Eat even more?! What do you think?
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michellekicks
Posts: 3,624 Member
So...
I came to MFP a little over a month ago after realizing I wasn't eating enough on Weight Watchers. As a runner, my goal is twofold: 1) to run faster and farther, and 2) to drop some pounds in the process. So here are my steps on this journey:
January through April: Over 4 months I lost about 14 lbs on weight watchers... it was very slow going, hard to get it off. Would fluctuate a LOT of water weight based on workouts (I'm a daily weigher)
Through May (or late April to now - tomorrow is 6 weeks at MFP for me) I have been following MFP's guidelines to lose .5 lbs/week - I aim for 1640 plus all my exercise calories. That puts me at about 2090/day consumed on average. My exercise on average is 530 cals/day so my net is actually lower than that, at about 1560.
MFP thinks my BMR is about 1503.
My first 5 weeks were awesome:
W1: -1.0 lbs
W2: -0.8 lbs
W3: -3.0 lbs
W4: -2.4 lbs
W5: -1.2 lbs
... however...
This threw off my periods. My last one was late - arrived this week. I'm usually like clockwork every 4 weeks. There's no way I could have been pregnant because DH has had a V years ago. So I'm pretty sure it had to do with the weight loss.
When that period showed up (Tuesday after my WI Monday)... my weight was up 1.5 lbs. By Wednesday my weight was up 6 lbs. I then proceeded to drink LOTS of water, stayed (mostly) away from salt etc. and brought it back down to 172.2 as of this morning... which is 1.6 lbs up from last Monday.
Now, I know with all that water retention (which I've NEVER had BTW... I just posted a while back that I don't even notice a change in the scale at that TOM lol) is probably still the cause of my weight being a little up from last week and I'm trying not to let the scale bother me (though the 6 lbs made me want to curl up and cry). But I'm wondering if I'm still not eating enough.
I went to the scooby site and went through the Calorie Calculator Calibration step at the end to see what it said there. Originally I entered in my info as this:
Female
5'7"
172 lbs
36 yrs
Very active 5-6 days a week
20% calorie reduction (because this coincided almost exactly with the 2090 calories I'd been eating - it said to do 2079)
... and the results were:
BMR: 1506
TDEE: 2599
Target: 2079
Expected weight loss: 4.2 lbs per month
Now, since I actually lost 7.4 lbs in the last month eating at that level, I used their Calorie Calculator Calibration and it gave me a correction factor of 373. When I put that in that field (and my BF% at 31) it gives me this:
BMR: 1879
TDEE: 3242
Target: 2594
Expected weight loss: 5.2 lbs per month (still at the 20% reduction!)
Here is what I do for activity:
1 long run/week - about 17-18km right now (nearly 2 hours running at 6:30mins/km)
1 tempo run - 10km @ 6:00min/km (1 hour)
1 medium easy run - about 13km at 6:30mins/km)
1 short run - about 8km with speed drills or hill repeats
2 insanity videos (40 mins each)
1 day off
Who has an opinion? Should I eat more? I know it sounds crazy... maybe 2300? I don't want to plateau... the more weight I can get off before my race in August (half marathon) the faster I'll be!
I came to MFP a little over a month ago after realizing I wasn't eating enough on Weight Watchers. As a runner, my goal is twofold: 1) to run faster and farther, and 2) to drop some pounds in the process. So here are my steps on this journey:
January through April: Over 4 months I lost about 14 lbs on weight watchers... it was very slow going, hard to get it off. Would fluctuate a LOT of water weight based on workouts (I'm a daily weigher)
Through May (or late April to now - tomorrow is 6 weeks at MFP for me) I have been following MFP's guidelines to lose .5 lbs/week - I aim for 1640 plus all my exercise calories. That puts me at about 2090/day consumed on average. My exercise on average is 530 cals/day so my net is actually lower than that, at about 1560.
MFP thinks my BMR is about 1503.
My first 5 weeks were awesome:
W1: -1.0 lbs
W2: -0.8 lbs
W3: -3.0 lbs
W4: -2.4 lbs
W5: -1.2 lbs
... however...
This threw off my periods. My last one was late - arrived this week. I'm usually like clockwork every 4 weeks. There's no way I could have been pregnant because DH has had a V years ago. So I'm pretty sure it had to do with the weight loss.
