To much to eat for swimmers

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Another season is underway for my swim club and I am pumped...the workouts are 2 hours long ,take 5 minutes for stretching and a few more extra minutes off for the seconds in between sets. Estimated I come to around 110 minutes of swimming total....for those who swim for a team understand these workouts kick your butt! Th exercise calculator by the end of my day says I burn around 1200 calories from exercise every day...however I can not eat that many calories. Im supposed to get 1200 calories a day and then another 1200?! Thats way to much food. I eat around 1400 calories a day give or take a hundred....its now been a week and a half since a started this thing planning to get down to 135 from 155....now I am at 156. What the crap right? is it because I am not eating that many calories?

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  • amandadanda
    amandadanda Posts: 15
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    Another season is underway for my swim club and I am pumped...the workouts are 2 hours long ,take 5 minutes for stretching and a few more extra minutes off for the seconds in between sets. Estimated I come to around 110 minutes of swimming total....for those who swim for a team understand these workouts kick your butt! Th exercise calculator by the end of my day says I burn around 1200 calories from exercise every day...however I can not eat that many calories. Im supposed to get 1200 calories a day and then another 1200?! Thats way to much food. I eat around 1400 calories a day give or take a hundred....its now been a week and a half since a started this thing planning to get down to 135 from 155....now I am at 156. What the crap right? is it because I am not eating that many calories?
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,953 Member
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    ......um, yes. Start drinking protein shakes as calorie boosters. If you mix them with milk, or soy milk (regular) you get more fat and protein and carbs. Add a banana and/or berries, and you can boost that up to 300-400 calories or more. With your high calorie expenditure, you are going to have to drink some of your calories to get the right mix of nutrients.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10589-for-those-confused-or-questioning-eating-your-exercise-calo

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/10665-newbies-please-read-me-2nd-edition

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/6556-the-answers-to-the-questions?page=1

    Above are some of many great posts. Message me if you want more.

    ~Cheryl
  • REB89
    REB89 Posts: 493 Member
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    Yes definately eat your exercise calories. Add caloire dense foods like peanut butter to your diet to bulk up the caloires. Also I agree with the protein shakes, these should help to give you more calories as well!
  • yenn
    yenn Posts: 48 Member
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    YES and there was a link to a story here on MFP last week about women and exercise ... that massive amounts of exercise push you into "starvation mode" for about the first four days, similar to if you were to starve yourself !! (on the subject of why women have a harder time losing weight through exercise -- this does not happen to men) So DO eat more calories to reassure your body, and just know that the exercise won't start boosting your metabolism until you've given it about a week !!