Am I being dangerous with my fitness plan?

lsuteemant1227
lsuteemant1227 Posts: 6
in Health and Weight Loss
Sorry everyone, I believe I have read too much that it is confusing me! If I am eating 2700 Calories/ day, and doing a lot of Cardio (on a cardio day) to "burn" 1500-2000 cal/day in just exercise (I am in the Army and do PT twice a day) and my net is at the 500-1500 Calories a day am I going to go in "starvation" mode? It has been a challenge to eat that much while limiting Carbs. I am currently 219, trying to get under the "Army" standard for my height which is 203 to avoid getting taped after my PT Test. I have lost 8 Lbs over the past 2 weeks and intend on trying to do this the healthy way after the first month (2lbs/week). I don't feel hungary, I drink a ton of water and eat plenty of Greens and lean meats, I got the 4 week diet plan from Mens health (50-80 g carbs a day now : 150-225 g Protien)., then will transition to adding "good" carbs into my diet. With my math, I am in a 1500-2000 calorie deficiet/ day (3-4 lbs per week), but want to ensure that my body does not go into that dreaded and dangerous "starvation". Thank you in advance for your replies!

Replies

  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    No. You aren't going to starve eating 2700 calories a day. You're going to lose a lot quickly in PT. It's designed to get you in good shape. I wouldn't stress any diet plan from a magazine, either. Just eat, work out, watch the pounds fall off, and there you go!

    Trust me, doing PT twice a day is NOT, repeat NOT going to cause your metabolism to slow down.

    It's not. No.

    ETA: Ask any Ranger buddies. They have to endure extreme calorie deficits during training. Never met a Ranger who went into starvation mode.
  • mikeyrp
    mikeyrp Posts: 1,616 Member
    I doubt there are many people here qualified to answer this question as really with the levels of exercise you are doing most of the arguments around starvation mode become moot. The hardest thing is going to be accurately measuring what you are burning in those work out sessions as you will burn less as you become more efficient.

    As a basic rule: if you feel abnormally tired or if you never feel like you are completely recovered from working out - you are doing something wrong. Otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.
  • lsuteemant1227
    lsuteemant1227 Posts: 6
    Thank you for the vote of confidence. This is the first time in my life of actually counting caloric intake and output, before I used myfitnesspal as just an exercise diary., so it was concerning me that my Net Calories were low to other message board standards. I am on this "4 week diet plan" to lose a lot quick and to change my lifestyle of drinking too much German and Belgium Beer here in Europe. The results are coming, but my main concern was the Net Calories at the end of the day.

    mikeyrp, you said "The hardest thing is going to be accurately measuring what you are burning in those work out sessions as you will burn less as you become more efficient." What tools can be used to track this more accurately. I have a Polar watch that tracks my Heart rate and tells me calories burned (although I don't know how accurate the sensor is for that or if it just approximates given my Age, Weight, and HR). Are there any tools or devices that can help me track my caloric output as my body continues to get used to my exercise regiment?

    Again thank you very much for the input.
  • mikeyrp
    mikeyrp Posts: 1,616 Member
    HRM's are pretty good indicators for continuous exercise like running or cycling but not great for interval training or weights. Additionally it measures how fast your hear is pumping - but that doesn't tell you how efficient you heart is at getting oxygen to your blood - which is a combination of red cell count, lung efficiency, heart strength etc....

    VO2 max is better but complex to get set up (I don't know how to do it).... Might be worth looking into.
  • lsuteemant1227
    lsuteemant1227 Posts: 6
    Thank you, I've heard about that VO2 Max. I will look into it.

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