Exercising, Hunger, and Self-Worth

yourmomdude

I have been mad exercising of late. Yesterday I biked 8 miles and did 1 hr of step aerobics and zumba (combined class). Today I biked 14 miles and am going to Zumba. I have been eating a lot to accommodate this exercise because when I am hungry and don't have immediate food, I will binge. I've already ate 1200 (healthy) calories today and I haven't even eaten dinner yet. AND I AM STARVING.

I feel proud of myself for exercising so much and see my hunger as a sign of progress and my body functioning properly.

However, I feel kind of mad that my body is so hungry after so much food. I think all the 1200/EAT MORE polemics on here are getting to me. I internally think that all the "I can eat 1200 calories fine" posters are somehow better than me because they have more willpower or whatever. I don't know why I see restriction as some sort of skill or moral success. I just see so many people even on my newsfeed (many of whom I've subsequently blocked) who eat 1200 calories a day and then don't eat back any exercise calories, netting like 800-1000 cal. I sometimes feel like a failure or not serious enough.

In either case, I've eaten a ton of nutrients today (hit all my macros) and now have an entire meal to eat. And I have like 1300 calories to spare. I'm not going to gorge, but I think I will eat something awesome because how often do you have this opportunity--to eat something caloric you crave and still be way under?

sholubik

I did that yesterday. Full circuit work out twice, 60 minute run, then 25 minutes walking my dogs - this doesn't sound like much but the winds put some pretty good resistance to my walk. Kids came home and wanted to go swimming, 1 hour at the pool doing laps. Got home and thought I was going to starve to death. Ate reasonably well, even had ice cream for dessert - stayed 200 under daily calorie goal. Today haven't done much, too many other things going on - will make up for it tomorrow.

LorinaLynn

However, I feel kind of mad that my body is so hungry after so much food. I think all the 1200/EAT MORE polemics on here are getting to me. I internally think that all the "I can eat 1200 calories fine" posters are somehow better than me because they have more willpower or whatever. I don't know why I see restriction as some sort of skill or moral success. I just see so many people even on my newsfeed (many of whom I've subsequently blocked) who eat 1200 calories a day and then don't eat back any exercise calories, netting like 800-1000 cal. I sometimes feel like a failure or not serious enough.

/Slap upside the head....

SNAP OUT OF IT!!!

Do you feel good? Are you energized and able to exercise without running out of steam? Are you generally happy and satisfied with the food you eat? And most importantly... Are you getting the results you want?

That's all that counts. It's about eating RIGHT. Food intake and weight loss isn't a competitive sport. Don't compare yourself to others.




Well, unless you get into a Donut Dash or some hot dog eating contest, then food intake is a competitive sport.

justlistening

Wow you are going great with all of that exercising. I'm on 1200 (just upped to 1300) cals/day but then I am short too and don't have much to lose. Believe me when I workout I usually eat back most of my exercise calories. Your body needs fuel, the good kind and you are doing the right thing.

When people post we hardly hear their whole story-- weight/height, weight to lose, how much exercise they are getting, what kind of exercise, how often, do they want to build muscle or just look thinner etc. You are doing this for you not them! You are doing your body good.

katevarner

Agree with the others. It's not about what everyone else is posting. Your journey, your body, your exercise. If you are hungry and still have calories to eat, then eat! You can still maintain a really good deficit with that many calories left. And you have to fuel those workouts if you want to keep doing them.

When I started losing, I was eating 1650 with only a few heavy workouts a week (weekends) and walking my dog most days. When I started actually working out 6 days a week, upped my calories to 1850 and still lost almost a pound a week, and I only had 10-15 lbs. to lose at that point.

aliciakay3086

Why are you exercising so much?

JesterMFP

I can somewhat relate to how you're thinking. I do think though that thinking along the lines of it being a competition, can lead you down the road towards disordered eating. Competing against yourself to achieve new goals is great, assuming they're sensible goals. Competing against others, or yourself, to get by on as little as possible, or to do as much exercise as you possibly can, is not so good. I don't think you're there yet, but I can see that there is that temptation. Just because people can get by on 1200 calories a day, while doing loads of exercise, does not mean it's a good thing, or that their bodies will be working optimally. People can (and do) get by on far less, but it's neither physically or mentally healthy.

Don't let your self-worth be determined by extremes of behaviour. Exercise is a good thing, and it can definitely help to build confidence and self-esteem. When you say "I feel proud of myself for exercising so much" - that's slightly worrying to me. Be proud that you are exercising regularly, and keeping your body fit. Be proud of achieving new goals in a particular sport/activity, or of learning to do things you couldn't do before. Being proud for pushing yourself to extremes is likely to lead to you needing to push further and further to get the same feelings. Being "mad" that your body gets hungry when you've pushed it so far and expended all that energy - does that make sense to you? I hope you can see how illogical it sounds.

There are a lot of alarm bells in your post, especially in that third para. Why don't you try and derive self-worth from how well you can treat your body? The fact is, your body needs exercise, and it also needs rest. Your body also needs nutrients and energy, and if you expend a huge amount of energy, it needs that to be replaced. Look after your body, and it will look after you. Try and surround yourself with people who are treating their bodies well also, and remove those triggers.

bufger

everybody loses weight in slightly different ways. You may find those people eating 1200, earning back another 800 in exercise and banking them are losing weight at a slower rate than someone eating back 600 of those 800 exercise cals.

I calculated my TDEE and based my activity level on my average week including all exercise (ave x3 at the gym for 1 hour, 1 night basketball etc). It came out at 2000 calories for me so i just eat those and dont eat back exercise. Its working at a great rate for me now.

bufger

everybody loses weight in slightly different ways. You may find those people eating 1200, earning back another 800 in exercise and banking them are losing weight at a slower rate than someone eating back 600 of those 800 exercise cals.

