Diet works, worried about adding exercise!

Darrenmh316

I'm a 33yo male, 5'5 and 13 stone. I've been up and down with weight for a while but since being married I've generally been 13 stone for around 3 years. This is the biggest I've been though and at present the clothes I have don't fit and I'm loathed to go out and buy bigger clothes!!

I have successfully used MFP previously to lose weight simply by cutting down to 1,200 calories a day and over a period of months I've lost at least a stone. This time though I'm really struggling to get started and keep questioning what I want to do. I think I'm comfort eating as I'm quite an anxious person but I know if I put my mind to it I can limit myself to only 1,200 calories as I am persistent and once I see results I'll keep going.

However, I now live near a gym and I want to maybe go for a run on the treadmill each night or do weight training a couple of nights a week. My worry though is this isn't the way I've lost before so will it work? Is 1,200 to low to also do weights or run? Maybe I could eat 1,500 calories on the days I train and burn those extra calories at the gym? Does it work that way?

My main worry is putting in the extra effort at the gym only to have a negative effect and put my body in starvation mode or put on weight

Does anyone have experience, advise on that? Would it be better just to stick to eating less for now since I know that works?

Thanks!

Alyssa_Is_LosingIt

1,500 calories is the minimum a male should be eating, and you should be eating more than that if you're working out.

1,200 is too low. You will lose lean body mass eating that little. Did you put your stats into MFP? How many calories does MFP tell you to eat when you input your stats and your goals?

serindipte

1200 is too low, period. As a male, you should be eating at least 1500 minimum. 1200 is the low for females.

There is no such thing as starvation mode.

Exercise, weight training, will help you preserve lean muscle mass which is always a good thing.

Eat more, go for the weights. If you do aerobic/walking, you need to add those calories back in and eat at least half of them on top of the 1500 minimum.

Darrenmh316

It was 2012 when I was successful last time and I'm sure it said 1,200 calories then. This time I think it said 1,500 but I changed it to 1,300 as I thought if it was succesful in 2012 shouldn't I do the same again?

I'm worried if I eat 1,500 that's too much and I won't see results

sammyliftsandeats

Can I put something into perspective for you?

I'm a 5'3" female who weighs 10 stone 14lbs.

I eat 1750 calories a day.

I lift 4x a week so I need to fuel my body.

I am losing at the rate of half a pound a week (I have 10lbs to lose).

So can I ask why you're afraid to eat more?

You need to fuel your body appropriately or else you're going to lose muscle mass and may develop a host of other issues.

Darrenmh316

Its just one of those things. If I don't think its going to work I just dont start and continue to over think it. I remember being really succesful in 2012 on 1200 calories so anything over that seems like Im going to overeat and not be succesful so what's the point trying?

I can't get past thinking just do everything the same as you did in 2012 otherwise it won't work. And that means 1200 calories and no exercise. It's kind of all or nothing. So frustrating

sammyliftsandeats

darrenhughes5036 wrote: »

Its just one of those things. If I don't think its going to work I just dont start and continue to over think it. I remember being really succesful in 2012 on 1200 calories so anything over that seems like Im going to overeat and not be succesful so what's the point trying?

I can't get past thinking just do everything the same as you did in 2012 otherwise it won't work. And that means 1200 calories and no exercise. It's kind of all or nothing. So frustrating

Well, I think first...you need to get rid of that all or nothing mentality. I know, easier said than done. But you didn't put the weight on overnight so it won't come off overnight.

Rushing things and then not finding success is a recipe for disaster. While exercise is not mandatory for weight loss, there are plenty of people who lose weight just by sticking to a calorie deficit, it IS good for your health.

Think about putting petrol into a car for a long road trip. Are you doing to only fill it up halfway? You might get stranded on the road and get yourself in trouble. Fuel your body for the appropriate activity.

As a male, you burn more calories just simply living than a female does. Your body burns calories ALWAYS and I'm quite positive, at your current weight, you burn more than 1200 just living and breathing. So you're doing yourself a disservice by eating so little.

Ready2Rock206

If you're insistent on starving your body with only 1200 calories then definitely no to the gym or any working out. We don't want you passing out due to malnutrition while you're driving or at work or really at any time.

Rusty740

I was you!!

I am 39, 5'6" and was 175 lbs (12.5 stone) last year at this time. Now I'm still 5'6" but I'm also only 140 lbs (10 stone) and I'm going for a six-pack!!

