Calories, Workouts and Confusion (Or: Let's beat this dead h

Tomhusker

I know there are just shy of a Gozillion threads addressing workout calories burned and eaten back, but I hope I am asking a new version.

I have just started going to the gym a few times per week. I am quite heavy so my calorie goal is still pretty high. Being as big as I am, I also burn more calories working out. For example I burned over 1100 today alone. I am usually still around 1000 calories short of my goal on days that I do not work out, so on days like today I finished with a 2400 calorie deficit. Tonight I even ate a rib eye steak for dinner.

I can't eat enough to make up my calorie goal. I would be lying if I said I was NEVER hungry, but most days I am more than satisfied.

I just don't know what to do. I don't want my body to kick into starvation mode, but if I am not hungry how can I fix this?

Thanks

larsonp

Pretty sure that 1,200 is just the absolute minimum so that your digestive system doesn't start sending out the malnutrition signals. You can be under 1,200 NET and still be fine.

mizzmorales89

If you are not hungry then don't eat them. My trainer told me that I didn't need to eat my "exercise calories" unless I felt like I didn't have enough energy.

leslielove

If you're not hungry, why would you eat? Listen to your body brah!

BigBoneSista

Cook with Virgin Olive Oil. It will give you calories. You can baste your chicken breast with it and then apply your seasoning and marinate. You can ate nuts with your breakfast and snacks to add some calories.

Just trying to think of small healthy things that won't over fill you.

Rynatat

Starting out you'll be OK, just don't let your body get used to eating that little. As you workout more, lose more fat & build more muscle, you'll discover that muscles are hungry little buggers :laugh: The more I build, the more often I am hungry no matter how many calories I've already ate that day or how late it is at nite! I am now pushing close to 2000 or more cals a day because of hunger so I am trying to workout more to balance it (since I only have a 1240 cal without exercise) and I am only 9lbs from goal (the last 10 are the hardest to get rid of!).

Take care of yourself, Tom. You have been doing SO well & I am SO PROUD of You! Your diary is good, and the longer you're on this site the more you'll be able to refine it. When you see one of your MFP's complete their diary & you have the option to "view diary" check it out: sometimes you may get extra ideas for snax or meals that add calories without killing what you're on here to accomplish.

I'm here for you anytime you need (family of PT's, PA's, body builders and nutritionist have guided me thus far - I can at least share some of my knowledge & experience fore free )

tdonlin

I looked at your diary and it looks pretty good. You had a net of just over 1200. That is right in the range you want to be. You could throw in a protein shake immediately after your workouts.

lynne_p

That's a great idea, Desirai!

ladyhawk00

Well, if you're having that large of a deficit (not healthy and you're likely losing a large amount of muscle, as well as fat), you have to do one of two things. Either eat more or exercise less. If you cannot replace at least most of those cals, you need to cut back on exercise until you are able to fuel the body properly. Otherwise you are setting yourself up for failure. Cut out some of the exercise and start working on adding a little bit to each meal and snack - another 50 cals til you're used to it. Keeping adding a little, until you can get closer to cal goal (at least within 500 of goal).

You need to recognize that part of what's great about MFP is that it helps regulate your eating - and helps your body learn healthy habits. Here is my view on "trust your body." (Copied/pasted from another thread.)


Many people have a loss of appetite in the beginning - I experienced it myself. Or rather, I should say a continued lack of appetite. My previous habits included a LOT of soda and eating no breakfast and rarely eating lunch - I had suppressed my appetite during the day for many years and it took some time to retrain my brain to recognize hunger. That's just my opinion, but I've heard a LOT of people claim a lack of appetite in the first couple of weeks and I find it hard to believe they're all lying or wrong.

One of the biggest reasons for the existence of a site such as MFP is that the majority of people who are overweight or underweight are not able to recognize the true feelings of hunger. Saying "trust your body" just isn't a useful thing in the beginning. Most overeaters/undereaters have established habits over many years that contradict the body's normal hunger cues - and thus they can no longer distinguish between real hunger and other feelings or mental cues. It's a classic case of Pavlov's dog - over time, associating something with food brings the same response whether the food is there or not. Overeaters will feel hungry when they are not, and not feel hungry when they need fuel (and undereaters will claim they can't eat another bite), because they are mentally trained to have the inappropriate assocations/responses with food that caused their overeating.

This is one reason why MFP (or any calorie counting) is so useful. One of its best applications as a weight loss tool is to help retrain the body AND mind to recognize the cues a HEALTHY body gives us. The way it does this is it says "You need to eat this many calories today. Don't go too far over or under - try to meet this goal." By doing that over the first few weeks or months, it helps us recognize healthy portions, and a healthy schedule, and a healthy amount of total calories - based on fairly accurate estimates of what a person this size/age/activity level needs.

The idea is this: MFP already calculates a cal deficit that allows for a certain amount of HEALTHY weight loss per week. Exercise over and above that number of calories needs to be replaced to some extent or the deficit is larger than what you (presumably) intended, and very possibly unhealthy, and almost certainly unsustainable.

I'm assuming you've read them, but for anyone who hasn't, here are some of the threads on metabolism, how MFP works (there is a built-in cal deficit) and why you need to eat to lose...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/153704-myth-or-fact-simple-math-3500-calories-one-pound-eat

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

ladyhawk00

If you are not hungry then don't eat them. My trainer told me that I didn't need to eat my "exercise calories" unless I felt like I didn't have enough energy.

Not trying to be mean, but I'm guessing your trainer doesn't know you're eating 500-700 cals a day quite often. Because NO trainer (worth paying for) would advise that with the small amount of weight you have to lose. I would recommend you read the thread I posted "700 cals a day and not losing". And definitely the other threads on eating exercise cals. If you want to be healthy, you need to understand how metabolism works. Good luck to you!

mizzmorales89

If you are not hungry then don't eat them. My trainer told me that I didn't need to eat my "exercise calories" unless I felt like I didn't have enough energy.

Not trying to be mean, but I'm guessing your trainer doesn't know you're eating 500-700 cals a day quite often. Because NO trainer (worth paying for) would advise that with the small amount of weight you have to lose. I would recommend you read the thread I posted "700 cals a day and not losing". And definitely the other threads on eating exercise cals. If you want to be healthy, you need to understand how metabolism works. Good luck to you!

I eat at least 1400 calories a day. I don't record all my food everyday so no I never only eat 500-700 calories a day. If I was only eating that much then I wouldn't have the energy to exercise.

Just because you don't agree with him means he's wrong or "not worth paying for". If I feel like I'm getting enough energy from the food I'm already eating then I have no reason to eat more calories.