Too much "pointless" exercise?

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To explain my situation I'm 29 yo female, 5'2'', currently around 134lbs. My goal is to lose 10 or 15 pounds. I use my fitbit to track my TDEE (I've been logging my intake and weight on a special spreadsheet for almost two months and it's estimates appear spot-on).

My average TDEE is 2400-2500, but there are days I burn much more. Part of it is due to having a high NEAT because of a pretty active job and being a student on top of that. But on any days that I am less active I compensate with intentional exercise: mainly running, swimming or biking. Sometimes just walking. So basically I have some form physical activity every single day and haven't gone below 2200 on my TDEE for 2 months. To compare, my sedentary TDEE is 1650.

To be honest, I don't necessarily do it for health or enjoyment. I think my main reason is too burn more calories to be able to eat more. I struggle a lot with hormonal hunger that comes in long streaks. I'm still trying to figure out the exact pattern but I'd say that around 10-14 days every month my hunger is elevated with a few days being very difficult. So I struggle to even eat at maintenance on these days, and that with the amount of exercise I do. So I exercise to be able to eat more on these days. And then on days where my hunger levels are "normal" I still exercise to make up for the previous overeating and hit my target monthly deficit. Which is only 8400 cals/month or 300 cals daily on average.

But here's the thing. Sometimes I feel like I'm just wasting time with all that cardio. I spend so much time burning these calories only to eat them back later. I actually often feel like I have other things to do but I go and exercise because I feel guilty if I don't. But I don't always enjoying. Actually I often feel like I have no strength to do it. My muscles feel tired and and weak, but I still push myself. Sometimes I wonder if I feel so weak is because I don't allow myself a day of rest. Or I wonder if I'd feel less hungry if I did less exercise ? But I reached a point where I feel guilty and anxious if I'm not active enough (meaning burn at least 2200 cals) every day and I worry that I just won't have enough calories to eat.

Any advice?

(before you ask me why I don't do weight training: a)I currently have no access to gym and can't exercise at home 2) as my post states, the goal of my exercise is to burn more calories to be able to eat more, and cardio is much more efficient at that c)I plan to start a weight lifting program in a couple of month when I gain gym access, but this is besides my point)
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Replies

  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,388 Member
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    And to add the link to the refeed/diet break thread....

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

    With being short on energy and such this might be great information for the OP.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    oat_bran wrote: »
    Sometimes I wonder if I feel so weak is because I don't allow myself a day of rest.
    Or I wonder if I'd feel less hungry if I did less exercise ?

    Yes and Yes.
  • Metalman224
    Metalman224 Posts: 26 Member
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    Get some rest at LEAST once a week.
    Sounds to me like your overdoing it mate.
    Your central nervous system will be stressed to the max without rest. This will elevate stress hormones. Especially cortisol. This will do several things you don't want. Like start using muscle as an energy source, slow down your metabolism and encourage fat storage.
    Get rest!!! Can't stress that enough!
    Have you looked into HIIT training rather than long cardio bouts also? Definitely worth looking into. Less overall impact on joints with very similar calorie expenditure.
    Also how's your diet? If you eat lots of sweets sugars and carbs, you will always be craving sweets sugars and carbs. You will always be waaay more hungry more often. (Insulin spikes).
    I found a lower carb diet with more frequent, smaller meals stopped my cravings completely, and in as little as 5 days.
    In answer to the question of "pointless" cardio.... No it's not pointless as you would have definitely gained weight. You are just overdoing it in my opinion.
    Oh and another thing... Poor sleep will leave you hungry as hell too... and leave your muscles sorer for longer.
    As for the weight lifting.... Get into it as soon as you possibly can! This will change the entire game!
    Hopefully this helps mate. I wish you all the best!
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    pinuplove wrote: »
    Is it possible the extra exercise is being counter productive to your hunger issue? You get to eat more, but if it is creating a raging appetite that overwhelms the extra calories you burn, you haven't really helped yourself. Would you consider easing off a bit to see if you're less hungry (only because you say you aren't doing it for enjoyment or fitness)? It's a chicken and egg thing.
    lorrpb wrote: »
    oat_bran wrote: »
    Sometimes I wonder if I feel so weak is because I don't allow myself a day of rest.
    Or I wonder if I'd feel less hungry if I did less exercise ?

    Yes and Yes.

