Hmmm, Should I do a Reset?

bltrexler

Hello EMTWL members,

Well I have been stalled out on any weight loss for awhile. 3 months ago I broke my foot and spent 2 months immoble and did not do much for activity. A month ago after getting the boot off I decided to sign up for a 5K Tough mudder marathon and with that I have a HIIT regime that I have been following. The scale has not budged and in fact gone up a few lbs. I feel like for the amount of work I put in I should see some results. (Although I do feel some NSV with the way my clothes have been fitting) I have been feeling this was for about 8 months. So I have been looking into this group b/c I am wondering if generally I am not eating enough and could use some advice.

Scooby site:
BMR=1544
TDEE =2393
TDEE-15% =2034

Now I put down moderate activity but in generall I work out 4-6 days a week (1hr session) and probably qualify for the strenous activty level but to be one the safe side said moderate. Here in MFP I net about 1500-1600 calories a day, I do eat back most exercise calories. For the most part I am not hungry and am comfortable with the# of calories I take it. If I am starving I eat a bit more but nothing crazy. I feel to eat the TDEE I would be stuffed and uncomfortable all the time.

So what would you do?

Briski1411

I too have been stuck at the same weight for about a month now and that is only after a sudden loss from my vacation. yeah I went on vacation wtopped working out and lost weight...hmmm??? My Calories are to low I'm pretty sure but I just won't afford to eat more food. I get by and maybe that is my fault but I hit the gym regularly and make slow progress.

Have you written down your measurements? Is your attitude improving? Do you have more energy? Do you notice more ppl taking notice of you? They are many many ways to tell that you are making improvements. The scale is probably the worst one. I know it is for me.....

Change what you have been doing you need to live outside your comfort zone to make real progress. The body reacts to change not the same old thing again and again. Best of luck to you!

heybales

Well I have been stalled out on any weight loss for awhile. 3 months ago I broke my foot and spent 2 months immoble and did not do much for activity. A month ago after getting the boot off I decided to sign up for a 5K Tough mudder marathon and with that I have a HIIT regime that I have been following. The scale has not budged and in fact gone up a few lbs. I feel like for the amount of work I put in I should see some results. (Although I do feel some NSV with the way my clothes have been fitting) I have been feeling this was for about 8 months. So I have been looking into this group b/c I am wondering if generally I am not eating enough and could use some advice.

Scooby site:
BMR=1544
TDEE =2393
TDEE-15% =2034

Now I put down moderate activity but in generall I work out 4-6 days a week (1hr session) and probably qualify for the strenous activty level but to be one the safe side said moderate. Here in MFP I net about 1500-1600 calories a day, I do eat back most exercise calories. For the most part I am not hungry and am comfortable with the# of calories I take it. If I am starving I eat a bit more but nothing crazy. I feel to eat the TDEE I would be stuffed and uncomfortable all the time.

So what would you do?

So you think this is the way to do it, why shoot yourself in the metabolism by thinking "be on the safe side" by under-estimating your activity level?

Take the calories for that upper activity level of Very Active minus Sedentary level, how many calorie difference?
And that is for 7hrs of exercise, so divide that difference by 7. That is how much you are given credit per hr of exercise in that table.
Burn more than that? Very likely, most do.

Also, could the amount of work you put in be too stressful for your body, even at a decent deficit, that it's counter-productive?

For instance, some people hear about HIIT and proceed to try to do it every day almost. Or believe that because the fat-burning zone is only zone to workout in is a myth, they'll go all out every single day for 60+ minutes.

If HIIT is done properly, you could not do it everyday. What you end up doing is just pushing yourself, but with no recovery to allow getting stronger, the body can't at all. You may feel like you are working hard, but you are no where near what you could be doing with proper rest and nutrition.

Now, as you improve your high intensity carb burning engine, your body is going to learn to store more carbs, which stores with water, which is increased weight. And more weight fluctuations if you weigh at the wrong time.

I would plan a better workout routine that matches that Mod Active you selected. Smarter workouts will accomplish the same goal.

bltrexler

[/quote]
So you think this is the way to do it, why shoot yourself in the metabolism by thinking "be on the safe side" by under-estimating your activity level?

Take the calories for that upper activity level of Very Active minus Sedentary level, how many calorie difference?
And that is for 7hrs of exercise, so divide that difference by 7. That is how much you are given credit per hr of exercise in that table.
Burn more than that? Very likely, most do.

Also, could the amount of work you put in be too stressful for your body, even at a decent deficit, that it's counter-productive?

