Scared to feel weak, can't balance exercise and eating goals...
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Gulen28
Posts: 52 Member
Still trying to figure this out. It's not easy or quick to find out what works for me.
After feeling extremely weak and shaky for a week because of my new low carb and low calorie diet, I got scared. It was like hell, my muscles simply refused to work, I almost fainted after every exercise and I had a very hard time functioning in my daily life. I don't want to ever feel like that again. And no, there was no other factor than my changed diet.
Now I have this funny problem: MFP system tells me that when I exercise I can eat more. So when I go burn 300 calories that day, it adds 300 calories to my daily total goal of nutritional calories. This makes sense, because my daily total is already reduced so it makes sense to keep up with that already reduced number. In fact I feel like I must keep up with that number, because otherwise when the exercise calories are subtracted my total daily calorie can easily drop too much and I feel weak again.
But I'm having a hard time sticking to this and here's why:
I do hot yoga for exercise. It doesn't burn a lot of calories but I don't care, it makes me feel great. But I can't eat 4 hours before class and I go home and sleep after class, so I don't want to eat much after class either. In fact, I do gain weight if I eat and go to sleep, so I only eat a light snack after yoga. So on my yoga days my last real meal is at 2 pm. But squeezing more calories on a shorter time to eat (7 am to 2 pm) is difficult. It is doable but it doesn't feel good, it feels too much.
But on my no yoga days, some days I'm up 5:30 am to midnight and it is very difficult not to exceed my designated calorie goal. In short, I feel the need to eat more on my no exercise days and eat less on my exercise days. Is this weird? Does it make any sense? It's just the opposite of what MFP website tells me to do.
Will it be OK if I just eat less calories on exercise days and more calories on no exercise days? Will that balance itself out through the week? Will I still lose the weight without getting weak or will I gain weight?
I don't know why this is so upside down... It's confusing...
Any ideas? Experiences?
After feeling extremely weak and shaky for a week because of my new low carb and low calorie diet, I got scared. It was like hell, my muscles simply refused to work, I almost fainted after every exercise and I had a very hard time functioning in my daily life. I don't want to ever feel like that again. And no, there was no other factor than my changed diet.
Now I have this funny problem: MFP system tells me that when I exercise I can eat more. So when I go burn 300 calories that day, it adds 300 calories to my daily total goal of nutritional calories. This makes sense, because my daily total is already reduced so it makes sense to keep up with that already reduced number. In fact I feel like I must keep up with that number, because otherwise when the exercise calories are subtracted my total daily calorie can easily drop too much and I feel weak again.
But I'm having a hard time sticking to this and here's why:
I do hot yoga for exercise. It doesn't burn a lot of calories but I don't care, it makes me feel great. But I can't eat 4 hours before class and I go home and sleep after class, so I don't want to eat much after class either. In fact, I do gain weight if I eat and go to sleep, so I only eat a light snack after yoga. So on my yoga days my last real meal is at 2 pm. But squeezing more calories on a shorter time to eat (7 am to 2 pm) is difficult. It is doable but it doesn't feel good, it feels too much.
But on my no yoga days, some days I'm up 5:30 am to midnight and it is very difficult not to exceed my designated calorie goal. In short, I feel the need to eat more on my no exercise days and eat less on my exercise days. Is this weird? Does it make any sense? It's just the opposite of what MFP website tells me to do.
Will it be OK if I just eat less calories on exercise days and more calories on no exercise days? Will that balance itself out through the week? Will I still lose the weight without getting weak or will I gain weight?
I don't know why this is so upside down... It's confusing...
Any ideas? Experiences?
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Replies
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Short answer: Yes, calorie deficit over time does balance out.0
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I do hot yoga for exercise. It doesn't burn a lot of calories but I don't care, it makes me feel great. But I can't eat 4 hours before class and I go home and sleep after class, so I don't want to eat much after class either. In fact, I do gain weight if I eat and go to sleep, so I only eat a light snack after yoga. So on my yoga days my last real meal is at 2 pm. But squeezing more calories on a shorter time to eat (7 am to 2 pm) is difficult. It is doable but it doesn't feel good, it feels too much.
But on my no yoga days, some days I'm up 5:30 am to midnight and it is very difficult not to exceed my designated calorie goal. In short, I feel the need to eat more on my no exercise days and eat less on my exercise days. Is this weird? Does it make any sense? It's just the opposite of what MFP website tells me to do.
Will it be OK if I just eat less calories on exercise days and more calories on no exercise days? Will that balance itself out through the week? Will I still lose the weight without getting weak or will I gain weight?
I don't know why this is so upside down... It's confusing...
Any ideas? Experiences?
