Harder to reach a calorie deficit when working out?
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NicoleHaki
Posts: 55 Member
I wanted to get everyone's thoughts about how to eat when you work out a lot. I work out a lot (probably an avg of 10 hours a week) and also walk a lot (I live in NYC and walk an avg of 12-15,000 steps a day). Ex: in a typical day, I'll do a 45-min interval training class at Equinox (I love MetCon3 and Tabata), add 15 mins on the treadmill, take a half-hour walk across town to get to work (and walk back also), and occasionally work out more after work.
The problem is, this leaves me super hungry all day. Ex: if I take an interval training class and come to work and there are bagels, there's pretty much no chance I can turn down a bagel, even if I have a healthier breakfast (like yogurt and granola) prepared. The classes only burn 250-350 calories too. I burn a lot more calories with all the walking (walking to the gym and work with a big gym bag), but it still feels like a shame to feel hungry all day just because I got up early to burn a few hundred calories. After all of this I am maintaining my weight (and what I want is to lose).
The reason I am posting is that yesterday I didn't work out or walk to work (for the first time in months) and came to work and noticed that I was significantly less hungry throughout the day. I would estimate that I was about half as hungry - if, in a typical "workout" day, I can eat 1800-2000 calories a day and still feel hungry, yesterday I felt like I would have been totally fine with 1100-1200 calories, and healthier food too.
I do usually get a hefty calorie adjustment on MFP using my FitBit Charge HR (usually between 700-800 calories), but it seems kind of crazy to me. In order to lose weight and improve my calorie composition, am I better off having 1800-2000 calories a day while working out a lot and staying active throughout the day, or having 1150-1350 calories a day and cutting workouts completely? I love working out and think it's crazy to stop, but I'm also at a point where I have to realize that when I work out my body expects to eat at least 50% more than when I don't work out and this is making it difficult for me to achieve any goals.
Before anyone suggest staying close to 1300 cals and adding something like half of the calories I burn working out - I'll start by saying I would love to do this but it's just not sustainable for me and would result in binge eating. I think this model would be sustainable if I was entirely sedentary outside of working out, but this is not the case.
The problem is, this leaves me super hungry all day. Ex: if I take an interval training class and come to work and there are bagels, there's pretty much no chance I can turn down a bagel, even if I have a healthier breakfast (like yogurt and granola) prepared. The classes only burn 250-350 calories too. I burn a lot more calories with all the walking (walking to the gym and work with a big gym bag), but it still feels like a shame to feel hungry all day just because I got up early to burn a few hundred calories. After all of this I am maintaining my weight (and what I want is to lose).
The reason I am posting is that yesterday I didn't work out or walk to work (for the first time in months) and came to work and noticed that I was significantly less hungry throughout the day. I would estimate that I was about half as hungry - if, in a typical "workout" day, I can eat 1800-2000 calories a day and still feel hungry, yesterday I felt like I would have been totally fine with 1100-1200 calories, and healthier food too.
I do usually get a hefty calorie adjustment on MFP using my FitBit Charge HR (usually between 700-800 calories), but it seems kind of crazy to me. In order to lose weight and improve my calorie composition, am I better off having 1800-2000 calories a day while working out a lot and staying active throughout the day, or having 1150-1350 calories a day and cutting workouts completely? I love working out and think it's crazy to stop, but I'm also at a point where I have to realize that when I work out my body expects to eat at least 50% more than when I don't work out and this is making it difficult for me to achieve any goals.
Before anyone suggest staying close to 1300 cals and adding something like half of the calories I burn working out - I'll start by saying I would love to do this but it's just not sustainable for me and would result in binge eating. I think this model would be sustainable if I was entirely sedentary outside of working out, but this is not the case.
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Replies
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However you need to meet your 'weekly' calorie deficit to lose weight do that. So if you need more calories on workout days and less on non workout/less activity days that is fine, also known as calorie cycling.10
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However you need to meet your 'weekly' calorie deficit to lose weight do that. So if you need more calories on workout days and less on non workout/less activity days that is fine, also known as calorie cycling.
I've never really looked at my weekly deficit - any thoughts on why I should use that number instead of looking at my daily deficit?
