Curious- how many of you eat back calories to keep a 500 cal deficit?
Those of you looking to lose the last 10 pounds.... how important do you think it is to keep your deficit at 500 or less? Do you eat back some calories to keep it a low deficit and has it worked for you? I am struggling and wandering if that could be my problem because I often have a large deficit due to a long bike ride or a long run... Does that 500 deficit really matter?? Any thoughts or stories would be appreciated!!
i do not eat back calories
keep about 500-800 def.
~H~
So you must not exercise?? If I ride my bike 40 miles - I burn like 1000 calories.... I usually eat 1600 but my burn would be 2600. I don't want to hinder my progress by not eating enough?!?!
I'm still trying to figure this all out. Right now, I'm not eating back calories but I'm thinking I should 'cause I'm getting hungrier and hungrier as my workouts get more and more vigorous. This last week I ran an hour a day and lifted weights every day. This is considerably more activity than my usual 30 minute runs. Today I ran an hour and lifted weights and ate about 1600 calories and I'm starving still.
ummm yes 5 days a week. according to my heart rate monitor I burn 400 calories jogging on treadmill for 30 minutes.
I do not eat all those calories back. Without exercise I only have a 400 cal deficit a day.
If I ride my bike 40 miles - I burn like 1000 calories....
U sure about that???
That seems awfully awfully high.
~H~
Actually for a bike ride it's low. Check out calories burned from fast-paced riding. I'm still in the middle of my weight loss (20 pounds loss, about 20 to go). So, my info may be irrelevant. I allow for up to 1000 cal deficit on a bike riding day because otherwise I'd be eating over 2000 calories which is a lot to me these days.
Original Post by mrsdagle:
Actually for a bike ride it's low. Check out calories burned from fast-paced riding. I'm still in the middle of my weight loss (20 pounds loss, about 20 to go). So, my info may be irrelevant. I allow for up to 1000 cal deficit on a bike riding day because otherwise I'd be eating over 2000 calories which is a lot to me these days.
When I look up bike-riding, I get 680 calories an HOUR for fast-paced (>19 miles an hour), competitive racing biking. 1000 calories in 40 minutes seems way off for me...just don't want you to overestimate and end up messing up your deficit! :-)
Original Post by minerva_moon:
Original Post by mrsdagle:
Actually for a bike ride it's low. Check out calories burned from fast-paced riding. I'm still in the middle of my weight loss (20 pounds loss, about 20 to go). So, my info may be irrelevant. I allow for up to 1000 cal deficit on a bike riding day because otherwise I'd be eating over 2000 calories which is a lot to me these days.
When I look up bike-riding, I get 680 calories an HOUR for fast-paced (>19 miles an hour), competitive racing biking. 1000 calories in 40 minutes seems way off for me...just don't want you to overestimate and end up messing up your deficit! :-)
They wrote 40 MILES, not 40 MINUTES. lol! I was confused there for a mile...er...minute.
Ha! Oops, my mistake! Disregard what I said. ;-)
I eat back caloires, i always make sure my deficit is about 500-600 never any bigger, if i do an extra workout i eat the extra caloires to compensate.
I calculate exercise into my calorie allowance, otherwise I couldn't function. On high exercise days (sustained bike riding or similar - see above), I allow for an approx. 1000 calorie deficit, but treat it as out of the ordinary, otherwise I'd start to get too hungry.
I found this info interesting, but I haven't got my hands on the full publication behind it. It suggests that a 300 deficit is a steadier, more sustainable weight loss restriction (it maintains the metabolic rate while eliminating fat). It's interesting that it's coming from someone who's a sport nutritionist - ie. used to catering to/keeping up with high calorie expenditure.
http://www.oxygenmag.com/main.php?page=8& id=539
I had read that also which is why I am so curious about how to do it. I am training for a 1/2 ironman so I have been doing massive cardio. I do wear my heart rate monitor so I know my calorie burn. It just seems like most days I have a 800-1300 calorie deficit and the worst part is- nothing changes on the scale!! Last night I figured my calories and I still had an 800 deficit so I ate some cantaloupe and a yogurt but still had a 700 calorie deficit!! So I am working on keeping it lower- closer to 500. I just wandered if anybody had any success doing this??