What? Why can't you eat 4 hours before your yoga class?0 -
I get sick on my stomach during hot yoga if I don't stop eating 4 hours before class.
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Ok... I mean it's very unlikely the timing of eating before sleep makes a difference. Just eat a meal before you go to bed. Eggs and toast, say.
You really can't have anything at all before this class without being sick? Not even a little snack?0 -
Um. If eating less than 4 hours before makes you sick, the hot yoga is too hot for you, and you're getting a heat-related illness. WAY up your fluid intake, and if that doesn't work, find less-hot yoga. HRIs can be quite serious, and what's just heat exhaustion one day can turn into a heat stroke another.
In fact, a lot of your malaise sounds WAY more like a HRI after-effect than not getting enough calories (assuming you're at at least 1200).0 -
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/heat-exhaustion
The fact that you're so tired after it that you need to nap is also a BIG warning sign.0 -
Meal timing has been proven to have very little effect on weight, except as regards satiety. This means: 1. You can eat before bed if you want to. 2. You can explore intermittent fasting instead, where you eat all your calories for the day within a specific window of time (many people do 6 or 8 hours). Outside that window, you don't eat.
Keep in mind that weight is determined by calories in/calories out. It's ok that you don't burn as many calories during yoga as you would during running. You should simply not eat as much as you would if you were a runner. Determine your TDEE (the number of calories you burn, on average) and subtract 10-20% from that, and that's what you should eat. It's up to you if you want to eat all of that at one meal or divide it up into 8 meals, or anything in between.
Keep in mind also that, while low-carb can lead to weight loss, it quite often does not lead to keeping the weight off. Many people who lose weight by this or other food-restriction diets regain the weight as soon as they go back to eating those foods. Unless you plan to eat low-carb for life, there's no good reason to do so for weight loss unless you have a medical condition, such as diabetes or PCOS...in that case, your doctor might recommend low-carb. Otherwise, the greatest likelihood of long-term success is from learning to control portions of the foods you plan to eat for the rest of your life.0 -
Ok... I mean it's very unlikely the timing of eating before sleep makes a difference. Just eat a meal before you go to bed. Eggs and toast, say.
You really can't have anything at all before this class without being sick? Not even a little snack?
I thought the metabolism slows down during sleep, so the digestion also slows down. So if I eat and go to sleep right away, the food is not properly digested and half-digested food can turn into fat.
Sometimes I can have soy yogurt 3 hours before class, but not later and nothing else.0 -
MamaBirdBoss wrote: »Um. If eating less than 4 hours before makes you sick, the hot yoga is too hot for you, and you're getting a heat-related illness. WAY up your fluid intake, and if that doesn't work, find less-hot yoga. HRIs can be quite serious, and what's just heat exhaustion one day can turn into a heat stroke another.
In fact, a lot of your malaise sounds WAY more like a HRI after-effect than not getting enough calories (assuming you're at at least 1200).
I understand your concern about heat related illness but I know that's not my problem. I don't even feel the heat during class, I've been doing this hot yoga for 7 years. And I rather give up my life before I give up my hot yoga. When I don't do it I can't climb stairs because of knee pain, my lower back hurts like hell, my blood pressure and blood sugar levels act bad. When I do it regularly and when I eat properly I am super healthy and full of energy. I tried other yoga types, none comes close to giving me this much benefits. Up until 3 weeks ago I felt great. It's when I restricted my calories this weakness started.0 -
MamaBirdBoss wrote: »http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/heat-exhaustion
The fact that you're so tired after it that you need to nap is also a BIG warning sign.
No I don't need to nap after yoga, I need to go to sleep for the night, because I wake up at 5:45 every morning and work for 12 hours and then go to an evening yoga class. By the end of evening I'm tired not because of yoga but because I've had a very long day.
Actually when I eat right yoga gives me so much energy sometimes it's even hard to go to sleep. It's just this eating thing I messed up.0 -
My personal opinion is stop eating low carb. Whether you decide to eat calories in/calories out, or you want to choose to eat natural healthy carbs like fruit and beans and sweet potatoes, you NEED carbs or you will feel weak and like crap.0
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Ok... I mean it's very unlikely the timing of eating before sleep makes a difference. Just eat a meal before you go to bed. Eggs and toast, say.
You really can't have anything at all before this class without being sick? Not even a little snack?
I thought the metabolism slows down during sleep, so the digestion also slows down. So if I eat and go to sleep right away, the food is not properly digested and half-digested food can turn into fat.
No. Half digested food ferments, gives you gas and travels through and out of your body as waste. It does not turn into anything. However unless you have a serious digestive issue your food is still going to be fully digested as it should whether or not you are asleep while you do so.
I regularly eat a substantial snack before I go to bed around 10 PM and have had no issues with loosing weight at a pretty steady 1.5 pounds a week.
