Less exercise = how much less food? - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

freelancemomma · 03-02-2012, 08:47 PM

Hi all,

A few days ago I started taking a medication that causes me to feel very tired and require more sleep, especially after vigorous exercise. (I've been taking it on and off for years, so I'm familiar with its effect on me.) After my morning workouts this week I needed 2-to-3-hour naps. Fortunately I work from home, so I wasn't nodding off in an office, but I can't afford all that extra time sleeping.

So, I've decided to cut down my gym workouts from 5 to 3 times per week for the time being. Do any of you have any idea how this might impact my maintenance caloric requirements? (I know I can use a calculator, but I was wondering if any of you have personal experience with this kind of thing.)

Freelance

clarabr · 03-03-2012, 07:40 AM

Hmm. How long do you work out each session? I know that for me, exercise has never really had an impact on weight, but that's probably because I've never exercised much! I've been exercising on and off for the last 16 years, and whether I am doing it or not has never reflected a change in weight. But except for the time when I was losing, I've never exercised more than 3-4 times a week for 30-45 minutes. Too little to make a difference, apparently. But I guess if you're exercising 10 hours a week, you'll definitely have to make adjustments in your intake. This will probably be another one of those trial and error things, like everything else in weight loss and maintenance

How long do you need to take these meds?

fitmom · 03-03-2012, 08:28 AM

I'm exercising seriously like 3 hours weekly and that's pretty much it. I've found that the equation is really: 80% diet and 20% exercise. You can workout until you're blue in the face but if the diet is not on-point, it will never work. You don't have to kill yourself with exercise to maintain a healthy weight. Just my .02 cents.

freelancemomma · 03-03-2012, 09:04 AM

My workouts are an hour long, so I'll be going from 5 hours to 3 hours per week. The meds are for anxiety and I don't "need" to take them, but I've promised my teenage kids that I would take them until the end of the school year. (They tell me I'm a control freak without them and they do have a point.)

Freelance

luckymommy · 03-03-2012, 02:05 PM

How many calories do you usually consume? I would say dropping about 200 calories per day of not working out sounds like a reasonable place to start, but if you're only eating 1200 a day as is, that would be a huge drop so I really don't know what that would do.

freelancemomma · 03-03-2012, 04:38 PM

I'm currently eating 2,000 calories per day (in maintenance mode). I was hoping I'd only need to cut back by about 100. Just curious about other people's experiences when reducing their weekly exercise quota.

F.

jomatho · 03-03-2012, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freelancemomma

I'm currently eating 2,000 calories per day (in maintenance mode). I was hoping I'd only need to cut back by about 100. Just curious about other people's experiences when reducing their weekly exercise quota.

F.

Maybe plug your info into a calorie calculator and put sedentary as your activity level to see what it gives you. I like the fat to fit radio calculator, but there are many out there.

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

Once you put in your info to find your bmr, it will tell you how much to eat according to your activity level.

I am in a similar boat. I am not in maintenance yet, but injured myself in a fall and am unable to workout right now. I am trying to figure out how much to eat to keep losing, but want to eat enough to heal. A work in progress!

kaplods · 03-03-2012, 05:41 PM

Over 40 years of weight loss efforts, I've learned that there's no way to determine your calorie needs under different conditions, except by experimentation. The calculators are accurate only if you just happen to be "average" and if you're not, it can be anyone's guess.

When I was young, the calculation formulas were fairly accurate for me (although in those days, there weren't online calculators, you had to use an algebraic formula and do the calculations by hand), but over the years (possibly even beause of the yoyo dieting) my metabolism slowed much faster than the calculators accounted for. The calculations more and more overestimated my calorie needs. Even now, the calories it takes to maintain my weight is about 1000 calories lower than the calculators estimate (even those that account for age).

I'd recommend starting with the online calculator estimation and see what happens. The scale is going to tell you whether your body is like the "average" that the calculators used.

Experimentation is really you're only option - but it's always your only option. Your metabolism can change for many reasons, so you have to adjust based on what you see on the scale. Some people have to do a lot of adjusting, and other people don't. Some people even seem to have an almost an inate ability to compensate. If the move less, they naturally eat less - or their body finds other ways to compensate that you may not even be aware of (your calorie needs may not change at all).

freelancemomma · 03-03-2012, 09:40 PM

<<If the move less, they naturally eat less - or their body finds other ways to compensate that you may not even be aware of (your calorie needs may not change at all).>>

I sure hope this is the case! I HAVE noticed that I tend to move less on vigorous workout days, so I'm hoping there will be some natural compensation happening...

Freelance