In general, it seems most people stick to 1000-1200 calories per day, and so do I. Is this while working out? I'm doing one hour of cardio plus some weight training every day. You'd think the weight would be pouring off, but it's not. Should I be eating more because of the workouts?

I would review the type of calories before lowering them. I would'nt call myself a low carber but then I don't eat bread or crackers, and very little starches. How may grams of protein are you getting per day?

I'm still working on the carb thing. I don't eat a lot, but I don't scrutinize them either. If I eat bread, it's whole wheat (maybe 3 times per week). I don't do sugars or rice, and I eat whole grain pasta about once a week. I get a minimum of 60 grams of protein a day. I aim for more but it doesn't always happen. I also started increasing my water to at least 64 oz a day.

I've always heard that if you're working out you need to eat more to lose weight. Just curious if anyone does that or sticks to the 1000 calories.

If you're working out, increase your calories, and try to eat protein 30 minutes before working out, then a little bit within 15 minutes of working out. And do your weights first, then cardio. And if you can do more than eight reps with your weights, they're too light. It truly can be beneficial to hire a personal trainer (look for someone with the body you want) for a session or a week (3 sessions). They can teach you a lot about technique. Especially those who compete professionally.

When I told my Nut. that I often have long periods of time between lunch and dinner; and that work out in the middle she approved having a low carb/fat/cal protein shake. So sometimes I have a premier ready to drink shake before working out; it has 160 cal, for 30 g of protein.

Ask your dietitian what you calorie intake should be for your body style (weight height and age) that helped me and work harder in the gym

What do you do and how hard do you work out? Its fantastic to have a workout routine, but the brutal truth about exercise is this - if you arent pouring sweat and completely stuffed at the end of it, its not going to have burned astronimical calories - no matter WHAT the counter on the elliptical machine says. To burn a lot of calories, you do need intensity, which also triggers hormonal responses in your body to keep burning fat long after the workout finishes. If you're following the old work in your fat burning zone method, you wont be burning a lot. And when you stop, so does the calorie burning, your body returns to normal straight away.

If you're pushing hard and not losing, then maybe calorie adjustment is worth playing around with, patience is also a virtue as if you've got calories in less than calories out, eventually you're going to lose. It sounds like youi're doing the right things, so its probably just a waiting game.

Thanks everyone!

I run on the eliptical for 30 mins and I definitely feel like I'm losing 5 lbs of sweat while doing it. I also powerwalk/jog on the treadmill for 30 mins. That's less intense, but still keeps my heart rate around 170-180. I recently added weight training (in fact I can barely move my arms right now! ouch!). I met with a trainer at the gym and he seems to think I'm on the right track... I guess the only thing I can do is give it some time and see how it goes.

A good thing to note is the calorie tracker on machines are not accurate. I have a polar heart rate monitor with a chest strap that measures my heart rate (obviously) but tells me exactly how many calories I burn based off of my heart rate and weight and height. I love it (and love the fact that I had to tighten the strap...lol). I usually burn for 30 min on the elliptical about 400 calories. I need to add back on the weight machines. Depending on how many calories I burn I am going to try to eat more calories if needed. If I eat to little I don't lose