Hitting the Wall

candylilacs

I don't know if it's physically, psychologically or emotionally -- but after 10 weeks, I have hit the wall.

I lost two pounds this week, but I didn't feel good about it. I worked out hard, restricted calories but feel that it wasn't worth it for two pounds. I would have had a much happier week losing just one pound and eating a few tacos. I'm tired, irritable, unhappy and feeling restricted.

My personal trainer has really kicked up our sessions a notch and I find myself much more breathless, something I'm not used to and kind of freaks me out (I used to have allergy attacks as a kid and not being able to catch my breath is kind of a cause for panic.) I'm not afraid of hard work, but this is worrying me because I have chest tightness -- this may be my lungs expanding, heartburn or my heart working really hard. It also takes me about two days to recover from a session because I'm exhausted and I feel nauseous. I haven't felt this badly since I've been training.

I'm trying to figure out why it's such a grind and I think I need to eat more calories, so I'm adding 300-500 to the mix in hopes it helps my body and me move ahead. My job started, I'm on baby-making hormones, and there's definitely more stress, but I hope the added calories may help me be less exhausted and cranky. I also talked with my trainer who said she was listening to me, but had her frowny-face on so I don't know how much she understands that this is a problem for me rather than fat-girl complaining. (She even agreed I need 200-300 calories more a day, but I tend to decide my diet on my own.)

Has anyone hit this point in their diet and exercise routine? If so, how did you get out of it? Is there a way out of it?

MoreBean13

YES. It's time for a diet break. 10-14 days at maintenance Here's a copy/paste from the blog I wrote about the process:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MoreBean13/view/reflections-on-maintenance-diet-break-427880

I just completed a 10-day maintenance diet break, and I have some reflections to share.

First- why I opted to do this:
1) I have been at a pretty constant deficit for almost 6 months. I have occasional spike days, some planned, some not- but I don't do a weekly cheat day or anything.I could tell my weight loss was starting to slow down. Since about the 6th week of my diet, my weight has followed a pretty predictable schedule, but recently something was 'off'. Never hit a stall or a plateau (yet) but I could tell it was coming.
2) I started feeling tired, sore, and like I was catching a bit of a cold recently. My workouts were feeling harder and more exhaustive (with the same intensity).Change of seasons and allergies obviously contributed to the cold, but it's also suggestive of a weakened immune system. These things together with the weight loss slowing down indicate the beginning of overtraining- a condition where your body doesn't have the proper tools to repair.
3) My smarty-pants MFP friends told me it was time. Honestly, this sealed the deal. I personally would have probably ignored reasons #1 and #2, but my friends are smarter than I am, and they call me on my bullchit, and told me I had to. They gave me the following article, and there's more info available on the associated forums if you're interested: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-full-diet-break.html

So what's the plan?
I figured out my maintenance caloric needs (minus exercise calories) using the following method: I took the last 30 days worth of my net calorie data, and summed the net calories. Then I took the weight lost during that period in lbs, multiplied by 3500, and added that to the net calorie sum. Divide by 30, and BOOM- net TDEE for the previous 30 days. This number became my calorie goal.
(implied is the assumption that you've lost 100% fat, which is not accurate, obviously, but it's good enough)
Sidenote: this is also how I set my calories month-to-month, use the net TDEE and subtract 500, usually.
So once I had my goal figured out, I set out for a minimum 10-day experiment. In the above referenced article, Lyle explains why a minimum of 10 days is important- that your hormones don't reset until roughly 7-days, and you need to go a few days beyond that (minimum) for the hormones to re-stabilize.
Since a HUGE benefit of the diet-break concept is psychological, it would be counterproductive to micro-manage calories and nutrients during the break. So, My only goals were to hit 120+ grams of protein and try to get some veggies in. Otherwise I was free to eat, and go over goal if I wanted. Its important to note that if you've been doing relatively low-carb, you need to up your carbs during the break for it to work. I don't have this problem, so I didn't worry about it. So for 10-days I went with a NET calorie goal of 2250, complete with treats and splurge foods whenever I wanted.
What about exercise?
I opted to continue training as normal, rather than taking a simultaneous diet/exercise break. There's arguments for/against both methods. I wanted to train, but made sure to eat the calories back in entirety. Creating a deficit with exercise would be counterproductive to the plan.

