Losing weight the second time around

runlong16

After high school I lost about 25 pounds and changed my body composition. I went from not being able to run a mile to doing half marathons and I've been exercising regularly for five years now. In the past year I've been having trouble adjusting to maintaining and not losing, and have gained back a few pounds recently. I'm trying to lose some of the weight the second time around, but it seems so much harder this time and I'm feeling really discouraged. I already fixed most of my unhealthy eating patterns, so there doesn't seem to be much low hanging fruit. I run about 15-20 miles per week and strength train 3-4 days per week regularly. My body composition is still fairly healthy. Lately I have added in SPIN twice a week and I've started logging my macros and calories again. The hardest part for me is being so active that I make my goals but then get hungry late at night from cutting calories. Any advice is appreciated.

GirlonBliss

Hi!

I really relate to your story.

I used to think that doing more exercise was the answer. One day, I saw a sumo wrestling tournament in Japan and overheard how they train - these huge guys train a lot by doing vigorous exercise and lifting these big guys, then eat (ravenously) and then sleep because they are tired from the workout and warm from the food.

I realized I had a similar pattern - I was exercising up to 2 hours a day vigorously (ice hockey, HII, weights, kick-boxing) anything to get a good sweat and make me feel like I was "putting in effort".

It wasn't until I did more low-stress exercise that involves more breathing, like yoga/pilates/walking, that my body got smaller instead of bigger. The weight started falling off.

Your body has two options when you exercise - use the fat on your body for fuel, or burn quick energy in the form of what you had just eaten or stored sugars (glycogen). The way you can tell that your body is using your bodyfat for fuel is by making sure you have calm breathing. If you are doing more exercises that are leaving you hyperventilating and ravenous, you're causing your body to be stressed and use the quick energy. So if you've ever gone home feeling short-tempered and like you can eat your arm off, you know you've overdone it. It's harder to have more cravings after calming exercises that still change your body than after intense ones.

Doing less might sound counterintuitive, but try picking the exercise that is geared towards the kind of body that you want. If you want a swimmers body - do swimming. Ballerina's body - do ballet. Strong thick thigh muscles - stick to spin. Better to be strategic instead of picking anything that will cause a burn!

Hope this helps

pungii69

GirlonBliss wrote: »

Hi!

I really relate to your story.

I used to think that doing more exercise was the answer. One day, I saw a sumo wrestling tournament in Japan and overheard how they train - these huge guys train a lot by doing vigorous exercise and lifting these big guys, then eat (ravenously) and then sleep because they are tired from the workout and warm from the food.

I realized I had a similar pattern - I was exercising up to 2 hours a day vigorously (ice hockey, HII, weights, kick-boxing) anything to get a good sweat and make me feel like I was "putting in effort".

It wasn't until I did more low-stress exercise that involves more breathing, like yoga/pilates/walking, that my body got smaller instead of bigger. The weight started falling off.

Your body has two options when you exercise - use the fat on your body for fuel, or burn quick energy in the form of what you had just eaten or stored sugars (glycogen). The way you can tell that your body is using your bodyfat for fuel is by making sure you have calm breathing. If you are doing more exercises that are leaving you hyperventilating and ravenous, you're causing your body to be stressed and use the quick energy. So if you've ever gone home feeling short-tempered and like you can eat your arm off, you know you've overdone it. It's harder to have more cravings after calming exercises that still change your body than after intense ones.

Doing less might sound counterintuitive, but try picking the exercise that is geared towards the kind of body that you want. If you want a swimmers body - do swimming. Ballerina's body - do ballet. Strong thick thigh muscles - stick to spin. Better to be strategic instead of picking anything that will cause a burn!

Hope this helps

This does not help at all and only cause misinformation. K thx bye

ilex70

Are you hungry first thing? For me it helps to delay eating until later in the day, bulk up meals with low calorie density food (mostly veggies) and save calories for the late night munching. It is fine to eat later in the day if that is when you are hungry so long as you keep your deficit.

runlong16

GirlonBliss wrote: »

Hi!

I really relate to your story.

I used to think that doing more exercise was the answer. One day, I saw a sumo wrestling tournament in Japan and overheard how they train - these huge guys train a lot by doing vigorous exercise and lifting these big guys, then eat (ravenously) and then sleep because they are tired from the workout and warm from the food.

I realized I had a similar pattern - I was exercising up to 2 hours a day vigorously (ice hockey, HII, weights, kick-boxing) anything to get a good sweat and make me feel like I was "putting in effort".

It wasn't until I did more low-stress exercise that involves more breathing, like yoga/pilates/walking, that my body got smaller instead of bigger. The weight started falling off.

Your body has two options when you exercise - use the fat on your body for fuel, or burn quick energy in the form of what you had just eaten or stored sugars (glycogen). The way you can tell that your body is using your bodyfat for fuel is by making sure you have calm breathing. If you are doing more exercises that are leaving you hyperventilating and ravenous, you're causing your body to be stressed and use the quick energy. So if you've ever gone home feeling short-tempered and like you can eat your arm off, you know you've overdone it. It's harder to have more cravings after calming exercises that still change your body than after intense ones.

