Why do I burn out after a month
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arrowprayer
Posts: 77 Member
Idk what type of food to eat to avoid this
I eat 1500 cal
Do about 5000 steps
I do suffer from depression
I’ll answer any questions that I may not have provided.
I eat 1500 cal
Do about 5000 steps
I do suffer from depression
I’ll answer any questions that I may not have provided.
7
Replies
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Are you male or female and if male,, what do you have your lbs per week loss goal set to (1500 is the lowest mfp goes for men so you may be cutting your calories too drastically)? Also, do you try to eliminate a bunch of foods you normally enjoy?2
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Boredom maybe? Are you eating a fun variety of foods? Maybe alternate walking with some other activity? Set small goals and when you hit them, give yourself a reward. (I know many disagree with that but it can work for some people and it doesn't have to be anything food-related or extravagant).
How much do you have to lose? What if you eat the 1500 calories 6x a week then give yourself a maintenance day for a bit of a break?4 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »Are you male or female and if male,, what do you have your lbs per week loss goal set to (1500 is the lowest mfp goes for men so you may be cutting your calories too drastically)? Also, do you try to eliminate a bunch of foods you normally enjoy?
Female
1 lb
No I eat anything I want as long as I’m in the 1500 range0 -
Boredom maybe? Are you eating a fun variety of foods? Maybe alternate walking with some other activity? Set small goals and when you hit them, give yourself a reward. (I know many disagree with that but it can work for some people and it doesn't have to be anything food-related or extravagant).
How much do you have to lose? What if you eat the 1500 calories 6x a week then give yourself a maintenance day for a bit of a break?
I do Instagram exercises too and those really tire me out a lot. I switch them up so as not to get bored.
I could try a maintenance day but I don’t have too much trouble sticking to my calories
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Well, it will help to identify what exactly you're burned out from...is it the foods you're eating? The workouts you're choosing, maybe? Just the deficit in general?5
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arrowprayer wrote: »Boredom maybe? Are you eating a fun variety of foods? Maybe alternate walking with some other activity? Set small goals and when you hit them, give yourself a reward. (I know many disagree with that but it can work for some people and it doesn't have to be anything food-related or extravagant).
How much do you have to lose? What if you eat the 1500 calories 6x a week then give yourself a maintenance day for a bit of a break?
I do Instagram exercises too and those really tire me out a lot. I switch them up so as not to get bored.
I could try a maintenance day but I don’t have too much trouble sticking to my calories
These days, IG and such tend to be hyping HIIT and other intense forms of exercise; hooking people into exercise challenging that suggest doing increasing numbers of (whatever) every single day (or close), like push-ups or planks or whatever; encouraging people to do strength-y cardio (like high-rep low-weight lifting stuff with dance-y steps). Those things are extra fatiguing.
Even a standard weight training routine needs appropriate recovery days, or it will be exhausting. In some programs, that's accomplished via rest days, in others by hitting some body parts on some days, different parts on other days. Recovery is hugely important.
If that sort of thing is what is tiring you out, maybe skip some days until your fitness builds up; vary what you do (very different modes of exercise); or do something intense like that once or twice a week, something milder (like a walk, or less intense non-weighted low-impact aerobics or something) in between.
From a fitness-development standpoint, starting with a mild challenge, and building up duration/intensity/frequency gradually over a period of time, is where it's at. Even elite athletes don't do what is for them intense exercise every single day: Why would we regular people want to do it?
Also, if doing extra exercise but eating zero of those calories, that will amplify the fatiguing aspect.
Hope you're able to find a solution!6 -
Are you progressing like you want? If you see effort and EXPECTATION is much higher compared to results, people that suffer from depression could see that as failure and why bother.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
1 -
Are you progressing like you want? If you see effort and EXPECTATION is much higher compared to results, people that suffer from depression could see that as failure and why bother.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I’m expecting to lose 1 lb a week
I gained 2 last week and yes it is very discouraging. I ate within in my calories and worked out as planned.2 -
I find that just about everything in 2020-2021 is just hard. Pandemic life is hard. Makes it difficult for me to get excited about much. Hugs.9
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arrowprayer wrote: »Are you progressing like you want? If you see effort and EXPECTATION is much higher compared to results, people that suffer from depression could see that as failure and why bother.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I’m expecting to lose 1 lb a week
I gained 2 last week and yes it is very discouraging. I ate within in my calories and worked out as planned.
