I'm a little lost. I've done calorie counting and it worked for me. I lost 30 pounds in 3 months. But, this was just with calorie counting (1650 a day) and doing dvd work outs like the Firm or Leslie's walking vids. Now I am doing Zumba for 1 hour for three days a week. I also want to try this program as well..http://www.youtube.com/user/BeFitin90/featured. Where I get lost is...how do I eat enough calories to cover what I burn doing the exercises but still eat healthy? I feel like I have to eat something fattening just to keep my calories up. Any ideas? Menus?

It seems like people are lowering calories and adding minutes to their exercise....how?

There is a device I can wear to measure how many calories I burn, right?

You CAN wear a device to estimate your average daily calorie burn, but you don't really need to (I say this having purchased and worn one myself for several months ). You can approximate that information yourself using a formula like this one: http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/heal...e-calories-bmr.

But, you don't need to eat back your exercise calories, even if you are or have recently upped your exercise level. If 1650/day seems too restrictive to you (i.e. you're very hungry on that intake level) then you CAN increase them and still lose, but you definitely don't HAVE to increase your intake. If what you've been doing is working for you, I'd keep doing it!

I thought you had to keep above 1200 calories?

I'm thinking I will try taking 1800 calories on the days I exercise and see what happens. Then do 1600 on the days I don't exercise.

Any opinions on that?

That seems reasonable. You can always adjust based on how you do after a few weeks.

Good luck!

The 1200 calorie 'rule' isn't and shouldn't be treated as an absolute, but it's a good general guideline. Regardless though, that number refers to total calories consumed - your actual intake - not net calories after exercise. I still eat 1200-1500 calories/day while exercising at a moderately intense level (6 days/wk); whether I eat 1200 or 1500 depends on my hunger level and food choices, not my exercise. My point is: you don't NEED to eat back exercise calories, but you can if you want. Whatever works best for you.

When I lost the weight the first time, I just counted calories and exercised but didn't even consider how many calories I was burning, so I see what you mean. I was just worried about not getting enough calories. Looks like I would need about 2300 calories just to maintain my current weight so even if I eat 1800 calories, its a 500 difference. So it could work. My problem lately has just been my choices in foods and not drinking much water.

Hubby adds a protein shake after a workout. The days he doesn't work out he doesn't do the shake. That way he's not adding a fattening/high calorie food to his meal plan, and he's putting back what he used during the intense workout.

Just a thought.