How long will it take before I know if it's helping or not?

Thaea · March 2013

So, I had maintained a weight of 136-138 with a body fat % around 16-17 percent for YEARS. Then in 2010, I decided to start doing triathlons. My weight and body fat started to go up, and continued to climb the more I trained. I hadn't changed anything with my eating, and then last year after finishing a half ironman, my weight was up 15 lbs from when I started endurance sport, and my body fat close to 25%.

Through these last couple years, I consistently have eaten about 2000 calories a day, despite burning about 3000 (or more!) every day. Everyone's been telling me I have to eat more! So since I've tried EVERYTHING else and keep gaining body fat, I decided I'll eat closer to what I'm burning (2500-2700 calories a day) and see if that works.

But I'm paranoid it's going to make me gain even more. I know my body will need to go through an adjustment phase, since I've been underfueling for more than 2 years now. How long should it take my body to readjust to eating enough before I start to lose weight?

Thank you

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moxette · March 2013

Do you wear a heart rate monitor when you work out? Take your average heart rate for each workout (done with a monitor to be most accurate) and then enter it into this equation.
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx
Then take the total calorie burn for that and enter it here:
http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn-conversion-calculator.aspx
You might be over calculating on your endurance workouts. I found last year that if I did a 3 hour ride and my heart monitor and mfp told me I had burned waaaay more than my body really was.
The body keeps an accurate count no matter what you log, so if it isn't working it isn't that your body is broken, its the calculating that needs work.

How long will it take before I know if it's helping or not?

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