Balancing Exercise, Eating, And Not Dying

[[old] Shepherd]

Note: edited for clarity and schedule! And to get rid of the &?%$ smiley that replaces (b) with a winkey dude with sunglasses. <br /><br />So I'm at a bit of a crossroads right now.<br /><br />I'd settled into a pretty good routine with my rower: 10 km monday, 5 km and some weights on Tuesday, 5 km running on Wednesday, 5 km and weights on Thursday, 10 km on Friday, and either 5 km on the rower or 3 km running on Saturdays. Sundays off. I exercise in the morning, usually getting up at 5:30 and trying to start a workout between 6:30 and 7 a.m. to give my body a bit of time to wake up first. <br /><br />And I'm trying to stick to more or less 1700 calories a day, balanced through six small meals with some protein in the last five. <br /><br />It's done me well for about two weeks, with the exception that I can't control my danged self when I'm out with friends and food is freely available. Keeping my diet schedule is great when I can control what food is sitting right in front of me, but pot luck dinners, restaurants, parties with snacks etc. are just killer. I eat without thinking. It's bizarre.<br /><br />Anyway.<br /><br />I don't have a car, and I just started cycling to work for the season (I'm in Quebec, and it's finally warm enough and the trails are open after the thaw period). This is either a 20 km round trip on the more flat route, or a 15 km round trip if I take the very very hilly route. The morning bike ride is a little close to the morning workout -- I finish a run/row at around 7:30 a.m., and have to be on my way to work at around 8:15 a.m. It's my second day of cycling today, and MAN am I beat. <br /><br />Beat enough that I'm wondering if I'm overdoing it. And I'm HUNGRY. Usually this 1700-calorie, six-meal-a-day thing keeps me feeling good all day. A bit peckish, but basically all right. But this morning, I'm just ravenous. <br /><br />My concern is that either I'm (a) over-exercising and I'm going to burn out and collapse and just be useless, or (b) that I need to go through some uncomfortable adjustment time, and then it will all be part of the same glorious routine. <br /><br />So I'm not sure if I should exercise less, or eat more, or just grit my teeth and soldier on and let my body adjust to the sudden addition of 15-20 km of cycling to my day. I don't want to back off the morning exercise if I'm going to get accustomed to the cycling, but at the same time I don't want to overdo it and then just flame out. <br /><br />Suggestions?

[[old] tditmar]

<!--QuoteBegin-Shepherd+May 4 2005, 08:47 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Shepherd @ May 4 2005, 08:47 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Note: edited for clarity and schedule! And to get rid of the &?%$ smiley that replaces ( with a winkey dude with sunglasses. <br /><br />So I'm at a bit of a crossroads right now.<br /><br />I'd settled into a pretty good routine with my rower: 10 km monday, 5 km and some weights on Tuesday, 5 km running on Wednesday, 5 km and weights on Thursday, 10 km on Friday, and either 5 km on the rower or 3 km running on Saturdays. Sundays off. I exercise in the morning, usually getting up at 5:30 and trying to start a workout between 6:30 and 7 a.m. to give my body a bit of time to wake up first. <br /><br />And I'm trying to stick to more or less 1700 calories a day, balanced through six small meals with some protein in the last five. <br /><br />It's done me well for about two weeks, with the exception that I can't control my danged self when I'm out with friends and food is freely available. Keeping my diet schedule is great when I can control what food is sitting right in front of me, but pot luck dinners, restaurants, parties with snacks etc. are just killer. I eat without thinking. It's bizarre.<br /><br />Anyway.<br /><br />I don't have a car, and I just started cycling to work for the season (I'm in Quebec, and it's finally warm enough and the trails are open after the thaw period). This is either a 20 km round trip on the more flat route, or a 15 km round trip if I take the very very hilly route. The morning bike ride is a little close to the morning workout -- I finish a run/row at around 7:30 a.m., and have to be on my way to work at around 8:15 a.m. It's my second day of cycling today, and MAN am I beat. <br /><br />Beat enough that I'm wondering if I'm overdoing it. And I'm HUNGRY. Usually this 1700-calorie, six-meal-a-day thing keeps me feeling good all day. A bit peckish, but basically all right. But this morning, I'm just ravenous. <br /><br />My concern is that either I'm (a) over-exercising and I'm going to burn out and collapse and just be useless, or ( that I need to go through some uncomfortable adjustment time, and then it will all be part of the same glorious routine. <br /><br />So I'm not sure if I should exercise less, or eat more, or just grit my teeth and soldier on and let my body adjust to the sudden addition of 15-20 km of cycling to my day. I don't want to back off the morning exercise if I'm going to get accustomed to the cycling, but at the same time I don't want to overdo it and then just flame out. <br /><br />Suggestions? <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />My two cents worth would be that your body is probably pretty good at telling you what is going on. You may be overworking yourself with the bike ride to work, and it sounds like you are not eating enough for sure. Especially considering the amount of calories you must be burning every morning.<br /><br />Start by eating more (assuming you are eating healthy foods), and ride the bike to work at a casual pace if you are tired. In other words, if hungry-eat, if tired-rest.

