Competing in sport while trying to lose weight

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Darrenmh316
Darrenmh316 Posts: 19 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm be finally started to shift some weight by going the gym 3 times a week, walking more and cutting my calories to 1300 generally although my weekly average is around 1500. Im happy with that as I am losing so don't want to change.

But I've started playing football again and I've noticed I have no energy at all so it makes me look like I'm less fit than ever. I do think it's the lack of food but don't want to go eating more as I'm in a good routine. Do I just accept that I'm not gonna be able to perform well until I've lost the weight and eating normally again??

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  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    Your performance will be somewhat reduced while cutting calories. To keep it up as much as possible, eat enough food and get enough rest. 1300 calories is not enough for the majority of active adults.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    It's hard to gauge without knowing your age & weight but I'm inclined to think that if you're already going to the gym 3 x weekly 1500 cal daily is creating too big a deficit to start with. Just for fun I put a sedentary 21 y.o. male 5'10" @ 175 lbs into a TDEE calculator and the maintenance number was about 2500 cal.

    I would suggest actually calculating your TDEE (there's always an element of trial and error) and shoot for approx 500 cal per day as your deficit.

    Here's a link to the one I used....

    https://supertracker.usda.gov/bwp/

  • MyFreakingNameIsScott
    MyFreakingNameIsScott Posts: 199 Member
    edited June 2017
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    ^^^^^^What she (?) said.

    Food is fuel. Drive a car faster, farther, and it will need to be filled up sooner. Burn more calories, faster, and the body will need some help to keep going.

    I increased my calorie goal on MFP by 500 calories last fall as I increased my workout intensity. Still losing weight, and feeling much more energized from day to day.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
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    darrenhughes5036 wrote: »
    I'm be finally started to shift some weight by going the gym 3 times a week, walking more and cutting my calories to 1300 generally although my weekly average is around 1500. Im happy with that as I am losing so don't want to change.

    But I've started playing football again and I've noticed I have no energy at all so it makes me look like I'm less fit than ever. I do think it's the lack of food but don't want to go eating more as I'm in a good routine. Do I just accept that I'm not gonna be able to perform well until I've lost the weight and eating normally again??

    Ultimately, IF your weight loss goals are interfering with your competition you're going to have to pick a goal...

    Compete or lose weight.

    If losing weight will improve your performance, then you can do both at the same time, otherwise, It's likely better to try to cut weight during the "off season"

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