Struggling with how cardio fits in with EMTWL

sharpei65

Hi there,
I've got my head round the stats and roughly what cals I should be eating at the moment for my fairly laid back lifestyle!
So I get the nutrition side of it but can't get my head around the changes from the different types of exercise.

I'm about to start running again and will be training for a half marathon, so cardio will figure heavily in my exercise regime and obviously will give me a few cals to eat on the days I exercise enough to go over the gap between my TDEE cut and BMR.

Eg my BMR is approx 1350 and my cut at 20% is 1550 so if I burn any more than 200 cals I will eat it back.

I think I will try and add in a couple of days of weight training too, to try and build up some muscle as it can only be a good thing and I used to enjoy it when I did it previously.

My confusion is will that make any difference to my TDEE cut - do I just continue with my estimation from the cardio stuff for now? Or do I need to estimate my burn for the resistance work, which I guess initially wont be over 200 cals so then dont need to eat extra?

I've trawled the boards tonight but couldnt find the answers I need but apologies if I'm repeating whats already been asked and answered before.

Looking forward to any insight and thoughts.
Thanks
Kay

rfsatar

To be honest, I just exercise (although I am building up again after injury and probably about to be crocked with knee ops) and I try and stay within my TDEE deficit.
If it helps, though, I have a 15-20% range to work in... so ideally I want to come in closer to 20% but there is 100 or so cals wiggle-room to make it closer to 15% when I do my full cardio & strength session at the end of the week.

I also make a point of switching up to maintenance on my complete rest day/weekends away.
Unless I am out for the evening/cheeky takeaway and beers with mates, I can normally stay comfortably below my TDEE that day but then I don't have to worry about not having the exercise cals to eat back.

I use a HRM and log my cals burned on here with the exercises... but so long as I try and stay above BMR (always) Within 15-20% TDEE deficit (at least 5 if not 6 days a week) and allow myself a decent day to... you know... enjoy my life(!), it seems to be working.

One thing I can say - I made a bit of a mistake at the beginning of the month in over-estimating my exercise - I included my rest days where I typically do stretches and wii fit activities (also stretches and balance games). I re-adjusted back down to 1-3 days a week of exercise, and numbers are coming down again.
Oh well - at least I found my maintenance level eh!

HTH!

Gapwedge01

Hi there,
I've got my head round the stats and roughly what cals I should be eating at the moment for my fairly laid back lifestyle!
So I get the nutrition side of it but can't get my head around the changes from the different types of exercise.

I'm about to start running again and will be training for a half marathon, so cardio will figure heavily in my exercise regime and obviously will give me a few cals to eat on the days I exercise enough to go over the gap between my TDEE cut and BMR.

Eg my BMR is approx 1350 and my cut at 20% is 1550 so if I burn any more than 200 cals I will eat it back.

I think I will try and add in a couple of days of weight training too, to try and build up some muscle as it can only be a good thing and I used to enjoy it when I did it previously.

My confusion is will that make any difference to my TDEE cut - do I just continue with my estimation from the cardio stuff for now? Or do I need to estimate my burn for the resistance work, which I guess initially wont be over 200 cals so then dont need to eat extra?

I've trawled the boards tonight but couldnt find the answers I need but apologies if I'm repeating whats already been asked and answered before.

Looking forward to any insight and thoughts.
Thanks
Kay

It depends. What activity level did you use to calculate your TDEE? BMR x activity level = TDEE. If you selected a level appropriate for your weekly exercises then you would not eat back your exercise calories since they are built into your TDEE.

berthabunny

Well, I just started EM2WL(yesterday) and I am on a swim team, so I will still be doing lots of cardio. Don't know how it will work out yet though.

Greenrun99

I'm about to start running again and will be training for a half marathon, so cardio will figure heavily in my exercise regime and obviously will give me a few cals to eat on the days I exercise enough to go over the gap between my TDEE cut and BMR.

Eg my BMR is approx 1350 and my cut at 20% is 1550 so if I burn any more than 200 cals I will eat it back.