I calculated my TDEE and based my activity level on my average week including all exercise (ave x3 at the gym for 1 hour, 1 night basketball etc). It came out at 2000 calories for me so i just eat those and dont eat back exercise. Its working at a great rate for me now.

And just to note, 2000 is a well rounded day with all nutrients, it seems like alot but it really isnt. e.g. 1/5 of a packet of non salted nuts is 250 and nuts are good for you in moderation.

LennyInFlorida

I tried that in the beginning as well. Over-exercising made me atrophy and gain fat/lose muscle. While the scale looked good it was very bad because i couldn't eat as many calories the next day without gaining weight as muscle was the only thing burning calories.

In the end I found out moderation 1 hour to 1.25 hour max of exercise for me per day coupled with my calorie intake of approx. 2100 calories. I didn't really follow any type of macros either, just very high carbs, especially at night, would help me from binging.

I end with this worked for me and everyone is different

Bevkus

Why are you exercising so much?

This

I was very fat and lost weight by becoming a gym junkie and long distance runner. Wow, I had tranformed my body and now was fit and could eat a ton of food....just excercised it all off. Then disaster struck when i Wrecked my back showing off with heavy deadlifts at the gym. I had to stop running, it changed everything....except the amount of food was eating. Gained soooo much weight..blah blah....I am on here!

For me, i think I was excercising so much so that i COULD eat lots.. I found out later that excessive excercise if a trait of a certain type of bullemia.

kgb6days

I'm really glad to see you post this. When I have a day of heavy workout like Wed (strength train 1 hr, walk 2 miles and 1 hour Zumba), I may not eat all my calories that day, but the next day or two I'm starving and cannot get full without eating heavy protein and fat (hence the McDonalds Sausage and Egg biscuit). It only makes sense that if we work off calories our bodies are going to tell us to replace them so we get hungry. EAT! Don't feel guilty because you give your body what it needs in a healthy way.

VelociMama

However, I feel kind of mad that my body is so hungry after so much food. I think all the 1200/EAT MORE polemics on here are getting to me. I internally think that all the "I can eat 1200 calories fine" posters are somehow better than me because they have more willpower or whatever. I don't know why I see restriction as some sort of skill or moral success. I just see so many people even on my newsfeed (many of whom I've subsequently blocked) who eat 1200 calories a day and then don't eat back any exercise calories, netting like 800-1000 cal. I sometimes feel like a failure or not serious enough.

EAT.

5'8" female here. I lost 42 lbs eating 1700-1900 calories plus exercise calories. Never felt like I was starving.

If you're exhausted, lethargic, starving, etc., you're doing it wrong. People who eat only 1200 calories per day and not eat the workout calories are not doing themselves any favors long-term. Most of them are eating under their BMR. Low calorie diets like that (especially very low calorie diets netting <800 calories per day) can cause serious health problems if done for too long especially in women (hormonal problems, hair loss, internal organ damage, etc.). Those type of diets are meant for people who are extremely obese and under medical supervision only, not for people who are a little obese or overweight.

Figure out your BMR and TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), and subtract 20% from the TDEE number. Stop eating below your BMR, and I promise you'll feel so much better, have more energy, and continue to drop weight though it may be slower than you're used to.

Be patient. Stop competing with people who are borderline malnourishing themselves, and remember that this is about a lot more than the number on the scale. You need time to re-teach yourself how to eat and live. If you can't do it for life, don't do it.

One last point, just because we don't starve ourselves and make ourselves miserable doesn't mean those of us who eat well and lose weight aren't serious enough. It means we care about more than just the number on the scale and have longer-term bigger goals than just "drop XX lbs by XX date".

blushingmama

How do you not pass out? Not because of the exercise but because of not fueling your body?

eat!!! dont binge on mcdonalds or other junk but what's wrong with eating some fish, or chicken or even a steak with some yummy vegetables? no one gets fat from eating proteins and healthy vegetables.

firstsip

Omg, you're going to be getting the same responses! It sounds like you netted next to nothing! I understand the addiction to exercise... but you just CAN'T do that much with so little food. Up the food, or cut back on the exercise, otherwise your body will be burning out pretty soon!

bf43005

Focus on you and what you are doing. I used to get super frustrated with this same thing. And sadly some of it was at my husband. We are doing the weight loss together and he had more to lose than I did when we started and was bigger so MFP gave him more calories, makes sense right? Yea there were nights were I was really upset cause he had 300-500 calories left and I had 20. I thought I was doing something wrong, and I was hungry. But it did get better. My thinking about it got better and my hunger got better. Make sure you eat when you are hungry and eat healthy. Best of luck!

AmberJo1984

Sometimes exercise may make you hungrier. If you're body is craving it... than you should eat it.

fiberartist219

Self worth? Everyone is different, and if you are hungry and you have the calories left, you should eat them. You can't compare your hunger to someone else's, because they might not be exercising the same way you are, or they might have some variations in their hormones, or a different age, etc.

If I compared myself constantly to everyone else, I would not know what to think. There are lots of people on here that see faster progress than I do, but there are also lots of people I see face to face that sit all day and eat junk food. Who cares what someone else does? Just find something that works for you and stick with it.

Sabrinaray89

You should be proud of yourself! That is ALOT of exercise and of course you're going to be hungry with only eating 1200 calories, that is the bare minimum for someone doing no exercise living a sedentary lifestyle. You probably burn more than 500+ calories and you have to take that into account, keep up the good work and don't get down on yourself!