Okay..so I'm calorie counting with south beach and should I be at my total with NET calories or food? Also, I use an iphone app (lose it) and it calculates calories burned when I enter in my exercise....how accurate do you think it is? For example, I'm a housecleaner (not with a group of girls, just me and I clean whole houses by myself) and it says that, for instance, today, I cleaned for 4 1/2 hours straight (sweating the whole time but still seems high) and it said 876 calories burned????? I mean I work hard...ceiling fans, baseboards, floors washed on my hands and knees, showers scrubbed, literally,6 toilets etc... but it seems high, no?

Hi Kristen,

Wow, you work hard! I think your calories burned is certainly possible. If you use a few online calculators just to compare, say, walking on a treadmill @ 2 mph (not very fast!) for 270 minutes-- well, that clocks in in a range of around 750-830 calories, depending on the calculator and how much you weigh. And I think housecleaning is undoubtedly tougher!

Yes, Erin, I really do! LOL!!! I couldn't move last night when I got home but that's okay!!! Thanks for that, Erin! What about net calories? Do you guys eat to keep your NET calories at you calorie limit or not eat back what you burn?

When I was losing, I would try to eat back about 1/3 of what I burned. Now with maintenance, about 1/2-2/3. I always try to make it something healthy like fruit, nuts, protein shake, etc...except Friday night is a glass or two of wine.

I do not eat back my calories. I'm looking for a negative net on a daily basis, somewhere around 750 calories to lose 1-1/2 pounds a week. However, I'm not quite making it to 750 these days with my higher calorie allotment, closer to 500 - 600, but I'm still losing.

I don't eat back my calories. It never works for me-- not sure why.

That being said, if I work out and I am ravenously hungry later, I'll have a little snack, but I really, really try to avoid planning on eating back what I've burned.

Thanks for all of your input. I'll keep that in mind for sure!

Honestly that seems like a low burn to me. I wear a bodybugg, so I know what I burn during the day and when I work out. I just did the elliptical for 45 min and burned just shy of 600. Granted I am over 300 lb. But that just seemed low considering how hard house cleaning is.

That being said, my goal is to burn 2800 calories a day, and I eat 1800. Today I ate more, which meant I needed to burn more. I didn't hit my 1000 calorie deficit (which is my goal-2 lb lost a week), but I was close (I think 800 or so).

But I was starving after my workout so I just had a banana and pirate's booty.

Thanks, Melissa! I don't log anything like a bodybugg would track like how much I burn just being me. I try to do things over and above a normal day. Like I clean my own house every day for an hour but don't log it. Just exercise over and above. You seem to burn a lot!!!

Hey Kmac! I LOVE LOSE IT and have used it and been successful. I have a HRM that I use to enter my own calories burned since it is more accurate, but it certainly doesn't hurt to use what they have, it's been pretty close.

Ummmm, eating back calories. I DUNNO. It depends. So people on these forums (I have asked before) say they don't eat back their calories. I dunno though... It's about energy in and energy out. Jillian Michaels says you should eat back calories, otherwise you are not going to lose weight, ruin your metabolism, plateau, and feel lousy (Or SBD sick).

Example: I do a mix up of 1200-1500 calories a week. So 1200 for 5 days, and then 1500 calories for two days (never back to back). This is supposed to help your body not plateau.

I did two Bikram workouts today. Class one burned 655 calories. Class two burned 720 calories. My Cardio burned 439 calories. Therefore, I ate 1159 calories through natural peanut butter on celery, ff yogurt, beans, salads, veggies, tofu, quinoa, couscous, cabbage, sf fudgesicle, etc AFTER my calories deducted... Otherwise I would be negative calories. Sure, one day won't hurt you, but I worked hard to get my metabolism in gear so I can eat what I want.... I don't want to undo the hard work by NOT eating enough, ya know?

If I don't eat back calories, I would literally be in starvation mode.

I think the important thing is to hit your calories.

Since you have an ipod/iphone, I suggest going to podcasts and typing in Jillian Michaels. She has a new podcast, but her old podcast from a year or two ago is CHALKED FULL of useful information like this.

Most importantly, listen to your body. Sometimes, i struggle to get in enough calories, just Mondays though (Since it's my double Bikram Yoga day- once in the morning with a friend and once at night wiht my husband) and thereofre I get to eat some more "fatty" high calories foods. And by fatty, i mean nuts, hemp seeds, peanut butter, avocado, etc...

Hope this helps. Message me if you want. I do SBD and use LOSE it!

Thanks, Kim! Lots of informatin! I'll check out Jillian Michael's podcasts, too. My calorie target on loseit is 1509. Yesterday I didn't do anything (no work and no exercise) and I ate 1386...just not hungry. It said that if I wanted to lose 2 lbs per week than I can eat net calories of 1509. Seems HIGH to me but I'm starting there anyway. I'm not hungry most days. Saturday I ate 1631 but burned 554 so had a net calorie 0f 1077 which is still under 432. I don't know exactly how it's working yet as I only weigh monthly and I won't weigh until the 2nd week of April. But I feel good. Clothes are looser, etc.... Friday I ate 1215 (wasn't hungry) and burned 876 so my net is 340 ...1169 under!! If I was hungry I would have eaten back some of the calories but if I'm not, I'm trying not to force myself to eat. Ah...experiments!!!!! I'll know better what is working in April, I guess!!! Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it!!!

No problem Kmac! Counting calories is tough... i think if you are losing weight- that is good. But you want to make sure you are getting calories, etc.

1500 is actually sounds pretty correct. If you want to make a larger deficit then do an extra workouts.

Awesome, and good luck! I LOVE LOSE IT! I only have it on my ipod touch, but hope to get an iphone soon! I have tried the other programs and they suck! LOL This is by far the easiest one! Keep it up!

p.s. I swear in many of her JMichael's early podcasts, she talks about this alot, and specifically for people at your weight. You will love the podcast, learn a lot and feel super motivated! In fact, I may listen to them again! LOL