They symptoms you are having however are very concerning. They indicate that something is wrong. Either you are not taking in enough calories, or as other suggest you are suffering from heat related problems which can be dangerous to your health.
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SnuggleSmacks wrote: »Meal timing has been proven to have very little effect on weight, except as regards satiety. This means: 1. You can eat before bed if you want to. 2. You can explore intermittent fasting instead, where you eat all your calories for the day within a specific window of time (many people do 6 or 8 hours). Outside that window, you don't eat.
Keep in mind that weight is determined by calories in/calories out. It's ok that you don't burn as many calories during yoga as you would during running. You should simply not eat as much as you would if you were a runner. Determine your TDEE (the number of calories you burn, on average) and subtract 10-20% from that, and that's what you should eat. It's up to you if you want to eat all of that at one meal or divide it up into 8 meals, or anything in between.
Keep in mind also that, while low-carb can lead to weight loss, it quite often does not lead to keeping the weight off. Many people who lose weight by this or other food-restriction diets regain the weight as soon as they go back to eating those foods. Unless you plan to eat low-carb for life, there's no good reason to do so for weight loss unless you have a medical condition, such as diabetes or PCOS...in that case, your doctor might recommend low-carb. Otherwise, the greatest likelihood of long-term success is from learning to control portions of the foods you plan to eat for the rest of your life.
A friend who's a personal trainer also told me that meal timing doesn't have an effect on weight gain. I'm trying to convince myself that's true for me, because all my life I always gained weight if I ate close to bedtime, even if I eat green cabbage with minimal oil.
I will determine my TDEE. I've been avoiding it because when I tried the first time it gave me an absurd number (like 3000 calories per day.) My friend told me 2500/day just to maintain. I don't think I'm that active. I need to get this TDEE thing right.
Thank you for your advice on low-carb diet. The only reason I did it was seeing another friend lose a lot of weight on a low-carb diet. She dropped her cabs to %25/day. I tried %30 carbs and that's when my body reacted. I didn't know the safe range was %45-65. No, I don't want to do a low-carb diet for the rest of my life. What I want to do is to determine a healthy balance and keep it for the rest of my life.0 -
Meal timing has no relevance on weight loss, so why can't you eat before bed? Additionally, why are you doing low carb? Is there a medical reason?
Finally, in your case I would consider using the weekly deficit, instead of the daily, as it appears your days fluctuate.0 -
VeridianDynamics wrote: »My personal opinion is stop eating low carb. Whether you decide to eat calories in/calories out, or you want to choose to eat natural healthy carbs like fruit and beans and sweet potatoes, you NEED carbs or you will feel weak and like crap.
That's exactly what happened. I cut all fruits and beans and sweet potatoes and I felt like crap
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shadowfax_c11 wrote: »Ok... I mean it's very unlikely the timing of eating before sleep makes a difference. Just eat a meal before you go to bed. Eggs and toast, say.
You really can't have anything at all before this class without being sick? Not even a little snack?
I thought the metabolism slows down during sleep, so the digestion also slows down. So if I eat and go to sleep right away, the food is not properly digested and half-digested food can turn into fat.
No. Half digested food ferments, gives you gas and travels through and out of your body as waste. It does not turn into anything. However unless you have a serious digestive issue your food is still going to be fully digested as it should whether or not you are asleep while you do so.
I regularly eat a substantial snack before I go to bed around 10 PM and have had no issues with loosing weight at a pretty steady 1.5 pounds a week.
They symptoms you are having however are very concerning. They indicate that something is wrong. Either you are not taking in enough calories, or as other suggest you are suffering from heat related problems which can be dangerous to your health.
I suspect that not eating enough calories together with low carb made me so weak. Need to figure out this TDEE thing.0 -
+1MamaBirdBoss wrote: »Um. If eating less than 4 hours before makes you sick, the hot yoga is too hot for you, and you're getting a heat-related illness. WAY up your fluid intake, and if that doesn't work, find less-hot yoga. HRIs can be quite serious, and what's just heat exhaustion one day can turn into a heat stroke another.
In fact, a lot of your malaise sounds WAY more like a HRI after-effect than not getting enough calories (assuming you're at at least 1200).
Switch to cold yoga.
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I'm going to +1 the meal timing is irrelevant, that you should look at weekly numbers not daily, and that low carb is not necessary for you.
It sounds like you have been hearing and believing a lot of diet myths... What matters for weight loss is that you consume less calories than you burn, that you're at a calorie deficit. Low carb is one way to create that calorie deficit, and some people like that, but unless you have a medical reason to restrict carbs then it is not necessary and will not make you lose more weight than someone consuming the same amount of calories at moderate carbs.0
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