Am I doing it wrong?

[TwinFoxes]

Just low cal. AND come to think of it, my eating was crummy! Maybe that’s it. I would eat cake and then just starve, lol.

I think you've found the reason! What would you say to your kids if they told you they were on an all cake diet and then went to work out? Take care of yourself!!

[bisous]

I think you've found the reason! What would you say to your kids if they told you they were on an all cake diet and then went to work out? Take care of yourself!!

Well it wasn’t ONLY cake, lol. But when you’re doing 1200 calories cake I have learned that any cake consumed must be very tiny!!

[StantonHyde]

For me to exercise a lot, I had to figure out my base metabolic rate via a fitness test at our university sports med place. For me it was 1500 calories. Then add onto that 400 calories to just function--walk around, work at a desk job. I calorie count and set my calories at 1500 a day with the idea of losing a pound every week or so. (burning 400 calories a day) I add on to that calorie count all of my exercise calories. (which i compute using a heart rate monitor) So if I burn 700 calories in spin class, I can eat 2200 calories that day. What I really try to do is stay at eating 2000 calories a day and sometimes I burn 900 calories exercising and 2 days a week I don't exercise so the idea is that it evens out.

I have to eat good quality food--protein at every meal. I get fat with the protein, salad dressing, cheese, and peanut butter. Wine is my Achilles heel! (and chocolate..) And I have to get sleep--like 8 hours a night and sometimes 9. If I have a hard workout one day, (like 2 hours), I take an hour nap in the afternoon if possible. And water-lots and lots of water!!

Moderate exercise is walking a mile in 15 minutes. So, yes, you may be working too hard. And I think you need to re-think how long you are exercising. 150 minutes is a loooong time. What happens if you exercise for an hour? I would ease into it a bit more. You can build up to 150 minutes, but I would start with an hour and see how that feels.

[georgiegirl]

With 1200 calories, I don’t feel like you should be doing anything other than gentle exercise. I’m guessing you aren’t getting enough calories, your intensity is too high, and your body isn’t getting enough rest and calories to function well.


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[niccig]

1200 calories isn’t enough if working out regularly. You also need rest days. Workout no more than 5 days and rest 2 days. I do Fitness Blender programs and they have 6th day as stretching only routine and 7th is rest. Their programs have HIIT and you’re only supposed to do that 2-3 times a week and not back to back days. If you’re doing full intensity every workout it might be too much. If you’re doing strength training, are you having rest days so you’re not over working the same muscles?

When I started working out I increased protein. Snacks are nuts, cottage cheese with fruit etc

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[SnuggleBuggles]

Also, on the Nike app some of the workouts say “moderate” intensity but I’m going pretty full bore. Any possibility that it’s off? And that maybe I’m just out of shape enough that for ME it’s full intensity?

I think it's based on how in shape you are. It's accurate for me. Maybe an occasional workout will be harder or easier than labeled but the majority are right on.

[ray7694]

What diet are you following?

[smiles33]

It might help if you find a good app to track exercise and calories. If you go too extreme (i.e., too few calories and too much exercise), you can put your body into "starvation" mode and it will then fight to hold onto every bit of fat, lower your metabolism, and keep doing that even when you return to a normal diet. I think everything I've read says it makes more sense to make "permanent" lifestyle changes rather than switch to an extreme diet that you can't maintain for the next few decades. This is why diets that show quick results often lead to the person gaining all the weight back PLUS more.

I encourage you to read a little more about weight loss and incorporate some weight lifting/strength training into your routine, too. Good luck!

[bisous]

For me to exercise a lot, I had to figure out my base metabolic rate via a fitness test at our university sports med place. For me it was 1500 calories. Then add onto that 400 calories to just function--walk around, work at a desk job. I calorie count and set my calories at 1500 a day with the idea of losing a pound every week or so. (burning 400 calories a day) I add on to that calorie count all of my exercise calories. (which i compute using a heart rate monitor) So if I burn 700 calories in spin class, I can eat 2200 calories that day. What I really try to do is stay at eating 2000 calories a day and sometimes I burn 900 calories exercising and 2 days a week I don't exercise so the idea is that it evens out.

I have to eat good quality food--protein at every meal. I get fat with the protein, salad dressing, cheese, and peanut butter. Wine is my Achilles heel! (and chocolate..) And I have to get sleep--like 8 hours a night and sometimes 9. If I have a hard workout one day, (like 2 hours), I take an hour nap in the afternoon if possible. And water-lots and lots of water!!

Moderate exercise is walking a mile in 15 minutes. So, yes, you may be working too hard. And I think you need to re-think how long you are exercising. 150 minutes is a loooong time. What happens if you exercise for an hour? I would ease into it a bit more. You can build up to 150 minutes, but I would start with an hour and see how that feels.

Thank you for this! I wish I could know my baseline metabolism. I'm going off of the recommendation from my fitness pal. I'm set to losing a pound a week and it has me doing 1250 calories now per day in order to attain that. This is based on a lifestyle of being sedentary (which I think generally describes my life now--mild amounts of walking to pick kids up and run errands etc. but I have desk jobs).

I'm not adding in my exercise BUT it is also saying that I'm only burning about 120 calories per workout. And I do 150 minutes A WEEK not a day.

I was going off a recommendation to get 75 minutes of high intensity exercise per week or 150 minutes of moderate intensity.

I think I need to be more thoughtful about what I'm eating. Maybe it is just a one off because it was a birthday in our family and I had cake every day! It felt indulgent (and I didn't just eat cake!) but it didn't give my body much to work with! I need to drink way more water.

[bisous]

With 1200 calories, I don’t feel like you should be doing anything other than gentle exercise. I’m guessing you aren’t getting enough calories, your intensity is too high, and your body isn’t getting enough rest and calories to function well.


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That was my theory. I'm trying to feel what my body is telling me. Strangely enough I don't really feel hungry. My workouts just left me feeling drained instead of energetic and I crashed on Saturday! I think I need BETTER calories. Cake is lovely but probably not worth more than a few bites. Which is so sad to say because I actually love cake!