Also, my bigger point is that it's significantly harder for me to reach a calorie deficit when I do work out than it is when I don't work out. Has anyone else experienced this?0 -
NicoleHaki wrote: »However you need to meet your 'weekly' calorie deficit to lose weight do that. So if you need more calories on workout days and less on non workout/less activity days that is fine, also known as calorie cycling.
I've never really looked at my weekly deficit - any thoughts on why I should use that number instead of looking at my daily deficit?
Also, my bigger point is that it's significantly harder for me to reach a calorie deficit when I do work out than it is when I don't work out. Has anyone else experienced this?
You can do it daily or weekly. For example, some will eat lower during the week so they can eat more on weekends and this allows them to stick to the overall weekly deficit and still lose weight.
I personally can work through it by using the calorie deficit + 1/2 my exercise calories as MFP is designed. You can choose to eat more on some days and less on others. There are several ways you can make your calories work.4 -
Sometimes it's just a matter of changing up what you eat. Instead of the office doughnuts and bagels I generally will bring myself a mid-morning whole grain light muffin with egg/turkey sausage and fat free cheese. Keeps the calories low, fiber and protein high, and is very satisfying. After I work out in the mornings I will eat bran cereal while I make my mid-morning muffin. It keeps me out of the break room and away from the doughnuts and bagels and cream cheese lol.
Office snacks/carry-ins are the worst. If I allow it, it easily blows 500-1000 calories. So I avoid it by bringing alternatives.11 -
Spliner1969 wrote: »Sometimes it's just a matter of changing up what you eat. Instead of the office doughnuts and bagels I generally will bring myself a mid-morning whole grain light muffin with egg/turkey sausage and fat free cheese. Keeps the calories low, fiber and protein high, and is very satisfying. After I work out in the mornings I will eat bran cereal while I make my mid-morning muffin. It keeps me out of the break room and away from the doughnuts and bagels and cream cheese lol.
Office snacks/carry-ins are the worst. If I allow it, it easily blows 500-1000 calories. So I avoid it by bringing alternatives.
And this is good point.
Eating things that help with satiety will go far in keeping hunger at bay. Bagels and donuts which are calorie dense would have me hungrier even without the exercise.3 -
Adjusting calories based on activity levels is spot on. Also, what are you eating? On high activity days, trying eating more fat, protein and high fiber which will stay with you longer and keep you feeling less hungry. It isn't so much the amount of calories you are consuming, but that you maintain a deficit to lose weight. so if on high activity days, you can consume 1800 calories, but still create a deficit of 200-500 calories, you should feel less hungry, and still lose weight. Experiment with breakfast...for example, yogurt and granola for breakfast might sound healthy, but it won't last long because it is high in carbs and sugar (fast burning.) Try switching it up to more protein and fat for breakfast - for example, eggs, meat (if you like it), a piece of fruit or some whole grain bread with peanut butter, etc. this will give you more long lasting fuel to get you through the workout and a little beyond. then have a small snack after the workout (ideally before you get to the bagels!)... handful of nuts, an apple...
Up until recently, I always was very active...3 or 4 workouts per week plus 2 - 4 bike rides and these are the things that I did to help keep me from being hungry all the time as well as lose weight when I needed to. It is easy to over consume when you workout a lot, so what you eat is super important.
High fiber, fat and protein are the keys to beating hunger. Experiment and use MFP religiously and you should find the balance you need. Only give up the exercise if you don't like it and it sounds like you do. It is enormously good for you (not just weight but mental attitude - endorphins are better than therapy!) and will keep you young.
good luck!5 -
In my own personal experience, I do better cutting weight when I'm doing a moderate amount of exercise vs a lot of exercise. I've tried cutting weight while training for endurance cycling events where I easily do 8-10 hours per week or more of exercise and it's an exercise in futility because I'm hungry and my body wants the recovery more than anything.
