I'm soooo tired?!

lizzydrippin2015
lizzydrippin2015 Posts: 10 Member
in Getting Started
Hi guys,

My name's Liz, living in Cornwall in the UK. I've just hit 40 and realised that I had put on about a stone and a half over the last few years without realising it (I weigh 10st)!
So..... I want to loose about a stone in weight. My daily calorie intake is recommended at 1250. I have started running using the C25K app which I do 3 times a week, I am also doing circuit training with a local group once a week. I am managing to stay within my calorific intake goal most days but I'm just so tired!
I should also mention that I am wheat and dairy intolerant so I'm thinking maybe I need to find alternate sources of protien that suit my new diet/exercise regime.

Any suggestions as to how I can improve my tiredness/adjust my diet accordingly without going over my intake goals?

Many thanks.
Liz.

Replies

  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    Hi Liz! A fellow UK user :)

    Do you eat back your exercise calories? If not (I don't either!), I'd suggest upping your calories.

    http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ <-- Go here, enter your information and work out your TDEE (Maintenance calories), This will also tell you how many calories you need to lose weight. It's brilliant.

    If you aren't eating back your exercise calories, you really need to be eating more. This'll probably stop the tiredness. I was on a 1200 calorie diet not so long ago and I was EXHAUSTED. My trainer amended my calories to 1500 and I'm still losing (albeit a little slower) But my energy levels are much better which makes me work outs better too!
  • MrsR130
    MrsR130 Posts: 66 Member
    Nice work moving more and watching your intake!

    But what are your stats? Your calorie goal may be much too low - if you do not have a significant amount of weight to lose, you should aim to lose 0.5-1 lb per week (rule of thumb seems to be 0.25 lbs lose per week for every 25 lbs you are overweight). Your current intake goal may be too aggressive when you don't have much to lose and you are feeling the effects when combined with a big uptick in working out.

    Also, are you sleeping enough and drinking enough water?
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
    How much weight did you state you wanted to lose per week when you set MFP up? If you have 21 lbs to lose (a stone and a half) you should only aim to lose a small amount per week (e.g. 0.5 to 1lb per week). 1250 cal is a pretty low goal - most people can eat more than this and still lose weight.

    Also, are you eating back any exercise calories?
  • lizzydrippin2015
    lizzydrippin2015 Posts: 10 Member
    Thanks guys for all the good feedback.
    The whole calorie thing is a bit confusing to me. As for 'eating back' my calories - I presume you mean that I should eat the same amount of calories as I've burned during my exercise that day? But wont that cancel out the exercise I've just done? To be honest - I'm just following the stats on My Fitness Pal app and if it stays in the green it's all good!
    I've set my goal to loose 1lb a week (that's what My Fitness Pal put me at when I entered my stats and how much I wanted to loose.) Maybe I'll go in a change that manually to 0.5lb per week. I'm not in a rush to loose it, I just know if I don't do it now I probably never will!

    Again, thanks the help - you're all so nice! x
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    Lizzy, Personally I've never understood the 'eating back exercise calories', So i just eat a standard 1500 and work out! It's all down to how you feel. If you're happy eating what you're eating and your losing weight, by all means continue! Good luck :D
  • lizzydrippin2015
    lizzydrippin2015 Posts: 10 Member
    PinkPixiexox wrote: »
    Lizzy, Personally I've never understood the 'eating back exercise calories', So i just eat a standard 1500 and work out! It's all down to how you feel. If you're happy eating what you're eating and your losing weight, by all means continue! Good luck :D

    Thanks @PinkPixiexox . That's kinda what I figured. Have adjusted my weekly weight loss goal to 0.5lbs and will do as you suggest.

    Thanks everyone. x :)
  • PaytraB
    PaytraB Posts: 2,360 Member
    MFP calculates your daily calories by the stats you entered. One of these may be that you are sedentary. Therefore the 1250 calories is the amount of calories your body needs to lose weight at 1 lb/week when you do only your basic needs (work, clean, breathe, etc). It does not count in additional exercise.
    Therefore, if/when you exercise, you need to add calories to your day to fuel that exercise. Adding these calories does not take away from the 1 lb/week loss you are working towards.
    However, the calorie burn for many exercises listed on MFP and elsewhere are usually quite high and if you eat back all the calories listed, you may stall or slow your weight loss progress. Therefore, most people will eat back about 50% of their exercise calories.

    If you are following the MFP calories by numbers and don't want to calculate leaving 50% of your exercise calories uneaten, you can add 1/2 of your exercise time into MFP and it'll give you half the calories (ie: run for 30 minutes; put 15 minutes of running into MFP's exercise log).

    You need to fuel your exercise otherwise you're eating below what your body needs to keep itself healthy. You should never eat below your BMR, which is the rate your body used energy (calories) at rest.
  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
    If you have a fitness tracker like a FitBit, you can link it to MFP and then you don't need to manually enter your exercise calories. Generally, the fitness tracker caloric adjustments are more accurate than those from MFP or the readouts from cardio machines.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    PaytraB wrote: »
    MFP calculates your daily calories by the stats you entered. One of these may be that you are sedentary. Therefore the 1250 calories is the amount of calories your body needs to lose weight at 1 lb/week when you do only your basic needs (work, clean, breathe, etc). It does not count in additional exercise.
    Therefore, if/when you exercise, you need to add calories to your day to fuel that exercise. Adding these calories does not take away from the 1 lb/week loss you are working towards.
    However, the calorie burn for many exercises listed on MFP and elsewhere are usually quite high and if you eat back all the calories listed, you may stall or slow your weight loss progress. Therefore, most people will eat back about 50% of their exercise calories.

    If you are following the MFP calories by numbers and don't want to calculate leaving 50% of your exercise calories uneaten, you can add 1/2 of your exercise time into MFP and it'll give you half the calories (ie: run for 30 minutes; put 15 minutes of running into MFP's exercise log).

    You need to fuel your exercise otherwise you're eating below what your body needs to keep itself healthy. You should never eat below your BMR, which is the rate your body used energy (calories) at rest.

    ^ yep, this!
  • lizzydrippin2015
    lizzydrippin2015 Posts: 10 Member
    Thanks @Psychgrrl and @kami3006 x
  • lizzydrippin2015
    lizzydrippin2015 Posts: 10 Member
    ...and @PaytraB x

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