I understand those reasons, but I'll say that calorie restriction by itself can leave the body undernourished, especially on exercise days.

I used the LoseIt! app mentioned earlier religiously for six months and cut thirty pounds without feeling like I was starving. It recommends fewer calories as you get lighter, so my intake allowance has dropped from nearly 2000 down to the mid-1700's now. But, it "credits" (for lack of a better term) calories for the exercise you're doing -- so if you do about 700 calories' worth in a workout, you can add another 700 to your food for the day. It's got a big selection of common physical activities, and it counts the calories for each session depending on time and your body (age, gender, and weight). If you don't work out that day, you just don't eat as much.

The result is that I'd eat an average of 2500 calories or so on exercise days. I've seen guys try to stick with 1500-calorie diets plus working out and they have a hell of a time because they feel so starved. I try to tell them later that they're just wrecking themselves -- their bodies are actually trying to operate on only a few hundred calories a day, which is all that's left over after burning energy for all that exercising. They don't get in any better shape, and they don't gain any more strength or endurance.

The app focuses on calories, so you run the risk of still being badly nourished if you continue eating the wrong stuff in smaller amounts. But, read between the lines, and you realize that you can either have a couple bags of chips, a Snickers bar, and a Gatorade to fill your daily budget, or you can have full meals of veggies, fruits, and some lean meat for the same amount of calories.

Still, when it comes down to it, calories are calories, and if your body doesn't get enough from food, it gets them from stored fat. Good foods help you gain strength and cut fat a lot quicker.

I've never had as much gum in the past as I have over the past year. I think it helps a lot, too.

The only beers I have in the house now are either Bud 55 or MGD 64. Heavier beers now make me feel like I'm spackling myself in extra weight.

Ah, one other thing that's helped me lately --

My girlfriend and I split meals when we go out -- not just the check, but the plate, too. She does it because it's fun (yes, we're THAT couple, the one whose cuteness makes you gag.. lol), but we also end up eating reasonable portions of whatever we've ordered. A 1500-calorie entree (which is midrange among restaurant food) becomes a decent amount for normal people.

iphone snobs.. pffff

Best thing about LoseIt is that it works without a data connection, so it'll run on an iPod touch, too.

Losing weight is fairly easy - keeping it off is the real trick. Back when I was regularly training/racing I literally couldn't eat enough to maintain. I was just over 5'10" tall, weighed 148 pounds and had the resting heart rate of a corpse on downers. When I quit riding in the early 1990s, I started to steadily gain weight. I took up cycling again in April 2009 after I'd ballooned up to 214 pounds. Thanks to cycling, cutting out the junk/processed food and religiously tracking my diet at www.livestrong.com, I'm down to 159 pounds and my resting heart rate is less than my age (I'm 55).

What I learned: You can't just diet - you have to change your lifestyle. You need to think of your body as a machine with food being your fuel and exercise as your maintenance. At least that's what works for me.

Finishing the 1st grade probably helped me the most.

Glad that works for you. I don't like so-called "ultra-light" (very low alcohol) beers - I find that I drink too many of them in a vain attempt to catch the same satisfying buzz I get from a couple of higher calorie Bud Lights or my favorite cheap light beer: Keystone Light.

Hey, is Jillian Michaels hot or what?

Count me as another user and believer of https://www.livestrong.com. I lost 42 lbs to get down to 161 lbs two years ago, but returned to school (plus being active duty Navy and raising a family), quit running/cycling and ballooned up to 196 lbs. After completing school and some work related travel I decided to start running/cycling again. As of today I am down to 171 lbs and pretty happy where I'm at right now. The real trick now is eating enough to maintain the weight I'm at. I need to eat around 3000 calories daily and that's before taking into account my calories burned through my workouts. I could easily eat 3000-4000 calories a day, but part of my "lifestyle change" is changing my diet as well and eating healthier. I still have an occasional snack such as cheeseburgers (had them for dinner last night) or ice cream, but the difference is moderation and not eating them every day.

Hills is where it's really made a difference. I feel like a mountain goat now. Every hill I pull away from the group and am coasting at the top waiting for them. I like that (fitness) feeling!!!

It works! :-)

I did the same. I went from ~165 to 149 using Loseit on my iPhone. I love it.

Ah, that's the difference -- I don't drink it for the buzz, I just drink it for the flavor. I also think it's healthier than the cans of Sprite I have in the fridge for my gf. If I want a buzz from alcohol, there are much quicker and less bloating ways to get it.

I have the same problems when it comes to counting calories or counting a caloric deficit to be more exact. I wrote my own diet application which helps me track all my calories consumed and the percentages of proteins to carbs to fats. Apparently this is as equally important as the amount of calories consumed when it comes to buring fat. I used the zone diet with some success. It suggests a ratio of %40 carbs, %30 protein, % fat (good, non saturated fats, omega 3s etc).

The problem is determining calories consumed. There is really no way of accurately determining that without some highly sophisticated lab setup.

I don't get your point. Weight loss is by definition restricting calories to below those which your body uses -- that's the only way it happens. You have to cheat your body out of a few calories every day -- even on exercise days. BTW it is better to do a moderate amount of physical activity daily than zero on some days and insane amounts on others.

If you don't track your exercise calories, then how do you know how much to eat and still keep your defecit managable on huge volume days? I mean, I ride a lot. Last week, for example I did 12,000kJ. Some days were less, and some days were more. Saturday was a race, and was nearly 3,000kJ. You have to account for that somehow.

god i hope this is a joke. she has bigger man parts than anyone here im sure. her jaw line, well lets just say its defined. if a dude got breast implants, grew his hair out and shaved his face, well Jillian Michaels would still look like she was on more testosterone than the other.

Yes, it was a joke. (Glad someone noticed!)

I'm also a hardcore LoseIt user. My appetite has balanced out now since I dropped 250 calories per day. I net 1500 calories a day. Exercise or not. I'm more aware of what those calories are coming from and WHEN I eat them.

I have a mild bridge climb on the way home. It's about 200m. My energy levels for a sprint over it are consistent now where before it was a sit down hammer n' heave.

What works for one will not work for all, but you ARE what you eat- and when.

If you drink for the flavor, then why even bother with MGD 64 or Bud 55? Watered-down light beer doesn't have much in the way of flavor IMHO. You're actually better off diet-wise drinking higher-octane beer in lower quantities.

+1 to what umd said. If the plan is to eat 1700 per day, then you exercise 1500 calories' worth (not impossible, even on a bike), your body's gonna freak out and edge into starvation mode. The muscles you've just worn out won't have any fuel to rebuild, so they're going to suffer, too.

If you think of it as net calories, then that's cool. The LoseIt app, for example, makes a baseline assumption of daily calorie usage, figuring that just spending time at the office and doing regular stuff will burn x amount of calories. If you eat only that much, but still exercise well, you'll hit a daily calorie deficit of up to a thousand calories at a time, and that's just not sustainable. Trust me, I've tried that, and it sucks.

Meh. What am I going to do, drink a quarter-bottle of Guinness? Or do I go to the bar and pay the equivalent of eight MGD 64s (the corner grocer sells it for $10/18 cans) for a shot of beer?

I agree! Great simple program that works!

big +1 on Lose It! for iphone/touch

Wow. Sure glad I don't live in D.C.

Keystone Light sells for under $8 for a 12-pack of 12 oz cans here on the south side of Red Stick. At 104 calories a 12 oz can, that's a lot more flavor (and buzz) than higher-priced MGD 64 or Bud 55 IMHO.

FYI - I don't drink coffee without a buzz, either.

get a ipod touch if you're too cheap for an iphone.