercise consists of walk/run intervals of about 30-45 minutes in the morning and a solid hour in the evening for a total of about 1.5 hours a day. It was MURDER to do this at first (and I've only been doing this for a month, so the first week is still very fresh in my mind ), but now it really is just a regular part of my life.

Thanks to the GREAT advice on here, I also discovered that I needed to eat more in order to be able to fuel myself through my exercise and maximize weight loss. So I'm at about 1700-1800 calories/day.

Thanks for all the replys when I restarted this three weeks ago I have been walking for 30 mintues (2 Miles) a day Now I am more comfortable with my self I have started doing my watp videos as of last week. i can proudly say i did a 41 min and a 52 mintueto day it totaled 7 miles their is no way on earth I could of walked that out side. Some one Recommed livestrong.com to someone the other day and looked it up and I do like them better. I needed a good web site to go to and since I have added my exercise for the day I do see that it up my calorie level for today so I will have to see where this will get me how well it works for me. Expecially since the neighbor has quit on me and says she cant do it any more But I am gonna continue. Thanks for all the imput.

I had the same problem with eating more calories. But if you do it, you will realize you aren't starving, so you will stick with it longer. And you will still drop the pounds. Good luck!