I just checked that link and that is encouraging that a 300 deficit is all you want or need it just seems counterproductive to eat back all those calories but like I said above I am going to give it a try for a few weeks and see what happens.
I've never kept my deficits that low, so I can't really compare - but I'd say give the 'refuelling' method a bit of a try for a while - it might help your body let go of any extra fat stores, if they're there?
I'd say if your training for the1/2 ironman you definitely want to keep your deficit under 800 otherwise you will be counterproductive in your training because your body will have to burn muscle to fuel itself. It seems like with all of the cardio you have been doing you should worry less about calorie numbers and more about how you feel. Are you hungry? Eat. Eat post-workout and get enough protein to repair your muscles.
I use to have a huge deficit of about 800-1000 calories but I was always hungrey then I took my deficit lower so that that didn't happen. I just started to exercise more. I must I found that if I ate 2000 calories and exercised I would loose....I now eat 1500-1900 calories and I don't gain......
What do you mean 'eating back calories'?
Are you saying when you exercise you consume more calories? I do. Not exactly the same number of calories I burned. Is that the question here? To take in the same number of calories burned to keep the deficit static?
Mortal Monkey you are doing waaaay too much.. you need to give your body time to rest and recooperate, and most importantly for your muscle to recover. Running for an hour every day is not a good move, at the very most you should be doing 5 runs per week. (I have no idea how experienced/'into' running you are - please forgive me if I am 'teaching granny to suck eggs' so to speak - to get the most out of running you need to be varying your schedule with speed sessions, hill workouts, intervals, etc which means that your runs should vary in length from 20 mins to a few hours, if you're just plain out running for an hour all the time you won't be making the most of that time). When you are weight training I would make sure you only do it every other day, in order for your muscles to recover and build you have to give them time to rest.
I am sure you are making great progression - I have no clue how long you have been doing this - but in terms of long term sustainability and your overall health you have to be carefull.
And Lorime: I'm training for a half marathon in October (nowhere near your 1/2 Ironman - nice one and good luck!) - I have been told by everyone who knows better than me to not even think about restricting my calories /dieting during this time, but to concentrate on just eating well, making sure those calories come from the right places. Trying to diet and train I don't think is such a good idea, like previous posters. Plus I know when I am going for a big run, that I need all the calories I can get to ensure a good performance. To the point I'm usually chomping a handful of smarties before a long run.
Could the lack of weight loss be due to muscle gain?
Again, I think what you're doing is awesome! I hope one day to try an Ironman challenge but I don't think I'm near that level (yet)! Very best of luck!
Aishah- so you had success with a lower deficit. That is good news!
Oneis2many- I mean that if I want to keep only a 500 calorie deficit I have to eat more but so many people are against eating back calories so I haven't been doing that and the scale is not moving... So I have been told my calorie deficit is too high and I can't cut back on the exercise because of my training plan so I decided to eat more to try and keep the deficit low. Does that make sense?
Himantura- I know I shouldn't worry about calorie counting while training hard but I don't think I can get that through my thick skull at this time so I am just trying to be smart about the deficit thing... Good luck on your 1/2 marathon!!!
I totally understand that... I keep looking at myself in the mirror wondering why I don't have a physique like Paula Radcliffe yet (I know I know... that's ridiculous) and then I try and cut my calories right down but my body usually lets me know and I just seem to be SO hungry if I have less than 1600 cals each day. Busy days (burning about 800-1000 cals in workouts) I trough closer to 2000 cals. Which is probably why the remnants of my stomach and saddle bags won't shift! I do feel a real dilemma between what I want in terms of weight loss and what I want in terms of overall performance. I just gotta keep reminding myself that the former will EVENTUALLY happen if I stick with the latter, and that the latter will give me a much bigger sense of achievement! (I see it as a choice between being a gym bunny or being a 'Paula' - I know what I'd prefer!!)
