Am I doing too much?!

Tempe729

Okay, so with the new quarter (started March 27th,2012) I have drastically upped my fitness regime and I have a few questions!

I am 5'5"
22 years old
CW: 204.2lbs
GW: 160lbs

Daily Calories: 1450

I am basically taking fitness classes through the college since I am done with my degrees but stuck here until my lease is up....Here is what am I doing as of right now:

Monday: Stretch & Strengthen with Fit Balls ( approx: 45minutes of medium- to high-intensity Calisthenics with little break between exercises); Ballroom Dance ( approx: 2hours of waltz & foxtrot); Playing my Baritone Saxophone ( approx: 1hour )

Tuesday & Thursday: Aquacises ( approx: 40-50minutes ); Ab/Glute Conditioning ( approx: 40-50minutes; We do a lot of high-intensity Calisthenics with short breaks ((about 1min)) between exercises); Weight Lifting ( approx: 45-60minutes ); Playing my Baritone Saxophone ( approx: 1-2hours )

Wednesday: Stretch & Strengthen with Fit Balls ( approx: 45minutes of medium- to high-intensity Calisthenics with little break between exercises); Playing my Baritone Saxophone ( approx: 3hours )

Friday-Sunday are my rest days... with only moderate to no-exercise.

When days are nice I will often walk to and from school (2miles round trip) and 1-3 times a week I will hit the gym with a few workout buddies and do light free weight lifting, fast walking/hard sprints around the indoor track.

**I very rarely if Ever eat back any of my exercise calories though... After my workouts I am rarely hungry even though I am pushing myself during them and taking the time between classes to do a lot of stretching, refueling and rehydrating myself... I allow myself one "cheat day" a week, whether I use it or not is up to me. I make sure to get in at least 7hours of sleep.. somedays I get up to 12hours of sleep (I work Graveyard shifts a few nights a week on top of school so I often sleep most of the weekends away)

I have been stuck on a plateau for almost 3 weeks and I was wondering what I should do? Do I need to force myself to eat back more of my exercise calories even though I have a hard time eating my base recommended 1450 calories a day?? I get in plenty of fruits and veggies everyday and my protein intake is rather high (especially on workout days) avg 85-130g. And 90% of the time I get in my daily 8 servings of water (sometimes more)... I don't drink soda and have coffee only rarely...

Feel free to add me! But any help would be appreciated!!

Tempe729

If you want to know a more detailed breakdown or want more info I can open access to my food/fitness diary :flowerforyou:

Lozze

Regarding the exercise no I don't think it's too much without any other factors.

Knowing your calorie intake though, yes it is too much. On days you're doing that much exercise you NEED to eat your exercise calories back. Keep your body fueled.

Tempe729

Regarding the exercise no I don't think it's too much without any other factors.

Knowing your calorie intake though, yes it is too much. On days you're doing that much exercise you NEED to eat your exercise calories back. Keep your body fueled.

One of things I'm confused about is that until I joined MFP, I assumed that the point of exercising was to get rid of extra calories... so I only ever eat back maybe 50-100 of my exercise calories in regards to logging on MFP... I've also never heard of starvation mode till I joined MFP...

My first 3 months (January-March 2012) on MFP I never ate back any exercise calories and I was only exercising maybe 1/3 - 1/4 as much as this quarter.. but I managed to drop 20lbs....

This is why I need help haha! I'm so confused!

Sarauk2sf

You seem like you have a nice mix of activities and you have rest days (very important) but you do need to be eating more - and lift heavy weights.

You should eat more calorie dense foods if you are struggling to eat enough - nuts, seeds, cheese, avocados etc - and do not get low fat - get full fat products. Peanut butter is a great source of fat and protein.

akiramezu

There can never be too much training. =]

Tempe729

You seem like you have a nice mix of activities and you have rest days (very important) but you do need to be eating more - and lift heavy weights.

You should eat more calorie dense foods if you are struggling to eat enough - nuts, seeds, cheese, avocados etc - and do not get low fat - get full fat products. Peanut butter is a great source of fat and protein.

I don't lift heavy weights but I don't lift light ones either... I usually try and stick to a happy medium-weight,reps,& sets... I have been worried about increasing the weight too much because I'm trying to focus on losing excess weight.. however I know muscle is important for burning fat while resting... I just don't want to "bulk up"... for the Navy I am required to be 150-160lbs and a max of 33% body fat.... I still have about 45-50lbs to lose...

