A Personal View on Exercise Cals and Underfeeding

ladyhawk00

and... bump

Well, if you insist... :happy:

ladyhawk00

Ah, why not...

starberi30

thank you, BUMP

kirsty0911

bump

moreaudrey

Wow, I just came across your post and I was blown away at how similar our stories are. I am going to think long and hard about everything you just wrote. Thank you so much for taking the time to post it.

missikay1970

i just wanted to thank you for taking the time to write all of this. i have been in a debate (with myself) doing research and studying what to do about calorie intake and the like. it has been a real source of frustration for me. this week, i increased my calories, and i'm eating most (if not all) of my exercise calories. it is threads such as this one that provide REAL answers with concrete real-world experiences. i realize that everyone is different, but this information was very helpful and informative.

akaChuck

Thank you very much for taking the time to write your story down, your view has given me even more of a reason to eat the right amount of food for my body...and it will thank me years down the road Thank you again, and congrats on your weightloss!

ladyhawk00

Quite welcome, I'm thrilled if it can help anyone. Thanks for taking the time to read it. :flowerforyou:

Gypsynana

Wow that sounds just like what I have been doing. I find this incredibly helpful!

ladyhawk00

Wow that sounds just like what I have been doing. I find this incredibly helpful!

Glad it helped... I think it's a lot more common than we think. :frown:

LickyNees

me all over. thank you!

LickyNees

ops

LuluGirl140

So I re-read this post and I'm hoping you can help me, since you've been successful with what you're doing. I completed my first round of Insanity back in June, and was netting about 1200 or so calories a day (sometimes less). I only lost 6 lbs, but lost tons of inches, which is great. Recently I upped my calories to 1500 because I haven't seen any more weight loss. This time I was doing a hybrid of P90X and Insanity. I was netting very close to 1500 calories every day for 2 weeks and saw no movement. So now I'm going Insanity again, and have my calories set to 1290, although I don't eat back all of my exercise calories. I am netting anywhere from 800-1200/day, with most days being closer to 1200. I'm assuming your recommendation would be to try to net closer to 1200 most days? I guess it messes with my mind because sometimes I feel so stuffed, and still have cals left, and just don't want to eat any more. I also don't want to overdo it. What would you recommend for me?

Thank you!!! :flowerforyou:

cmriverside

ladyhawk00

So I re-read this post and I'm hoping you can help me, since you've been successful with what you're doing. I completed my first round of Insanity back in June, and was netting about 1200 or so calories a day (sometimes less). I only lost 6 lbs, but lost tons of inches, which is great. Recently I upped my calories to 1500 because I haven't seen any more weight loss. This time I was doing a hybrid of P90X and Insanity. I was netting very close to 1500 calories every day for 2 weeks and saw no movement. So now I'm going Insanity again, and have my calories set to 1290, although I don't eat back all of my exercise calories. I am netting anywhere from 800-1200/day, with most days being closer to 1200. I'm assuming your recommendation would be to try to net closer to 1200 most days? I guess it messes with my mind because sometimes I feel so stuffed, and still have cals left, and just don't want to eat any more. I also don't want to overdo it. What would you recommend for me?

Thank you!!! :flowerforyou:

I'm sorry, I missed this before -

What are your current stats? (ht, wt, age, etc)

You may need to net a lot more than 1200, depending on your circumstances.

As for eating more, it's not always necessary to increase volume of food a lot. You can often achieve a higher cal level simply by choosing more nutrient dense foods, such as healthy fats (nuts, natural oils, avocado).

funkycamper

This is a most helpful discussion. I actually read this soon after joining MFP but, while it made sense, I really couldn't wrap my head around it. After two months of going from only doing dog-walking a few days a week to doing a large variety of more intense exercises (spin, step aerobics, elliptical, HIIT, weight training, swimming, biking, etc.) and tracking my caloric intake with a goal of 1200 net, and only losing 10# in that time, I'm beginning to strongly consider upping my calories. I have adopted zig-zagging to try to fool and boost my metabolism but I do have too many days where my net is too low.

I am rarely hungry and have probably lost that ability to recognize true hunger through years of eating too little as, even when I was much heavier than I am now, I often kept food dairies and rarely have eaten over 1500 calories a day. (Yes, I gained to a high of 237# eating just that.) I do, however, often have intense fatigue from exercising to the point where I'm napping a ridiculous amount of hours each week in addition to sleeping more at night. I'm guessing this means my body is starving and shuts down to maintain my needed bodily functions? What is curious is that once I start exercising, I get an energy lift and feel great during the exercise routine and can really push myself pretty good during it. However, a few hours after exercising, I totally crash. I'm really hoping to feel the increased energy all day long that my increased exercise and fitness level should be bringing me.

So I am convinced that, yes, I need to up my calories and nutrition (I don't eat enough veggies or protein and really need to work on both). I am down to 183# at this time (10# since joining MFP, the rest has been a gradual loss over about a decade using a combination of low-carb eating and moderate exercise not the intense amount I'm doing now). I'm 53, 5'6". My goal is to get down to around 130-135, I think. I don't have a clear weight goal, more of a pant size goal and even that isn't clear. I don't think I'll know where I want to be until I get there. I just know that I want my BMI to be in the normal range. Right now, I'm still just on the edge of obese.

Tips, encouragement, and such would be great and very helpful. I'm scared to death that I'm going to gain weight if I up my calories. While I understand it logically, I'm having a hard time accepting it on an emotional level.

Anyway, thank you for this discussion. It's very helpful and motivating.

momof3G8kids

Thank you....I read this and thought "This is me" Exactly what happened to me! Never ate a lot, but am still fat, somehow, after the 3rd child. I really am getting it! I need to eat more in order to lose weight!

momof3G8kids

Tips, encouragement, and such would be great and very helpful. I'm scared to death that I'm going to gain weight if I up my calories. While I understand it logically, I'm having a hard time accepting it on an emotional level.

Anyway, thank you for this discussion. It's very helpful and motivating.

This is exactly what I feel too!

themedalist

Bump. Thanks for taking the time to write this very informative and heart-felt post. I'm very grateful!

MelanieAG05

just read this and thought it deserved another BUMP :flowerforyou:

very interesting and informative as i am "worried" about eating all my exercise calories!