What should I expect?

jahmi

I'm fairly new to MFP and have been reading other posts about the dangers of rapid weight loss. I'm concerned because I have lost a significant amount of weight since the middle of February.

First I'll give a little insight as where I'm coming from and what my goals are. I've always been into endurance sports but the past few years have been rough on me and I've haven't been able to put forth the time needed to train for them. All through my 20s and early 30s I would run on average 20-30 miles a week and cycle another 200 in season. That all changed after having kids and it has been a downward spiral since. I never really changed my diet and put on about 60 lbs over time. I usually would lose about 20 lbs of it over the summer until last year when I gained instead of losing.

Fast forward to this year I turned 40 this past January and I always said I was going to be in the best shape of my life when I turned 40. Guess what? Instead I was in the worst shape in my life. I've also found myself in a unique position of being a stay home dad and having a lot of free time on my hands while the kids are at school. So I took my weight and lack of healthy lifestyle as a wakeup call and started on the journey of getting my physical conditioning back. My goals are to be in 10k running shape and 60 mile cycling shape. Meaning on any given day I can go out and run a 10k or cycle 60 miles ( I'm currently in this condition and will be running a 1/2 Marathon next week.)

I discovered MFP on itunes and thought what a great tool to see what I'm eating and what i should be eating. I registered and booked a physical with my Dr. After getting the all clear from my Dr. I started my weigh loss journey in mid February at an all time heaviest of 242 lbs. I decided to set goals of 2000 calories and weightless of 1 lb a week. What I discovered is that the recommended weekly exercises calorie burn is not very high so I went about my spring training like I did back in the old days. Well as you can see I've exceeded my goals but I'm nearing the end of my spring training and will go into my summer lifestyle of less time in the gym and more time in the outdoors. My summer will be full of cycling, running, kiteboarding and limited weight training in the gym. In all reality my weekly exercises caloric burn will be between 6000 - 9000 and I'm very comfortable eating 2000 calories a day and will keep that where it is.

What I'm concerned about is with the changes in my exercise will I start putting weight back on? Regardless of what others have said it's not as simple as calories in calories out. In the gym my workouts are well calculated to maximize return they are controlled and I know where my heart rate is at all times. The big difference is that in the summer my runs and rides are for fun they are not controlled and I do not monitor my heart rate. I'm worried that being in different HR zones is going have an impact on what my body does with the calories. I also presented this to my Dr. and she thinks I'll be fine. She feels that my body has resorted back to they way it was and will continue to burn the calories instead of storing them. What do you think did I mess myself up on this one?