HELP! AM I EATING TOO LITTLE?

nikkieliivey

Hi!

I have been trying to loose the last 20 pounds for over three years and it just dawned on me that I actually may be eating too little. I am new to MFP and have stuck pretty close to my 1300-1400 range.

However, I typically burn about 1500 calories a day and I have not been eating my excercise calories. I love to spin which burns massive amount of calories, plus I try to walk my dog and dance every day.

I always thought that eating back what you excercised off seemed contradictory. But I eat extremely well and have never missed a scheduled work out. The only time I have been succesful in moving the scale has been on low carb diets.

Maybe I should be eating back 50-60% of my calories but with low carb foods?

Could my body be in starvation mode? I gained one pound this week despite the fact that I stuck to my diet for the most part, and if I didn't I had a surplus of 1000+ calories to cover if I went over my net 1300 calories.


Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. I have vowed to loose these last 20 pounds this summer and I need to get going!

Thanks,


Nikki

lyndsloo

Do a science experiment! Up your calories for 2 weeks and religiously log your calories eaten/burned. Monitor your weight lost/gained during that time. I almost guarantee that is why. Try it and see what happens...2 weeks of experimenting is nothing compared to 3 years of trying.

BEST OF LUCK!

nikkieliivey

Also, I dont know if this makes a difference, but I don;t feel tired during my work outs. This could also be attributed to the fact that, if I am in fact not eating enough, my body has been fueled properly in ages.

nikkieliivey

So true! thanks for the advice!

jessicajoy87

I agree. If you have been doing this for three years upping your calories for two weeks should feel like nothing. Good luck!

synthiataylor

It seems odd but you need to eat your calories that you burn. I too found out the hard way that you need eat food or fuel to lose the weight....especially at 1300 calories. You would really need to eat to see the results you are looking for. Good luck!

Johnnyswife

Yes! Eat those calories. At least try it for a couple weeks like someone sugessted. If the weight comes off, than keep it up. If not, than maybe look at what your eating as well. Is there a lot of sodium in your diet? Sugar? Maybe making some small adjustments might help.

KeriD

I was eating about half my exercise calories and I recently started eating all because of reoccurring plateaus. I think it is starting to work....so I too would suggest you eat all your exercise calories. Also, are you measuring your calories burned with a HRM? I also do spin and my class is the most intense class my gym offers. Before I had a HRM I thought I was burning about 1000 based on what this site was telling me. Since then I have been using my HRM and am really burning about 650 per class.
Best wishes to you!

nikkieliivey

I was eating about half my exercise calories and I recently started eating all because of reoccurring plateaus. I think it is starting to work....so I too would suggest you eat all your exercise calories. Also, are you measuring your calories burned with a HRM? I also do spin and my class is the most intense class my gym offers. Before I had a HRM I thought I was burning about 1000 based on what this site was telling me. Since then I have been using my HRM and am really burning about 650 per class.
Best wishes to you!

I am going to purchase a heart rate monitor but I spin 2x a day for an hour and do another hour of strength training/yoga. I so I think I am using the right number of calories. I say 600 for each spin class and about another 100 for strenght training. I aso dance and walk the dog everyday. So I think 1500 is spot. Nevertheless, I love your advice! I am sooo going to get a heart rate monitor.

SHBoss1673

so here's the thing

calories eaten 1300

and lets say your maintenance is 1800 calories (pretty low, but whatever, it's still ok for our purposes)

now your exercise is 1500 (which I doubt if you've been spinning for as long as you say you have, muscle memory would reduce the calories burned, but ok, lets call it 1100 instead, doesn't matter, the math still works)

so the total calories you burn in a day is 2900, the total calories you're eating is 1300 or even 1400, matters little.

2900 -1400 is 1500 calories. That's a 1500 CALORIE deficit, that's HUGE!!!!! People who are morbidly obese have trouble maintaining health with that large of a deficit.

Here's the thing though, that experiment probably won't work (the 2 weeks of increased calories thing). The body doesn't like change, and usually the first reaction to a large increase in calories is weight gain, it doesn't matter that you are still below what you need to burn, your body is still working on the assumption that it's going to get 1400 calories for a few weeks, if you suddenly up it to say...2000, then it's going to think that it should be storing those extra calories, and it will continue to think that way for weeks. A better idea is to up your calories by about 100 calories or so a week, or even 2 weeks, and then see where you are, that's a small enough increment that you're body isn't stunned by the change, and it can adjust. I also would recommend changing your workout, spinning is great, but with any workout, if you do it exclusively, your body will get used to it and you won't burn as many calories as you think you are. I'd give yourself 6 to 8 weeks off the spinning, and then if you want to return, great, but don't go back to every day spinning, mix spinning with other types of high intensity.

That would be my thoughts anyway.

-Banks