Am I eating enough or too much?

Msdklove2
Msdklove2 Posts: 2
in Introduce Yourself
I'm 18, exercise for 80 mins every night, 7 days a week (50 mins cardio and 30 mins strength exercises and stretches)! I currently aim for about 1500 cal a day but I bumped it up to 1600. I just checked the scaled and within about 5 days I've gained 2kg. My diet is really healthy (I do 55% carbs, about 20% protein and the rest is for fats)! Any suggestions or ideas ? Thanks in advance!! Xx

Sorry guys, I forgot to add the most important thing! I am 63.6 kg currently ( always goes between 61-64) and I am exactly 167cm tall

Replies

  • janetteluparia
    janetteluparia Posts: 318 Member
    There are so many factors that could affect that. You may not be eating enough, shoot for your TDEE-20% and eat back some of those excercise calories. Drink half your body weight in ounces (water). Note that you might gain some dense muscle mass which will appear on the scale as a gain but ultimatly help you slim down.
  • wilkyway
    wilkyway Posts: 151
    Wow, that's a lot of exercise, you have all my respect!

    But- I think you may be eating too little. I'd bump it up to 1800 drink tons of water and go with that for a bit. You don't want to starve your body due to so much exercise, even if you do eat really healthy :-)

    How long have you been following this regimen? Those two kgs could be anything....water retention due to muscle glucogen if your doing decent weight training....or your body's holding onto energy due to your high expenditure.


    Oh and also, what are your stats?:flowerforyou:
  • BretagneV
    BretagneV Posts: 5 Member
    Hello,

    I will be brief as Im at work :-)

    1. You gain muscle, which is much heavier than fat
    2. Exercising 7?! days a week 80 minutes is not a sustainable and healthy life style. Your body needs rest days.
    3. Forget the scale if you are doing weights...measure yourself.

    Good luck and keep up the good work and dont forget to have 2 rest days... in which you do no exercise but you could have a long walk or cycle somewhere nice.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    What is your height and weight? Try using this calculator to calculate your TDEE:

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    It will give you your TDEE, BMR, and your 'cut' or maintenance value based on the option you choose. For fat loss choose the 20% or 15% cut value then eat that amount every day. You do not need to eat back your exercise calories with this options as you include them in the activity level in the calculation.

    At your age my guess would be that you can eat more than 1600 cals per day and that your weight gain is most likely a water fluctuation.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    your profile says you are 20.

    what is your current height and weight? that is what really determines your caloric intake.

    telling me you do cardio and strength means nothing. tell us what you actually DO.

    high intensity interval training, or HIIT is really great cardio to do for weight loss. basically you warm up by jogging for a few minutes (6-8), then you do a few rounds of sprinting and jogging. for your first time do 30 second sprints and one minute jog for 6 rounds. then cool down with another jog.

    strength training should revolve around the four basic lifts. squat, dead lift, bench press, and overhead press. work on those.

    if i were you, i would strength train 3 days a week, and do cardio a different 3 days a week. rest on the seventh. if it is good enough for the Big Man, then it's good enough for you.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member

    1. You gain muscle, which is much heavier than fat

    It is very unlikely you're gaining muscle if you are eating at a calorie deficit.

    2. Exercising 7?! days a week 80 minutes is not a sustainable and healthy life style. Your body needs rest days.

    Rest days are not essential unless you feel you need / want them. Just listen to your body. Many people happily exercise every day.

    3. Forget the scale if you are doing weights...measure yourself.

    This is good advice - if you are lifting weights, this can cause water retention in the muscles so scale readings can be misleading, especially the day after lifting.
  • tmiadimic
    tmiadimic Posts: 1
    like the girls said, you're probably eating too little, so your body is acting "a tad bit insane"

    how much you eat, depends on how much you weigh and how tall you are, plus how active you are... try calculating your BMR and TDEE... the best is to use this: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

    Then once you see your TDEE (total daily expenditure), aka how much you burn daily, you cut down, 15-20% and vuola, you eat that much, if you want to lose wight
    if not, if you just want to maintain, you don't cut down, but eat the TDEE amount
    if you want to bulk, and gain some muscle, but also some fat, you up your TDEE, by say... 10% and do more strength training than cardio
  • ddky
    ddky Posts: 381 Member
    I would think that is not enough calories for a day that includes 80 minutes of exercise. I would suggest having a couple of days with no exercise and eating 1500 calories and the rest of the days you can exercise and eat a little more.
  • bhaghighat
    bhaghighat Posts: 4
    .My diet is really healthy (I do 55% carbs, about 20% protein and the rest is for fats)!

    My goodness, 55% carbs on a cut? I would suggest upping your protein and fat to around 35%/30%, and adjusting the carbs for the rest. If you need to cut something, cut carbs. Don't eat less protein and fat.

    Additionally, it's hard to give you any advice when we weren't given your stats. If you don't want to supply it, just go find out your TDEE and eat at a 500 calorie deficit from that (at least).

    Try to track your progress through measurements as well. The scale doesn't tell you everything. :)
  • Msdklove2
    Msdklove2 Posts: 2
    @wilkyway Thanks so much!!! I've stuck to this exercise routine for about 3 weeks and my healthy eating for 7 months so the exercise is fairly new. My weight ranges from 61-64kg all the time. Right now I'm 63.6! Although I do a fair but of exercise I feel like it could be more intense...my breaks stretching are probably a little generous etc but I've ordered a program called insanity which will hopefully arrive next week :) may I ask what you mean by my stats? Sorry, I've only been on MFp for a month
  • graysmom2005
    graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
    I would take a day to rest...no way you can keep that schedule up long term. Take a break. I would most definitely check your carbs and make them lower. 40% at most and up the protein. Also watch for sugars. Give that a shot and see if you see/feel changes. Just my 2.
  • agggie550
    agggie550 Posts: 281 Member
    You train hard so eat hard ... I work out twice a day 5:30am for an hour, and lunchtime for an hour, 5 days a week, and once on saturday ... I eat between 3200-4000 Calories a day to maintain my weight. As much as you work out you for sure need to eat more, but more doesnt mean just shoving crap in your face, plan your meals, add higher calories options if you dont want to eat more, like 1% Milk or Whole milk instead of skim, more nuts and things of that nature, just to add calories and not completely force you to eat alot more.
  • wilkyway
    wilkyway Posts: 151
    @wilkyway Thanks so much!!! I've stuck to this exercise routine for about 3 weeks and my healthy eating for 7 months so the exercise is fairly new. My weight ranges from 61-64kg all the time. Right now I'm 63.6! Although I do a fair but of exercise I feel like it could be more intense...my breaks stretching are probably a little generous etc but I've ordered a program called insanity which will hopefully arrive next week :) may I ask what you mean by my stats? Sorry, I've only been on MFp for a month


    You're very welcome =)

    Stats meaning your height, weight ect :wink: ....are you from the european area by any chance? I'm fluctuating in that range too and I'm 1,70 m tall.

    I think you are doing more than enought exercise. Give it some time. Carry on with the good eating habbits but let your body get used to the exercise. I'd even advise u to take a rest day or two, this would help your hard-working muscles regenerate and therefore enhance performance!

    So just carry on, not stress over the scale too much! Carry on doing what ur doing for a couple of weeks, make sure u eat enough nutritous food (definitely more than 1600, don't be afraid :-) )

    Then, after say a month or so, you may change up your exercise- for now, just be patient and enjoy the ride :-)

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