So what happened? Get to the point!
1) I typically eat on an IF-like schedule. I found out that this schedule was not easily adaptable for me to eat more calories. On running days where I can have 1k calorie burns, it was REALLY challenging to get my calories in. I found I HAD to eat earlier than I'm used to and have a "lunch" (in between meal) to be able to eat all the calories, and sometimes I still was stuffing my face before bed. The conclusion I draw from this is that IF is an excellent tool for me to manage my calories while on a deficit.
2) Dietary FAT is VERY SATIATING. IN an effort to bump my calories I ended up eating more fat than I normally do- but instead of allowing me to eat MORE food, I found that the higher fat meals actually suppressed my hunger MORE than similar-calorie low-fat higher volume meals. The conclusion here is that I will be adding more fat to my deficit diet moving forward.
3) Big calorie burns are hard to eat back. This should be a "duh", but I ended up cutting my cardio back at the end of the week because I simply got sick of eating all the calories back.
4) My training was AWESOME!!!! I hit PR's on almost all of my main lifts (100lbs x 3 Bench, 170x5 squats, 250x1 DL, unassisted chins x2) , as well as endurance running (8.0 miles at 9:43 pace) , and speed running (7:52 mile). Everything felt GOOD. It's really remarkable how different training feels on maintenance. I was actually shocked.
5) I slept better, felt better, and kicked the cold. My energy levels are back where they were months ago, and my enthusiasm is back.
6) (Earmuffs, Men!) My break fell over PMS and TOM. This was awesome, as I didn't have cravings to stress over, and had calories for all the sweet/salty/chocolatey treats I wanted. I would suggest staying off the scale if this is you, as it made me think for a minute that I was gaining weight as a result of my diet, even though in my rational brain I knew it was bloating. The scale has the ability to turn even the most rational of us in to silly, blubbering idiots.
7) Now, I am one day back on a deficit. As of this morning, I was 0.2lbs less than when the project started. SUCCESS! I didn't gain an ounce, and I got to eat over 3k calories some days. My calculations proved to be accurate enough, and my calories were right-on-target.

This experiment was WELL worth forfeiting a 1-1.5lb loss that I could have gotten during that time! I feel better, stronger, happier, and mentally prepared for the next phase of dieting. If you're experiencing any of the symptoms I described, I would encourage you to do some research and consider a diet break. I'm planning to do another one (or two maybe) around the holidays, and every 3-4 months from now on.
UPDATE: 10/19/2012- 3 weeks out- Since the diet break, in the last 3 weeks I've lost 5 lbs. My goal is generally 1lb/wk, so I've made up the loss I forfeited during the break in revved up metabolism. Still singing the praises! :bigsmile:
.

MoreBean13

Sorry for the wall of text. Maybe I should have just linked.

TL;DR: It's time to take a full 10-14 day diet break.

candylilacs

Hmm, I have to think about this because my trainer will hate it. She's more obsessed about me losing weight than I am!

ThickMcRunFast

I took a peak at the last few days of your diary... you under-ate by at least 400 calories and usually a lot more than that. You had really low protein as well. Eat more! You need fuel for those workouts! It seems like most days you could have totally fit a taco in.

aetzkorn14

Hmm, I have to think about this because my trainer will hate it. She's more obsessed about me losing weight than I am!

:frown: that s no good. A break will definitely help. My weight lose is not what it could be but I make sure I eat for my workouts or else I get burnt out and quit. And if I have zero energy my workouts are crap. I did start taking a prework out and it has helped me quite a bit. Just make sure you don't burn yourself out...its so hard to be positive when you get like that and its even harder to jump back on once you fall off.

aetzkorn14

Hmm, I have to think about this because my trainer will hate it. She's more obsessed about me losing weight than I am!

:frown: that s no good. A break will definitely help. My weight lose is not what it could be but I make sure I eat for my workouts or else I get burnt out and quit. And if I have zero energy my workouts are crap. I did start taking a prework out and it has helped me quite a bit. Just make sure you don't burn yourself out...its so hard to be positive when you get like that and its even harder to jump back on once you fall off.

*loss

candylilacs

Yeah, thanks! It really just hit me in the last 3-4 days -- almost like I'm carrying around a heavy sack.

I think I also need to concentrate on how easy it is to walk across campus or to the park a mile from my house now. Accentuate the positive and eat a few burritos!

mccbabe1

Yeah, thanks! It really just hit me in the last 3-4 days -- almost like I'm carrying around a heavy sack.

I think I also need to concentrate on how easy it is to walk across campus or to the park a mile from my house now. Accentuate the positive and eat a few burritos!

lol.. yes tacos and burritos are good!
balance is good... up your protein and water too prolly!