I do best cutting weight with moderate exercise of 4-5 hours per week because I'm not constantly hungry and recovery is easy.7 -
I am the hungriest when I am at the peak of running training. I've had two rest days in a row post-race, and could totally manage my appetite and deficit. So, I do think that training more can increase appetite for sure. It's good to eat more if you exercise more, but finding that balance and not overeating too much into those extra earned calories is a real trick. I find really planning my meals and snacks according to planned workout efforts helps. It's also tougher now that I'm within a healthy weight range and close to my goal weight range.0
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cwolfman13 wrote: »In my own personal experience, I do better cutting weight when I'm doing a moderate amount of exercise vs a lot of exercise. I've tried cutting weight while training for endurance cycling events where I easily do 8-10 hours per week or more of exercise and it's an exercise in futility because I'm hungry and my body wants the recovery more than anything.
I do best cutting weight with moderate exercise of 4-5 hours per week because I'm not constantly hungry and recovery is easy.
Totally makes sense and I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this! I can totally manage macros when I don't work out or get minimal activity, but it's close to impossible to choose an egg or a piece of fruit over a bagel after an hour at Equinox and a half hour walk to work - what usually happens after a workout is that my body wants a bigger breakfast, a bigger lunch and ALSO a snack (instead of just a protein shake). Maybe I should incorporate rest days? Or maybe I should start taking the subway instead of walking so much - I think the walking is a big part of the reason why I can't just stick to the normal formula (calorie deficit + 1/2 of calories burned)3 -
Spliner1969 wrote: »Sometimes it's just a matter of changing up what you eat. Instead of the office doughnuts and bagels I generally will bring myself a mid-morning whole grain light muffin with egg/turkey sausage and fat free cheese. Keeps the calories low, fiber and protein high, and is very satisfying. After I work out in the mornings I will eat bran cereal while I make my mid-morning muffin. It keeps me out of the break room and away from the doughnuts and bagels and cream cheese lol.
Office snacks/carry-ins are the worst. If I allow it, it easily blows 500-1000 calories. So I avoid it by bringing alternatives.
Yeah I can totally do this when I don't work out as much. Ex: we have snacks set up at 2pm, and I can totally choose a protein shake (1 scoop of protein powder + 8 oz unsweetened almond milk) over a pack of Goldfish if I didn't work out that day - but this trade becomes much harder if, for example, I worked out in the morning, walked to work, and also walked 15 mins each way to grab a salad at lunch.0 -
NicoleHaki wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »In my own personal experience, I do better cutting weight when I'm doing a moderate amount of exercise vs a lot of exercise. I've tried cutting weight while training for endurance cycling events where I easily do 8-10 hours per week or more of exercise and it's an exercise in futility because I'm hungry and my body wants the recovery more than anything.
I do best cutting weight with moderate exercise of 4-5 hours per week because I'm not constantly hungry and recovery is easy.
Totally makes sense and I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this! I can totally manage macros when I don't work out or get minimal activity, but it's close to impossible to choose an egg or a piece of fruit over a bagel after an hour at Equinox and a half hour walk to work - what usually happens after a workout is that my body wants a bigger breakfast, a bigger lunch and ALSO a snack (instead of just a protein shake). Maybe I should incorporate rest days? Or maybe I should start taking the subway instead of walking so much - I think the walking is a big part of the reason why I can't just stick to the normal formula (calorie deficit + 1/2 of calories burned)
- You can cut back on exercise (lower your energy expenditure)
- Eat back 1/2 or all exercise cals (I would base this off activity level chosen in MFP)
- Cycle calories to where you eat more on heavier workout days and less on others
- Work with meal timing on your heavier work out days
- Working with foods to provide you with most satiety (i.e. protein, healthy fat and fiber) and eating volume foods
- Pre-log your calories for day
- Lastly lower your calorie deficit
Protein shakes are only a necessary supplement if you fail to reach your protein minimum from food alone, these may not be as filling if you were to eat whole food.
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NicoleHaki wrote: »I wanted to get everyone's thoughts about how to eat when you work out a lot. I work out a lot (probably an avg of 10 hours a week) and also walk a lot (I live in NYC and walk an avg of 12-15,000 steps a day). Ex: in a typical day, I'll do a 45-min interval training class at Equinox (I love MetCon3 and Tabata), add 15 mins on the treadmill, take a half-hour walk across town to get to work (and walk back also), and occasionally work out more after work.
