Am I doing Too Much Training?

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Replies

  • robinsondel
    robinsondel Posts: 47
    Personally, I don't use any gadgets. If I do start to use one, it will be an HRM. My reasoning behind this, and keep in mind, this is just my "feelings" on the subject, I'm by no means any kind of expert, just starting out really, but I refuse to count anything that is not specifically exercise. When I say exercise, I mean that I purposely exercised outside of "living". I do this, because I believe things you do everyday, like standing on your feet or walking, bending, crouching, etc, are not going to burn as much as a purposed movement. It seems to me that your body gets efficient at these motions that you do all day everyday and for me, I can't count those as anything more than TDEE. I spent 7 years as a Lowe's manager, and I can tell you from my personal experience, constantly being on my feet and running all over a 130k sq ft store, while intermittently throwing around lumber, sheet rock and 94lb bags of mortar, did nothing to make me lose weight. I did all day, everyday and it was just part of my TDEE. I'm not saying this is true for your, or for anyone else, but personally, I'd not count the all day fitbit calories.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    Sounds like your deficit is on the high side even adjusting for the potential Fitbit duplication. Given your stated goals of wanting to preserve or maybe even build a little muscle this is not optimal. At a body fat % of roughly 24 you are not obese (and as such have more to worry about in this regard.)

    You are also making this waaaaaaaay too complicated. I think things like Fitbit are great for ensuring you keep general activity high but the whole calorie burn aspect of it is...meh.

    I would suggest trying to average out your cals to about 2,300 - 2,500 a day (which accounts for your high level of activity so no need to worry about "eating back" exercise calories.) Some days you may eat more than that depending on how you feel, some days less but if it averages out to around that range over the week you will be fine.

    Try this for 4 weeks keeping your training the same and see how you go (you have experience a short term spike in weight but that will go within this timeframe.)

    If you are losing too fast then eat more, too slow then eat less.

    Rinse.

    Rpeat.
  • tangy1
    tangy1 Posts: 16
    Sounds like your deficit is on the high side even adjusting for the potential Fitbit duplication. Given your stated goals of wanting to preserve or maybe even build a little muscle this is not optimal. At a body fat % of roughly 24 you are not obese (and as such have more to worry about in this regard.)

    You are also making this waaaaaaaay too complicated. I think things like Fitbit are great for ensuring you keep general activity high but the whole calorie burn aspect of it is...meh.

    I would suggest trying to average out your cals to about 2,300 - 2,500 a day (which accounts for your high level of activity so no need to worry about "eating back" exercise calories.) Some days you may eat more than that depending on how you feel, some days less but if it averages out to around that range over the week you will be fine.

    Try this for 4 weeks keeping your training the same and see how you go (you have experience a short term spike in weight but that will go within this timeframe.)

    If you are losing too fast then eat more, too slow then eat less.

    Rinse.

    Rpeat.

    Good tip. My issue is I am struggling to eat anywhere near 2000 cal a day. Today for instance I'm at 1520cal for the day and i'm finished eating for the day as its evening time. I'm just not hungry for more food. I need to find more higher cal per gram foods. =)
  • ra86
    ra86 Posts: 12 Member
    This one of these situations where I think you just have to step back and look at what you're saying, to realise that something in your calculations/process is seriously off.

    You're saying that for a prolonged period, your body is sustaining itself on <300kcal per day. This wouldn't sustain a 4'5 sedentary female, never mind a 39-year-old male who trains at a high intensity every day. A few years ago, when I was only doing 2-3 workouts a week, I was on a 1200kcal diet. I felt awful, and it was unsustainable. 300kcal per day is an extreme starvation diet. This means that either you're hugely overestimating the intensity of your workouts (which people do all the time), or you're miscalculating the calories you eat. I could be wrong, but my initial guess is that you're doing both of these wrong, purely because your conclusion is so far out. Anyway it's up to you to figure out what's going on there, but there are plenty of people here to answer any questions you have.

