How much exercise should I be doing?

[Wasted Ink]

I've calculated my BMR and it's 1851.7., I'm eating 1400 calories a day and exercising 1,100 calories off per day (by brisk walking, squatting, leg lifting etc.) Unfortunately I can’t do heavy cardio because I have tachycardia, which isn’t yet under control.

I’m aiming to lose 2lb a week. Yet some weeks I’m struggling to do that. Why would this be? Am I doing too little exercise? Or perhaps too much?

Any advice appreciated :sigh:

 

[jenniferyellowhat]

If I calculate this right, your body is only taking in 300 cals per day (1400 - 1100). You are exercising way too much or eating way too little. Your daily calories shoul be no more than 1000/1200 to meet all your nutritional needs.
I imagine the reason that you are not loosing much wight is cos your body is hanging on to every calorie it gets - starvation mode.

Are you feeling tired, worn out?

Good luck with the weight loss. I am sure someone else can give you more advice. If I have calculated this incorrectly I'm sorry
x

 

[Jonny B]

Your body is trying to function on 300 calories when you've calculated your BMR is 1851. Your BMR is how many calories your body needs to function healthily at rest, you're giving it 1500 less than this! You can either eat more or do less excercise to counter act this.

You only need to eat a few hundred calories less than your BMR to lose weight at a steady pace.

As posted above I'm guessing your body is in starvation mode and hanging on to the fat it has rather than losing it.

 

[Wasted Ink]

Yikes! Well I feel fine. Not tired at all. I'd like to continue the exercise if possible. If I cut it back to 500 cals of exercise a day and eat 1,500, should that make me lose the 2lb a week I would like to lose? Or do I still need to eat more?

I'm happy to do it at a steady pace. I'd like to be almost there by the end of this year. So I've calculated I need to lose almost 2lb a week in order to do this.

I'm hoping I've not done myself any damage by doing this. I don't feel any different to normal. In fact, last week I ate around 1600 a day and exercised very little and actually put on almost half a lb. So none of this makes sense.

One thing to keep in mind is that aside from my 'exercise' I get very little everyday exercise. I'm not at school at the moment and have been recovering from an illness. I probably only go out twice a week. The rest of the time my only exercise is walking up and down the stairs and housework.

 

[NIC68]

Hello! Do you mind me asking exactly what you do to burn off that amount of calories per day as it's a heck of lot - probably what a professional athlete would use up (I'm only guessing here BTW!) Do you think you may have got your calculations a little mixed up? I think you'd have to be exercising for hours as one hours jogging for me burns around 350 - 400 cals.

 

[Wasted Ink]

Well I have considered that possibility, yes. Although I wear a top of the range heart-rate monitor which also monitors calories, so it should be fairly accurate. What I do:

Brisk walk/leg lift/ do squats for two hours a day = 800 calories
Dance for 45 minutes a day = 300 calories.

Is there a more accurate way than using the monitor to figure out how many calories I’m really burning?

 

[Jonny B]

There's nothing wrong with how you are measuring how many calories you are burning, if you are happy to keep excercising 2hr 45mins a day you should increase your food consumption by about 600 calories in my opinion.

 

[Wasted Ink]

Hmmmm. Well I wouldn't mind cutting my exercise down a little TBQH. If I were to cut my exercise by 1/2 (to 1 hour 22 1/2 mins ISH) then would increasing my calorie intake by 300 be adequate to get my metabolism burning?

 

[KookieDoh]

According to Fitness for Dummies, to lose weight at a steady rate, you are looking at about 45 minutes of physical activity a day for five to six days a week. It's recommended however you slowly work up to this amount to start off with. Say, 15 minute for three days first week, then increase it to 20 mins four days etc..... It also says it's important to have at least one day off a week.

Also bear in mind that...

a) Muscle weighs far more than fat. If you find you are not losing, you might be gaining muscle so keep checks every month with a tape measure to see if you are losing

b) Too much too soon can send your body into famine mode making your body hold on to more fat in an effort to survive.

Hope that helps

 

[Wasted Ink]

KookieDoh + Jonny B - thank you. I have followed that advice and since Monday I've been exercising one hour a day (eating 1700 calories.) It was all going great, I'd lost over 2lb by Thursday and then suddenly this morning I gained back 1.6lb of it. Argh! It's so frustrating. I was feeling great that something seemed to be working consistently and then bam. Back to the old lose-gain-lose-gain routine. It just makes me want to...

The only things I did differently yesterday was:

Did weights later on in the day
Had an extra 90-100 calories (1800)

Even though I went slightly over my calorie count, it shouldn't be enough to gain almost 2lbs back. Since there is 3,500 cals in a pound alone and I've definitely had nowhere near that.

Sigh. Sorry. It's so frustrating when you try hard and then struggle to get results.

 

[KookieDoh]

How often are you weighing yourself hun? The reason I ask it because weight can go up and down by up to 4lbs a day so daily weighing is not good idea. Little things can affect your reading such as weighing yourself not long after you have eaten, retaining water, and your time of the month. Try not to weigh yourself more than once a week for a more accurate reading.

The other thing about sending your body into famine mode is that when you do it, your body will hold on more to start with in case it's the only meal you will have for a while. Eating regular healthy food should help.

If you find you are still having problem it may be worth seeing a doctor to discuss your plan and talk about your options.

 

[Wasted Ink]

How often are you weighing yourself hun? The reason I ask it because weight can go up and down by up to 4lbs a day so daily weighing is not good idea. Little things can affect your reading such as weighing yourself not long after you have eaten, retaining water, and your time of the month. Try not to weigh yourself more than once a week for a more accurate reading.

The other thing about sending your body into famine mode is that when you do it, your body will hold on more to start with in case it's the only meal you will have for a while. Eating regular healthy food should help.

If you find you are still having problem it may be worth seeing a doctor to discuss your plan and talk about your options.

I have to confess I do weigh myself more than once a week. Often 3-4 times. I know I need to stop doing that because it really depresses me when I do gain. Last week, for some reason, was a failure (gained 0.4 lb in the whole week.) I'm not really show why that was... I don't think I did anything differently. I will try cutting down the amount of times I weigh to 2 times maximum. If not one. Daily weighing gets really addictive sadly!

Thank you for your advice though. I will continue keeping my calories high, because I've still had a little loss. Hopefully I'll still make 2lb by my Monday morning.

 

[Smirky]

It's ok to weigh yourself 3-4 times a week etc or even everyday as long as you can cope with what it shows you, and only take on board your weekly WI rather than whenever your weighing yourself it takes a while for your body to adjust also, if your not use to the exercise etc, it may take a week or two to realise what your trying to do and react. Good luck!