EM2WL Help? Rest days and exercising..

funkyspunky872

I've been eating 1830 calories a day based on a 20% cut from my TDEE with 1-3 hours of light exercise. However, I normally do 45-75 minute walks every day plus 15-20 minutes strength training every other day. I was recently told that this would count as 3-5 hours of moderate exercise. That would mean my calorie goal would be 2060 instead... What do you think?

Also, I don't want to get into an obsession with exercising like I used to be, so I was thinking I'd at least take 1 day off a week or maybe even two. (I have used exercising as a form of purging in the past, and I'm currently recovering from bulimia.) Should I drop down to a sedentary goal for that day?

Appreciate any help.

funkyspunky872

Bump.

erickirb

How are your energy levels and weight loss going on your current intake? If you results are below expectations, maybe split the difference between the two, give it 4-6 weeks and re-evaluate.

don't drop down to sedentary on your "off" days, but maybe stick with the current intake if you plan on taking rest days. Using the TDEE approach you average your workouts for the week to give you the same calories everyday. So if you miss a day but still workout 1-3 hours/week then that setting is still correct for you, no need to eat less on any day.

As an example say MFP gives you 1450 calories to lose 1 lb/week, and you plan on exercising 5x/week for an average of 400 cals per workout. well MFP will tell you to eat 1450 on the days you don't workout and 1850 on the days you do whereas a "professional" may tell you to eat 1700 everyday regardless if you workout.

So for the week MFP will have you eat 12,150 (1450*2+1850*5) whereas doing it the other way will have you eat 11,900 (1700*7) almost the same number of cals for the week (250 dif).

DaveMurphy6

I have used body for life for a number of years. The recommendations are doing 5 days of 30 minutes cardio or weights..perhaps a 6th day of something easier or another activity perhaps recreation..golf tennis. then one day off of both exercise and diet.This is good both mentally and physically.

I also take one week off of exercise(for the most part) one week each 90 days.

I also switch my workouts around every 30 days

If I can be of help let me know

Good luck

Dave

funkyspunky872

How are your energy levels and weight loss going on your current intake? If you results are below expectations, maybe split the difference between the two, give it 4-6 weeks and re-evaluate.

don't drop down to sedentary on your "off" days, but maybe stick with the current intake if you plan on taking rest days. Using the TDEE approach you average your workouts for the week to give you the same calories everyday. So if you miss a day but still workout 1-3 hours/week then that setting is still correct for you, no need to eat less on any day.

Thanks! I haven't been at 1830 calories a day for long, so I'll give it a month or so.

MaybeAMonkey

I'm not a health expert, that being said ... "drop down to a sedentary goal" for a day or two per week that you don't exercise doesn't make sense to me because your body feels the cumulative effect of how you treat it. Also, I don't think anything "counts for" something else (ie. 45-75 minute walks plus 15-20 minutes strength training counts for 3-5 hours of moderate exercise), you either workout for a set amount of time or you rest. I think a good guideline is to set your goals based on your overall lifestyle (Sedentary, Lightly Active, etc) along with your normal exercise routine (MFP let's you select the number of workouts you do per week and the actual number of minutes you plan to do it) and log what you eat and what you exercise. If you're wanting specific numbers then I'd suggest getting a HRM.