[[old] BobD]

If you don't then your body metabolism will switch to starvation mode and try to conserve every calory expended, meaning weightloss will virtually cease. <br /><br /><!--QuoteBegin-tditmar+May 4 2005, 09:40 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(tditmar @ May 4 2005, 09:40 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-Shepherd+May 4 2005, 08:47 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Shepherd @ May 4 2005, 08:47 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Note: edited for clarity and schedule! And to get rid of the &?%$ smiley that replaces ( with a winkey dude with sunglasses. <br /><br />So I'm at a bit of a crossroads right now.<br /><br />I'd settled into a pretty good routine with my rower: 10 km monday, 5 km and some weights on Tuesday, 5 km running on Wednesday, 5 km and weights on Thursday, 10 km on Friday, and either 5 km on the rower or 3 km running on Saturdays. Sundays off. I exercise in the morning, usually getting up at 5:30 and trying to start a workout between 6:30 and 7 a.m. to give my body a bit of time to wake up first. <br /><br />And I'm trying to stick to more or less 1700 calories a day, balanced through six small meals with some protein in the last five. <br /><br />It's done me well for about two weeks, with the exception that I can't control my danged self when I'm out with friends and food is freely available. Keeping my diet schedule is great when I can control what food is sitting right in front of me, but pot luck dinners, restaurants, parties with snacks etc. are just killer. I eat without thinking. It's bizarre.<br /><br />Anyway.<br /><br />I don't have a car, and I just started cycling to work for the season (I'm in Quebec, and it's finally warm enough and the trails are open after the thaw period). This is either a 20 km round trip on the more flat route, or a 15 km round trip if I take the very very hilly route. The morning bike ride is a little close to the morning workout -- I finish a run/row at around 7:30 a.m., and have to be on my way to work at around 8:15 a.m. It's my second day of cycling today, and MAN am I beat. <br /><br />Beat enough that I'm wondering if I'm overdoing it. And I'm HUNGRY. Usually this 1700-calorie, six-meal-a-day thing keeps me feeling good all day. A bit peckish, but basically all right. But this morning, I'm just ravenous. <br /><br />My concern is that either I'm (a) over-exercising and I'm going to burn out and collapse and just be useless, or ( that I need to go through some uncomfortable adjustment time, and then it will all be part of the same glorious routine. <br /><br />So I'm not sure if I should exercise less, or eat more, or just grit my teeth and soldier on and let my body adjust to the sudden addition of 15-20 km of cycling to my day. I don't want to back off the morning exercise if I'm going to get accustomed to the cycling, but at the same time I don't want to overdo it and then just flame out. <br /><br />Suggestions? <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />My two cents worth would be that your body is probably pretty good at telling you what is going on. You may be overworking yourself with the bike ride to work, and it sounds like you are not eating enough for sure. Especially considering the amount of calories you must be burning every morning.<br /><br />Start by eating more (assuming you are eating healthy foods), and ride the bike to work at a casual pace if you are tired. In other words, if hungry-eat, if tired-rest. <br /> </td></tr></table><br />

