Need advice about working out/calories in

xmissglamourx
xmissglamourx Posts: 8 Member
edited November 9 in Health and Weight Loss
So I am trying to lose as much weight as possibly before September (going on a cruise). I am thinking about working out for 1-2 hours 5x a week. Is this alright to do, or am I overdoing it? Also If I do work out for this amount of time, do I have to eat the extra calories mfp gives me, or would my body think this is starvation? Just need to figure out what will help me the fastest and healthiest!

Replies

  • EvanKeel
    EvanKeel Posts: 1,904 Member
    edited January 2015
    There's really no way of answering those questions with the information provided. Generally speaking 1-2 hours 5x/week is an active goal. But the intensity of your workouts and what you're doing (and when during the week) will determine if you're over doing it or not.

    Given that amount of activity, you should probably eat back some of your calories. That means you'd have to log your exercise as well. That's MFPs default method. You don't have to do that, of course. You could use a TDEE method where you calculate you average burn per day based on consistent workouts, take a % off that for your deficit and just eat that goal everyday. The real issue is going to make sure that you're fueling your workouts and that you "feel" good while in a deficit.

    If your goal is to look good for a cruise, I'd suggest doing some heavy lifting as part of your workouts; it will help maintain lean mass. Just make sure to give your muscle groups adequate recovery time between workouts.

    Don't do so much that you can't sustain your activity. And be a little patient. Consistency will win this for you.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    1. Start with getting the diet under control, working out the correct calories then consistently logging a deficit by using MFP to track your food. weigh it. For most people its 80% diet so ist worth geting that part right.

    2. Is 1-2h 5x a week too much? Almost certainly yes for you. If its a complete fresh start then I would do it gradually. Start with walking or if you have access then some swimming or exercise in water becayse that will support your weight. You need to pace yourself and get an idea of what you cna manage. Start with 15 minutes walking and see how that goes, keep adding five or ten minutes or pick up the pace.

    Then increase it to 3/4/5 times a week. You need to find what you can cope with and a balance between pushing yourself, but not overdoing it. You dont say if your planned for time is in a gym or what you think you will be doing. If yiy tried 5x a week at 2hrs and you were pushing yourself, then it would be too much but only you know. Im just going on your weight. You might wnat to use a personal trainer if its a gym at least to get you going on a mix of cardio and resistance training so you know what to do, have someone monitoring you and you dont waste time.

    3. Exercise calories can be eaten back, but most people eat 50% or less because they feel MFP is overgenerous and the numbers cant be trusted. Eat a sensible balanced diet and do not have too severe a deficit and you will find that more manageable.
    4. Starvation mode unless very extreme is a myth. Ignore that idea.

    Fastest and healthiest will be you being at a consistent deficit by eaying less than you burn. Exercise cna be a big help, but it starts with the diet and just eating less so your body uses up some of the fat stored on you. Think slow and steady, so you have eight months to lose and you cna get rid of a substantila amount in that time. Safe weight loss is 1-2lb a week aim for that but you might lose more becayse you have more to lose and in the first instance you should get some decent water weight loss.

    Good luck.
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
    You don't have to bust your butt with up to 10 hours a week in exercise. Exercise is very important and will help you with weight loss but the key to losing weight is mainly in a calorie deficiency. MFP set you up with a certain amount of daily calories. This number already has a built-in calorie deficiency. If you stick to that number, you will lose weight.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    Is working out 1-2 hours 5x a week possible? Yes, that's what I do, when I have time for it. If you're working out for an hour or less during a day, you can probably get by without eating extra. But somewhere around the 1 hour to 90 minute mark, the body depletes what it has in store and it will take it several hours to convert fat into useable form. To allow yourself to workout longer, you need to eat prior to or during exercise. After you workout, you should consume protein and carbs to help with recovery. If you don't do that, you could put yourself in a potentially dangerous situation and your weight loss will be minimal.
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  • xmissglamourx
    xmissglamourx Posts: 8 Member
    Thank you for all the advice, I am new to all the information (at least doing it correctly). So I will try working more on my calories. So for instance my calories w/o exercise are around 1600. Say I do an hour workout each day and I am not hungry after workout (because I usually go at night). I will still be at a good and safe deficient if I do not eat? Usually burn around 800 calories a day..
  • EvanKeel
    EvanKeel Posts: 1,904 Member
    Thank you for all the advice, I am new to all the information (at least doing it correctly). So I will try working more on my calories. So for instance my calories w/o exercise are around 1600. Say I do an hour workout each day and I am not hungry after workout (because I usually go at night). I will still be at a good and safe deficient if I do not eat? Usually burn around 800 calories a day..

