calories in calories out

ok, i'm stupid and I just dont get this.  I've asked this before, sorry Ruth I know you explained it to me and I just didnt' get it.  so here I ask AGAIN????  walking for one mile workes out 90 calories, so if I take in 1200 caloreis, your saying I need to walk.... ??? sorry I can't figure it out, but that is a whole hell of a lot.  that isnt' goign to happen. I don't understand that whole concept.  can anyone explaine it to me?

It all boils down to how many calories you burn during exercise.  It varies depending on your weight and age.  Breathing, eating your food, showering, sitting and watching tv, each burns different amounts of calories.  If you were to sit around all day and do nothing, you would probably burn at least 1200-1300 calories, depending on your metabolism.

So, to figure out how many calories you would need to burn to "burn off" a certain food: 
As an example: let's say you burn 90 calories walking 1 mile and you eat a cookie that is 270 calories.  It would take you about 3 miles of walking to burn off that cookie.  (There are A LOT of variables though---your age, your metabolism, your weight, etc, etc, etc.)

I usually use the daily plate to log all my food and then I log whatever exercise I do (Let's say I walk 3 miles in 35 minutes.....the daily plate lets me put in my age and weight and it calculates how many calories I burned for that walk....it's just an estimate, but better than nothing).   I don't usually log sitting and stuff on there, but you can do that....even vaccuuming, dusting, etc...there are categories for almost everything. 

That's one of the reasons I love my gowearfit.  I wear it all day and then I can download it on my computer and it tells me how many calories I am burning sitting in front of the computer and when I am working, etc (even when I'm sleeping!!!)   Then, if I log my food totals in there, I can see if I was in a calorie deficit for the day (more calories burned than eaten....that's a good thing!!  lol)

That's pretty long winded.  Sorry.  Hope it helps a little bit.

I guess that is what i've been doing wrong all along, there is no way I can walk off the amount of calories I eat during the day.  I've been walking 2-3 miles a day and that is probably the sandwich I had for lunch??? who can do that? I know many of you exercise but I dont' believe you all work out 4 hours a day.

Different workouts burn different amounts of calories. I cycled for 90 minutes today, with tension, and that is, according to the machine, about 680 calories. My intake for today, including vitamins, is 745. So that would leave me with a net caloric intake of 65 . . . but we use calories to breathe, walk, everything we do . . . I am trying to figure out if I can exercise off my caloric intake in part because I am stalled already. The doctor suggested I up my exercise, so that's what I am doing.

If you go to My Oh, and then Health Tracker, you can put your food in there and your exercise. I am being computer lazy and trying to keep it all on one site, so I just do it here. It will also tell you how many calories you use just in life, based on your weight (and age?!?).