I think I will try and add in a couple of days of weight training too, to try and build up some muscle as it can only be a good thing and I used to enjoy it when I did it previously.

My confusion is will that make any difference to my TDEE cut - do I just continue with my estimation from the cardio stuff for now? Or do I need to estimate my burn for the resistance work, which I guess initially wont be over 200 cals so then dont need to eat extra?

Your cut number really depends how much you have to lose, the less the smaller the cut number.. at 12 lbs to lose, I would do 10% not 20%.. you don't want a huge deficit or you can plateau easier as you get smaller.
Also if your training for a marathon, and then doing a couple days of weight training on top of all that, you need to estimate your activity level correctly.. so if your doing an hour of running, burning say 500 calories a run.. thats an active to high moderate activity level, so make sure your #'s reflect that so 1550 is really small for that amount..

heybales

I'm about to start running again and will be training for a half marathon, so cardio will figure heavily in my exercise regime and obviously will give me a few cals to eat on the days I exercise enough to go over the gap between my TDEE cut and BMR.

Eg my BMR is approx 1350 and my cut at 20% is 1550 so if I burn any more than 200 cals I will eat it back.

I think I will try and add in a couple of days of weight training too, to try and build up some muscle as it can only be a good thing and I used to enjoy it when I did it previously.

My confusion is will that make any difference to my TDEE cut - do I just continue with my estimation from the cardio stuff for now? Or do I need to estimate my burn for the resistance work, which I guess initially wont be over 200 cals so then dont need to eat extra?

Use this to help nail the activity better with upcoming varied schedule.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

As of now adding lifting, yes, that would increase your TDEE, making the recommended 10% bigger, and changing the eating level a tad higher.

Recommendation for the future marathon training. You'll probably have at least 1 if not 2 long run days, compared to other shorter days.

If you can use that spreadsheet when that times comes, only put in 1 hr for any runs over 1 hr, plus planned short runs. Then go the MFP Tweak tab, use that BMR multiplier shown with best BMR, and use the cut amount there.

Now when you run more than 1 hr, use the table at the bottom to log minutes over 1 hr, and calories over the hr, and eat back that deficited amount.

The reason why is if you have 2 or worse 1 long day, but just avg out that big burn over the whole week, you end up not getting to eat enough after the run when you really need to replenish glucose stores to be prepared for your next run, and instead just possibly eat more than needed on other days.
On schedules where it's about equal through the week and not that intense, the weekly averaged out to daily works fine, but I discovered in my own training it doesn't work well for big efforts, even if they are totally planned out.

sharpei65

Thanks for your replies...I've certainly picked up some useful info.

Thanks heybales, that is particularly useful information about balancing out the long runs and calorie intake with the rest of the week's exercise and intake.

Currently I'm using the light exercise hence the 1550 at 20% cut but will log any decent exercise I do above that and eat the cals.

When I start my exercise programme in earnest next week I will start by moving up to moderate activity initially and take it from there.......

Kay

HeidiHoMom

I agree that 20% cut is pretty large for someone who is close to goal.

I would go 15% tops, ideally 10%, especially since you are training for a marathon.

sharpei65

I am aiming for stone and a half loss, but that depends on how well I get on with lifting and if I manage to build some muscle and lose some fat! I dont care what the scales show as long as I see the inches go down. So im not that close to goal which is why I chose 20% cut. But yes maybe 15% would be better at the moment and switch to 10% when I drop some weight?

Can I just ask if you count lifting as part of the exercise time sum to determine your activity level. I assume so as its intensive work but thought Id check they werent referring to just cardio.

Kay

heybales

I am aiming for stone and a half loss, but that depends on how well I get on with lifting and if I manage to build some muscle and lose some fat! I dont care what the scales show as long as I see the inches go down. So im not that close to goal which is why I chose 20% cut. But yes maybe 15% would be better at the moment and switch to 10% when I drop some weight?

Can I just ask if you count lifting as part of the exercise time sum to determine your activity level. I assume so as its intensive work but thought Id check they werent referring to just cardio.

Kay

Correct, it counts. Doesn't burn as much during the session, but more later.