The problem is, this leaves me super hungry all day. Ex: if I take an interval training class and come to work and there are bagels, there's pretty much no chance I can turn down a bagel, even if I have a healthier breakfast (like yogurt and granola) prepared. The classes only burn 250-350 calories too. I burn a lot more calories with all the walking (walking to the gym and work with a big gym bag), but it still feels like a shame to feel hungry all day just because I got up early to burn a few hundred calories. After all of this I am maintaining my weight (and what I want is to lose).
The reason I am posting is that yesterday I didn't work out or walk to work (for the first time in months) and came to work and noticed that I was significantly less hungry throughout the day. I would estimate that I was about half as hungry - if, in a typical "workout" day, I can eat 1800-2000 calories a day and still feel hungry, yesterday I felt like I would have been totally fine with 1100-1200 calories, and healthier food too.
I do usually get a hefty calorie adjustment on MFP using my FitBit Charge HR (usually between 700-800 calories), but it seems kind of crazy to me. In order to lose weight and improve my calorie composition, am I better off having 1800-2000 calories a day while working out a lot and staying active throughout the day, or having 1150-1350 calories a day and cutting workouts completely? I love working out and think it's crazy to stop, but I'm also at a point where I have to realize that when I work out my body expects to eat at least 50% more than when I don't work out and this is making it difficult for me to achieve any goals.
Before anyone suggest staying close to 1300 cals and adding something like half of the calories I burn working out - I'll start by saying I would love to do this but it's just not sustainable for me and would result in binge eating. I think this model would be sustainable if I was entirely sedentary outside of working out, but this is not the case.NicoleHaki wrote: »I wanted to get everyone's thoughts about how to eat when you work out a lot. I work out a lot (probably an avg of 10 hours a week) and also walk a lot (I live in NYC and walk an avg of 12-15,000 steps a day). Ex: in a typical day, I'll do a 45-min interval training class at Equinox (I love MetCon3 and Tabata), add 15 mins on the treadmill, take a half-hour walk across town to get to work (and walk back also), and occasionally work out more after work.
The problem is, this leaves me super hungry all day. Ex: if I take an interval training class and come to work and there are bagels, there's pretty much no chance I can turn down a bagel, even if I have a healthier breakfast (like yogurt and granola) prepared. The classes only burn 250-350 calories too. I burn a lot more calories with all the walking (walking to the gym and work with a big gym bag), but it still feels like a shame to feel hungry all day just because I got up early to burn a few hundred calories. After all of this I am maintaining my weight (and what I want is to lose).
The reason I am posting is that yesterday I didn't work out or walk to work (for the first time in months) and came to work and noticed that I was significantly less hungry throughout the day. I would estimate that I was about half as hungry - if, in a typical "workout" day, I can eat 1800-2000 calories a day and still feel hungry, yesterday I felt like I would have been totally fine with 1100-1200 calories, and healthier food too.
I do usually get a hefty calorie adjustment on MFP using my FitBit Charge HR (usually between 700-800 calories), but it seems kind of crazy to me. In order to lose weight and improve my calorie composition, am I better off having 1800-2000 calories a day while working out a lot and staying active throughout the day, or having 1150-1350 calories a day and cutting workouts completely? I love working out and think it's crazy to stop, but I'm also at a point where I have to realize that when I work out my body expects to eat at least 50% more than when I don't work out and this is making it difficult for me to achieve any goals.
Before anyone suggest staying close to 1300 cals and adding something like half of the calories I burn working out - I'll start by saying I would love to do this but it's just not sustainable for me and would result in binge eating. I think this model would be sustainable if I was entirely sedentary outside of working out, but this is not the case.
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I have heard from a trainer that this is largely due to cardio, and focusing on strength training alone will provide a lower heart rate and better results for fat loss. Continue cardio, but your fast walking to work is probably enough.
This is why I personally gained weight training for a marathon. Insatiable cardio appetite!
Good luck! I am using this technique as of late and have found less is more.9 -
I have heard from a trainer that this is largely due to cardio, and focusing on strength training alone will provide a lower heart rate and better results for fat loss. Continue cardio, but your fast walking to work is probably enough.
This is why I personally gained weight training for a marathon. Insatiable cardio appetite!
Good luck! I am using this technique as of late and have found less is more.
