working out too much?

Options
2»

Replies

  • maggie500
    maggie500 Posts: 7 Member
    Options
    I think adswillis27 was exactly right. I'm a long distance triathlete, so I do regular two-a-day workouts and I could never do it on 1200 calories/day. When I'm putting in a lot of miles, nuts are the primary way I add calories - good nutrients and you don't feel full.

    Everyone's different though - if you don't feel overly tired and don't lack energy, you may be doing okay. Personally, I'd try adding another 300 or so calories and see how you feel.

    Great job!
  • redmamacita
    redmamacita Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    thanks for all the comments. i think i knew the answer was going to be "eat more," but i wanted some validation to make sure i wasn't going to make the wrong choice. looks like i'll be stocking up on tonnnnns more veggies. gonna have to get creative, too!

    dumb question... TDEE?? what is that?
  • redmamacita
    redmamacita Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    I was the same way until I went to a professional nutritionist. She gave me my BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate) and told me to use MFP (Great APP) just don't calculate your excercise unless you burn 1000 plus in a day. Your goal should be between 250-500 under your BMR. If you cut 500 a day under your BMR on average you will lose 2 lbs a week. If you are doing crossfit, plus strength training my personal opinion is to cut out your cardio. Crossfit is a more up tempo workout as it is and the muscles you are working is more than enough to keep your metabolism running on high speed. The additional cardio is just going to eat at your muscles...of course this is just my opinion based on what you wrote. Hope my two cents helps :)

    P.S. If you are doing all that working out you are a BEAST!!!!! In a good way LOL :happy:


    i do like doing mostly strength/weight training at the gym. cardio is more of a quick 5 min warm up on the treadmill, and maybe a bit of intervals at the end just to round it out. i won't miss cutting it out completely though....pretty sure crossfit helps me get my heart rate up enough!

    re: your beast comment.....that's exactly what my crossfit trainer calls me, hah! i take it as a compliment :)
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
    Options
    I was the same way until I went to a professional nutritionist. She gave me my BMR (Basic Metabolic Rate) and told me to use MFP (Great APP) just don't calculate your excercise unless you burn 1000 plus in a day. Your goal should be between 250-500 under your BMR. If you cut 500 a day under your BMR on average you will lose 2 lbs a week. If you are doing crossfit, plus strength training my personal opinion is to cut out your cardio. Crossfit is a more up tempo workout as it is and the muscles you are working is more than enough to keep your metabolism running on high speed. The additional cardio is just going to eat at your muscles...of course this is just my opinion based on what you wrote. Hope my two cents helps :)

    P.S. If you are doing all that working out you are a BEAST!!!!! In a good way LOL :happy:

    Those figures are only okay if you have a lot to lose. Otherwise you should not be netting lower than at or above your BMR.
  • Brandicaloriecountess
    Brandicaloriecountess Posts: 2,126 Member
    Options
    thanks for all the comments. i think i knew the answer was going to be "eat more," but i wanted some validation to make sure i wasn't going to make the wrong choice. looks like i'll be stocking up on tonnnnns more veggies. gonna have to get creative, too!

    dumb question... TDEE?? what is that?

    I've been upping slowly, I am @ 1800 a day and still losing. I workout 6 days a week. It actually feels GREAT to eat and still lose :)
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
    Options
    thanks for all the comments. i think i knew the answer was going to be "eat more," but i wanted some validation to make sure i wasn't going to make the wrong choice. looks like i'll be stocking up on tonnnnns more veggies. gonna have to get creative, too!

    dumb question... TDEE?? what is that?

    TDEE, = total Daily Energy Expenditure = BMR + activity multiplier + exercise. Essentially it is maintenance after exercise is factored in.
  • redmamacita
    redmamacita Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    Another option, and one I would suggest is to workout your total Weekly TDEE with exercise included and eat 80-85% of that number everyday, so you eat the same everyday and average out your calorie burn from the week.

    this can be done by taking your maintenance on MFP x 7 + your weekly total caloric burn from exercise /7 *0.85 (or 0.80)
    so if your maintenance caloires on MFP are 2000/day, that would give you 14,000 for the week, then add your 3,000 cals burned to give you 17,000 then dived by 7 to get an average daily burn of 2428, to lose weight eat 80-85% of that number. So 1942 to 2064 to lose weight slow and steady. this would be 0.72 to 0.97 lb/week loss.

    By doing this you don't have to eat any of your exercise calories back as they are already accounted for in your total intake prior to creating the deficit.
    The numbers and deficit will change slightly if your maintenance is different than the 2000 I assumed in my calculation.


    ok so using this calculation, i should be eating between 1600 and 1800 a day. I can do that.
    BRM 1664 x 7 = 11,648 + 3000 burned/week = 14,648 / 7 = 2092 * .80 (or .85) = 1674 to 1778

    Thank you so much for all your input!
  • em9371
    em9371 Posts: 1,047 Member
    Options
    Another option, and one I would suggest is to workout your total Weekly TDEE with exercise included and eat 80-85% of that number everyday, so you eat the same everyday and average out your calorie burn from the week.

    this can be done by taking your maintenance on MFP x 7 + your weekly total caloric burn from exercise /7 *0.85 (or 0.80)
    so if your maintenance caloires on MFP are 2000/day, that would give you 14,000 for the week, then add your 3,000 cals burned to give you 17,000 then dived by 7 to get an average daily burn of 2428, to lose weight eat 80-85% of that number. So 1942 to 2064 to lose weight slow and steady. this would be 0.72 to 0.97 lb/week loss.

