Advice on the balance between consumed calories & exercise amounts...

Sunshine78

Sunshine78

New member
So I am in need of some advice that anyone may have on the balance between the amount of calories consumed and the amount of exercise a person is doing in a day. In the past I was running so much, it was almost as if I was training for something. I find it difficult to eat more than about 1500 calories a day......I eventually had to stop doing so much running and cardio because I was started to gain weight. I am sure due to my body not getting enough calories in a day to keep up. I also lift weights up to 5 days a week.
In the last few months I have tried to cut back on the running and the large amount of cardio...I have noticed that I am leaning back out a bit, but I have a really hard time not doing as much as I used to, in fear that I am not doing enough. I lost quite a large amount of weight a few years ago, have not changed my lifestyle, but have gained back a bit of it (although some in muscle mass). I have been trying to get back to where I was but it seems to be virtually impossible.....
 
Sunshine78 said:
So I am in need of some advice that anyone may have on the balance between the amount of calories consumed and the amount of exercise a person is doing in a day. In the past I was running so much, it was almost as if I was training for something. I find it difficult to eat more than about 1500 calories a day......I eventually had to stop doing so much running and cardio because I was started to gain weight. I am sure due to my body not getting enough calories in a day to keep up.
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You weren't eating enough so you gained weight? How does that work?

I also lift weights up to 5 days a week.
In the last few months I have tried to cut back on the running and the large amount of cardio...I have noticed that I am leaning back out a bit, but I have a really hard time not doing as much as I used to, in fear that I am not doing enough. I lost quite a large amount of weight a few years ago, have not changed my lifestyle, but have gained back a bit of it (although some in muscle mass). I have been trying to get back to where I was but it seems to be virtually impossible.....
Click to expand...

You have an all or nothing mentality that will ruin you.

i) doing a ton of exercise on low calories if a surefire path to frustration. No, it won't make you fat. but yea, it will leave you stalled and soft.
ii) overtraining is a very real phenomenon, and it's not a fun 'place' to be. the least negative it can impact you is nagging injuries. the extent can reach much further and worse than this, however
iii)it seems like you have this misguided perception that if you're not doing enough, you're going to get fat overnight.

Think of it like this:

Pick a sane caloric intake. This generally means eating as much as you can while still losing weight. You're not signing contracts here. The idea is to ballpark it and track your stats (measurements, photos, weight, etc). If things aren't heading in the desired direction, or are heading in the desired direction too quickly, adjust accordingly.

And don't be silly with your exercise volume. Relative to your diet, exercise doesn't give you a lot of mileage in terms of caloric deficits.

Run just enough to a) give your cardiovascular improvement/maintenance and b) allows you to not 'starve' yourself.

In terms of weights, the best you can do, especially if you're a lighter female who has been lifting for some time, is to maintain your muscle mass. It doesn't take much to do this. 2-3 full body sessions is generally enough.

Less is more in your case.

Adjust your expectations and beliefs.
 
Bah! I know that is my problem...less is more but I can't help but have that thought in my mind that unless I always work hard I will get no where. But then there are weeks (for example this week), where I can only work out 2, maybe 3 times, which is very little for me and then I stress about it.
What I meant by I wasn't eating enough so I gained weight was that I was running like someone training for a marathon.....2 sometimes 3 times a week I'd run 10K. Which is A LOT for someone who doesn't eat like I am training for something....which in turn I have heard people use the terms that my body was starting to go into "starvation mode" and was not burning anything because I was no consuming enough and my body was basically preparing for starvation. (if that makes sense...I hope I have worded that correctly)
 
If you're in a caloric deficit, your body doesn't store fat, regardless of the starvation mode.

And the starvation mode is an adaptive process that happens with any diet, big or small. It certainly doesn't shutdown your metabolism.

I've seen it time and time again, and you can take it for what it's worth... but I've seen so many women try and beat their body into submission and I've yet to see someone walk away happy from this approach.
 
I guess what I found frustrating though is that I was at a weight and fitness level that I liked, wasn't overdoing it but was keeping it at a normal amount of exercise and a good diet, and was just trying to maintain. But all of a sudden I started gaining and so I starting pushing harder, and it was just like a vicious cycle. I am just now starting to lean out a tiny bit again, but it seems like I cannot get back to where I was. It seems the more exercise I do or the better I eat (I eat extremely healthy!), or the more I cut calories it works against me.
 
Sunshine78 said:
I guess what I found frustrating though is that I was at a weight and fitness level that I liked, wasn't overdoing it but was keeping it at a normal amount of exercise and a good diet, and was just trying to maintain. But all of a sudden I started gaining and so I starting pushing harder, and it was just like a vicious cycle. I am just now starting to lean out a tiny bit again, but it seems like I cannot get back to where I was. It seems the more exercise I do or the better I eat (I eat extremely healthy!), or the more I cut calories it works against me.
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That's not how it works.

You should have been LOSING weight, so I think this is more a case of human error.

Either: You weren't burning as many calories as you thought OR you were underestimating your calories.

Get a kitchen scale and be very precise with your calorie counting.
 
Or you confused water weight fluctuation with fat gain. If you look over in the Weigh Yourself Everyday thread, you can see there's a lot of normal variation.
 
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