Any suggestions on what I should focus on? Most of my weight in carried in my butt, hips and thighs..(yay hourglass figure!)

Razkler14

Def need to eat more! Your body is starving at this point if you are only eating 1400ish cals a day and doing all the activity. It is recommended that you get about a gram of protien per lb of body weight. Also, fruits are good, but not to many of them. Sugar carries alot of sugar, which you have to be careful about. The best time to eat fruit is in the morning or directly after your workout with a good protein source or protein shake. The first 45 mins after your workout is the most impornt so be sure to feed you body after all that activity.

If you are not properly fueling your body, or giving it enough, you are wasting your time in the gym or where ever you choose to workout.

Listen to your body.. it will tell you when you are doing to much.

Razkler14

Also, lifting heavy weights will NOT make you bulky! You will not reach your goal doing soley cardio and lifting light weight.

Meggles63

Heavy lifting will NOT bulk you up and it's a great way to reduce bf%. However, you do need to eat more. You said you really don't have an appetitie; I've found that heavy lifting tends to stimulate mine, and it might also help yours. Lift heavy, work hard, get enough sleep and EAT!! Just my 2 cents

Sarauk2sf

You seem like you have a nice mix of activities and you have rest days (very important) but you do need to be eating more - and lift heavy weights.

You should eat more calorie dense foods if you are struggling to eat enough - nuts, seeds, cheese, avocados etc - and do not get low fat - get full fat products. Peanut butter is a great source of fat and protein.

I don't lift heavy weights but I don't lift light ones either... I usually try and stick to a happy medium-weight,reps,& sets... I have been worried about increasing the weight too much because I'm trying to focus on losing excess weight.. however I know muscle is important for burning fat while resting... I just don't want to "bulk up"... for the Navy I am required to be 150-160lbs and a max of 33% body fat.... I still have about 45-50lbs to lose...

Any suggestions on what I should focus on? Most of my weight in carried in my butt, hips and thighs..(yay hourglass figure!)

You will not 'bulk up' by lifting heavy will help your BF% (light weights do not do very much for this, except for the energy burnt doing it). Although I get that it may be a concern - as muscle is denser than fat, you could end up 'weighing heavy' so to speak. How tall are you?

Tempe729

Also, lifting heavy weights will NOT make you bulky! You will not reach your goal doing soley cardio and lifting light weight.

Actually other than the walking and Aquacises I don't do much cardio.. alot of it is Calisthenics...

chocolateandvodka

this is reminiscent of a 15 year old 90lb cheerleader asking if her jeans make her butt look big.


we see your butt. it's cuter than ours. thank you for pointing that out.

Tempe729

You seem like you have a nice mix of activities and you have rest days (very important) but you do need to be eating more - and lift heavy weights.

You should eat more calorie dense foods if you are struggling to eat enough - nuts, seeds, cheese, avocados etc - and do not get low fat - get full fat products. Peanut butter is a great source of fat and protein.

I don't lift heavy weights but I don't lift light ones either... I usually try and stick to a happy medium-weight,reps,& sets... I have been worried about increasing the weight too much because I'm trying to focus on losing excess weight.. however I know muscle is important for burning fat while resting... I just don't want to "bulk up"... for the Navy I am required to be 150-160lbs and a max of 33% body fat.... I still have about 45-50lbs to lose...

Any suggestions on what I should focus on? Most of my weight in carried in my butt, hips and thighs..(yay hourglass figure!)

You will not 'bulk up' by lifting heavy will help your BF% (light weights do not do very much for this, except for the energy burnt doing it). Although I get that it may be a concern - as muscle is denser than fat, you could end up 'weighing heavy' so to speak. How tall are you?

Just barely 5' 5" (technically 5' 4 7/8") haha

LaMujerMasBonitaDelMundo

You seem like you have a nice mix of activities and you have rest days (very important) but you do need to be eating more - and lift heavy weights.

You should eat more calorie dense foods if you are struggling to eat enough - nuts, seeds, cheese, avocados etc - and do not get low fat - get full fat products. Peanut butter is a great source of fat and protein.

