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Physically active holiday - best approach?

disintegratedgirl
disintegratedgirl Posts: 22 Member
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Decided this weekend to start my 10% cut. Eeek! When I started my reset in June I never thought the idea of eating at less than maintenance calories would be daunting but it really is. I've really enjoyed eating more and the benefits that has brought so although I definitely want the numbers to drop (gained about 6lb during reset, most of it reasonably quickly) I definitely do not want to compromise my metabolism or health to achieve that this time. So feel far happier aiming for just over a 10% cut - I was eating 2260 at TDEE so going to aim for 2000 calories from this week.

The calculations are based on my usual activity and exercise but I have a week's holiday coming up in 2 weeks where we are going to the Lake District and will be doing alot of walking. Likely to be doing around 10-14 miles daily of quite tough, hilly, walks while there and not sure how to factor this in calorie wise. MFP estimates of the calories burned doing this sort of thing seem HUGE (around 3000 calories burned) and am struggling to think that can be accurate. But given its going to be quite early into my cut I don't want to hugely undereat and scare my metabolism off. I don't intend to track everything I eat religiously while away but would like an idea of how many calories i should be aiming for each day, then I reckon i can probably get in the vague ball-park of this figure without actively counting.

Any advice from anyone that does a fair bit of hiking/ hill-walking on the level of calories this uses? I use Heybale's spreadsheet to get my calorie goal, should I just adjust this to factor in the absence of the other exercise and include the hiking? What "type" of activity would this count as?? Or should I just add a few hundred extra calories to 2000 calories I will be aiming for?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    If you commonly walk on a treadmill, then compare it to that.

    Like actually test it, do a treadmill walk level at 4mph, the top of the Medium cardio level.

    Then go out and find some terrain and carry the backpack weight you think you'll have (heavier is more calories, right) and go the pace you think you'll hit.

    Easier or harder? By big amount?

    If easier, probably still in Medium cardio level, if harder (likely) then in the High cardio level.
    Just change your values for the week for how many minutes weekly you think you could hit it. Leaving out of course the workouts you won't be doing that week.
    There's your TDEE, and then figure your 10% cut.

    Or, if you are on trails with known distance, and you know how long it better take you (like you leave and must get back by certain time) then you know your pace. Take a big day and a small day for extremes, and use average.
    So use this, with incline of 5%, because going up and down both use much more energy than going flat.
    Select the NET option, and there is your eatback of just those calories for the walking. Just kind of see what that burn looks like per hr, and plan on eating back about that much for each hr walked. Your base goal is whatever it normally would be with no exercise.

    http://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs.html

    True, you do want in the ballpark.

    Other simple option is - eat at normal TDEE during this time at level you are already good at eating, let exercise create your deficit, whatever it may end up being daily.

    And ya, don't use MFP estimate of calorie burn, as there is no description of effort in there, no pace or hills at all. It's great at walking flat at stated pace, but all databases will lose it on that type of activity.
  • disintegratedgirl
    disintegratedgirl Posts: 22 Member
    Thanks Heybales. Very useful.

    I haven't been doing much treadmill work for the last few months but remember how 4mph feels so can compare to that. I reckon splitting the time spent half at medium intensity and half at high will probably account for the walks most accurately as obviously there is a big difference in how difficult different parts of the walks are. Removing all other exercise and adding that in to the spreadsheet gives me a TDEE of 3633 for the week so aim will for approximately 3200 calories to maintain 10% deficit. Eeeek!

    As its so much higher than normal TDEE think I will have a play around with some day's menu's just to see vaguely what sort of foods/ quantities get me in the general vacinity of this. As i will be eating out at least half of the evening meals its not going to be very exact but I will feel better having some idea. But its only one week so hoping it won't make much difference in the scheme of things. First priority is definitely enjoying holiday!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Definitely got to enjoy it, and that is difficult with no planning really possible.

    Since I backpack out to camping spots, I know exactly what I'm eating, I never bring extra food. So mine is super easy. Then I just plan on eating to normal non-exercise TDEE, and if from experience that doesn't seem enough, another bag of gorp or bar in the bag per day. Only failed last trip where I ended up carrying 45 lb son more than expected because he's more ambitious than me.

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