More food or cut exercise?

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Al79
Al79 Posts: 1
in Health and Weight Loss
First of all hi everyone, I've been using MFP for a few months now but haven't posted on the boards.

I've managed to lose almost 30lb's in 8 weeks but things have started to slow over the last couple of weeks and I've not lost anything even though I've been well under my cal's..... and I think this is where my problem lies.

I drastically changed my diet and started exercising at the same time so I think I’ve shocked my body into losing the weight over the last few months. I regularly had 500+ cals left each day but as I was losing the weight didn't see this as a problem.

The further into this I have gone the less I have started eating, I'm almost competing with the notification at the end of each day stating how much I will weigh in 5 weeks to see how I can keep the number down.

Anyway I recognise this as a problem and I'm not eating back the 700 - 1000 calories I am burning each day in exercising so need to address this, which leads me to my question.

Am I best eating more throughout the day to compensate for this exercise or am I simply better cutting back on the amount of exercise I am doing? I'm currently cycling between 20 - 30 miles daily so could drop this without any problems.

Thanks

Replies

  • HollyMac20
    HollyMac20 Posts: 259 Member
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    I am no expert here, but my opinion would be to eat more to fuel your workouts. The benefits of cycling or any exercise are awesome. Fuel your body with healthy calories, lean proteins, veggies and complex carbs. After a long workout like that, maybe a recovery drink would be a good choice. Replace your energy, get some protein and some of those calories.

    Good luck!
  • edorice
    edorice Posts: 4,519 Member
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    What Holly said, eat more to fuel your workouts.

    Don't simply have the mindset of dieting. We should all want to make our bodies stronger and our hearts stronger. We need exercise in order to do that.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    I am no expert here, but my opinion would be to eat more to fuel your workouts. The benefits of cycling or any exercise are awesome. Fuel your body with healthy calories, lean proteins, veggies and complex carbs. After a long workout like that, maybe a recovery drink would be a good choice. Replace your energy, get some protein and some of those calories.

    Good luck!

    I agree with recovery drink. I bought all natural whey protein powder (5g of sugar). when I mix it with skim milk it's like drinking vanilla milk - yummy - and it added 130 calories to my day (and 23g of protein - I wasn't getting enough). I fight to get to 1200 calories. I would prefer to eat my normal calories burned (1520) and then burn off the excess.
  • cindyco1
    cindyco1 Posts: 4
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    Sounds like your metabolism is definately slowing down.
    One thing to combat this is to make sure your eating about 250-350 calories every 2-3 hours.
    That can usually equate to 3 meals + 2 snacks making sure they're balanced with lean protein/fruit or veggie/good starch.
    By good starch, I mean switching to whole grains, brown rice instead of white, no potatoes, etc (Im amazed at how many calories I saved when I cut out white flour & sugar).
    Eat fruits with your early meals switching to veggies for your later meals & look for veggies low on the glycemic index (no peas corn or carrots).
    You also might want to consider resistance training. Gaining muscle won't bring down the scale initially, but muscle tissue is more metabolically active (it burns more calories) so your cardio training will be more effective.
    The important thing to remember is that the more you cut calories, the more your metabolism will slow down to adjust and the harder it will be to lose weight. You just have to be smarter about the type of calories you put into your body, and give it a constant supply so it doesn't feel the need to conserve.
    Your weight loss may be slower to come, but it will stay off.
    Hope that helps.
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
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    EAT MORE!!! Thats the best benefit of exercise IMHO is the ability to eat more because of it. LOL Remember that it is a process though, and add those extra calories in slowly so you don't upset your stomach. I'd recommend adding 100 calories a day for the first week and then another 100 a day for the next week, etc. until you get up to where you want to be. That will prevent the bloated, nauseous feeling from eating a lot more then your body is use to consuming.

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