Overdid It! Underate, Pushed Too Hard

ChristiH4000

This is my first week on MFP and I love it. I've kept a food journal for a couple of years, but I've never counted calories or tracked my exercise like this. That said, I think I screwed up.
I've been leery of eating back my exercise calories so I've been trying to stay close-ish to my normal caloric limit of 1580. Yesterday, I ended up around 1400 and today I paid dearly, I think. After cycling I worked with my buddy on our Couch to 5k step four, but I was really struggling with my breath. (I quit smoking at the beginning of the year and gave myself a few months to recover lung capacity because that's always been the main reason I hate running.) Never in this C25K process have I had trouble with my breath like this. I was in the middle of the last stretch of a 5 minute jog, not even at a very fast pace 5.5-5.6 mph, when the pain in my side was all I could focus on. All of the sudden I couldn't catch my breath at all, and I started freaking. With tears streaming down my face I jumped off the treadmill and had a little panic attack until I could catch my breath.
Am I right that the combo of under-eating with a strenuous workout is the root of this problem? Is it a good idea to always eat back at least some of the exercise calories? I've never pushed this hard and been this cognizant of my calorie intake so I think I'm still figuring it out.

natachan

There really isn't enough info here to tell you with certainty. However, 100 kcals one way or the other isn't going to make much of a difference.

If I had to guess, I'd say a few things might be going on.

1) Yay on you for quitting smoking! But still, it's going to take a while for your body to completely recover. It will vary with your age, but usually you can expect it to take at least a year or so for the damaged tissue to be replaced with new tissue. This is a conservative estimate. My husband quit smoking four years ago and although his breathing is much improved he still has some issues from time to time.

2) When did you eat last before this? When and what you eat in relation to your workout can have a huge effect. If your body feels too hungry you could feel week (or even sick, as sometimes is the case with me). If you are too full you can cramp up very badly.

3) Sometimes you're just not up to it. It happens, but sometimes you are just having an off day.

badgerbadger1

You need recovery time. Sounds like you aren't letting your body recover between runs and other exercise, which impairs your ability to make progress and actually can set you back.

Don't overdo it when you first start, you'll burn out, get injured etc. One step at a time. Change diet one week, add single exercise routine next week, etc. Include rest days.

badgerbadger1

Also 5.5-5.6 is too fast for a newbie runner, especially if you're encountering respiratory difficulty. Running too fast is a common mistake for the beginner and it prevents you from making endurance gains. Run slow (I run at 4.5) when trying to add minutes or distance.

ChristiH4000

<----This dummy just went and read one of the introductions for "newbies" that explained the whole thought process behind eating back exercise calories. I guess I just need to focus on making sure those calories aren't empty.

ChristiH4000

Thank you for the tips! Although I've been exercising regularly 3-5 times per week since 2010, I definitely overdid it this time. The running is brand new so I know that's where I got hung up. I'll definitely try to slow it down a bit and work my way back up. I did the same run Saturday and Monday without a problem so I'm sure the calorie deficit and the running just combined for an epic fail. It's a great support to have a place to ask these questions!

Shell_7609

It sounds like the deficit was a good part of the problem. My personal opinion/experience on eating back exercise calories is it depends on if I'm hungry or not. Either way I make sure to not net less than 1200 a day, normally I aim for a net around 1500 daily