    By doing this you don't have to eat any of your exercise calories back as they are already accounted for in your total intake prior to creating the deficit.
    The numbers and deficit will change slightly if your maintenance is different than the 2000 I assumed in my calculation.


    ok so using this calculation, i should be eating between 1600 and 1800 a day. I can do that.
    BRM 1664 x 7 = 11,648 + 3000 burned/week = 14,648 / 7 = 2092 * .80 (or .85) = 1674 to 1778

    Thank you so much for all your input!

    The way you worked it doesnt factor in normal daily activity, the base number (your 1664) needs to be your bmr x activity factor (or what MFP gives you for maintenance before you log any exercise).
    You are exercising enough to eat at maintenance and just create your deficit through exercise.
  • redmamacita
    redmamacita Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    The way you worked it doesnt factor in normal daily activity, the base number (your 1664) needs to be your bmr x activity factor (or what MFP gives you for maintenance before you log any exercise).
    You are exercising enough to eat at maintenance and just create your deficit through exercise.

    not sure what you mean... MFP gives me 1664 as my BMR, which to my understanding is what i would need to eat to maintain if i were to just sit on the couch all day and do nothing. MFP also listed my daily caloric goal as 1200/day.

    eating at maintenance would mean eating 1600 or so a day while working out as i do now.


    not sure if this makes any bit of difference...but i weigh appx 197 and am looking to drop my BF% from 31% to closer to 20% or so. not so concerned with the scale weight- BF% is my progress indicator.
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Options
    The way you worked it doesnt factor in normal daily activity, the base number (your 1664) needs to be your bmr x activity factor (or what MFP gives you for maintenance before you log any exercise).
    You are exercising enough to eat at maintenance and just create your deficit through exercise.

    not sure what you mean... MFP gives me 1664 as my BMR, which to my understanding is what i would need to eat to maintain if i were to just sit on the couch all day and do nothing. MFP also listed my daily caloric goal as 1200/day.

    eating at maintenance would mean eating 1600 or so a day while working out as i do now.


    not sure if this makes any bit of difference...but i weigh appx 197 and am looking to drop my BF% from 31% to closer to 20% or so. not so concerned with the scale weight- BF% is my progress indicator.

    You are confusing BMR with TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). Your BMR is the amount you burn to stay alive, like if you laid in bed all day. On top of your BMR there is the calories you burn with a of the things you do, from walking to the car to brushing your teeth. It includes your exercise as well, that is your TDEE. This is the number that you would maintain at. (just a note the MFP does not include exercise in the number it gives you)
    So if your BMR is 1650, your TDEE is higher.

    Keep in mind that you are burning off all of the calories you eat, plus some. Your body still requires calories on top of that. Yes, your body dips into fat stores to get those, but it will also start burning your muscle as fuel. You cannot maintain your lean body mass with such huge deficits.
  • redmamacita
    redmamacita Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    ahhh. ::light bulb::

    so how does one calculate TDEE? BMR + calories burned through exercise + ....?
  • mmapags
    mmapags Posts: 8,934 Member
    Options
    Try going to fat2fitradio.com and use thier BMR calculator. It actually gives much more than BMR. You won't put in acutal calories but select an activity level. You don't eat back exercise calories using thier recommedation. Or you can take their recomendation for you, subtract exercise and add it back in on the days your do it. Very helpful site!
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Options
    ahhh. ::light bulb::

    so how does one calculate TDEE? BMR + calories burned through exercise + ....?

    Ok. You can figure it yourself by taking your BMR and use the following table.
    To determine your total daily calorie needs, multiply your BMR by the appropriate activity factor, as follows:

    If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
    If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
    If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
    If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
    If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

    Using this formula you do not "eat back" your exercise calories as they are already calculated.

    Or you can use MFP to do it for you and eat back some or all of your exercise calories (since you use a heart rate monitor you can be sure you are not overestimating too far.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
    Options
    ahhh. ::light bulb::

    so how does one calculate TDEE? BMR + calories burned through exercise + ....?

    Go to the goals tab and look at the top right, calories burned from normal daily activity. That is your maintenance assuming no exercise, add exercise cals burned to that to get TDEE.
  • redmamacita
    redmamacita Posts: 43 Member
    Options
    got it! you were actually almost spot on with your first guessed calculations.. MFP has my maintenance/daily activity as 2070.

    thanks again for all your help!

Categories