Eating on days outside of exercise

rjs0416
rjs0416 Posts: 23
in Food and Nutrition
I have struggled my entire life with undereating. I believe, as a result, I have a lower muscle mass and higher fat content on my body than most. Now that I'm taking good steps towards exercise and am really enjoying it and am motivated (personal trainer once a month, weight training 3 days a week, cardio 4 days a week, and walking at least 5 miles a day living in an urban environment), I seem to struggle with this.

I normally eat between 1200 and 1400 calories a day and, as a man at 185, 29 years old, and 5'10", I know this isn't enough.

Beyond that, I have a simple question:

Should one's foot intake be different on his or her days off? What do you folks do? Or is this too complex a question for discussing on here in lieu of seeing a qualified nutritionist, which I am willing to do.

Replies

  • Unknown
    Unknown
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  • rjs0416
    rjs0416 Posts: 23
    k9,

    I'm not sure either. I do get it in, though. My routine is generally 35 - 40 minutes of moderate intensity on some piece of cardio equipment (six workouts on one machine, then switch to another machine). I walk to and from work twice a day. When I lift, I do biceps, triceps, chest, shoulders, back OR glutes, legs, abs alternating days. I usually tend to lift for 20 to 25 minutes with 30s to a minute between reps.

    I'm sporadic, though, especially on the weekend. During the week I can get breakfast, lunch, and dinner in. On the weekend, though, it's usually only breakfast and dinner.
  • riblust
    riblust Posts: 20 Member
    You will be just fine if you calculate a weekly caloric goal and hit that goal over the course of a week. Many people are naturally less hungry on off days and tend to eat less. Personally, I find it easier to calculate just a single set of numbers for my daily nutrition and hit them every day.
  • Unknown
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  • Hexahedra
    Hexahedra Posts: 894 Member
    I set my TDEE as sedentary and eat back about 60-90% of exercise calories back. As such I eat less on my non-exercise days. I actually look forward to exercising because it allows me to eat more.

    By the way I'm 5'8" and my sedentary TDEE is about 1900. I tried eating at around 1700 but I had to stop that because my lifting suffered.
  • rjs0416
    rjs0416 Posts: 23
    "Do yourself a favor and get on some kind of beginner lifters barbell program. With the way you are working out now you are probably just spinning wheels. "

    You see, that doesn't interest me at all. And I'm not going to do anything fitness related that I don't enjoy doing. Right now, I'm working with a personal trainer once a week who is helping me build a solid routine that I enjoy.

    At this point in the game, four weeks in, I feel as though I am far from "just spinning wheels". I show some muscle growth, some fat loss, and a 2 lb weight reduction. I also came from a high of 215 lbs to my current 183 lbs in less than six months.

    Also meeting with a nutritionist this week to help me out on the diet side. Focusing on eating, I was able to take in 1700+ calories on Saturday and 1650'ish yesterday.

    My ultimate eating goal is to be around 1800 to 2000 every day, which I feel is a healthy number given my goals.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I have struggled my entire life with undereating. I believe, as a result, I have a lower muscle mass and higher fat content on my body than most. Now that I'm taking good steps towards exercise and am really enjoying it and am motivated (personal trainer once a month, weight training 3 days a week, cardio 4 days a week, and walking at least 5 miles a day living in an urban environment), I seem to struggle with this.

    I normally eat between 1200 and 1400 calories a day and, as a man at 185, 29 years old, and 5'10", I know this isn't enough.

    Beyond that, I have a simple question:

    Should one's foot intake be different on his or her days off? What do you folks do? Or is this too complex a question for discussing on here in lieu of seeing a qualified nutritionist, which I am willing to do.

    I'm 38 years old, 180 Lbs and 5'10". I use the TDEE method, so I eat pretty much the same every day, give or take, regardless of exercise. It all nets out over the course of the week. I also lose a solid 1 Lb per week grossing 2100-2200 calories per day and I maintain around 2600-2700.
  • MsEndomorph
    MsEndomorph Posts: 604 Member
    I find sticking to daily caloric goals difficult due to the difference in food "allowance" on rest days. I took a rest day on Saturday and still tried to keep my activity high so I could eat a reasonable amount. However yesterday I was like a lump of coal and spent the day as lazily as I could and as I result I was STARVING on my base calorie allowance and went over. It's the curse of being small...my body just doesn't need much if I'm not active.

    I've had more luck looking at the week as a whole. If some days I don't eat all of my exercise calories back, it's fine if I eat them on a rest day. I've tried a flat TDEE goal, but I really enjoy the mechanics of what I'm doing and I feel almost disengaged the other way.

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