Is there really such thing as “not eating enough”?

kmaf2018

Hi all

I’ve been IF for the past 5x weeks and am enjoying it, not for the weight loss though as I still track all my foods on MFP! However, my weight has literally fritted between 11st 8lb and 11st 10lb in the 5 weeks, like I’m not losing weight consistently. In that 5 weeks I have massively increased my exercise where I now workout 6/7 days as opposed to the 3/4 I did prior to 5 weeks ago! And whereas before my workouts were 30mins long, they now range from 30-55 mins, I do the LesMills on demand and try to stick to the schedule of 3x cardio, 2x strength, 2x hiit sessions per week.

My fitbit says I burn approx 250-500 calories (depending on the workout), my daily calorie goal is 1200 and in the week I will stay more towards the 1200 goal and at the weekends I do eat more but again its all logged! I’ve even gone back to weighing everything again and reinputting my recipes to ensure I’m doing it correctly!

My question is shall I maybe up my daily calorie goal from 1200 to say 1400 or something like that? Or is my body still adjusting to the extra workouts? I did my TDEE last week and it came out as 1886.

Thanks

jgnatca

I think the extra exercise is putting your body in to repair mode and your tissues are temporarily swollen.

As your muscles adapt you should see the weight start dropping again.

Even though you have increased your activity quite a bit your variety should be enough to give your muscles time to rest and recover.

TavistockToad

you're probably retaining water from the extra workouts, i would just keep doing what you're doing. if you're weighing and measuring accurately, you should be in a deficit.

sijomial

"I have massively increased my exercise" probably means that "Or is my body still adjusting to the extra workouts?" is probably true.

Are you feeling sore? Fatigued?
(If you are then an active rest/recovery day or two may help you.)

To answer the "Is there really such thing as not eating enough”?"
Well clearly that's a yes (starvation not the mythical starvation mode) but I assume you mean not eat enough and see a stall of your weight loss.
Yes in the short term as it can add stress to the stress from your exercise, raise cortisol levels and encourage retention of water which masks underlying fat loss.

The basic premise of if you do more you should eat more is sound, whether that's following the MFP method or recalculating your TDEE as you have done.
Getting the most out of your exercise routine does mean fuelling it properly as well as recovering properly - you might want to consider if 6/7 times a week is right for you at this time. Most well designed programs have a steady and progressive ramp up in intensity and volume as opposed to a "massive increase".