Different exercise will affect people differently, cardio for me often has the opposite affect. The last thing I want after a run is food but strength training and its hard to keep me out of the fridge. Also for me time of day for exercise can also have an impact. Its usually after my evening run that I dont want dinner. A morning run and I might still be up for eating breakfast.0 -
I started waiting until after my workout before eating breakfast, and making sure it was low calorie, high protein but still filling. In my case, it's usually a couple eggs. That really helps me with the rest of my day.1
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I lost the majority of my weight without exercise and sticking to 1200kcal a day was easy enough. I was hungry a lot but nowhere near the ravenous hunger I get now after a morning in the gym. But balancing exercise with eating back some of those calories and keeping a deficit has my body looking and feeling so much better so definitely do not give up the exercise, you just have to get over the short-term feed me immediately hump without ruining your deficit for the day.
I bring a banana to work and have it on my desk all day and already in my food log, if there's temptation I eat the banana instead. Prelogging my food is invaluable for helping resist eating too much because my body is freaking out and blasting me with hunger signals which aren't real (chill out body, you're fine). I sometimes also prelog exercise to see exactly how my day is going to be balanced before I even start. I have an advantage in that I logged food, exercise calories, deficits and weight changes together in excel for a few months so I know how "off" the exercise calorie estimates MFP gives are for me (not very, personally). This is extra work obviously but it gives you a bit of security that if you eat back whatever % of your exercise calories (I also include calories from steps using the Pacer app) you are getting what you need and when your body is panicking that it's starving and NEEDS the bagel, you know it isn't.3 -
If I'm feeling starving then I know I'm not eating enough or what my body needs. A bagel or donut would only make me feel unsatisfied and probably a stomach ache, but that's me. I need lotsa protein ..and carbs from rice, potatoes, and fruits. I think I forgot your question... I have a lot of high protein/carbs prepped snacks for when I'm instantly starving.
What do you have you activity level set to on mfp?1 -
NicoleHaki wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »In my own personal experience, I do better cutting weight when I'm doing a moderate amount of exercise vs a lot of exercise. I've tried cutting weight while training for endurance cycling events where I easily do 8-10 hours per week or more of exercise and it's an exercise in futility because I'm hungry and my body wants the recovery more than anything.
I do best cutting weight with moderate exercise of 4-5 hours per week because I'm not constantly hungry and recovery is easy.
Totally makes sense and I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this! I can totally manage macros when I don't work out or get minimal activity, but it's close to impossible to choose an egg or a piece of fruit over a bagel after an hour at Equinox and a half hour walk to work - what usually happens after a workout is that my body wants a bigger breakfast, a bigger lunch and ALSO a snack (instead of just a protein shake). Maybe I should incorporate rest days? Or maybe I should start taking the subway instead of walking so much - I think the walking is a big part of the reason why I can't just stick to the normal formula (calorie deficit + 1/2 of calories burned)
I think moderate vs 'a lot' of exercise can certainly make a difference, but this bagel thing could too....
You're comparing a single egg/piece of fruit which is maybe 70-100 calories to a, what, 300+ calories bagel?
If the calories were equal you would probably find that eggs with fruit, for example, would be more satisfying than the bagel. Of course you are still hungry if you are trying to eat a single egg or piece of fruit.
Like others suggested, I would try to make different food choices which will give you more food volume/satiety for equal or slightly less calories. You could eat a pretty decent meal for equal or less calories than a bagel.
For me, not choosing the bagel could be key to achieving my calorie deficit without hunger. Planning meals in advance helps, and then acting on those plans. (A bagel will always sound good, but if I want to achieve my goals I may have to say no to them some days. It's difficult, but not impossible.)3 -
I think you’d be smart to experiment. Try it out for a couple months at the lower calorie level w/o the gym workouts and see how it goes. All that walking is a good amount of exercise in itself.
Might be a good idea to do the workout once a week though to not completely lose its fitness benefits. That’ll likely make transitioning back to it down the road easier to do.0 -
I have heard from a trainer that this is largely due to cardio, and focusing on strength training alone will provide a lower heart rate and better results for fat loss. Continue cardio, but your fast walking to work is probably enough.
This is why I personally gained weight training for a marathon. Insatiable cardio appetite!
Good luck! I am using this technique as of late and have found less is more.
Problem with that is that my heart rate gets higher doing weights than when I do cardio LOL0
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