Eating too little due to 10,000 steps walking?

cuboids

Hi all

I'm currently halfway through Stage 2, feeling great, but wanted to check that my commute isn't having an impact on my progress.

I'm 5'3", 115lbs. I eat 1900 on non-workout days and 2200 on workout days. However, I walk to and from work, total 60 mins, and hit at least 10,000 steps every day. The step-tracker on my phone says this burns roughly 200 calories.


Should I adjust my calories to reflect this, or just enjoy the flexibility/additional weight loss the walking should give me? Will it affect my muscle growth/progress? Even 1900 seems like a lot after years of 1200 calorie dieting!

jo_marnes

Trial and error is the only way here. Personally I don't think weight loss should be your focus at your current weight, but you need to determine your goals and then monitor your progress towards them, adjusting calories and exercise as required.

cuboids

jo_marnes wrote: »

Trial and error is the only way here. Personally I don't think weight loss should be your focus at your current weight, but you need to determine your goals and then monitor your progress towards them, adjusting calories and exercise as required.

Thanks for the reply. You're right - weight loss isn't the goal, I'm aiming for body recomp. I think I'll carry on as I have been doing and adjust if I'm getting tired or struggling to make progress.

jo_marnes

Do you know your current body fat %? It's a good thing to know because then you can monitor change. As you lift, you will probably gain weight (not necessarily size) and the numbers on the scale can play havoc with sensibility (in my experience!). If you want to gain muscle, you'll need to be eating a surplus really, or at least maintenance, depending on your body fat %.

To give you some idea, I was 113lbs when I started lifting and recomping. Now I'm 125lbs but all my clothes still fit. My measurements have increased in some areas, but I'm ok with that because it seems to be muscle. I had my body fat % taken a little while ago (DEXA) and it came out at 20.8% which was pleasing. Note that my skinfolds body fat assessment had me at 16.9%, so depending on how you measure you need to allow for inaccuracies - it's more about monitoring change rather than actual %.

I spent a long time monitoring my intake and weight to work out my maintenance calories. It took probably 3 months of recording my weight every day (because mine fluctuates by up to 5 lbs depending on my time of the month!) and plotting it on a graph to work out whether I was gaining or not. This is time intensive but it has taken some of the guessing away. My maintenance is around 1900-2000 cals a day. Since feb, I have been eating approx 2200 cals in order to gain muscle. In that time, I have gained approx. 4 lbs but decreased my body fat by 1.6%. So, overall, I have gained mostly lean muscle if the numbers are correct. I am going to stay eating a surplus so I can gain more muscle - I will gain more fat too but I'm ok with that because my current body fat is at a good level. Later on, I will probably cut my cals a little so that I lose that extra fat and try to gain definition.

Sorry if that is confusing. I just wanted to point out that if you want to recomp it will take time, effort and dedication to the numbers if you want to avoid the guessing! But the results are totally worth it!!

cuboids

No idea on the bf% I'm afraid. I have always been quite "skinny fat" but feeling less so already (although this is probably just wishful thinking!). Getting it done sounds like a good idea so I have a number to work from.

I've been recording my weight every day so far too, mainly because the book says that your weight shouldn't change if you're losing fat and gaining muscle. I have fluctuations of 5lbs too, but overall I still weigh 115. Measurements have slightly changed, but only half-inches so far.

What are your thoughts on eating different calories on different days like the book recommends rather than working to a weekly total? I'm finding it hard to eat 2200 on workout days as my appetite is zero, but non-workout days/ the weekend I'm usually starving.

Thank you so much for your post! I've been putting off starting recomp for years now and you're right, it is tricky so far. But I want to try to go about it properly so your tips are very helpful!

jo_marnes

I guess you have to feed your appetite - I'm ok eating the same amount every day. Some days I'm really hungry, but tend to opt for lots of low cal options so I can eat more quantity but end up about the same calories