I count Allison in as one of the pros around here.
And she's right - if the calories are
sufficient to offset any deficit created by exercising, you won't lose weight. In other words, when the food you eat equals the calories you burn through exercise and everyday living, you won't lose weight.
Mare, I'm puzzled why you'd want to increase your calories when you exercise in order to "give your body something to burn"? We want our bodies to burn stored fat, right? If you give it enough calories that it doesn't need to dip into stored fat for energy, then you've defeated the whole point of exercise for weight loss. If you burn 300 calories through exercise and then eat an extra 300 calories, you've just canceled out the exercise.
Chuckie, your walking program sounds terrific! I agree with the other posters that you should look to how many calories you're eating to figure out why you're not losing. It's almost impossible to lose weight through exercise alone -- almost everyone has to restrict calories too. Do you track what you're eating now?
