Less than you have been eating.

Sorry if that sounds glib but it's the straightforward fact. I assume from the question that you have an idea what that amount is. Just don't reduce it so much that you starve yourself. You could follow the 10% rule as with increasing your run distance.

I've been using myfitnesspal, which has me on 1,200 a day. I don't think I can go any less than that!! I'm thinking this is too low?

What were you eating before myfitnesspal? It needs to be less than that. Did you gain 8 lb eating 1200 calories or am I reading it wrong?

1200 calories!! Thats just plain crazy! To achieve that you are going to be starving yourself and innevitably at some point having a melt down where you end up gorging on the wrong food. The key is a little and often. A good breakfast of oats/porridge is a perfect way to start your day and really helps to keep your levels of satiety/hunger at a moderate level for the rest of the day. I believe that you should be taking on board 2800-3000 calories a day and I also think that you should google 'leptin' and the types of foods that stimulate leptin receptors as this is a very important hormone releted to the storage of body fat. Good luck and more importantly, be more careful about the quality of what you eat rather than the quantity.

Sorry, typo... I weigh 162lbs now not 167!!

I haven't a clue what I ate before, my meals have always been healthy, it was the crisps and wine in between that we're a problem, but I've stopped that so I'd say I've reduced my calories by around 6- 8 glasses of wine (about 150 cals a glass) and all snacks!

I'm sure I shouldn't be going under 1200?!!

OK. So you're not actually using the 1200 calorie a day plan yet.

Why not start by working out what you are actually consuming? You have already identified a couple of issues and worked to remedy them.  If you keep a food diary for a couple of weeks and log the calories, you'll get a good idea about what you are actually eating and the easy ways to cut it down. Just the process of logging eberything you eat will probably help you to cut down. The fact that you have cut out the wine and the snacks and still gained 3 lb in a week indicate that there must be other opportunities.

It seems so wrong to just pluck a figure out of the air and say "that's how much you should eat" without having any baseline data to work from.

I thought it sounded low Jon!! I've just calculated it using the calculator on here.... I think it should be around 2400 on the days I run, a couple if hundred less on the days I don't? Does that sound more realistic? I think 1200 is setting me up to be a yo yo dieter and I don't want that!!! What about running every day? Do you need a rest day when you run around 5k tops at a time? Or can you just have one rest day in the week?

For the last week I have eaten 1200 a day... And I've put on 1.5lbs. I didn't pluck the figure out of air, I put all my stats into the app and that's what it set my calories at?  I was a bit dubious when it was so low!! I don't really know what else I can do, I don't eat meat, but I do eat fish, I eat plenty of veg/ fruit, I don't by convenience meals, everything I eat is fresh! I don't eat sweet things. The only think that could be wrong is my protein intake maybe too low and carbs too high?

I'm confusing myself now with how much I've put on!! I was 161 lbs after Christmas,now 162.5.... My maths,sorry!!

Well I dont have a sports science degree and nor am I a qualified nutritionist but I have read a bit on the latter and there is plenty of good advice on this site regarding programmes geared up for runners of all levels. My advice would be to think about what your running goals are and find a programme to suit. Running everyday at the moment sounds a little over keen to me. Just remember that your body might not quite be ready to do what your head wants it to do so dont go burning yourself out early in the week and end up with dissappointing and disheartening results in the latter part that could harm your motivation.

Clearly you want to do this, so I would say any advances should be done in moderation and eeked out a bit more week by week as and when you feel able.

As for the diet, try and break that 2400 down into 6 meals a day of 350-450 calories a piece for six days a week and then have a day a week when calories arent counted but you should still eat good food not the bottles of wine and packets of crisps that you managed to swerve all week.

Clwydians suggestion of a food diary is a good idea to give you a ballpark figure of where you are now, and where you can go from here.

Not suggesting you plucked the figure out of the air, I was referring to the app and the 1200. You are doubting the app yourself so dump it and start again.

Go with the diary and work from there. It's the only way to establish what is really going on.

Have a look at your calculations again though as it seems unlikely that you would put weight on consuming only 1200 calories a day. If I did that I'd waste away in no time.

I've been running since around last April/May. Started Cto5k, did a Race for Life in 37 mins, moved onto Bridge to 10k, did Leeds Abbey dash in October in 1.15. I have been going running 3-4 times a week upto about 2 weeks before Christmas, where I just got too busy and cut down to maybe 1-2 a week. My plan after Christmas was to do another 10k, which I've entered for March, but I also wanted to lose at least 1 stone before race date because I want to improve on the 1.15 that it took me last time.  So, I've started a running for weightloss program on RunKeeper and I've stuck to it... I've started interval training as part of that and I also do runs of 35-40 mins, according to the plan. I've stopped drinking, stopped crisps. If I up my calories to 2100-2400 it will probably take me back to what I was having with crisps and wine!! Hmmmm...

Sorry Clwydian, I didn't intend to come across as snappy or anything, I think my body's got itself in a mess!!! I didn't realise how much wine or crisps I was eating until I wrote it all down!! Maybe I'm being a bit impatient, but I thought the loss if calories just through stopping those two bad habits and the running alone would show some sort of result let alone half starving myself!! Thanks for all your advice both of you :)

It takes time buddy 2 lbs a week is as much as you should loose