[[old] kbrown15]

Here's my tip for eating out:<br /><br />Ask the server to bring you a carry out box with the food. Put the excess food in the box, right away, leaving only a reasonable portion. This helps me control my portions.<br /><br /><br />Karen

[LindaM]

Are you male or female? How tall are you and how much do you weigh now? 1700 calories is a good weight loss level if you are a woman under 5'4", but probably not enough if you are male and 5'10". Remember, not all calories are equal. You will get more nutrients from fewer calories if you forego all refined carbohydrates. You can add about a ton more vegetables and only increase your caloric intake marginally. Eat whole grains - barley, bulghur, whole wheat, brown rice. Stay away from white pasta, white potatoes and white flour. Chips and fried foods are verboten - even at parties! Eat before you go to the party if you need to. And make sure you get good sources of lean protein - soy, white meat of chicken, fish, lean pork and even lean beef occasionally are okay. Non-fat dairy is good too. Use olive oil and non-trans fat spreads. Those fats are good for you and satisfy hunger. Cut out (or cut way down) fruit juices and sodas. Drink water. Snack frequently - on fruit, nuts, vegetables with hummus or peanut butter. It's not good to be ravenously hungry between meals - not good for metabolic spikes and not good because it's uncomfortable and unsustainable. <br /><br />Good luck! BTW - this was my weight loss plan last year - I lost 27 pounds in 5 months, almost effortlessly. 1700-1800 calories a day and regular exercise ~ 1 hour a day.

[[old] Shepherd]

<!--QuoteBegin-LindaM+May 5 2005, 06:33 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(LindaM @ May 5 2005, 06:33 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--> 1700 calories is a good weight loss level if you are a woman under 5'4", but probably not enough if you are male and 5'10". </td></tr></table><br /><br />Uh... I'm male and 5'10".<br /><br />Heh.<br /><br />My logic was I figured out my BMR to be around 2400 calories/day using a calculator somewhere (hussman.org, I think) and am shorting myself about 700 calories a day, 6 days a week, to drop about a pound a week. That seemed like a reasonable rate.<br /><br />I'm pretty much in line with the diet -- very few high-glycemic carbs (except for fruit juice in the morning), lots of grains, fruits, legumes. Eating protein with every meal, and exercising between 30 and 45 minutes every morning plus the bike ride to and from work 3-4 days a week (some days I take the bus because I have to come back after dark). <br /><br />After my first two days on the bike, my rowing this morning was VERY tough. I think I'm going to bus it for the next two days, then try to do three days cycling next week, then four days the week after. Phase in.

[LindaM]

<!--QuoteBegin-Shepherd+May 5 2005, 06:56 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Shepherd @ May 5 2005, 06:56 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin-LindaM+May 5 2005, 06:33 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(LindaM @ May 5 2005, 06:33 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin--> 1700 calories is a good weight loss level if you are a woman under 5'4", but probably not enough if you are male and 5'10". </td></tr></table><br /><br />Uh... I'm male and 5'10".<br /><br />After my first two days on the bike, my rowing this morning was VERY tough. I think I'm going to bus it for the next two days, then try to do three days cycling next week, then four days the week after. Phase in. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />500 calorie deficit is plenty to drop a pound a week. Better to eat a little more and make exercise a daily habit, than to eat less and be too weak for exercise. (Spoken by one who has tried it both ways.) Eating too little is unsustainable over the long haul, which inevitably leads to eating too much eventually. And the exercise doesn't have to be high intensity. 80% of my workouts are light or medium intensity aerobic level - meaning I can talk (not sing) during, and I sweat. <br />

