Too many calories burned?

Jouquetta

For the last 10 weeks I've been working out (5-6X per wk), eating right, drinking plenty of H2O, vitamins, etc. I've gotten so into this that the hardcore granola yoga chick at work told me "wow, you're way too healthy!" (what a compliment!) My endurance has gone way up and I can cardio for hours plus bust out some serious yoga & pilates now... so much that I get a 1300-1400 calorie burn. I'm trying to lose so I keep really close to 1200 calories intake per day with an occasional 1300 day. My "nutritional report" looks great & I'm careful to stack my big meals early in the day or before I know i'm gonna have a big workout.

My concern: Am I burning too much and eating too little. I can bring my intake up some... but not up to 2000/day! I just can't eat that much "good" food! Lately I've found that I'm eating because it's "time" but I'm not really that hungry. However iif I try to skip it, then I'm supper hungry and wind up eating a lot of good food LATE in the day which isn't so good either.

My weight lose has continued at a healthy & steady pace, but I'm afraid I'd drive myself into "starvation" mode now that I have more frequent 1000+ calorie burn days per week. Am I wrong it thinking that?

Help me out MFP family. I'm feeling good & still motivated & could use a little guidance.

alison2429

Hey
I'd be interested in replies to this too.
Because I do most of my exercising at the end of the day (after work) I struggle to eat the majority of the calories burned - although I usually manage 25 - 50%.
I am not seeing the results on the scales I would like to - but I do feel good.
I'm sure you'll get some great advice and support on here.

Alison

ChassityGetsFit

I personally don't think you're burning too much! On The Biggest Loser they stick to their daily 1200 calories (or whatever is set for them) and only go over about 100-200 based on how much they've exercised. Then they burn, burn, burn those calories. The more they burn then the more they lose. This is why they drop such large numbers!!! I'm trying to stick to this idea as well so great work!

emaybe

As long as you're feeling good and the weight's still coming off, don't worry about it. Listen to your body. It will tell you when you need to eat more (though possibly not by hunger -- so keep watch for any signs of feeling weak, unexplainable mood swings, change in skin or nail conditions, et cetera). Other than that it sounds like you're golden. Good work!

JulsDiane

Well, I would ask your Dr first and foremost. The Biggest Loser contestants are monitored by physicians so it's not quite the same as real life for most of us. Are you still losing or have you plateaued? Are you tired/fatigued? If either answer is yes then I would think you probably need more fuel, but again your Dr is the best resource Good luck!

anubis609

This would normally invoke "The URL" [located in my sig], but since you're honestly asking, I'll pitch in with actual advice. Ideally, you want to eat back the calories burned. From prior experience, I've done it with the method you're doing now, keeping a daily caloric intake but massively burning all or more off from exercise and thought to myself, "as long as I'm meeting my daily goal, I don't see a problem with it." It seemed fine when I was obese, since the heavier weight could support such a deficit. Then as I got closer to my goal, I noticed that even with strength training, I looked and felt emaciated, or "skinny fat" as the term gets thrown around here like football passes.

I then decided to purposely gain weight for more muscle mass. As counterproductive as it seemed, the muscles and body, in general, require more calories in order to prepare for large burns. The weight loss I had was coming down in the form of burning fat + muscle. I literally didn't have the strength to even curl 25 lb dumbbells, and the feeling of masculinity pretty much got chipped. So, doing what I do best, I experimented with eating exercise calories, and though my body had to readjust to increasing my intake, obviously the fluctuation increase occurred with my weight, but as soon as it stabilized, it started to lose weight again. This time, burning fat but maintaining muscle mass.

Now, I feel much better, physically and mentally, as I noticed my mood would become irritable with the prior method of overexercising and creating thousands of calories in deficit. Again, though it sounds counterproductive, it actually isn't. It's actually the safer method of weight loss, because everyone wants to lose fat...not just weight, which would include muscle + fat.

morganadk2_deleted

You might also find the links below helpful...

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

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


This is just a part of it! please read the link above


Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit
With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)
With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)
With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)
and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle tone, and reducing fat. This means is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode)



Good luck on your journey

JuniorTaitt

As long as you don't feel sick, weak, lacking energy and your weight loss is moving at a pace you are happy with you're fine.
Pat youself on the back for the big calorie burn.... or use a back scratcher

marji4x

Biggest Loser is all about getting ratings up, so the people have to lose the weight fast and show big results..... I heard on a podcast that they had interviewed one of the contestants and they'd admitted to things like not eating the days before weigh-ins and other unhealthy tricks to get results for the camera. I'm sure some of the stuff on there is legit but at the end of the day it's a show and it's about ratings and impressing the audience.

I keep hearing 1200 is not normally a healthy range for most people, and especially not for people exercising as much as you do. It DOES sound counterintuitive, but you need more food for your body otherwise you burn muscle, like has been said in this thread already.

awelch79

bump

sprinkies

yeah i don't think that's healthy. you're basically getting 100 cals a day and this will catch up to you. this is very similar to exercise anorexia? bulemia? just not healthy.

michelle4271

I took a peak at your diet and exercise diary for the week. I too agree that you need to get closer to your calorie goal...and as for the exercise calories alot of people eat what they feel hungry for, and others opt for the 80% rule.

As for the exercise diary, I see that you only "attempted" strength training one day. I say attempted because you posted only 1 set of each exercise which is not doing anything for your body. Generally, 3 sets of at least 3 exercised for a muscle group is considered training.

Right now, given the deficit on your calories and lack of strength trainng, combined with the amount of cardio that you are doing you are more than likely burning muscle, not fat. This is not healthy in the long run, as your body will only be able to "feed off itself" for a short period of time.

I would suggest taking about 1/2 hr of your cardio each day, and begin strength training a body part each day. Not total body, and the day you strength train legs, do a mild cardio to loosen up, get the heart rate up, cool down and call it a day.

Good luck with your journey.

Jouquetta

Thanks everybody for the feedback. I'll kick up my caloric intake and give up some cardio for the strength training.


Michelle4271- thanks for the 'call out'! I need to hear this kinda stuff. I've been down this weight loss road a dozen times but obviously haven't stuck to it. I have always gotten enough cardio, but haven't really thought about the strength part, I guess in my brain I think Arnold muscles & don't want that. Yes, yes I know it doesn't have to be that extreme. I'd love tone and will work for the happy balance between tone & strength. Hardcore cardio with puny attempts at strength haven't gotten me much.

SOOOO... it's time to change that!

Again - THANKS!!!!

michelle4271

It does take some time to begin to build that muscle and strength, but if you just stay at it, just like your endurance for the cardio, it will "get there". Moderate weights with high reps will get you nicely toned. start slow / low weights with reps around 15, and you should feel the burn aroun 10 - 12 but you shouldn't need to get to failure. good luck with your journey.