Slippery slope - eating exercise calories

Well, I think I've learned a new lesson.  It's one I've read about before but I guess I thought I wouldn't get caught up in that trap.  But here I am.

I started a serious running regimen 2-3 months ago to do a 10k.  I finished the 10k, did really well, and continued a serious running regimen.  I am running 15-20 miles per week and recently added a serious weight training regimen as well.  

So I thought I was pretty justified into eating a few more calories (spread pretty evenly across protein & carbs with a little fat thrown in) to support the add'l exercise I was doing.  

And then I started planning for extra calories.  And found myself calculating, as I was running no less, how much extra I could eat if I just ran an extra mile here or there.  Before I knew it, I was eating those burned calories.  Every single one of them.  And here I am, up a few pounds.

Is it partially because I started weight training?  Maybe.  But I'm already at the high end of my range and not willing to add extra pounds.  So I guess I'll have to drop a few, which won't be a bad thing because my BMI is right at the healthy/overweight borderline.  I know it will help my muscle to fat ratio in the end, too.  But I'm a little peeved at myself for not seeing this as it was developing and putting a stop to it sooner.

Anyhow, just wanted to vent about my mistakes and share so others may not repeat them.  Not all of us do things like this, but I think for any of us who obsess(ed) about food, we can easily fall into "justification traps" and this is one example.

Good news is my trainer measured my body fat and I'm starting out at 25%.  I figured it would be worse actually.  I'd like to hit 21% or so.  Dropping a few pounds while continuing to run and lift will get me there, I think.  Any advice as I do this??

This is why people report training for an Ironman or a Marathon and *gaining* weight.

I didn't know this!  So after you mentioned it, I googled it.  Sure enough.  I just always thought those people had it all under control... guess not.  Sort of comforting to know this happens A LOT.

 I've been trying to figure this out, too. It is a delicate balance, because you need the calories and some carbs, so that you can lift, grow some muscle, burn fat, and have the energy for a good workout. When we were heavier, we had more body stores of fat to burn up, so low carb was mostly okay, but as we have less body of stores to draw from, we need to obtain that energy from food, which means a few more carbs, protein, and calories.

It is indeed a slippery slope justifying the addition of more calories, since we are exercising more intensely. What I started doing, since my aerobic exercise has decreased, I started eating at the lower end of my range. I don't go very much below 1200 cal/day and most days, I am between 1200-1300. On the days that I have more aerobic exercise, I may increase by 100-200 cal/day, and generally, not higher than 1500 cal/day. Nothing crazy. I don't exercise longer, because I have eaten more. I fell into that trap early  on and stopped it.

I had gained about 2 lbs and was weighing above my top limit of 110 (I'm only 4'11), so about 1.5-2 months ago, I started eating at the lower end and the weight has slowly come off, which is good, because I don't want to lose the hard earned muscle that I have at the current time. Losing too quickly burns up more muscle and I cannot afford that now.

Are you up because of the weight training? The only way to know is to keep track of your body fat. The scale is a poor measure of that. Also, how are your clothes fitting?  Keep track of your measurements. The measurements can tell you a lot.

How to get there? Eat as cleanly as you can, get enough protein, some good, complex carbs for energy, and journal your intake. I still measure and weigh my food. Keeps portion creep in check.

It is funny. I eat to fuel my workouts. Just like putting gas into a gas tank. I need food, so that I can maintain my muscle mass and get the most out my weight training. What a switch, from where I was prior to surgery.

Hopefully, Marie and others will chime in. Krazydoglady is on vacation, but she would be another great resource.

I am trying to get away from scale and focus mainly on body fat. It is hard. My last body fat reading was about 18.9, which was up from a previous reading. I think, it may have been the couple of extra pounds that I had gained. It obviously wasn't lean muscle. So, my focus is on building more lean muscle, which will help to burn some fat. Your running will help you a great deal in this area, since running does tend to burn body fat, when coupled with weight training.


Gail

Amen, Gail.  Well said and thanks for sharing your experience and advice.

I realized a few weeks ago that I was using food as fuel for the first time!  I never used to eat after workouts, but after researching it, I know I need to.  So I've been doing that regularly.  Food as fuel... who'd have thought?! 

BUT, I took it too far.  And now I need to re-set myself.  Live and learn.  It's not all bad... trial and error can be good if we listen to it and make changes.

I'll try what you suggest... eat a bit more than my baseline so I can fuel my workouts, but not eat everything that I burn.  And hopefully the others you mention will chime in too.

Thanks!!

I'm trying to figure this out too. I don't weigh/measure my food. I just try to eat good whole foods in small portions which has been working out to maintain my weight.
I know that I can put on a couple pounds when I run more than two days in a row. I haven't really been doing a lot of weight lifting but should really get back into it.

My body fat has gone down to 26% and I really want to get that down below 25% which I think will require some additional weight lifting and tweaking out what I eat. I need the carbs to fuel the running. I did some experimenting and found that before I run and after I run some carbs and electrolytes are definately needed for muscles and energy. Just trying to figure out just how much I need, minimal amount and all.

I went away for a week, ate nothing but fried foods (mostly all that was available) did a lot of walking and minimal runs...lost 5 lbs all fat. Body fat % went down correctly. That through me off and got me thinking about how/why. Now I'm just testing.
So far I put 1 pound back on but no increase in fat%

I think I'm going to add a walk in the afternoon just for fat burning. I think that had a lot to do with the weight/fat loss I experienced on vacation. Worth a try.

donna

My clothes still fit well so that's a good sign!  LOL

We are very much at the same place in this journey.  It's nice to have a pal to figure this out with!!!

I don't track my calories, just TRY to eat the right stuff. I know when I was running 20-25 miles a week training for a 1/2 marathon I didn't think about what I was eating and my weight never fluctuated by more than 1 lb, even when I allowed myself to indulge in some treats once in awhile.

After the marathon I was a little burned out on running and took a break and my weight has gone up by 5 lbs. Now I'm working on building my running back up and trying to slowly lose those 5 lbs and I'm finding it a lot harder to back off some of the foods I know I shouldn't be eating.

My lesson learned was just because I can eat the extra calories when running, I need to be more careful of what they are to avoid going back to all of my old bad habits that made me heavy in the first place!

Jen

Jen - thanks for sharing that!  It's another example of a trap I could see myself getting caught in if I ever back off or stop running.

Good luck with those last 5 pounds... no doubt you'll get there.

Not too sure I should be chiming in on this one, but what the heck.....

I track everything I eat and I track all my exercise. I do weight training 3Xs per week and light cardio 5Xs per week.

I have never added back in calories due to my exercise. My trainer and doctor were both against that principal during WL. Now that I've hit goal, my doc and trainer have differing opinions. See, my weight is where it needs to be, but my body fat % is still a little higher than I want it to be. I'm at 18.6% and I want to be between 15 % & 16% body fat. Both doctor and trainer think 15% body fat would be an awesome goal. How to get there is where they differ.

Doc says to up the calories to lose fat and build muscle at the same time, but admits this is hard to do and most people who have been overweight are not that successful at doing so. Trainer says that losing fat and building muscle simultaneously is VERY hard to do. He suggests losing the fat (which means losing more weight) and then focus on building more lean muscle.

I'm still looking for my maintenance calorie range. The past week has been very weird scale wise but I don't think it has that much to do with intake, but more with the heat we had over the weekend. I'm continuing on my quest to lose that body fat, but don't want to get too thin.

It's a very delicate dance we're doing right now. I'm concentrating on losing the body fat and not so much on the number on the scale. I have a feeling the scale number is going to go down a bit more to get to my body fat goal. Probably will for you, too.