[[old] Rowmum]

Hi there!<br />Wow, you are doing a lot of exercise!<br />How about not counting calories, while you´re eating(just use your common sense when you´re about to take a second plate or a snack).<br />I lost three sizes, just by exercising and eating healthy(I get crazy when I have to count calories in every bite...).<br />We all know what is healthy and what is bad, so why not try it; it takes enough motivation to exercise every day; you will have to keep it up for a long time to get and keep results.<br />Just cut yourself loose; you did´nt get big overnight, so you can not slim down overnight; take it easy and get to know your body through exercising.<br />Just hang in there and take some time....!<br />Good luck,<br />Andrea from Europe

[[old] Steve_R]

<!--QuoteBegin-Shepherd+May 5 2005, 06:56 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Shepherd @ May 5 2005, 06:56 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Uh... I'm male and 5'10".<br /><br />Heh.<br /><br />My logic was I figured out my BMR to be around 2400 calories/day using a calculator somewhere (hussman.org, I think) and am shorting myself about 700 calories a day, 6 days a week, to drop about a pound a week. That seemed like a reasonable rate.<br /><br />I'm pretty much in line with the diet -- very few high-glycemic carbs (except for fruit juice in the morning), lots of grains, fruits, legumes. Eating protein with every meal, and exercising between 30 and 45 minutes every morning plus the bike ride to and from work 3-4 days a week (some days I take the bus because I have to come back after dark). <br /><br />After my first two days on the bike, my rowing this morning was VERY tough. I think I'm going to bus it for the next two days, then try to do three days cycling next week, then four days the week after. Phase in. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />I am 5'10" and I dropped from around 210lbs to 162lbs with diet and exercise. Your BMR is dependant on your current weight. At around 190lbs (just as an example) with no exercise, your daily caloric intake should be around 2100 cals. With exercising 5 days a week for 30-45min, add around 300 cals per day. If that is getting you to 2400 cals per day, then you should be fine. You also have to add in your bike work. If that is another 200 cals, you are up to 2600/day then you can subtract your 700/day. You might be overdoing it a bit but even up to 1000 cal deficit can work for short periods of time. Just don't go below 1500 cals per day. Make sure you get plenty of sleep, that much work on your body requires time to rest. I used to sleep 6 hrs per night but now I am up to 8 hrs and feeling much better working out.<br /><br />For me, to get from 180 to 162, I had a base requirement of around 2050 cals/day. I add about 300 cals for exercise, then subtracted 500 cals/day to lose around 1 lb / week. That gave me around 1850 cals/day. I had about 130g protein, 45g fat, and remaining food was carbs, usually around 230g. This gave me about 50% of cals/day from carbs. Once I lost weight, I reduced protein intake and added carbs. Now, I am around 2300 cals/per day to maintain my weight and I get about 60% of cals from carbs which puts me at 320g+ carbs per day.<br /><br />As far as going out, I made sure that everyone around me knew what my goals were and that made me think really hard before having more while in public. It also forced me to make smart choices as to the types of food. Normally, I would only eat about 1/2 my plate and take the rest home. I also eat 6 meals per day and I am still hungry in the morning. Not as much now since I have a higher caloric intake for maintaining weight. Take some time to listen to your body but also know that I felt hungry when I first started working out so I was eating more. This caused me to gain weight. I had to take time to let my body start using my fat stores rather than rely on me feeding it all the time. It took several weeks for me to realize that I wasn't starving.<br /><br />Good Luck,<br />Steve

[[old] michael]