    Yup, that's what I've been thinking. I suspect that an issue is also part due to me being used to eat about the same amount everyday which corresponds to a high activity level. So I feel hungry if I eat less, but to eat more I exercise. Which probably makes me hungry to keep up eating the same amount. It's a chicken and egg thing like you said. I just need to learn to be ok with having a lower TDEEs on some days and plan to eat less on them and be ready to be hungrier on them i guess and hope that eventually it'll adjust to my lower activity levels.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    Get some rest at LEAST once a week.
    Sounds to me like your overdoing it mate.
    Your central nervous system will be stressed to the max without rest. This will elevate stress hormones. Especially cortisol. This will do several things you don't want. Like start using muscle as an energy source, slow down your metabolism and encourage fat storage.
    Get rest!!! Can't stress that enough!
    Have you looked into HIIT training rather than long cardio bouts also? Definitely worth looking into. Less overall impact on joints with very similar calorie expenditure.
    Also how's your diet? If you eat lots of sweets sugars and carbs, you will always be craving sweets sugars and carbs. You will always be waaay more hungry more often. (Insulin spikes).
    I found a lower carb diet with more frequent, smaller meals stopped my cravings completely, and in as little as 5 days.
    In answer to the question of "pointless" cardio.... No it's not pointless as you would have definitely gained weight. You are just overdoing it in my opinion.
    Oh and another thing... Poor sleep will leave you hungry as hell too... and leave your muscles sorer for longer.
    As for the weight lifting.... Get into it as soon as you possibly can! This will change the entire game!
    Hopefully this helps mate. I wish you all the best!

    Thank you so much for the advice! I guess I really needed to hear someone else say it to me. Sorry if it's a silly question but what qualifies as a rest day? Do I have to be more or less sedentary or just avoid intentional exercise or any other strenuous activity? Can I still have a high NEAT due to walking a lot and climbing stairs on a rest day? Or is this trying to cheat and still have a high TDEE and call it a "rest" day?

    I made my diary public for a while so you can look into it if you want. I don't eat a lot of sweets or processed foods, I'd say. On the contrary, I make sure to get enough of fat, protein, fiber, and mostly from whole foods. I tried the low carb diet several times for different periods of time and it didn't do a thing for me. Actually made things much worse in terms of satiety. I definitely need some starches in my diet to feel full.

    I did weight lifting 2-3 times a week until a few months ago and to be honest, I don't remember it being a game changer. I pretty much head the same problem. And I felt even hungrier after the the strength training days, so..
  • me0231
    me0231 Posts: 218 Member
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    It sounds to me that you're focusing too much on your tdee and hitting a certain number. I've struggled with an ED and I have bit of an obsessive streak in me and I think you might be somewhat similar getting hyperfocused on something. It can cause an enormous amount of stress which is counter productive in and of itself and when you add the stress on your body from all the exercise, it's not a good combo.

    To be honest, I think fitbits are not a good fit for everyone. They're great little devices, but people like me and possibly you, it can lead to obsessions. I'm not wearing mine anymore because I can't just use the information casually, I get too obsessive with it all. My goal is to listen to my body more. Eat when I'm truly hungry, take a break when I'm tired, etc. I'm not there yet but at least for me I think that is a much healthier approach. I guess being more mindful rather than hitting macros, steps, tdee and resting because I need it not because I've designated Sunday as my rest day. YMMV but I thought I'd share in case any of it applies to you too.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    i just had a quick look at your diary, and you have a significant number of calories left eat the end of every day. if your fitbit is accurate, why are you not eating back more of your exercise calories?

    if you want to lose 10-15lbs a deficit of 250 cals is sufficient.
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    i just had a quick look at your diary, and you have a significant number of calories left eat the end of every day. if your fitbit is accurate, why are you not eating back more of your exercise calories?

    if you want to lose 10-15lbs a deficit of 250 cals is sufficient.

    The adjustments are not correct. I haven't managed to make it work. MFP always tells me to eat more than the targeted deficit of 250-300 allows for. If you want to know my estimated deficit here's an expert from my CICO tracking spreadsheet. As you can see, my average deficit is around 300 calories (though last month was lower and I and I ended up way below my targeted monthly deficit due to overeating on my most hungry days).

    0x5sqfxx1nq1.png
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
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    me0231 wrote: »
    It sounds to me that you're focusing too much on your tdee and hitting a certain number. I've struggled with an ED and I have bit of an obsessive streak in me and I think you might be somewhat similar getting hyperfocused on something. It can cause an enormous amount of stress which is counter productive in and of itself and when you add the stress on your body from all the exercise, it's not a good combo.

    To be honest, I think fitbits are not a good fit for everyone. They're great little devices, but people like me and possibly you, it can lead to obsessions. I'm not wearing mine anymore because I can't just use the information casually, I get too obsessive with it all. My goal is to listen to my body more. Eat when I'm truly hungry, take a break when I'm tired, etc. I'm not there yet but at least for me I think that is a much healthier approach. I guess being more mindful rather than hitting macros, steps, tdee and resting because I need it not because I've designated Sunday as my rest day. YMMV but I thought I'd share in case any of it applies to you too.

