Broke plateau by exercising less and eating more? WTF?

y0mbo
y0mbo Posts: 43 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've been doing P90X about 5 days a week and eating 1850 in calories to lose a pound a week (and eating back exercise calories to meet 1850).

But I plateaued at 200-ish pounds for several weeks.

Then I went on vacation, and have fallen to a 2-3 day per week workout routine since, and have been more frequently eating 1900-2000 calories (over my goal calories)

Now I've broken the plateau and am losing weight every day.

How is it possible to be exercising less and eating more and losing weight?

What gives? Thoughts?

Replies

  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,605 Member
    This is a pretty common experience. I'd guess your plateau was a result of undereating (relative to TDEE). To avoid putting yourself back on a plateau, keep your fuel levels up. I suspect 1850 intake is too low for a man exercising five times a week at a reasonable intensity. (And that your base MFP figures are too low.) Run your TDEE figures and check that out.
  • AzhureSnow
    AzhureSnow Posts: 289 Member
    I'm a 185 lb female who runs 2 miles 5 times a week, hikes at least once a week, and does strength 1-2 days a week. I eat around 1800 calories a day! I can only imagine doing a program as intense as P90X would demand a LOT of your body regarding fuel, so as Meerkat70 said, you may have been in a "conservation" mode because your body was being stressed. Once you added more fuel and less burn, it let your body burn those fat reserves because it wasn't scared of going into famine. You would still lose at that kind of deficit, but lose slower because it's a safety mechanism. I would think 2000 calories a day if you're doing regular P90X is probably the better choice for you to maintain consistent loss, and I would think it's still very easy to lose 1 lb a week at that setup.
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    I often drop a few pounds after a rest period. I chalk it up to less (or no) stress on the body, so no sore muscles & no water retention, and eating a little more, the body is comfy and has no reason to store fat....I'm no expert, but that's how I understand it anyway, and it's happened several times. :)
  • AzhureSnow
    AzhureSnow Posts: 289 Member
    AmyRhubarb brings up a good point about water retention. Hardcore strength workouts put a lot of extra stress on the muscles, causing them to swell and hold water. Taking a few days off gives them time to calm down and you can drop 2-8 lbs of water weight in days. This happens to me every time I do a big lifting session. Overnight I seem to gain 5 lbs, but after a few days it goes back down by around 6 or so.
  • y0mbo
    y0mbo Posts: 43 Member
    I figured it was because I was undereating as well, but...

    Last year I was doing P90X with the same figures and lost weight consistently.

    TDEE on MFP - 2330 to maintain my current weight.
    Other TDEE calculators also confirm this range (2337, 2239).

    So if I wanted to lose a pound a week on MFP, it does drop to 1850.

    If I eat back my exercise calories, I would think that 1850 would still be right.

    Then again, P90X is intensive, and everyone's body works a little differently.

    Thank you all for the thoughts and advice.

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