    As for losing the final KG(s), the most important thing to realise is that what you're doing isn't working. Even if you don't like any specific suggestion here, you need to do something else. My suggestion is that you spend 2-3 weeks gradually taking your calories up to around maintenance level, then shaking your training up. Instead of doing Body Attack every day (which your body might have gotten used to at this point), you could try doing a heavy weights session (45-60 mins), followed by a 15-20 min HIIT session 3-5 times a week. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    Good tip. My issue is I am struggling to eat anywhere near 2000 cal a day. Today for instance I'm at 1520cal for the day and i'm finished eating for the day as its evening time. I'm just not hungry for more food. I need to find more higher cal per gram foods. =)

    Depends what you want to achieve really. You could par down your cardio and not need to eat as much but then you will lose the numerous benefits cardio can provide.

    Personally a high energy flux approach (essentially what athletes do - eat a lot and train a lot) will get you amazing results if you are consistent with it. So yeah, find some calorie dense food - I find cake does the trick ;)
  • tangy1
    tangy1 Posts: 16
    This one of these situations where I think you just have to step back and look at what you're saying, to realise that something in your calculations/process is seriously off.

    You're saying that for a prolonged period, your body is sustaining itself on <300kcal per day. This wouldn't sustain a 4'5 sedentary female, never mind a 39-year-old male who trains at a high intensity every day. A few years ago, when I was only doing 2-3 workouts a week, I was on a 1200kcal diet. I felt awful, and it was unsustainable. 300kcal per day is an extreme starvation diet. This means that either you're hugely overestimating the intensity of your workouts (which people do all the time), or you're miscalculating the calories you eat. I could be wrong, but my initial guess is that you're doing both of these wrong, purely because your conclusion is so far out. Anyway it's up to you to figure out what's going on there, but there are plenty of people here to answer any questions you have.

    As for losing the final KG(s), the most important thing to realise is that what you're doing isn't working. Even if you don't like any specific suggestion here, you need to do something else. My suggestion is that you spend 2-3 weeks gradually taking your calories up to around maintenance level, then shaking your training up. Instead of doing Body Attack every day (which your body might have gotten used to at this point), you could try doing a heavy weights session (45-60 mins), followed by a 15-20 min HIIT session 3-5 times a week. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

    Im sorry where did I say I was eating 300 cal per day or doing body attack everyday?
  • carolinetayloruk
    carolinetayloruk Posts: 73 Member
    I also get a large fitbit adjustment and sometimes struggle to eat all the calories back that day, i normally save them and use them at the weekend for a meal out etc.

    For those saying its hard to imagine. My 20-30,000 step days go something like this

    5.5 mile walk to work (i enjoy it, it's my me time)
    sit at my desk all morning
    30 min walk at lunchtime
    sit at desk all afternoon
    5.5 mile walk home

    Gym 2-3 times a week where i do a mix of HIIT on the cross trainer or 30 mins treadmill (jog/brisk walk at incline mix) and some strength training.

    Weekends normally involve a long walk somewhere or shopping (walking around lots again!)

    I'm set to lightly active as I literally sit at my desk during the day, aside from toilet/drink breaks and my walks are specific walks as opposed to having a job that means i'm on my feet everyday and i regularly get over 1000 fitbit adjustment
  • ra86
    ra86 Posts: 12 Member
    Im sorry where did I say I was eating 300 cal per day or doing body attack everyday?

    You gave an example of a typical day on MFP:
    Goal 1640( this is to loss .5kg week), Food 1933, Exercise 1648 = 285 net

    The net value is the amount of calories that your body has left to maintain itself. For the average male, this value should be between 2000-3000 If you did no exercise, and ate 285 calories, in a day, then your net value would be 285. That's roughly equivalent to what you say you're doing, and it's not sustainable.

    About Body Attack, I read that you trained 6 days a week, and that you did Body Attack. Didn't realise you didn't do that for every workout. Regardless, if you want to get that extra KG, you have to acknowledge that what you're currently doing isn't working, otherwise you wouldn't be asking.