Doing less might sound counterintuitive, but try picking the exercise that is geared towards the kind of body that you want. If you want a swimmers body - do swimming. Ballerina's body - do ballet. Strong thick thigh muscles - stick to spin. Better to be strategic instead of picking anything that will cause a burn!

Hope this helps

I appreciate the help, but running distance (which is what I do primarily) uses free fatty acids not anaerobic glycolysis, creatine phosphate cycle etc. so this isn't true. You also aren't considering that the type of exercise you do does not shape your body so much as people with certain body types are more adept for certain types of exercise. I appreciate the help but this is full of myths.

runlong16

ilex70 wrote: »

Are you hungry first thing? For me it helps to delay eating until later in the day, bulk up meals with low calorie density food (mostly veggies) and save calories for the late night munching. It is fine to eat later in the day if that is when you are hungry so long as you keep your deficit.

Thank you. I tried this yesterday and had a nice meal with lean meat and veggies about 2 hours before bed and then a couple boiled eggs and slept pretty well. Still woke up ravenous around 6am but at least I wasn't hitting the fridge for a full meal around midnight.

dragon_girl26

runlong16 wrote: »

After high school I lost about 25 pounds and changed my body composition. I went from not being able to run a mile to doing half marathons and I've been exercising regularly for five years now. In the past year I've been having trouble adjusting to maintaining and not losing, and have gained back a few pounds recently. I'm trying to lose some of the weight the second time around, but it seems so much harder this time and I'm feeling really discouraged. I already fixed most of my unhealthy eating patterns, so there doesn't seem to be much low hanging fruit. I run about 15-20 miles per week and strength train 3-4 days per week regularly. My body composition is still fairly healthy. Lately I have added in SPIN twice a week and I've started logging my macros and calories again. The hardest part for me is being so active that I make my goals but then get hungry late at night from cutting calories. Any advice is appreciated.

I have this problem a lot in the summer when I start cycling regularly, in addition to my other regular exercise routine. I do fine throughout the day but then I turn into the mad carb craving woman around dinnertime. Is it something specific you are craving, or just finding yourself really hungry? How many pounds are you looking to lose? If it's only a few (15lb or less) are you set to lose .5 lb a week? I'm asking because It might be that your deficit is too high otherwise, making you feel ravenous so much. Are you eating back exercise calories?
I like the advice above about waiting to eat later in the day. This is one of those cases where meal timing might actually help. For me, adding in more protein seems to help. Also, being so active, maybe upping carb intake as well?

runlong16

dragon_girl26 wrote: »

runlong16 wrote: »

After high school I lost about 25 pounds and changed my body composition. I went from not being able to run a mile to doing half marathons and I've been exercising regularly for five years now. In the past year I've been having trouble adjusting to maintaining and not losing, and have gained back a few pounds recently. I'm trying to lose some of the weight the second time around, but it seems so much harder this time and I'm feeling really discouraged. I already fixed most of my unhealthy eating patterns, so there doesn't seem to be much low hanging fruit. I run about 15-20 miles per week and strength train 3-4 days per week regularly. My body composition is still fairly healthy. Lately I have added in SPIN twice a week and I've started logging my macros and calories again. The hardest part for me is being so active that I make my goals but then get hungry late at night from cutting calories. Any advice is appreciated.

I have this problem a lot in the summer when I start cycling regularly, in addition to my other regular exercise routine. I do fine throughout the day but then I turn into the mad carb craving woman around dinnertime. Is it something specific you are craving, or just finding yourself really hungry? How many pounds are you looking to lose? If it's only a few (15lb or less) are you set to lose .5 lb a week? I'm asking because It might be that your deficit is too high otherwise, making you feel ravenous so much. Are you eating back exercise calories?
I like the advice above about waiting to eat later in the day. This is one of those cases where meal timing might actually help. For me, adding in more protein seems to help. Also, being so active, maybe upping carb intake as well?

Thanks for this post. I would estimate I want to lose 10 pounds, possibly less but I actually quit weighing for mental health reasons so I only go buy clothing/how I look/measuring tape. I honestly don't crave anything in particular and am willing to eat pretty much anything. I have my goal set to .5 pounds per week and can usually make the goal about every other day, but it's still difficult. The macros I go for are 30% protein 45% carbs 25% fat on net 2100 calories about 150-170 grams of protein and about 50 grams of fiber. I would drop it even lower but I don't think I would be able to. I also try not to eat back my exercise calories but usually end up doing so for cardio (I don't even log strength sessions for calorie purposes). If I could just sleep I feel like I could lose weight easily since I don't really mind being hungry when I'm awake, but for example last night I fell asleep normally but woke around 2 or 3am hungry and couldn't fall back asleep. I've looked into night time eating syndrome but it doesn't seem feasible since I still eat a regular breakfast. Any more tips for meal timing or anything else is much appreciated.