When I started TF my heart rate was always in the high 170s (I weighed 240ish at the time). As I got better and lost weight, it now stays in the high 150s, and pushes up to about 165 when I am doing Fire drills. I notice that I recover from the intense workouts so much faster though. I don't think it is bad for you to be in the 170's.

As far as calories, I am shooting for 1500/day (mfp says I should eat 1260 before exercise) so I guess that means I eat back a portion of my exercise calories. I have lost 30lbs in the last 3 months with TF so I think it is working!

Since I was lifting and trying to gain some muscle, I was eating 2000 calories/day period. I didn't worry about calories burned or eating back, I just ate 2000 calories and besides initially gaining 2 lbs maintained through the rest of the program.

lol I dont really know, i think she believes in the whole fat burning zone thing. She also thinks that having your heart rate too high for too long produces results exactly opposite of what i want....

lol i don't see her anymore its just something she said that has been stuck in my head

The thing is, your HR will go up during turbo fire and burn intervals and burn it off, but not really during the strength videos. My HRM tells me what "zone" I"m in, and you need a certain % of the high heart rate zone minutes per week---doing too much in one day should be no problem, you just need to balance it during the week. And you will know when your HR is too high--when mine gets around 160-165 I definitely slow it down for a few seconds to make sure I'm in check. You will achieving this balance during CLX because some days are all strength, a few are all cardio.

I eat at a maintenance level, around 1500-1600 and then definitely add my exercise calories in--so that could be 250-500 calories depending on what I'm doing that day. Sounds like you are probably on target with your calories--you probably will average 1600-1700 with your exercise calories added in....