    Yeah, I am definitely am obsessive with my fitbit and the number it gives me. I know that. But at the same time, fitbit also helped me a lot with recovery in the past. When I started wearing it I realized just how many calories I am actually burning and I now I feel okay eating much more than the "recommended" amount for me. Like most women my size and age seem to be advised to eat 1400-1600cals, but I was starving on that and felt guilty because of it. Now I realize that my activity level isn't just "active" but "very active", so I know I need more food and that's fine. But the downside is that I know now what a difference can some activity make in terms of TDEE. If I do just some light housework, get groceries etc. I end up with only 1650-1750cals TDEE vs. 2500 on a normal day of work. So at this point, I am afraid that ditching the fitbit will lead me to feel constantly worried that I in fact am eating to much compared to how much I have burned. Another thing I realized since I started wearing fitbit 3 years ago is that while I do feel hungrier with more activity I can't really trust my hunger to determine how much I should eat. Like I said, the streaks of hormonal hunger I experience for a third of every month are very powerful and make me feel almost insatiable. I may want to eat 3000 cals on a some days and still be hungry. If I allowed myself to eat according to my hunger levels, I'd gain a lot of weight incredibly fast. Which I actually did the last time I attempted to eat when I was hungry. So now I'm trying to keep track of the pattern and try different things to make it easier to get though these days.
  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
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    If you only exercise for the weight loss and don't care about the other benefits of exercise, then it's totally up to you. Do you think it's easier for you to resist the urge to eat or to put in the effort of exercise so you don't have to resist those urges?
  • jjpptt2
    jjpptt2 Posts: 5,650 Member
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    Just to summarize...

    - There are times when your hunger seems elevated.
    - You exercise primarily so you can eat more.
    - You eat more in response to your hunger.

    Is that the gist?

    Being hungry is fairly normal when dieting, but you don't have to give into it. I assume you know that, but wanted to put it out there just to be sure. Do you struggle with hunger, or do you struggle to control your eating?

    From your original post, it sounds like the volume of exercise is bordering on detrimental. If it's simply a tool for "coping" with your hunger, I'd find better ways. Have you played around with different macro goals? Different food types? What about higher volume/lower calorie foods? Is your diet reasonably balanced (I'm not sure I buy into increased hunger/cravings when nutritionally deficient, but I also don't know enough to say that for certain, so it's worth asking)?
  • oat_bran
    oat_bran Posts: 370 Member
    edited August 2018
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    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    If you only exercise for the weight loss and don't care about the other benefits of exercise, then it's totally up to you. Do you think it's easier for you to resist the urge to eat or to put in the effort of exercise so you don't have to resist those urges?

    I think it's easier to put in the effort to exercise than to resist the urges. Which is why I've been choosing to exercise instead of eating less all this time. But when I think about all the time I spend exercising... So yeah, it seems like a no win situation.
    jjpptt2 wrote: »
    Just to summarize...

    - There are times when your hunger seems elevated.
    - You exercise primarily so you can eat more.
    - You eat more in response to your hunger.

    Is that the gist?

    Being hungry is fairly normal when dieting, but you don't have to give into it. I assume you know that, but wanted to put it out there just to be sure. Do you struggle with hunger, or do you struggle to control your eating?

    From your original post, it sounds like the volume of exercise is bordering on detrimental. If it's simply a tool for "coping" with your hunger, I'd find better ways. Have you played around with different macro goals? Different food types? What about higher volume/lower calorie foods? Is your diet reasonably balanced (I'm not sure I buy into increased hunger/cravings when nutritionally deficient, but I also don't know enough to say that for certain, so it's worth asking)?

    Yeah, you summarized it pretty accurately. I do realize it's totally normal to feel hungry when in caloric deficit. And I can easily deal with what I consider "normal" hunger levels. Like, I can b hungry, but it's not interfering with my life and it's just something I notice from time to time and in particular an hour or two before meals but it's not on my mind constantly. But when my hunger is elevated which I assume is mostly due to hormons, it seems almost impossible to not eat more without spending ALL of my energy and concentration into resisting the urges. On days that are particularly bad, about 8-10 days each month, I pretty much think about food all day long and it interferes with my ability to sleep, concentrate on my work and function normally in general etc. So eating more seems like the only solution...

    As I clarified in one on my previous replies, I've been struggling with this hunger problems for a very long time and have tried pretty much everything: experimenting with macros, volume, timing, different types of foods etc. I've found what works best for me but still on the many days, the hunger stays a big issue.