When that period showed up (Tuesday after my WI Monday)... my weight was up 1.5 lbs. By Wednesday my weight was up 6 lbs. I then proceeded to drink LOTS of water, stayed (mostly) away from salt etc. and brought it back down to 172.2 as of this morning... which is 1.6 lbs up from last Monday.
Now, I know with all that water retention (which I've NEVER had BTW... I just posted a while back that I don't even notice a change in the scale at that TOM lol) is probably still the cause of my weight being a little up from last week and I'm trying not to let the scale bother me (though the 6 lbs made me want to curl up and cry). But I'm wondering if I'm still not eating enough.
I went to the scooby site and went through the Calorie Calculator Calibration step at the end to see what it said there. Originally I entered in my info as this:
Female
5'7"
172 lbs
36 yrs
Very active 5-6 days a week
20% calorie reduction (because this coincided almost exactly with the 2090 calories I'd been eating - it said to do 2079)
... and the results were:
BMR: 1506
TDEE: 2599
Target: 2079
Expected weight loss: 4.2 lbs per month
Now, since I actually lost 7.4 lbs in the last month eating at that level, I used their Calorie Calculator Calibration and it gave me a correction factor of 373. When I put that in that field (and my BF% at 31) it gives me this:
BMR: 1879
TDEE: 3242
Target: 2594
Expected weight loss: 5.2 lbs per month (still at the 20% reduction!)
Here is what I do for activity:
1 long run/week - about 17-18km right now (nearly 2 hours running at 6:30mins/km)
1 tempo run - 10km @ 6:00min/km (1 hour)
1 medium easy run - about 13km at 6:30mins/km)
1 short run - about 8km with speed drills or hill repeats
2 insanity videos (40 mins each)
1 day off
Who has an opinion? Should I eat more? I know it sounds crazy... maybe 2300? I don't want to plateau... the more weight I can get off before my race in August (half marathon) the faster I'll be!
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Replies
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HAVE you had a diet break? by doing TDEE for one week or two weeks? I was told that we all need that every 6-12 weeks.. I may be wrong.. but I know you are considered strenuous activity.
and btw- I used to be on ww.. left about 3 months ago. So we are in same boat.. I knew I was eating lightly by doing 2 hours of workout everyday for almost a year.. I realized i was overtraining and under eating.. what was wrong with me? UGH.. Now I only work out up to one hour or 1 hour and half.. thats it (mostly weight training) trying for 30-45 mins cardio few times a week.. a big change, but I'm gaining. I pray by doing TDEE for next 4 weeks will break that and then cut..
so I'm thinking maybe you need to do TDEE for a week or two?0 -
HAVE you had a diet break? by doing TDEE for one week or two weeks? I was told that we all need that every 6-12 weeks.. I may be wrong.. but I know you are considered strenuous activity.
I have not done this... I do have a race in 2 weeks and have been thinking of eating to TDEE for at least 2-3 days prior (but no workouts on the 2 days prior either) to carb-load. The thing is, I'm not sure now what my TDEE actually is! Is it 2500 or 3200? Crazy... maybe if I do 2 weeks at 2500 and see how I feel. I do eat a lot now at 2100 day, but a little extra wiggle room prior to this race might not be a bad idea.
BTW, my upcoming race is 16km (10 mi) with 4100' elevation gain. I will run from the beach to the top of a mountain in about 3 hours.0 -
Probably 2599ish is ok... @bump@ mod help her!
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Hmmm, that is a tough one... I think you had a good idea by taking the middle ground. Assume your TDEE is in the middle and go from there.
Or....Take a BMR that is in the middle, say 1700. If you know what your AVERAGE daily calorie burn is then you can add the two together, subtract 15% to 20% and eat that on a daily basis.
Ie. 1700 BMR + 1000 Avg. Calories Burned = 2700
2700 - 15% = 2295
2700 - 20% = 2160
Just a thought....0 -
Hi, I would bump up to 2500 to 2800 and give it about 6 weeks. Im sure your runs will thank you! 0
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Hmmm, that is a tough one... I think you had a good idea by taking the middle ground. Assume your TDEE is in the middle and go from there.
Or....Take a BMR that is in the middle, say 1700. If you know what your AVERAGE daily calorie burn is then you can add the two together, subtract 15% to 20% and eat that on a daily basis.
