A Personal View on Exercise Cals and Underfeeding

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This is a most helpful discussion. I actually read this soon after joining MFP but, while it made sense, I really couldn't wrap my head around it. After two months of going from only doing dog-walking a few days a week to doing a large variety of more intense exercises (spin, step aerobics, elliptical, HIIT, weight training, swimming, biking, etc.) and tracking my caloric intake with a goal of 1200 net, and only losing 10# in that time, I'm beginning to strongly consider upping my calories. I have adopted zig-zagging to try to fool and boost my metabolism but I do have too many days where my net is too low.

I am rarely hungry and have probably lost that ability to recognize true hunger through years of eating too little as, even when I was much heavier than I am now, I often kept food dairies and rarely have eaten over 1500 calories a day. (Yes, I gained to a high of 237# eating just that.) I do, however, often have intense fatigue from exercising to the point where I'm napping a ridiculous amount of hours each week in addition to sleeping more at night. I'm guessing this means my body is starving and shuts down to maintain my needed bodily functions? What is curious is that once I start exercising, I get an energy lift and feel great during the exercise routine and can really push myself pretty good during it. However, a few hours after exercising, I totally crash. I'm really hoping to feel the increased energy all day long that my increased exercise and fitness level should be bringing me.

So I am convinced that, yes, I need to up my calories and nutrition (I don't eat enough veggies or protein and really need to work on both). I am down to 183# at this time (10# since joining MFP, the rest has been a gradual loss over about a decade using a combination of low-carb eating and moderate exercise not the intense amount I'm doing now). I'm 53, 5'6". My goal is to get down to around 130-135, I think. I don't have a clear weight goal, more of a pant size goal and even that isn't clear. I don't think I'll know where I want to be until I get there. I just know that I want my BMI to be in the normal range. Right now, I'm still just on the edge of obese.

Tips, encouragement, and such would be great and very helpful. I'm scared to death that I'm going to gain weight if I up my calories. While I understand it logically, I'm having a hard time accepting it on an emotional level.

Anyway, thank you for this discussion. It's very helpful and motivating.

Tips, encouragement, and such would be great and very helpful. I'm scared to death that I'm going to gain weight if I up my calories. While I understand it logically, I'm having a hard time accepting it on an emotional level.

Anyway, thank you for this discussion. It's very helpful and motivating.

This is exactly what I feel too!

just read this and thought it deserved another BUMP :flowerforyou:

very interesting and informative as i am "worried" about eating all my exercise calories!

OMG..Thank you so much for your story i totally understood what your saying and it explanded where all my skinny fat comes from.i also eat a lot of carbs not enough food and i have watched how my body turned skinny and squishy and .its like a fat deformity (if thats a word ) .oh well it fits lol. what i am tryinng to learn right now is the right foods to eat that my body will aceept as good foods to feed my muscles (which were eatin up by my body also ). i dont know the correct dietary life stye eating menu to follow.i thought i would start out with the muscle milk so my body would begin giving back some strength to work out with .so i dont feel so drained and extra tired after working out . Please help any ideas.

A good read!

Thanks for sharing, r1ghtpath! It sounds like you are on the right path. Let us know how it goes.

bump

Thanks so much for posting your views and experience. It sounds a lot like mine, except I've eating the wrong way for a bit longer, and I don't drink soda. Nevertheless, I've had to consciously make myself eat breakfast, and being accountable for what I take eat and how I exercise through using MFP has really been helpful. Now I can see what I am doing that does or does not work, and I can make changes accordingly. Any ideas how to boost the sluggish metabolism I've created over the years through negligent eating?

Green tea is supposed to help speed up your metabolism. Reading about this earlier today - http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/520628-green-tea-drinkers-help

I could so have written that. Am so with you

This just confirms my thoughts with what my body is going through, so I am glad I found this. I seem to naturally stay a high weight despite eating better than many people I know who eat a lot, drink a lot plus don't exercise. The times I have lost a lot of weight was actually when I was eating macdonalds up to twice a day plus cakes every day.

I started dieting when I was 7, I have done every strange diet possible.

I started this a few weeks ago. I spent the first week just noting what I was eating but this was with a vow to eat more veg and fruit, drink more water and I noticed me thinking more about moving more and what I ate just by using this site. I've now taken it to the next level where I am making a point of exercising more plus trying to keep within my calories. Now I've got rid of my cravings and weird binging habits, I can start eating to turn around a bad diet.

It sounds like you're on the right track. I destroyed my metabolism growing up as I had a mother who chronically underfed me for fear that I would get fat. I'm now working on upping my calories slowly and it's great to be able to eat more and still lose. It's not fast but, then again, I no longer feel deprived or as if I'm even on any kind of diet. Exercise and healthy eating works if you're patient and not trying to race to a thinner you. Best wishes.

Thanks for posting