Prolonged caloric deficit
Hey all,
I've been maintaining a caloric deficit of ~1,000 calories/day for the last 10 weeks to lose some weight. The goal has been to lose ~2lbs/wk, and I've been successful at that goal so far, coming down from 187 lbs. to 169 lbs. in those 10 weeks. I've been tracking food intake in Myfitnesspal and tracking steps/overall calorie bun in the Fitbit app, which imports the Myfitnesspal data and gives me an overall "calories left to eat" number throughout the day. (I manually enter workout data and calories burned from my Training Peaks log). My goal has been to get down to 160 lbs (I'm 6'0" tall) and then re-assess from there. I've trained and raced at that weight before (sometimes even as low as 157-158).
The main reasons for wanting to aggressively lose the weight 'sooner rather than later' are:
- I'm coming back from a chronic run injury, and running at 160 lbs will definitely be easier on my foot than 170 or 180 lbs.
- Being a typical 'Type A' I sometimes struggle with the whole More is Better thing. I'd rather get the weight loss out of the way during a training period where my workouts are all 1 - 1.5 hours and I'm not worrying about nutrition and fueling during long workouts. In the past, when I've tried to lose weight in a training period where I'm also doing long rides and runs that require proper fueling, I've struggled with taking in enough calories during workouts for fear of sabotaging the weight loss plan.
Everything has been going along fantastically until the last 3-4 days. My workouts have still seemed fine but by the afternoon I'm feeling sluggish and cold. Training volume is up a little over the last couple of weeks, but not significantly enough to account for this by itself. My family has been making fun of me because I'm layering on sweatshirts and turning on the heater while they're all in shorts and t-shirts. Mental diet willpower over the last 10 weeks has been great - I've had no issues with avoiding temptation to eat bad stuff but the last few days the smell of pizza absolutely destroys me. Clearly, running a caloric deficit for the last 10 weeks has caught up with me. The training plan today calls for a rest day, and it's the first time in 10 weeks that I'm truly thankful for a day off.
So, what's a sensible way to back away slowly from the brink of disaster?
My inclination is to go 1 week with no caloric deficit, and see how I feel from there. If energy level returns to normal, then try a 500 cal/day (1 lb/wk) deficit and see now that goes. Also, I think I could use more protein in my diet. My diet is OK but not great. Myfitnesspal says I'm eating ~ 50% carbs, 30% fat and 20% protein. Also, depending on how I feel that I'm recovering over the next few days, I may lay off some of the 'bonus' workouts. I'm currently doing the RDP 1 plan, and also adding in some 1 hour bike workouts throughout the week. I may drop a few of those over the next couple of days until the energy level comes back.
Have any of you found yourselves in a similar situation where you inadvertently chronically over-restricted yourself into a bad place? What did you do to and how long did it take you to feel normal again?
Thanks!
John
I've been maintaining a caloric deficit of ~1,000 calories/day for the last 10 weeks to lose some weight. The goal has been to lose ~2lbs/wk, and I've been successful at that goal so far, coming down from 187 lbs. to 169 lbs. in those 10 weeks. I've been tracking food intake in Myfitnesspal and tracking steps/overall calorie bun in the Fitbit app, which imports the Myfitnesspal data and gives me an overall "calories left to eat" number throughout the day. (I manually enter workout data and calories burned from my Training Peaks log). My goal has been to get down to 160 lbs (I'm 6'0" tall) and then re-assess from there. I've trained and raced at that weight before (sometimes even as low as 157-158).
The main reasons for wanting to aggressively lose the weight 'sooner rather than later' are:
- I'm coming back from a chronic run injury, and running at 160 lbs will definitely be easier on my foot than 170 or 180 lbs.
- Being a typical 'Type A' I sometimes struggle with the whole More is Better thing. I'd rather get the weight loss out of the way during a training period where my workouts are all 1 - 1.5 hours and I'm not worrying about nutrition and fueling during long workouts. In the past, when I've tried to lose weight in a training period where I'm also doing long rides and runs that require proper fueling, I've struggled with taking in enough calories during workouts for fear of sabotaging the weight loss plan.
Everything has been going along fantastically until the last 3-4 days. My workouts have still seemed fine but by the afternoon I'm feeling sluggish and cold. Training volume is up a little over the last couple of weeks, but not significantly enough to account for this by itself. My family has been making fun of me because I'm layering on sweatshirts and turning on the heater while they're all in shorts and t-shirts. Mental diet willpower over the last 10 weeks has been great - I've had no issues with avoiding temptation to eat bad stuff but the last few days the smell of pizza absolutely destroys me. Clearly, running a caloric deficit for the last 10 weeks has caught up with me. The training plan today calls for a rest day, and it's the first time in 10 weeks that I'm truly thankful for a day off.
So, what's a sensible way to back away slowly from the brink of disaster?
My inclination is to go 1 week with no caloric deficit, and see how I feel from there. If energy level returns to normal, then try a 500 cal/day (1 lb/wk) deficit and see now that goes. Also, I think I could use more protein in my diet. My diet is OK but not great. Myfitnesspal says I'm eating ~ 50% carbs, 30% fat and 20% protein. Also, depending on how I feel that I'm recovering over the next few days, I may lay off some of the 'bonus' workouts. I'm currently doing the RDP 1 plan, and also adding in some 1 hour bike workouts throughout the week. I may drop a few of those over the next couple of days until the energy level comes back.
Have any of you found yourselves in a similar situation where you inadvertently chronically over-restricted yourself into a bad place? What did you do to and how long did it take you to feel normal again?
Thanks!
John
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I admire your discipline. I think I would crack - or my body would crack and I'd hit the food HARD - after a few weeks.
I have been really lean like you are targeting (130 lb at 5'8) and it was not a walk in the park! I succumbed to many a cheat day when I really had bad cravings.
It sounds like you are me by the way. I am coming back from chronic patellar tendonitis and currently at 150lb hoping to drop back down over the next few months...
Dave - no, I'm coming off an extended break due to injury (hence the extra weight) so I haven't been running this deficit in-season. That would have been brutal! The first couple of weeks of running a 1,000 deficit were tough mentally but then I fell into a routine and was buoyed by the results and it became easy. So having these serious cravings/hunger over the last few days was a bit of a warning that something wasn't quite right.
Peter, I agree wholeheartedly that a better diet would help. Up to this point I've been focused primarily on 'calories in' < 'calories out', and that works for me to a point but my prior experience has shown that as I get leaner my system is more sensitive to what I'm eating, not just how much. with an in-season training volume I can pretty easily sustain 165 lbs eating pretty much whatever but when I've made a push to get down to a racing weight of <160 I feel terrible if I'm eating poor quality food.
I think I'll try a couple of days of no deficit plus improving the quality of the diet, and then if the energy level and training recovery seem like they're coming back to normal I'll try a 500 deficit and see how that feels.
... and yes, cheat days are absolutely part of the equation to maintain sanity. I usually save those for some sort of social function or vacation but Friday night pizza/beer is not entirely off the table. ;-)