What works for you - to eat or not to eat?

I currently am eating mine, if I am hungry. I am only doing 1300 calories a day, and I have started doing spin class in preparation for bicycle season. There is no way I can only eat 1300 calories, burn another 4-500 in spin class and then expect to have any muscles left in my legs.

A word of warning, be careful how you estimate your calories burned, I use a good HRM and even then take the results with a grain of salt. Most exercise machines and calorie estimation sites are way too generous with their answers.

BTW, I am not exercising for weight loss, I am exercising for general fitness, and participation in a sport so I will slow my scale loss (Scale vs. Fat) by building muscle.

Terry,

I am curious....I like to bike but currently don't use a HRM. I have checked my HR at various levels and have a decent feeling of where I am at different paces. I use Loseit and another cycling calorie burning calc, but agree, they seem way generous. Since we are at similar weight, can you give an example of your caloric burn say at 14-15mph at 30 min times and 1 hour times using the HRM? Also, which HRM do you recommend? Thanks

I dont eat them back, I am eating around 1200 a day and burn between 400 and 800 5 days a week. I use a HRM (Polar Ft40) I am going on the basis that the extra calories I burn is fat. I am losing around 7 pounds a month so far....

Terry,

I am curious....I like to bike but currently don't use a HRM. I have checked my HR at various levels and have a decent feeling of where I am at different paces. I use Loseit and another cycling calorie burning calc, but agree, they seem way generous. Since we are at similar weight, can you give an example of your caloric burn say at 14-15mph at 30 min times and 1 hour times using the HRM? Also, which HRM do you recommend? Thanks

I would love to but can't, Spin cycles don't have speedometers and the resistance is variable so it is all about heart rate. But, with that said, in the last month my calories for a 45 minute class have ranged from 350 - 450. I can feel the difference after the work out, the higher the calories burned, the more tired my legs are.

As for a HRM, I use a Garmin forerunner 405 CX that I have had since 2009, but I will probably replace it with a Garmin Edge 510 in March. I use the Garmin because I love being able to track my courses and display them on a map. Polar also has a really good reputation in the HRM field.