I don't lift heavy weights but I don't lift light ones either... I usually try and stick to a happy medium-weight,reps,& sets... I have been worried about increasing the weight too much because I'm trying to focus on losing excess weight.. however I know muscle is important for burning fat while resting... I just don't want to "bulk up"... for the Navy I am required to be 150-160lbs and a max of 33% body fat.... I still have about 45-50lbs to lose...

Any suggestions on what I should focus on? Most of my weight in carried in my butt, hips and thighs..(yay hourglass figure!)

No you won't get bulky with lifting heavy weights unless you take some steroids which I don't think you would do so don't worry about that. My bf was at a whopping 43% when I was at my highest weight but now I'm at 20% & my waistline is at 26.5 inches (used to be 36 inches before). I awe the majority of my fat loss success to heavy weight lifting.

EDIT: sorry wrong spelling, it supposed to be "I owe the majority of my success..." hehehehe

jellybaby84

I don't think you're doing too much, no.

And I don't see how you can fail to lose weight on this regime eventually. Plateaus happen but it will break at some point. With that deficit, it has to.

Eating your exercise calories may or may not help you, it seems to be different for different people. You could always try it and see. But I'd say that your body would tell you if it wasn't getting enough. If you're full, energised and happy then you're getting enough calories, if you're hungry, weak and emotional then you're not.

If you do decide to et more, I wouldn't include your saxaphone playing as exercise as it's part of your daily life, not a specific workout.

Sarauk2sf

You seem like you have a nice mix of activities and you have rest days (very important) but you do need to be eating more - and lift heavy weights.

You should eat more calorie dense foods if you are struggling to eat enough - nuts, seeds, cheese, avocados etc - and do not get low fat - get full fat products. Peanut butter is a great source of fat and protein.

I don't lift heavy weights but I don't lift light ones either... I usually try and stick to a happy medium-weight,reps,& sets... I have been worried about increasing the weight too much because I'm trying to focus on losing excess weight.. however I know muscle is important for burning fat while resting... I just don't want to "bulk up"... for the Navy I am required to be 150-160lbs and a max of 33% body fat.... I still have about 45-50lbs to lose...

Any suggestions on what I should focus on? Most of my weight in carried in my butt, hips and thighs..(yay hourglass figure!)

You will not 'bulk up' by lifting heavy will help your BF% (light weights do not do very much for this, except for the energy burnt doing it). Although I get that it may be a concern - as muscle is denser than fat, you could end up 'weighing heavy' so to speak. How tall are you?

Just barely 5' 5" (technically 5' 4 7/8") haha

To put it into perspective - when I was fitter (before I got ill and stacked on weight due to my metabolism being shot) I was 158lb with 17% body fat - I am 5 6" - and I lifted heavy. I have always also weighed heavy anyway because I have a big booty!!

So, you should have no problems getting under those targets and still lifting weights.

em9371

You need to eat more., especially with that amount of exercise.
I'm 5'5, 205lbs, working out for 60-90 mins 5-6x a week so pretty similar to you.
I eat 1950 total, around 1600 net (moderate activity level) and lose 1.5 most weeks, even if i eat 'bad' things and go over my allowance. I used to eat 1650 / 1200 net and lost less. My diary is open if it will help!

If you need to increase your cals without eating much more, try calorie dense foods such as nuts, olive oil, whole milk, peanut butter etc.

Have a look at 'in need of a road map' this will give you your bmr (minimum cals to eat) and tdee (max cals), you will probably class as 'very active'. Eat between these and you will lose x

meshashesha2012

we seem to have similar body shapes (5'5 and hourglass). i dont think you're doign too much but i dont think you're eating enough.

also dont be afriad of the heavy weights. you get twice the results fat loss wise in half the time. plus there's no way you can bulk unless you're a male, taking steroids or eating well over your maintenance

XXXMinnieXXX

I'd try eating half back and see how it goes. Google calorie dense foods...

Tempe729

Okay... so in response to what I've been told so far....I'm going to do an experiment... in accordance to how much I workout & the fact that I rarely if ever eat back any of my exercise calories... I'm going to take 2 weeks starting Monday, eating back at least 75% or more of my exercise calories and start lifting heavier weights... see if it makes a big difference ( I hope so! ) So it looks like when I hit the store on Sunday I will be picking up more whole foods (switch back to my 80cal/slice bread, pick up nuts....)

Any other healthy food suggestions that I could add into my diet to help make up those exercise calories? (no whole milk though... it makes me sick to take a few sips of 2% haha!)