Calorie intake vs calories burned?????

    I am so confused I know that my colorie intake is suppose to be no less than 1200 calories a day. I am doing that! However I have been exercising so much with my new schedule I am burning every single calorie I took in that day off and on some days more than I took in. Is this ok or am I starting a new bad habit?

Not very good for you. I would suggest adding about 500 calories of healthy foods if you truly are burning all 1200 calories. Or are you burning more than 1200? Let me know.

Ok on saturday I did make my intake I took in 807.46 calories and then burned 966 calories through just walking and house cleaning not to meantion the activity points i didn't count (i have twin 19 month olds).
On Sunday I improved my intake to 1801 and then burned 1426 activity points not counting the twins or sitting type points.
On monday (today) I have intake of 1226 calories and out put of 1157  and I still haven't gone for my new nightly swim.
Last week I started walking 1 1/2 to 3 miles everyday but wasn't counting food calories. I am still trying to figure this out. I guess I need to work on the types of food to huh?

Wow, you are very active! lol. Sounds fun to go on nightly swims.

 As for your situation, This is what I would recommend. Find your average # of calories burned a day and add about 500-600. I would say don't go below 1700 because of your activity level. It can be very unhealthy if you are burning a lot more calories than you are intaking. As for you saying that you need to work on the types of food you eat, I would say if you want a candy bar, have one. Cravings are something you should give into otherwise you could over indulge. What I'm trying to say is, eat about half unhealthy/half healthy foods and then try to turn that 50% of unhealthy foods into a smaller percent thus increasing the healthy food percent.

 Good luck! You can do it!

What are your stats... age, height, weight, total average calories consumed (not net after exercise). Also High weight and goal weight.
About how much are you losing per week?

How are you figuring out your output? What I do is put it on sedindary and that gives me the "sitting around" calories. Then when I do something "active" I log it in the activity log. I then look on the "account home" page where it adds everything up. It shows me usually buring somewhere between 1900 and 2300 cals a day. Then I try and keep my deficit between 500 and 750. That means on days that I burn 2300 I eat about 1550 and 1800. (2300-1800=500) and then, after 7 days, I loose 1 lb!!! ( 3500 calories = 1 lb, 7x500=3500) .

You probably already knew this, but I thought Id just make sure you understood the math behind it, so you can play with your numbers easier. Have fun!

I am 31 yrs 5'5" 201 lbs at last weight check.I am counting all colories I take in right down to the cream in my coffee. I go by the food package for calories and portion size. As for the calories I am burning I get all my info from the activity section on here.  Weight lose I don't know I haven't had the chance to buy a scale yet I will be this Weekend though. last weight check was at the doctors 2 weeks ago today. My clothes still feel the same but my energy level is up (which was my biggest goal). Yes I went by the sendinary and also talked to my doctor the site says 1250 doctor said 1200. I total my calories in at the end of the day and then total my activity (output) calories burned up (I keep a log during the day) and at the end it comes out as above for the last three days.

As for the log on here when I started walking last week I was trying to use it then realized it wasn't keeping the information at all. I am not sure why so now i keep a journal to keep track of everything.

Okay, well I was also curious about rate of loss.  I am not a student of the process of this website, but it seems that figuring all this stuff is way complicated.  The basic rules are don't eat under 1200 a day, and don't lose more than two pounds a week.

All of the math your referred to is based on numbers from this site... how many calories burned for various activities, how much your body needs to maintain current weight. These numbers are based on averages, and you might be very different from that. If you go online you can find other sites that tell you how many calories you burn for various activities... and I am sure they don't agree with this site. And even if they did, if you log time for vacuuming... what if you vacuum more or less intensely than the site predicts?

The way most diets work is you pick one number based on your approximate activity level... say 1800 calories. Eat those calories, doing all your usual activities, then see what the scale says.If you lose on average, 2 pounds or less a week, you know your deficit is right. If you want to lose a bit faster, cut calories slightly. If this rate of loss is too fast, eat a few more calories.

Most people have a hard enough time counting caloires for foods eaten... it seems way too much work to also track calories burned for various activities.

shiptona, explaind it very well. Good job shiptona!