    The other thing that I'm curious about is how you arrived at your target goal? Is it arbitrary, or did you use a formula to get your ideal weight? Are you factoring in the fact that you do weight training, and should therefore have some extra lean mass?
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
    Good tip. My issue is I am struggling to eat anywhere near 2000 cal a day. Today for instance I'm at 1520cal for the day and i'm finished eating for the day as its evening time. I'm just not hungry for more food. I need to find more higher cal per gram foods. =)

    Open your diary.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member

    Goal 1640( this is to loss .5kg week), Food 1933, Exercise 1648 = 285 net

    The net value is the amount of calories that your body has left to maintain itself. For the average male, this value should be between 2000-3000 If you did no exercise, and ate 285 calories, in a day, then your net value would be 285. That's roughly equivalent to what you say you're doing, and it's not sustainable.

    If you'll look at the formula he listed there, I think you'll see that he's using the word "net" improperly and actually means "surplus."

    He took in 1933 calories, fitbit says his TDEE is 1648 (which I don't believe, btw).
  • ra86
    ra86 Posts: 12 Member
    If you'll look at the formula he listed there, I think you'll see that he's using the word "net" improperly and actually means "surplus."

    He took in 1933 calories, fitbit says his TDEE is 1648 (which I don't believe, btw).

    Are you assuming that this 1648 should account for everything he's done from (for example) midnight to midnight? So eating 1648kcal would be exactly maintenance for that 24 hour period?

    My understanding is that he's saying that he calculated his exercise as being 1648, not including the rest of his calorie expenditure. I think that fits in more with what he's saying, as he's making the point that he feels full, despite knowing that he's not eating enough calories.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Sounds like you are having issues with your gadget. There is no way you are burning 1600 cals from weightlifting and you would have to be running at a pretty good pace or for a long time to burn that much running.

    What are you doing for cardio and lifting and how long?

    ETA: Just for reference I burn about 630 calories for an hour of vigorous calisthenics and around 210 caloies for and hour of weightlifting.
    As an example. Yesterday I was up at 5am. Did 1hour les mills Body Attack which is a very high intensity cardio class. For the rest of the day I am constantly on my feet walking almost continuously while at work for 8 hours.
    Yesterday as an example I covered 22,000 steps and 17.55km, 80 min active minutes, 3786 cal. This is from my fitbit.

    If your TDEE is 3786 on one day you should be eating between 3029 and 3218 to lose weight at a healthy rate (80-85% of TDEE)

    Too large of a deficit and you risk having a large % of your weight loss coming from lean muscle, not fat. If you are that active day to day, I would try and cut cardio down or out completely if you can't eat more.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    Sounds like your deficit is on the high side even adjusting for the potential Fitbit duplication. Given your stated goals of wanting to preserve or maybe even build a little muscle this is not optimal. At a body fat % of roughly 24 you are not obese (and as such have more to worry about in this regard.)

    You are also making this waaaaaaaay too complicated. I think things like Fitbit are great for ensuring you keep general activity high but the whole calorie burn aspect of it is...meh.

    I would suggest trying to average out your cals to about 2,300 - 2,500 a day (which accounts for your high level of activity so no need to worry about "eating back" exercise calories.) Some days you may eat more than that depending on how you feel, some days less but if it averages out to around that range over the week you will be fine.

    Try this for 4 weeks keeping your training the same and see how you go (you have experience a short term spike in weight but that will go within this timeframe.)

    If you are losing too fast then eat more, too slow then eat less.

    Rinse.

    Rpeat.

    Good tip. My issue is I am struggling to eat anywhere near 2000 cal a day. Today for instance I'm at 1520cal for the day and i'm finished eating for the day as its evening time. I'm just not hungry for more food. I need to find more higher cal per gram foods. =)

    Are you losing? Is what you are doing working?

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