For instance, some people hear about HIIT and proceed to try to do it every day almost. Or believe that because the fat-burning zone is only zone to workout in is a myth, they'll go all out every single day for 60+ minutes.

If HIIT is done properly, you could not do it everyday. What you end up doing is just pushing yourself, but with no recovery to allow getting stronger, the body can't at all. You may feel like you are working hard, but you are no where near what you could be doing with proper rest and nutrition.

Now, as you improve your high intensity carb burning engine, your body is going to learn to store more carbs, which stores with water, which is increased weight. And more weight fluctuations if you weigh at the wrong time.

I would plan a better workout routine that matches that Mod Active you selected. Smarter workouts will accomplish the same goal.
[/quote]





Thanks for the input heybales The HIIT regime I am doing includes days of active recovery where there is low to moderate exertion level. So my week looks something like
day1- race prep with circuit of running and things like squat jumps ect..
day 2- muscular strenght circuit with weighted exercises 4rounds with 30s rest between each.
day3 endurance- sprints with little rest between
day 4 active recovery like a light jog/ bike ride
day 5- metabolic strenght
day6- endurance of long road race with good pace
day7- day off maybe stretching.

If i follow you correctly and split the difference between moderate and strenous calorie needs then I increase my calories by 42 a day to 1956 (TDEE-15%)

I think there is some level of truth about the workout zone I am in. I would like to buythe PolarFT60 HRM as a guide. But I am not in a rush to drop the $.

riouxt

I'm just finishing up my first week of reset and honestly, I think you should reset. It's hard to bite the bullet but you are doing a lot of endurance activity and that is catabolic to your muscles. I am focusing on hitting my protein every single day and then having an extra glass of milk with my protein shake if necessary. I am doing a half marathon in early Sept and so even on reset, I'm having to include a rest day. My 3 day cycle of working out is: day 1 - run (6-16 km), day 2 - NROLFW, day 3 - rest. I'm using the moderate activity level of 2300 as my TDEE so I would think that with your huge calorie burns on your longer runs and circuits which I'm assuming are longer than 30 minutes, you should really bump yourself up in calories at least to the next level. I'm learning from everything that I'm reading that your muscles need more energy than you think and just netting your BMR isn't enough if you are working out as hard as you are. I'm also a bit older so that may explain the need for extra rest.

Good luck. I reallly believe the key for you is increasing your caloric intake so your muscles, tissue and nervous system have enough material to work with to increase your strength and maintain your endurance.

heybales

Thanks for the input heybales The HIIT regime I am doing includes days of active recovery where there is low to moderate exertion level. So my week looks something like
day1- race prep with circuit of running and things like squat jumps ect..
day 2- muscular strenght circuit with weighted exercises 4rounds with 30s rest between each.
day3 endurance- sprints with little rest between
day 4 active recovery like a light jog/ bike ride
day 5- metabolic strenght
day6- endurance of long road race with good pace
day7- day off maybe stretching.

If i follow you correctly and split the difference between moderate and strenous calorie needs then I increase my calories by 42 a day to 1956 (TDEE-15%)

I think there is some level of truth about the workout zone I am in. I would like to buythe PolarFT60 HRM as a guide. But I am not in a rush to drop the $.

A good, great balanced routine then, good to hear.
And that's really great you are doing that without a HRM, just means you are reading your body, perhaps doing the talk test, ect.
Talking easily with no issues is usually Active Recovery, plenty of oxygen taken in for the effort being done, talking taking some of it causes no problems.
Talking with some pauses, or if you kept it up you'd feel you were losing it, is usually Aerobic Zone.
Talking with brief comments, 4-5 words before you know you gotta stop, usually Tempo Zone.
Talking enough to tell someone not to talk to you, and you can't talk much - Lactate zone.
You can't remember words to really talk, or the thought to talk never enters the mind - Anaerobic zone.

Save money on the HRM until you can get one that has training features you'll really use. That Polar, and like the Garmin FR60 which really has a lot of great features around $100, will be worth it then. That's when you'll be pushing performance and zone training will keep the balance, but allow you to really push on certain days.

With that much activity, I'd actually round down from Very Active, level 4 of the 5. Not really in the middle, so rounding down to nearest 100 decent enough. If I'm mis-reading those hrs and it's less than 6, then round up from Moderately active, 2400 like you did.
Daily goal 2000.

You can keep track of your stats in this spreadsheet for when it's time to lower the goal because of all the fat lost.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/677905-spreadsheet-for-bmr-tdee-deficit-calc-macro-calc-hrm