Renee, as a mother of 19 month old twins your activity level is definately NOT sedentary!  You are amazing to add all that exercise into your very busy day. 

I think that it is important to consider that the calories burned for an activity can and probably will vary from one individual to another.  So it doesn't matter what you use to estimate your calories expended, all you have is a guess.  For example, I have a polar HRM on my wrist and another one on one of my bikes.  When I use that bike both HRMs get their input from the same chest strap but they give me significantly different esitmates of calories consumed on a particular ride.  If I get the calories from the CC database, it gives me a third estimate, which is consistently the highest by at least 100 calories.  On the other hand, I have a friend who tells me that the numbers from the CC database are working for him.  He dropped 30 pounds this Spring.  I think the only way that you are actually going to know whether you are expending more than you are consuming is by seeing your waistline shrink.  The best solution is to give yourself some cushion.  In your case try to expend a couple of hundred calories more than you consume.  You should be able to do that between your night swim and a modest extension on your walks.

Also you might want to put yourself in as lightly active so you don't have to keep track of lightweight daily chores like housework.

Finally, I don't know what you mean when you say that the log isn't keeping track of your activities at all.  One weakness of this website is that it doesn't do a good job with calories expended but it's free.  If you click on the "Account" tab you should get to a page that shows you three things -- a plot of your weight history, your current day's food log and your current day's activity log.  If you go to the food log or the activity log, you will find a little date tool that allow your to display either food or activity over a period of up to 60 days.  Unfortunately there is no place that you can go to see a summary of calories consumed versus calories expended except for the current day's numbers on your account home page.

I am completely confused (don't mind me tho, I'm new!).

I am still amazed at how some of you burn over 2000 calories a day!!!!  I have trouble burning 500 calories a day with my workouts and I work out a good hour per day!

Judging by the website, for me to lose 1-2lbs per day, I am to only consume 1400 calories.  So if I eat 1400 but workout 500, do I subtract that?  meaning I technically only have 900 calories in me and need to eat an extra 500 to maintain the 1400 calories per day???

This calorie thing is still really new to me and I apologize if I sound really stupid.  I am 5'3" and 145lbs.  I want to lose 1-2lbs per week and I eat 1400 calories per day.  I also work out and do cardio 30mins per day and walk another 30mins per day.  This doesn't include walking at work or anything like that.

Please advise?  I did start getting light headed midway through the day.. and I'm wondering if I'm doing this right or not.  Thank you in advance for all your help!

Sun: You need to clarify a couple of things.  First of all how did you come up with the 1400 calories per day, which is not a bad number by the way.  Is that based on you being sedentary or lightly active? If you used sedentary, then the 500 calories you expend on your workout is extra and you should increase your diet to replace at least some of those calories but not necessarily all of them.  Also, I recommend using a weekly average.  Your 1400 calories per day comes out to 9800 calories per week.  If you workout 3 days per week at 500 calories per workout that adds another 1500 calories to your requirements bringing you to 11300 calories per week or approximately 1600 calories per day.

When I use my bike for commuting, I expend about 400 calories on my ride to work and about 500 calories on my ride home.  On just plain workout rides of various sorts I burn about 10 calories per minute, which gives me something like 1000 to 3000 calories per ride depending on the distance.

You could increase your calorie output by increasing the tempo of your walk, doing more climbing (stairs, hills) and/or increasing the total distance you walk.  You could also look into various sorts of dancing.  I am a big fan of Curves -- not that I have personally tried it but I have been impressed with the results that some of my friends have achieved.

Joe, your a savior!  that makes complete sense!!  I did base my 1400 calories on the light/sedated activity as I have an office job.  I work out an hour per day (or try) with some high intensity aerobics and weight training every other day!  My walks are with my dogs.. and I know they'd love to run, but my 14 year old husky can't anymore, so my other dogs and myself walk slow.. but 30 mins of walks are nice too no top of my workout!

I will calculate it out and work on it.. but I am assuming my lightheadness might be attributed to not 'eating' enough calories to supplement my workouts!

Thanks Joe!  Appreciate it lots!