You are a woman. Welcome to womanhood - with all the weight fluctuations that go along with that. I lost 60 lbs a few years back, then gained it back over 8 years. So, I'm working on it again. When I get discouraged, I go back and look at my weight stats from the last time around...sure enough, out of every 4 weeks, 1 week of gain followed by a loss. At the time it was so gradual I never noticed, but now that I'm looking at it from the other side, it is the truth. So, be patient, don't try to lose it all at once and you'll see the difference over time.6 -
arrowprayer wrote: »Are you progressing like you want? If you see effort and EXPECTATION is much higher compared to results, people that suffer from depression could see that as failure and why bother.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I’m expecting to lose 1 lb a week
I gained 2 last week and yes it is very discouraging. I ate within in my calories and worked out as planned.
Well, unless you ate 7000 calories over your maintenance calories, that 2 lbs was not fat.
Water in your body fluctuates due to hormones, if you worked out a little more than normal, ate more sodium or carbs. All of these things can cause water weight.
I gained 7 lbs over a 4th of July weekend a couple of years ago because I ate out each day. By the next week, it was gone. It was water weight.
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arrowprayer wrote: »Are you progressing like you want? If you see effort and EXPECTATION is much higher compared to results, people that suffer from depression could see that as failure and why bother.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I’m expecting to lose 1 lb a week
I gained 2 last week and yes it is very discouraging. I ate within in my calories and worked out as planned.
Sounds like your "burnout" might be sounding a little more like some high or unrealistic expectations.
I'm F, too...any time I start the weight loss process, it usually takes about a month before I start seeing any actual results on the scale. I'm not seeing rhata true for everyone...but I am saying that the weight loss doesn't always happen immediately on the scale, and certainly not like clockwork. You may have weeks where you see a loss, then a week or two where you night be up a little. This is usually due to things like overeating one day/eating a salty meal...hormones, especially around TOM...muscle repair from exercise...so many things.
So maybe you have burnout from foods, but it also sounds like you will need to have some patience too. Unfortunately, this process is not fast, so you will need it!
Setting some goals outside of the weight loss process too...maybe achieving a yoga pose you never could before, or walking a mile faster than a previous time, lifting a heavier weight, or something like that.
It's like that old adage about a watched pot never boiling...same idea. You'll drive yourself crazy by hyperfocusing and stressing over weight flunctuations.5 -
dragon_girl26 wrote: »arrowprayer wrote: »Are you progressing like you want? If you see effort and EXPECTATION is much higher compared to results, people that suffer from depression could see that as failure and why bother.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I’m expecting to lose 1 lb a week
I gained 2 last week and yes it is very discouraging. I ate within in my calories and worked out as planned.
Sounds like your "burnout" might be sounding a little more like some high or unrealistic expectations.
I'm F, too...any time I start the weight loss process, it usually takes about a month before I start seeing any actual results on the scale. I'm not seeing rhata true for everyone...but I am saying that the weight loss doesn't always happen immediately on the scale, and certainly not like clockwork. You may have weeks where you see a loss, then a week or two where you night be up a little. This is usually due to things like overeating one day/eating a salty meal...hormones, especially around TOM...muscle repair from exercise...so many things.
So maybe you have burnout from foods, but it also sounds like you will need to have some patience too. Unfortunately, this process is not fast, so you will need it!
Setting some goals outside of the weight loss process too...maybe achieving a yoga pose you never could before, or walking a mile faster than a previous time, lifting a heavier weight, or something like that.
It's like that old adage about a watched pot never boiling...same idea. You'll drive yourself crazy by hyperfocusing and stressing over weight flunctuations.
