Need some guidance

zfitgal

hi everyone, I need some guidance. I have lost 11 pounds in six months on a 1650 cal diet. I was training five days a week pretty high volume and I was doing cardio five days a week for 45 minutes. My heart rate is usually between one 130-145 bpm. I’m 38 years old and during this time I also changed my body composition I wish I lost more during this time yes but I didn’t lower my calories to do so. That being said calories were at the 1650 . I initially started having a lot of anxiety during my strength workouts. I felt like I was getting internal panic attacks. Sometimes I felt the load was too much for me to handle, but I just pushed through it. I do believe my central nervous system was affected by this much . I have an coach and this is how he designed my program for me so I just continue to move forward. I wanted to lose a bit more weight so we calories so we went from doing 1650 to 1500. During this time we were also calorie cycling had high days medium days low days. My low at 1390 and the day after my low days, my body felt . My energy And my body constantly felt like I was having adrenaline rushes run through me. Fast-forward to now I decided to take a week off of training completely, a d-load a week. During this week, my body felt like a bus hit me. I was so tired. I developed a sore throat felt the flu like symptoms and I’ve been craving to go off program. I plan to go back on track with my training Sunday. before I took this week off, I decided to take a few days off of training because my body was just so tired. I increased my calories slightly and I lost weight and I lost a few centimeters in my hips and thighs. That just showed me I was inflamed, and I am probably operating on adrenaline and high cortisol. My sleep started get disturbed. So during this week I decided to come down to 1550 cal and just rest.

my question is I’m feeling like I need to be off track and enjoy a little bit before going for this next push. This is where I’m going to see the shape that I built this is the homestretch for me. I’m craving no structure right now so I can mentally push structure again. I don’t want to gain what I’ve lost but at the same time I don’t want to go into binges . What you do? How’s would u guide me?

csplatt

It sounds like what you are doing isn’t working for you. Could you drop to 1500 calories but train yourself instead of using a coach? Then eat back SOME of the calories you burn each day (MFP will credit them back to you but calorie burns during exercise are often over estimated so some of us prefer to eat half back )

zfitgal

I just programmed my cardio annd strength workouts, i don’t want to eat 1500 yet I’d like to stay at 1550 for a bit before having to drop down to 1500. He did drop me down to 1500 and calorically I was losing, so the plan is working. It’s just not working for my nervous system. So I don’t think it’s calories I think it’s the volume, but my question is going forward for over this weekend. What should I do?

zfitgal

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48657730#Comment_48657730

I also don’t want to eat back some of the calories because I was eating 1650 losing pretty little so I think 1550 would be a good number at this point

PAV8888

You are sending out too many worrisome signals for my taste! You are NOT doing something that is sustainable for you. Wanting to enjoy a break before the push. How you have been feeling lately… basically 💩 instead of energized by your gym routine.

This is not something that is sustainable.

Weight control—long term weight control— is NOT something that is done once and then it is finished. Exercise and strength building is NOT something that you build up to a high level once and then you stop and you're done and you no longer continue to exercise yet you keep all the strength gains and health benefits and conditioning.

Think about your goals. Think about your goals not just in terms of how you want to look to others but think about your goals in terms of how you want to feel YOURSELF, how you want to feel, and be, and function.

Find and do things that are enjoyable to you. PUSHING yourself a little bit (or even a lot) CAN be enjoyable. But only if you're enjoying it. You're not enjoying this. So, by definition: IT IS NOT WORKING for you in this format.

You need to move away from what isn't working for you and towards what MIGHT work for you.

The little voices you're hearing at the back of your brain? Wondering about this and that? If you KEEP doing what you're doing now? The next step will be quitting totally and all together and gaining a bunch of weight over several years and then coming back to mfp saying you got back to your original weight plus a bit and you're ready to work hard at things again.

Before you quit, CHANGE what you're doing and make it easy enough and enjoyable enough for you so that you WANT to continue pursuing your goals long term.

How fast you get to your goals, or even whether you hit them exactly or get close to them matters much less than whether you're actually willing to continue to invest yourself into pursuing your goals. Pursuing your goals means you're IN the game. You're trying for improvement. You're involved and not indifferent. You're taking charge and taking names and laying down the law!