What you want is to lose weight and feel great for years and years right? not just swing back up and gain the weight? Going on a too-restrictive 1200 calorie/day diet won't work. It will be horrible and you'll gain back more weight. Cut your calories down to 1750 or so and eat whatever you want. Don't exercise if you don't want to. Take your sweet time with this and you'll cut 40 lbs by next year. Weigh yourself everyday just to keep it in your mind, but don't be bothered when it goes up or down a few pounds over the days.

Slow and steady and you will win.

nomorepuke

Working out is not just good for your weight loss, but it's also very good for your overall health. I feel like you're in a yo-yo effect.
Once you start working out, you will fall in love with how it makes you feel.
Like everyone says, eating 1200 calories a day is too low for a man.

sijomial

You deliberately over-rode the minimum amount suggested by this site, that's not a healthy attitude. Put weight loss to one side for a minute and think about your health. Doing what you did once was daft - repeating it when it clearly didn't teach you how to maintain a healthy weight is a giant red flag for disordered thinking.

Stupidly low calories and no exercise is just about the worst way to lose weight to be frank. Are you actually trying to lose as much muscle as possible?

Skip the gym and go and see your GP instead would be my suggestion. You need to sort your head out before you harm yourself.

nomorepuke

sijomial wrote: »

You deliberately over-rode the minimum amount suggested by this site, that's not a healthy attitude. Put weight loss to one side for a minute and think about your health. Doing what you did once was daft - repeating it when it clearly didn't teach you how to maintain a healthy weight is a giant red flag for disordered thinking.

Stupidly low calories and no exercise is just about the worst way to lose weight to be frank. Are you actually trying to lose as much muscle as possible?

Skip the gym and go and see your GP instead would be my suggestion. You need to sort your head out before you harm yourself.

I wish someone told me this 10 years ago.

1fit_mamma

As previously posted, at 1200 calories you are under-fuelling and you will start to lose lean body mass. Unfortunately we don't generally have access to dexa-scanners to tell us so what is happening inside our bodies, but I guarantee you (based on basic physiology principles) that the stone you lost was not all body fat. Yes you were lighter, probably felt heaps better (because you did lose SOME fat and were generally lighter) but guess what, you're back here again so something obviously didn't work after the last weight loss. Were you strong, was your metabolism firing on all cylinders? We are naturally full of excuses as to why we don't keep the weight off (tough times, new job, illness, change in lifestyle etc) but how about looking at it from another angle- if you had lost a stone by properly fuelling your body, gained lean muscle, decreased your body fat %, and in the process gained a new perspective on healthy eating and exercise, would you be back here again? I've yo-yo'd all my life so I get the desire to do "what works", but sometimes what works isn't what is best- I increased my calories by 400 per day ages ago and feel great, don't feel like I'm on a diet and most recently I've lost 12lb's in 4.5 weeks. I've been doing TDEE - 20% for over a year now and always had great results, just working on the extra baby weight at the moment As said previously, you can definitely lose weight with diet alone, but exercise has amazing benefits and can often help you stick with a healthy diet for an extended period of time (ie-more than just a few months!). Of course there are medical marvels who are the 1 in 1million who buck basic science eg. Under 1500 calories for males, but are you really the 1 in 1 million or are you more like everyone else here who needs to follow the tried and tested method? Why don't you do a little experiment, do TDEE - 20% for 2 weeks, start exercising and see what happens? Remember weight on the scales won't always reflect body weight lost if you are lifting weights so even a moderate loss in 2 weeks for be an indicator of success.

This is the calculator that is generally regarded as the most accurate (unless anyone has another one?)

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Remember: if you are planning on exercising during the week, you must enter it in. That's had the TDEE method works, if you accidentally skip a workout during the week you can always reduce calories slightly to compensate but really it's not necessary, it all averages out in the long run. Sorry for the long post! I got on a roll...

TimothyFish

If I were you, I wouldn't try to lose more than 1% of my body weight per week, so about 1.5 lbs per week. But I also wouldn't go below 1,500 calories consumed. Without exercise, 1,500 calories would only give you a weight lose of 0.8 lbs per week. Which isn't necessarily bad. However, if you add in enough exercise to burn an average of 350 calories per day, that would put you up at the 1.5 lbs lost per week, if you don't replace the calories with eating. While I agree with the previous posts concerning the need to fuel one's workout, if all you are burning is 350 calories then you don't really have to worry about that. The human body store about 2,000 calories of glycogen, which it uses when you workout. It replenishes it more slowly than it uses it, but 24 hours is more than enough time for only 350 calories.