Food and Exercise

I wanted to start eating right and get active until recently I was over 13 stone I tried the south beach diet and lost weight but felt sluggish all day - I thought that I cannot live by cutting out carbs permenantly I needed to get a decent routine for both food and exercise


I am 31 and 5ft 9 and currently my weight is 175lb (Id like to loose the fat on my belly and chest)
I have been eating about 1200 Calories on average and also doing a 2.5 mile run (using runkeeper) I have been burning about 400 calories a day

Typical Day
08:00 1 x sachet porrage oats with golden syrup and semi skimmed milk 216 calories
10:30 1 x Apple 80 calories
12:30 1 x Homemade Ham sandwich with cold-slaw (wholemeal bread) 310 calories
15:00 1 x Apple 80 calories
17:00 8oz skinless chicken breast 80 calories Tilda rice 1 pack 288 calories

I have been drinking plenty of water over 2 litres daily

10 minute mile for about 30 minutes - 25 min total time - 400 calories (according to runkeeper)

I have enjoyed the runs although hard to do - I have set up a programme 2 min run and 90 sec walk repeating until I have done the circuit

Can anyone offer any tips or Ideas or am I going wrong somewhere I don't want to do myself any damage - I understand you are not really supposed to run everyday but I do enjoy doing it now and am afraid at the moment if I stop I will demotivate myself.

For starters, this is not enough food only about 1000 calories. A man should not eat less than 1500 Net (1500 plus eat back what you burn from exercise) to lose weight in a healthy manner. Another thing I would point out is there is a serious lack of veggies in your plan, you should have 5-7 fruit and veggies/day, most of which should come from the veggie side of the equation.

On top of the running I would also add strength training to the mix, as you may lose weight doing only running but some of what you lose will also be muscle. Try setting your goal to lose no more than 1 lb/week and incorporate strength training at least 2 times/week and make sure you eat back most or all of your exercise calories.

"For starters, this is not enough food only about 1000 calories. A man should not eat less than 1500 Net (1500 plus eat back what you burn from exercise) to lose weight in a healthy manner."

So if I run and burn off 400 calories and eat 1900 calories (1500+400) I should lose weight better than only eating 1000