Unintentional calorie deficit

ecl39
ecl39 Posts: 6
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I'm trying to maintain my weight, but I'm terrible at estimating how much I'm burning. In addition to my usual 60/70 minute exercise, my internship has had me hiking around a lot recently. There have been several days over the past few weeks that I've been outdoors, easily walking several miles each day. It's not really uphill/strenuous or anything, just a lot of extra miles. And it's not like I'm running them- just walking. I haven't been eating anymore than usual though to compensate for the extra activity. I haven't had a problem finding the energy for all the extra activity until today. Yesterday I felt great. Today was rainy, so I stayed in and didn't do much after my morning workout, and all the sudden I feel totally drained! No energy, sluggish, tired, etc. Could this be due to a calorie deficit/not eating enough recently? Or am I just getting sick? I feel like if it was calorie-related, I would've been drained earlier, but today is also the first day I actually slowed down and didn't spend the whole day running around on the go. What do you all think? Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Replies

  • NoriDupuis
    NoriDupuis Posts: 26 Member
    sounds like you just need a day of rest. If your energy dose not return in a day or 2 better up your vic C :). you can get a step reader for you phone that will help you log how much Cal your burning. I think this site has one you can down load :)
  • 50sFit
    50sFit Posts: 712 Member
    edited October 2014
    My metabolism is so high that some days I just eat under and need to really watch my weight just to maintain. After losing a ton over 2 years, weight loss just became a habit.

    And it's been stated, you might be over-trained. Rest is paramount!
  • funchords
    funchords Posts: 413 Member
    Give it time to figure it out. I'm not sure if it's the rain, or that you enjoy the distraction of hiking versus the intentional effort of a workout, or the calories -- and there's no pressing emergency to label it. I'd just note it and see what happens next time.
  • Mischievous_Rascal
    Mischievous_Rascal Posts: 1,791 Member
    You can't maintain on less than your maintenance calories, no matter how full you happen to feel. That's math. And do you take rest days from your workout routine? If not, you really do need at least one day a week. It's really rest and recovery. If you're undereating and not resting? That will eventually knock you on your butt, for sure.

    Is the internship and the walking around that goes with it going to be long term? If that was the case for me, I would change my modifier (from sedentary to lightly active for example). If it's going to be a part of your regular day, it should be taken into the equation used on here. And that would probably give you more to eat, yes. Just eat more calorie dense food if you really can't fit anymore in, physically.

    And once more, with feeling....please rest.

    Best of luck!
  • ecl39
    ecl39 Posts: 6
    Thanks everyone! I do take a day to rest each week. I think I'd be dead without it! I'm feeling better after eating dinner tonight. I think all of it finally caught up with me today. Having a day to catch up on rest was probably much needed.
  • Linnaea27
    Linnaea27 Posts: 639 Member
    I've frequently done similar activity for work and/or internships-- and I always log the activity. I had something similar happen to me recently after a few really active days-- I felt awful for a couple days! You can burn a heck of a lot of calories doing that type of field work; try logging the time as slow walking if you weren't going up and down a lot of hills. If you were carrying equipment, the added weight increases your calorie burn. Maybe try logging it as cross-country hiking if you're carrying a lot of stuff around (MFP doesn't have that activity, but I've found good calorie burn estimates for it on other websites and have put it in as a personal exercise).

    I also often feel utterly exhausted after a few days of field work-- because it is physically strenuous (my work often involves long, steep hikes on field days) and because I can't possibly eat back the calories I burn even if I eat A LOT and enjoy some wine, so I end up in a huge calorie deficit. If you can, have a couple rest days each week, after these work days, and log the work exercise-- and eat more. I think you'll feel much better. :smile:

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