<!--QuoteBegin-Shepherd+May 4 2005, 08:47 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Shepherd @ May 4 2005, 08:47 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I don't have a car, and I just started cycling to work for the season (I'm in Quebec, and it's finally warm enough and the trails are open after the thaw period). This is either a 20 km round trip on the more flat route, or a 15 km round trip if I take the very very hilly route. The morning bike ride is a little close to the morning workout -- I finish a run/row at around 7:30 a.m., and have to be on my way to work at around 8:15 a.m. It's my second day of cycling today, and MAN am I beat.<br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Shepherd,<br /><br />How I envy you for being able to live car-free. This is quite manageable, I suppose, given that Quebec is just about the most European city on the continent. This is virtually an impossible thing to undertake in North Texas. Try easing into the cycling to work routine by riding every other day. You can commute using public transit, correct?<br /><br />Michael

[[old] DIESEL]

Dude, this starvation shite is not good. You are going to end up weak, overtrained, and looking like a concentration camp victim with that routine. I assume you want to look good nekkid, not like some "skinny-fat" bag o'bones, right? <br /><br />Sorry to be so harsh - but it's not very healthy. Way too much cardio and not enough calories. That weight you are losing isn't bodyfat - it's mostly MUSCLE. <br /><br />The result? It will get harder and harder to lose weight and you will be forced to do more and more cardio to lose it - why? because you are fighting your body's natural survival mechanism. It's going to increasingly fight you tooth and nail to hold on to its bodyfat and will gladly give up the muscle to fuel the workouts. Simple math - the body does the easiest thing first - if it takes the body 4 cals of energy to metabolize protein and 9 cals of energy to metabolize adipose, well, it's easy to see why this happens. <br /><br />The solution: up your calories to at least 2100 cals - keep your carbs moderate, protein high, and good fats also moderate to high - start lifting weights (stick to free weights - no sissy machines ) and ease off the long slow cardio - try a few shorter, high intensity sessions instead. Once your body adjusts to 2100 cals - then cut no more than 100 CALS a week til you get to no lower than 1600 cals - let the diet do its work, don't crush your body by doing tons of unnecessary cardio. <br /><br />The key when calorie restricted is to hit the body HARD and BRIEFLY and then let it rest - your workouts (weights or cardio) should not last more than 40-45 minutes- remember you don't have a lot of margin for hard training because there is literally not enough gas in the tank - what is your body going to recover with? Thin air? Guess again: Your body is thinking - damn, that muscle tissue sure looks tasty right now. <br /><br />good luck, <br />D <br />

[[old] jamesg]

S<br />Stop worrying, you're doing fine. Haven't you got anything else to think about? Try reading War and Peace or something similar, puts things in perspective.

[[old] DIESEL]

<!--QuoteBegin-jamesg+Jun 8 2005, 12:09 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(jamesg @ Jun 8 2005, 12:09 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->S<br />Stop worrying, you're doing fine. Haven't you got anything else to think about? Try reading War and Peace or something similar, puts things in perspective. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />hi james, <br /><br />I must vehemently disagree. He's not doing fine. He's overtraining and undereating. <br /><br />That ravenous feeling is the body's signal to EAT. When he doesn't eat it isn't going to burn fat, it's going to hit the muscle first. Not what you want if you are exercising. <br /><br />Sure the scale can say you lost, let's say 12 lbs., but if 10 of that was muscle and only 2 of it is was fat, you're not going to look as good if you lost 10lbs. of fat and only 2 lbs. of muscle. Such differences in body composition are possible with a proper training program and a structured diet. You can't just do a shotgun approach by drastically cutting your calories and then doing a ton of cardio with no rhyme or reason - it's just a recipe for disaster and disappointing results. <br /><br />Let the mirror, rather than the scale, be your guide. The mirror, unlike the scale, never lies. <br /><br /><br />

[[old] eieiodin]

Michael Jackson's mirror has gotta be lying.

[[old] DIESEL]

<!--QuoteBegin-eieiodin+Jun 8 2005, 02:38 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(eieiodin @ Jun 8 2005, 02:38 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Michael Jackson's mirror has gotta be lying.  <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Or maybe Michael sees things in the mirror that aren't there. Either way, that is one disturbed individual. A shame.