Don't feel like I'm properly recovering? Critique my plan

meshashesha2012

Okay just a little background on me : I've been on MFP for awhile, lost a good amount of weight 2011/2012 (approx 30 pounds and 4 pant sizes). I then got sidetracked with a new job in August 2012 where I was working 12+ hour days 6 days a week, some days were even 16 hours :sad: . i ended up gaining a bit of weight back and went up another pant size. i know what i did wrong then (too much eating out , not logging food, sitting on my *kitten* all day, blah blah)

but now i'm back and this is week 4 of my restart. at the moment my goal is to lose 2 pounds per month (i still have around 70 pounds to lose). i'm also training for a few 10Ks i plan on doing next spring

so here's my weight loss plan:
- i know from experimenting that my TDEE is about 2800 calories a day if i work out up to 5 hours a week
- i've set my daily calories to 1600. i'm not weighing stuff yet and my assumption is that i more than likely eat 200-250 calories more than what's logged.
- i dont eat my exercise calories back unless i surpass the 5 hours since those xtra workouts arent accounted for

workout as follows :
- sundays: alternate weeks 5k and 10k walk/run
- monday : 30 min walk at lunch, strong lifts
- Tuesday : 60 mins cardio (2.5 m wlk/run; 2.5 mile bike; 2.5m row) , occassional soccer match at work
- wednesday : active rest (easy walk or dancing)
- thursday : 60 mins cardio (1.5 mile run, versaclimber, rower)
- friday : split workout workout A sprint/HIIT train workout B strong lifts
- saturday : active rest (dancing, aquafit, or easy walk)

i do dynamic stretches before each workout and do dynamic stretches afterwards. i dont have any issues with sleeping and i try to eat balanced meals. but for some reason it just feels like i'm not recovering correctly and this isnt something that i experienced last year.

oh i do have HBP and am on meds but my doc says im OK to workout. i had a full blood workup done a few months ago and all is normal in terms of hormones, thyroid, etc. i'm also a former athlete so i know what tough workouts are, and i try to keep those to 2 a week until i get my conditioning back up.


so what do you think? does anyone see any glaring callouts?

Thanks for reading

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

My advice is.....run it as you have laid it out, see how you feel. I'm guessing that your performance is going to start to fade at some point, might be 2 weeks in, might be 7 or 8 weeks in. If/when that happens you will either have to a) reduce activity or b) increase calories.

JTick

Personally, I would get a food scale to nail down your actual calorie intake...you might not be eating enough. I was on 1800, and felt similar to you. I was running 3x week, lifting 3x week, and my "rest" day I was actual burning more than any other day due to the job I work on that day. I felt burned out, my workouts were suffering, I was exhausted, etc. I upped my calories to 2000, and feel SO much better. I can't even describe to you how relieved my body feels. I'm now actually losing again...before, I wasn't losing because I kept binging because I felt hungry all the time. I also added in a REAL rest day...I drop one of my other workouts in the week (varies depending on my schedule) and now take a day where I might just do a little light walking. I feel 20x better.

meshashesha2012

thanks for the suggestions.

i was afraid that accurate food logging might be an issue. i HATE weighing food though :laugh:

Will_Thrust_For_Candy

Actually yes, that is something that I did forget to write in my first response. Weigh and measure your food....at least for a bit....you really could be consuming way more than you think you are.

DavPul

Tl;dr but I'm going by the title and assuming the main issue you're concerned about is what seems to be a lack of recovery? You detailed a lot of workout stuff but only have one sentence on the recovery issue (okay, maybe I did read the post). What are the symptoms? Sluggish? Poor performance? Extreme soreness?

And you wrote 2 pounds per month but I guess typo? Looks like 2 per week. And like the others mentioned, if you aren't weighing, you can expect to be off by 250 per *meal*, not per day. You don't have to measure, but you'd better start assuming that you're much much less accurate than you think.

Lastly, I suspect that if you're a bit sluggish and you keep with your current plan you will A) die, or adapt to the new routine in another couple of weeks and be fine. I'm betting the latter, but there is a fair amount of cardio for a 1000 calorie deficit.