    I think that would probably depend on how much you're losing while eating 1600 (I assume that number represents some sort of deficit).

    If you are particularly overweight/obese, losing 2lbs per week is reasonable. As you get closer to goal weight, you should reduce your deficit (i.e. increase calories consumed).

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Weight loss starts in the kitchen.
  • xmissglamourx
    xmissglamourx Posts: 8 Member
    I might look into the tdee option. Honestly I need to do more research, but ty for giving me a starting point
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
    Weight loss really is so much more about what you put in your body (80%) than what you do with your body (20%).

    You can workout all day everyday, but if your food habits don't change, it's for nothing.

    If you're going to exercise, you really have to be cautious about accurately logging the amount of exercise you did and what type of exercise it was. Be very diligent to make sure MFP isn't overestimating the values of your workout's. That will tell you if you're really able to take in more calories.

    I don't do much exercise, so I don't bother logging it. (I've lost 75 pounds.) My husband does P90X, and does exert a lot more energy - and those workouts really do put you through a lot. Once he started accurately logging his food and workouts, then he was able to afford some more calories, and not be hungry or worry about starvation mode.

    It's all about how you approach it.

  • gsager
    gsager Posts: 977 Member
    Make sure that you eat at least 1600 calories, you can eat more if you know that you're gonna burn 800 more, like 2000 if you aren't going to eat after you workout. At your weight you have to be in this for the long haul. If you deprive yourself too much you'll never make it. Good luck, this is a great site with a lot of help and support. Stick with the winners.
  • xmissglamourx
    xmissglamourx Posts: 8 Member
    well I checked a tdee calculator, and with 5 workouts a week it calculates that my tdee is 3135 minus 25% is 2351 calories. Seems like quite a bit, but if this is correct, it makes sense why my weight might be stalling
  • EvanKeel
    EvanKeel Posts: 1,904 Member
    well I checked a tdee calculator, and with 5 workouts a week it calculates that my tdee is 3135 minus 25% is 2351 calories. Seems like quite a bit, but if this is correct, it makes sense why my weight might be stalling

    Well, maybe (in regard to the stall). To be honest, I would guess that most stalls are the result of inaccurate logging. Just my opinion.

    In the end, it doesn't really matter, the general advice the is the same.

    -Be as precise and accurate with logging as you can be.
    -record your weight regularly and look for overall patterns (not the outliers).
    -adjust goals from there based on performance and satiety needs.

    So try the 2351 calories, but be warned that if you are not logging correctly ( including weighing and measuring foods) there's a decent chance you'll end up eating more than you think you're eating and thus gain weight. The solution to that is not to just lower the calories, of course :) Rather, one would want to improve logging accuracy and adjust.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    cebreisch wrote: »
    Weight loss really is so much more about what you put in your body (80%) than what you do with your body (20%).

    You can workout all day everyday, but if your food habits don't change, it's for nothing.

    I probably shouldn't laugh, but I remember reading an article about what professional cyclists (who do work out all day long) eat. Their meal plan consists of about 8000 calories and if they don't eat it, they will lose weight.
    well I checked a tdee calculator, and with 5 workouts a week it calculates that my tdee is 3135 minus 25% is 2351 calories. Seems like quite a bit, but if this is correct, it makes sense why my weight might be stalling

    I had a double take on that one, because that's similar to my numbers. But looking at your profile, I see that you weigh more than me, so that sounds about right. However, eating less than that won't cause a stall. It might cause you to be sluggish. It might give you headaches. It might cause you health problems, but it won't keep you from losing weight.
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
    I agree with the above posters-if you're stalling it's not because you're eating too little!
    You are eating too much because you are not weighing your solid foods meticulously and measuring your caloric liquids.
    It is imperative that you weigh, measure and log everything you eat and drink and you will lose for sure!
  • xmissglamourx
    xmissglamourx Posts: 8 Member
    Awesome info thank you everyone. Just got paid so I plan on getting a food scale tonight which should really help out bunches! Thanks everyone
  • SuggaD
    SuggaD Posts: 1,369 Member
    Cruises are real weight loss busters.
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