Yes on the bolded!! It sounds corny, but I started a gratitude journal. I try to write something I am grateful for each day (not always perfect on that, LOL) and I've started to jot down non-weight loss related goals every week.
Some other suggestions:
If you're bored with food, what about checking out a new cookbook and trying a new recipe?
If you're bored with exercise, what about seeing if there is a Zoom class you could try?
Also, please give yourself some grace. The last year has NOT been easy. You'll get there. Trust the process and most importantly, trust yourself.2 -
Do you eat your exercise cals? Or are you eating 1500 cals, burning a load from exercise and effectively eating a NET number that's far fewer cals than you need?5
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arrowprayer wrote: »Are you progressing like you want? If you see effort and EXPECTATION is much higher compared to results, people that suffer from depression could see that as failure and why bother.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
I’m expecting to lose 1 lb a week
I gained 2 last week and yes it is very discouraging. I ate within in my calories and worked out as planned.
I know water weight "gain" is discouraging, but hang in there
I gain around 4 pounds when I ovulate and somewhat less premenstrually. Because of this, I compare weights to the same point in my cycle last MONTH, rather than last WEEK.
I gained 7 pounds when I started working out again. I knew it was water weight and just hung in there.2 -
Strudders67 wrote: »Do you eat your exercise cals? Or are you eating 1500 cals, burning a load from exercise and effectively eating a NET number that's far fewer cals than you need?
I don’t eat my burned calories
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Not eating your exercise calories is pretty much the fast track to deprivation, depression, and frustration. Like a bullet train. Eat half or more of your exercise cals!!
2020-2021 has been very hard. I agree with @csplatt. Cut yourself a break. We all have to deal with the mood aspect of what this last year has been about. Be kind to yourself.
Suggestion: Start over. Go to the MFP goals too, enter your stats, get a calorie target, and then stick to the target. Maybe it isn't 1500. Whatever it is, it is. Eat that, plus 1/2 of your exercise cals and enjoy every calorie of them. In time you'll see the results. Guaranteed.6 -
I think the best thing you could do is ask yourself that question, like really do a deep dive into it, having read all the suggestions here. Were you feeling deprived? Were you just tired of measuring and tracking your food? Are the other things going on in your life so that now is not the best time to try to lose weight?
You mentioned that you were expecting to lose 1 pound a week and getting discouraged when that didn't happen. I can tell you as someone who has had depression and anxiety as well, I do NOT like when things do not go as expected when I'm in a state of depression or anxiety. It's just one more thing that feels out of my control.
What helps me is not having an end date or date in mind to be at my "goal weight." I just planned to lose at a slow rate, but wasn't wanting to be a certain wait by a certain time. I also had to learn to successfully deal with setbacks, because there will be setbacks---whether it be in seeing the scale go up when you didn't expect to, or overeating one day and exceeding your calories.
I definitely agree with others in giving yourself grace and going easy on yourself. You don't have to be perfect, just working on getting better.3 -
Hi. Sorry to hear you're struggling. Depression makes it hard to do anything - add onto that this past year, coronavirus, and I'm not surprised you're struggling to stick to your 1500 calories.
It's probably not to do with the type of food you are eating really and I don't think that switching out one food for another will necessary help you. I think it's more to do with what's going on with your mental health and that could be something to look at first, or in conjunction with this. Do you have support with your depression?1 -
arrowprayer wrote: »Strudders67 wrote: »Do you eat your exercise cals? Or are you eating 1500 cals, burning a load from exercise and effectively eating a NET number that's far fewer cals than you need?
I don’t eat my burned calories
That possibly goes a long way to explaining your burnout. Eat at least a fair percentage of your exercise calories, give it 6 weeks and see how you're doing then. I always eat 100%, but I'm quite confident that the calories calculated for my exercise are pretty accurate.
MFP is designed for you to log your exercise and eat those calories. The 1500 it calculated, initially, is for you to lose weight at your selected rate without doing anything else.2
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