Ie. 1700 BMR + 1000 Avg. Calories Burned = 2700
2700 - 15% = 2295
2700 - 20% = 2160
Just a thought....
I don't know my total average calories burned since I don't wear a fitbit or anything. I actually just bought my husband one, but I just measure my workouts and don't measure or log anything else.0 -
Bump.
Any other opinions? I'm up 1.8 lbs at my WI this morning. Discouraged for sure... mind you, it's the tail end of my +6lb water retention week, so it might just not all be gone. I've just never experienced this.
What factors affect BMR? With the correction on the scooby site they figure my BMR is up over 1800... crazy?0 -
One thing that concerns me is your disruption in your menstruation cycle. That can be a blaring sign of over-training AND/or not enough food. From what I've read, I'd highly recommend that you scale back the training a little, and definitely up your calories. If you are still having trouble with your TOM, then you may need to take a full break from your training in order to get things back on track... (I have a feeling your eyebrows just went up, your jaw dropped and you just said, No Way...that's not going to happen). Google over-training and some of it's symptoms...don't just take my word for it.
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If it's only been a week, don't panic and start messing with stuff. It hasn't even been long enough for you to know if this is a plateau or not.0
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One thing that concerns me is your disruption in your menstruation cycle. That can be a blaring sign of over-training AND/or not enough food. From what I've read, I'd highly recommend that you scale back the training a little, and definitely up your calories. If you are still having trouble with your TOM, then you may need to take a full break from your training in order to get things back on track... (I have a feeling your eyebrows just went up, your jaw dropped and you just said, No Way...that's not going to happen). Google over-training and some of it's symptoms...don't just take my word for it.
^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^ 0 -
I think you need to get through TOM and see where you are at. I would be concerned both about my cycle being messed up both timing and symptoms, and also that I was losing a little fast, but that may even itself out over time. I wonder if you put your activity up to strenuous if that would come out to the same numbers as the corrected factor? What do you do during the day when you are not working out, i.e type of job of home life?
The only thing that has changed is upping your calories these last 5 weeks or have you also upped the intensity of your runs to prepare for this race?0 -
I think you need to get through TOM and see where you are at. I would be concerned both about my cycle being messed up both timing and symptoms, and also that I was losing a little fast, but that may even itself out over time. I wonder if you put your activity up to strenuous if that would come out to the same numbers as the corrected factor? What do you do during the day when you are not working out, i.e type of job of home life?
The only thing that has changed is upping your calories these last 5 weeks or have you also upped the intensity of your runs to prepare for this race?
Yes I definitely went into this with the intention of losing half a pound per week, so I'm not in a hurry, but I do want the scale moving in the right general direction of course.
I'm training for a half marathon in August so yes, my mileage has been increasing over the last 3 months or so - about 10% per week - nothing extreme. Actually, the last couple of weeks my mileage went down just a little because I was travelling and then, well TOM kicked my butt. It's over now, though.
My home life swings wildly between sedentary (on FB and MFP lol) and busy - I'm a SAHM to 5 kids, so I clean during the day, look after my 2 year old and then after the other 4 kids come home from school it's snacks, dishes, directing traffic, cooking dinner, cleaning up... then back to my butt on the couch
I have my activity set to 5-6 hours strenuous weekly. I am surprised how much more weight I'd lost than the scooby calculator expected though. I knew it had to be too good to be true
I did a spreadsheet with every day's calories eaten (and I'm neurotic about tracking every bite) and calories burned from exercise... over the last 5 weeks I have averaged 2108 calories eaten daily and averaged 510 calories burned for an average net intake of 1598. If it wasn't for TOM being so messed up I'd have just chalked this up to a correction week where my body is kind of taking in what has happened over the previous 5 weeks... that could still be the case.
To prepare for my upcoming race, though - in 2 weeks - I want to live without a significant calorie deficit while trying not to gain either. I think I've decided to set my goal at 2000 plus my exercise calories (which average 500/day or so) for the next 2 weeks. If the pounds start flying on I'm going to freak out though.0 -
If it's only been a week, don't panic and start messing with stuff. It hasn't even been long enough for you to know if this is a plateau or not.
Thanks. I know you're right... I'm just more concerned about the hormonal thing and how I'm feeling generally. I also want to race well in 2 weeks.0
