am i going about excercising and weight loss the wrong way?

Hi everyone

Im at a bit of a loss. I want to lose 10 pounds and have been working out cardio(reaching fatburning heart rate) for about 5weeks now - 30min cardio 7 days a week and weight training 3-4 times a week with no weight loss or improvement so far.

My diet I feel may be the problem. I have read through alot of posts now and finally figured out what I was doing was wrong..  i used to have cereal for breakfast, and because i work i only used to eat a small muesli bar for lunch then dinner i used to only have a small salad.. so only eating like 300cals a day- thinking i would lose weight!

if i up my calorie intake to say 1200 a day and because i am burning in the gym aroun 300cals each day, should i start to see results quicker?

what are your thoughts coz im getting desperate!

I would up-it even more - depending on you height aim for 500-800 cals less then you burn in a day. Use the calculator on this site to work it out. You should also have a couple of 'rest' days each week. Give it a couple of weeks and let us know the result!

There's no question that eating 300 calories a day will not only stop real (ie lasting and healthy) weight loss, but is dangerous to your physical and mental wellbeing.  You don't only need calories to balance with your exercise, but just with those simple functions like breathing, keeping your heart beating, keeping your organs working properly, and so on.

You didn't put your weight and height, but the fact that you want to lose 10 pounds suggests that you are somewhere near your target weight, so upping your calories even higher than 1200 and exercising will give you much better results.  The last few pounds are always the hardest to lose, so don't be discouraged if the rate is slow - a pound or even less per week is perfectly healthy at the end of a weight loss trek.

Good luck, and keep healthy.

Edited to add:  Sesoz jumped in before I did, so I'll just agree with those sentiments too.

Hi

thanks so much for your speedy replies! i agree that 300 calories was stupid- blame it on wrong information and me not putting in effort to prepare/bring food to work (i work long hours)

I am 5"2 and a very petite frame naturally.. my normal weight is about 110pounds and i weigh 120pounds... i have only gained weight, not lost anything so now am wanting to lose the 10 pounds and get back to my natural weight.

before i gained the weight i had a poor diet (didnt eat regularly/would eat candy for lunch and then skip diner) and didnt exercise.. 

i will take your advice and up my calorie intake (the calorie counter rec. i eat 1300 cals a day to meet my goal) and continue the exercise (im addicted now!) and hopefully have good results..

weird how by eating more you lose weight *lol* strange how the body works!

I may be wrong in saying this, but I am trying to lose weight and all I am doing right now is cardio. I do a little bit of toning exercises because I need to lose my body at first and then I will work on toning my arms,legs, etc. Some people do it differently but I guess if you'r trying to shed fat, cardio is the best....you prob havent seen a change because prehaps your're gaining muscles.

have you measured yourself?  you may be putting on muscle, there by loosing inches and not weight

and 300 is DEFINATELY way too little cals.

I have posted this before but I will again...  Youneed to do some weights!!  Lifting weights (even light ones) boosts your metabolism and keeps it going for hours after.  THEN you do your Cardio!  You should only be in the gym for an hour to an hour and a half when you go.  30 minutes on the weights and 30 to 45 minutes on the cardio!!  I have a personal trainer friend that gives me tons of tips.  Doing the weights helps you burn more during the cardio.  Since I have been using these tips i have noticed that I am losing more and toning much better!

also, if you are burning 300(+?) cals in the gym every day, your intake should be closer to 1500 than 1200.  you could think of 1200 as your "leftovers" since this is the number of cals you need to have floating around in your body to run your bones and organs.  after you make sure your bod has 1200 cals to play with, *then* you start thinking about matching your intake to your outgo.