What would I be???

I was wondering if you could all help me.  I'm starting over again to get some more weight off and I don't know what activity I should use. 

A little history----Three years ago I lost 100 lbs--restricting to 1200 calories and 1 hour, if not more a day of exercise.  I've always read that you should go no lower then 1200 for a female.  Well of course the weight literally flew off and then nothing.  I maintained alright for about a year--more calories but not really counting but then all of a sudden, another year goes by and I'm up 20 more pounds??  I want to do this right once and for all and I have about 40 more pounds that I want to shed!!  I'm not looking for skinny--just "normal", whatever that is!!!  My stats are I'm 5'10- 5'11, female, 33 years old and 204 as of today.  I exercise anywhere from 300-600 calories a day (according to my HMR) and I've been eating around 1600.  Then do I have to eat back some of those calories?? 

I only log (in my own journal) my exercise, not the normal everyday stuff.  That said, I'm a stay at home mom of a 4 year old and a 7 year old.  I do all the normal mom things and all of the house stuff because of my husbands schedule (he works about 90 hours a week!!)  I'm most always doing something--housework, running the kids to school, helping out at school, walking the dog and all of that.  Of course, there are days that are less hetic and I do get to surf the net for awhile or watch a little tv but for the most part I'm busy.  What is that then??  Sedentary?  Light?  Moderate?   I really would like to do this the right way and actually be able to eat more then 1200 since I'm 5'10-5'11!!!  Any help would be appreciated!!  Thank you!!

There are a couple of ways of figuring this.

1. Set yourself as Sedentary and log your exercise, then take the total and subtract 750 calories (in order to lose 1.5 pounds a week, your deficit should be about that) and that would be your daily calorie limit.
2. Set yourself as Moderate (you are working out, plus with two kids you're not sitting on the couch all day either), and then subtract the 750 calories and you have your calorie limit. 

Hope this helps!

Thanks for your reply!  I guess I'm okay then with the 1600 eating plan.  It's around 1600-1800 give or take I guess!  Some days my head goes back to that 1200 calorie "rule" and I feel like I'm over eating and then other days it's like my son says--mommy you're a giant!!!  So I feel like I should be able to eat more and still weigh less!!!  Thanks again for the help!!

No problem!  I tried 1200 at first too, even at a mere 5'6.5" it's not enough.  When I zig zag my calories I tend to get closer to 1200, but I know that there's a higher day coming and it's not so bad. 

Good Luck!

You could probably easily lose weight on 1800, even. I'm the same height as you, and at your weight, I was burning approx. 2500 a day (2kish sedentary burn + 2 hours of walking), sometimes more. Whatever is easier for you to maintain without feeling like you're going nuts is really what will probably work. It's much easier to lose weight when it's sustainable over a long term.

You are absolutely not sedentary.  Before adding exercise, you are likely somewhere between lightly active and moderately active.  So, I'd say you should probably either set yourself as "lightly active" and add your exercise (but don't let your deficit get as high as 1000 cals because this is probably a slight underestimate) or set yourself as "very active" but not log the exercise.  Based on your stats, I think you should be able to lose weight eating about 2000 (carefully counted) calories/day.