It's Diet AND Exercise -- You Can EAT Those Extra Calories!

Well, we're full-bore into our cutting diets now . . .

Shaving 500 calories a day out which equals about a pound a week.

I could move faster but I'd lose muscle in the process and I've spent way too much time and energy packing it on to shave it back off.

What I notice more than anything is how important the exercise is during this time.

There's the obvious -- burn more calories = lose more fat.

But there's more.

Burn more calories = eating more.

That's right. Without burning calories in the gym with the weights and the cardio, I would stay hungry.

Right now, I'm off to the gym. I've already eaten Meals 1 and 2 and that means I've already eaten 629 calories. Doesn't sound like much but my metabolic rate gives me 2000 calories today. My diet plan shaves 500 calories off that, leaving me 1500. It's 10:30 in the morning and I've already eaten over 600 of those, leaving me just 870 calories for the rest of the day!

Not enough.

Enter exercise.

At the gym, I'll knock off about 350 with my weight training, and another 350 or so with cardio.

That's 700 more calories -- that I will eat and still make my diet plan.