Continuing to eat less and less and pushing at the gym till you beat yourself into submission ain't the recipe for success—not in my books.

PS. when you discontinue exercise you lose water weight. when you restart exercise you gain water weight. Water weight is not a goal in weight management. It is just a confounding factor. Don't make your life revolve around water weight.

Healthy body and healthy mind. You can do it!

age_is_just_a_number

what pav8888 said.
exercise should be enjoyable.
find something you enjoy and go that.

four_bumblebees

I'm not a seasoned veteran, just another person in the trenches with you so take this with a grain of salt, but doing a planned cut followed by maintenance has been incredible for me. I did 16 focused weeks at a deficit then 4 planned weeks at maintenance (5.5 in reality bc I got sick). I was feeling run down by the end of the cut and it took a few weeks for my energy and appetite to normalize in maintenance. Our bodies need breaks. All sorts of hormonal changes happen when we lose weight. At some level I don't think the body knows the difference between healthy weight loss and slow starvation. I think it's good to give it a reset. Maybe maintain for a bit, deload, resume lifting and then get back to a deficit? Just my two cents.

tulips_and_tea

Good advice has been given already. I'll just ask, have you had this same conversation with your coach? If so, what did they say? It they aren't listening to you and how your body is reacting, then maybe reevaluate using their exact plan.

IIRC, you've had this coach for a while and while you've received help from them, ALWAYS listen to your body, which is what your opening post is about. You have to find a method of eating and exercising that works for YOU and your lifestyle.

zfitgal

honestly, I have been in this deficit for six months. It wasn’t a large deficit for the total six months. I was losing .3 a week. About a month and a half an ago I wanted to push weight loss a little bit more so he went and brought my calories down to 1500 from 1650. I honestly believe that the external factors of my routine, the five days of cardio for 45 minutes and five days of weight training, which is extremely high volume 6-9 exercises per day. He is a professional bodybuilder and he trains competitors. He took me on as a lifestyle client but at the same time I don’t know if he knows how to train me differently than the competitors. I did tell him what I was feeling so he decided to give me a meal plan and it was extremely hard to follow and I hated everything about it. His logic was that I wasn’t timing my meals properly. I didn’t believe that at all.Again, I am not looking to compete so I don’t want to live that lifestyle. I just enjoy training they train. I’m around 147 right now. I would really love to get to the low 140s by my birthday, which is August 21. I do understand what you’re saying in regards to going into maintenance for a few weeks. I think that’s a great idea. I think I’m going to try lowering the volume of my workouts and see how my body reacts to that if I’m still feeling the same way in 2 to 3 weeks, I will increase calories to maintenance and stay there for a few weeks.

I just want my body to feel calm and I will tell you when I was eating more doing this plan. My body still was reacting. It just wasn’t as bad as it is now. I guess because this was a few months ago. When I used to do my fitness was excellent I only did cardio three days a week and weight 4 days a week. And I felt great. I just wanted to add leg day recently.

tulips_and_tea

Despite the title of your thread asking for guidance, per your last post I think you DO know what works for you and what doesn't.

Honestly, I'd have a hard time maintaining that workout schedule at the lower 1500 calorie level and I'm a bit smaller than you. If the meal plan he gave you sucks and you don't agree with it, don't do it.

At the slightly higher calorie level you were losing 0.3 lbs per week. That is great! I'd go back to that calorie level (or a bit higher for a while to recover a bit) and go back to your schedule of 3 days per week of cardio and 4 days per week of lifting. It sounds like that worked for you, so why not try it again?

csplatt

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48662929#Comment_48662929

^^yes this! you already gave the info you need. trust yourself.

PAV8888

You may want to have your cake and eat it too.... but then there is real life.

Take a step back and consider health. Are you at a healthy weight already? Then why is weight loss a priority? What will you get out of it? What might it cost you ? Every time your choice is between short term wants and long term health considerations.... my more advanced age perspective is that you should pick long term health!

The six month of deficit timeframe is also of some significance. As a generic rule of thumb, for many people, after six months at a deficit things slow down and the body seeks to back off a bit... choosing to double down instead of slowing down increases the potential dissonance!