Not Eating Enough and Exercising

MistbornVin

I have a question in regards to the above. I have been doing cardio 3 times a week, totaling 2 1/2 hours a week, as well as weights twice a week for an hour each time. My body is physically getting thinner so much so that I've already lost a full pant size without losing weight. I've been bouncing within the same three pounds for quite some time now. The cardio exercise is pretty intense and I do get in and out of Vo2 zones 1 thru 4. This week alone I have a deficit of 6,353 calories, but sill have not lost anything. Is it possible that I'm not eating enough or too much considering how much I'm working out each week?

bwogilvie

It's hard to give specific advice without being able to see your diary, and I don't know which aerobic zone system you're using. Based on your post, though, there are a few possibilities, which are not mutually exclusive:

1. You may be overestimating the calories burned by your exercise. Whatever system you use to estimate it--MFP's database, a HRM, the readout on the machine you use--isn't foolproof. I have one HRM that reads nearly double the actual calories I consume when cycling (based on estimates of the actual work it requires). As a reality check, I'm a 180-lb. male and I burn about 9-10 calories per minute when bicycling at 17 mph on a flat road, with my heart rate around 140-145. When I drop down to 11 mph, my heart drops to 110 and my calorie consumption goes down to 4 per minute. MFP claims I'm burning over 15 calories/minute at 16-20 mph, which is ridiculously high. Unless you're doing intense circuit training, I wouldn't record any calories for weightlifting; just consider that part of your overall level of activity.

2. You may be underestimating your caloric intake. Are you using a food scale? It's all too easy to underestimate how much you eat, as a number of research studies have shown. (A couple examples: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16954358 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7072625) Do you religiously record every morsel you eat, even that 10-calorie dill pickle? Is your cook putting lots of butter and cream in the mashed potatoes without telling you? If you're eating prepared food, especially restaurant food, are the calorie counts reliable? One brand of bread I buy gives calories in a 40 g slice, but most slices are actually more like 44-48 g, 10-20% more than the label indicates. Casey Neistat's "Calorie Detective" video shows how many prepared foods give wildly inaccurate information on their labels: http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/02/12/opinion/100000002061153/calorie-detective.html

3. You may be retaining water due to the stress on your body or an increase in the amount of muscle glycogen you're storing (each gram of glycogen is stored with 4 grams of water, which is liberated when your muscles use the glycogen). This isn't likely to be the main factor over the long run.

4. Your metabolism may be on the slower side, or your gut's microbiome might be particularly efficient at extracting calories from food; MFP calculates its estimate of your caloric need by using averages, but if you're on the low end of the range, its recommendations will be off.

You're clearly seeing the results of exercise in terms of getting thinner, and I presume that you're also stronger and have more stamina than you used to have. In that case, I'd take a serious look at #1 and #2 and see if you can find the missing calories.

Good luck!

MistbornVin

The aerobic system I'm using is one that my gym offers and retests as often as I would like. It measures oxygen levels to tell how much fat, calories, sugar, etc. that you're using in each "zone". There are 5 zones. I can tell which zone I'm in by my heart rate. I've essentially burned fat without dropping weight......hence the pant size drop. With the calorie counting, I've marked MFP to place me at sedentary and I allow my fit bit to readjust the caloric intake based on my activity level. Without fitbit, I'm suppose to eat just over 1,500 calories. With the fitbit adjusting it, I'm usually getting roughly 1,750 calories on a non work out day. I do my cardio and weight training on the same day and end up eating roughly 2400 calories a day, partly because the weight circuit I'm on is intense for a female and I do record the weight lifting as extra calories on MFP. I've been known to drop 2-3 pounds the day after, but gain after a sedentary day of not being as active as the day before. I'm also a former weight watchers member and I've gotten into a habit, because of weight watchers, to notoriously track every morsel I eat. I'm also not a huge water fan, but on the days I do go to the gym, I can manage to drink 32 ounces of water that day while on the other days, I'm lucky if I get half that. I doubt that it's my metabolism. My body shape is a mesamorph. The last metabolic test I got, I was burning 2,600 calories a day just sitting.

jess6742

If you losing inches I don't see what the issue is. If you are feeling lethargic then I would up your calories since it seems like you workout quite a bit. Definitely drink a lot more water! You might have excess bloating and drinking more would help.

MistbornVin

The issue is that I don't like the number on the scale....LOL

meltedsno

Then don't step on the scale. Last time I weighed myself was at the end of June. It was also at that time I realized I had a big problem and it was time to do something about it... so as of July 1, I have tracked every morsel of food (including my daily gummy-vitamins).. I weigh/measure/count everything. I also walk a minimum of 5 miles a day/10,000 steps. I have dropped 2 clothing sizes thus far (I have a range of 4 sizes in my closet)... so I know I am losing weight. I am afraid to step on the scale and find out that I haven't lost as much as I think I did...so I decided to not bother with the scale. Once I fit into the smallest of the 4-size range i have hanging in my closet, I MAY choose to step on the scale at that time.

I used to weigh myself numerous times every day....moving my scale around on the floor, then taking it into other rooms trying to find the one "skinny" spot where the scale would reflect a greater weight loss,...amazing how a single ounce or two would make or break my day.

So this time, I decided to do things different and not become tethered to the scale.... let my clothes speak for themselves... and I am not relying on a stupid number to determine my mood for the day... has worked so far!

bwogilvie

If it's not your metabolism, and you're logging everything you eat accurately, then you must be overestimating your calorie burn from daily activity and exercise. If your weight is static over the long run, then you're eating as many calories as you're burning over the same period. The way to test this hypothesis is to lower your estimated calorie burn and see whether you start to lose weight.

One thing that occurs to me: if your gym is setting up zones based on your oxygen consumption, did they subtract your RMR (resting metabolic rate) from the calories consumed? If your RMR is 1800 calories/day, or 75 cal/hr, and you exercise for an hour at a level that burns 500 cal/hr, your net gain from exercise is only 425 calories. It's not a huge difference but if you exercise a lot, it adds up.