Another setback. :( Please comment - don't know what to do. :(

[TurbulentFluid]

I've messed up again. After over 2 weeks of being disciplined and seeing the results of this (lost 2 kgs and shrunk, too - my bathing suit stopped ripping into my shoulders! ) I was feeling really great and hype and happy - not just mentally but physically as well.

Then, last Friday, I did my leg routine and earned me week-long DOMs. I continued my w/o with unreduced intensity (lifting 4 days/week, "real" cardio 3xweek, and light cardio 4 days/week (15-20 mins after w/o), doing most exercises to failure for at least 1 set and raising either weights or reps on most exercises... and Wednesday I just went off on an eating spree - couldn't stop myself.

I also noticed I start binging every time I start working out with weights. During summer I do weights very seldomly, and much lighter since I don't have much equipment at home, and I don't binge. However, as soon as I start serious lifting, I start serious binging.

So I can't but come to the conclusion that my training, too, is out of whack. Am I simply doing too much and pushing my body over the edge... when it finally screams ENOUGH!!! and makes me eat the whole fridge? But I'm horribly afraid of lowering weights and reducing the training - I want to lose fat, but I definitely don't want to lose any of my muscle or strength... Please comment...

[justboo2u]

Just exactly how much 'damage' are you talking in this 'pigfest' you speak of?

Its quite possible that your regular diet simply isnt enuf during serious weight training and you're compensating by 'overindulging'...

What are you inhaling on this day? Croquettes or actual 'food'?

Take another look at the why and you might find the 'how'...

[dawndm]

Could it be that subconsiously your telling yourself you deserve it cause you've worked hard. A few years back I used to do this....went for a run and came back and said I can have a bag of crisps and a bar of chocolate cause I did well. I couldn't understand I was just standing still with progress. Yes, sure, eat well, but eat the right things.

[gobbles23]

Do you binge because you are really really hungry??

[freebirdmac]

Yeah, post up your diet w/macros. It could be that your macros are off or your cals are simply too low.

Stop beating yourself up. A lot of binges are from the body screaming for food as it needs it.

[njg13]

Do you eat immediately following your workout? I know alot of people have a high protein meal or shake immediately following a workout. I can't do heavy or creamy food after working out so I am trying Isopure. It's more like a sprots drink tan milky. 20 g protein per 10 oz.

Other than that, I agree with others that you should log you food and look at your calories and macros.

[TurbulentFluid]

Do you eat immediately following your workout? I know alot of people have a high protein meal or shake immediately following a workout. I can't do heavy or creamy food after working out so I am trying Isopure. It's more like a sprots drink tan milky. 20 g protein per 10 oz.

Other than that, I agree with others that you should log you food and look at your calories and macros.

Yup, I have 30g of D-FINE with water, and that usually works... except on "binge days".

The damage I do is not great kcal-wise, usually not more than cca 1000 kcal on the worst days, but it results in 2kg water weight gain and it's just

I binge on foods, mostly - cheese, cottage cheese, yougurt, pp with milk (seriously), but on worst days (like yesterday) I also indulge chocolate. I think from now on I'll replace chocolate with fruit, if it comes to that again.

The idea that I don't eat enough to sustain the training might be correct. Here's one typical day (minus the crepe, usually it's an apple):

Diet:
breakfast: 2 slices cheese, 2 slices ham, 40 g cottage cheese, 1tsp honey
lunch: 3 egg whites/1 egg yolk, 1 slice cheese, 1 apple
pwo snack: 30g D-FINE
dinner: 1 crepe, 56g tuna, 2 slices cheese, 1 slice ham, 17 g melted cheese, 20 g cottage cheese
snack: 20g D-FINE, 2dl goat milk

Is it too low on kcal?

[dawndm]

I'm kinda new to all of this......but as far as I can see, your diet ain't good. Where's your complex carbs? I'd be starving eating just that. At the moment I'm eating around 1800 cals and eating so much more than you. Ham, eggs, cheese and dairy. What about oats, pulses rice.

I don't eat alot of these but I get them into my daily diet as I need them for energy.

I'm sure some experts on this site could tell you more than me though.

[aznprincess]

Yup, I have 30g of D-FINE with water, and that usually works... except on "binge days".

The damage I do is not great kcal-wise, usually not more than cca 1000 kcal on the worst days, but it results in 2kg water weight gain and it's just

I binge on foods, mostly - cheese, cottage cheese, yougurt, pp with milk (seriously), but on worst days (like yesterday) I also indulge chocolate. I think from now on I'll replace chocolate with fruit, if it comes to that again.

The idea that I don't eat enough to sustain the training might be correct. Here's one typical day (minus the crepe, usually it's an apple):

Diet:
breakfast: 2 slices cheese, 2 slices ham, 40 g cottage cheese, 1tsp honey
lunch: 3 egg whites/1 egg yolk, 1 slice cheese, 1 apple
pwo snack: 30g D-FINE
dinner: 1 crepe, 56g tuna, 2 slices cheese, 1 slice ham, 17 g melted cheese, 20 g cottage cheese
snack: 20g D-FINE, 2dl goat milk

Is it too low on kcal?

well, for one you eat a hell of a lot of cheese.

how many cals is this and what are the macros?

[treener]

I'm not to sure how much that adds up to but I know I'd be starving with that amount.

[LisaMary]

I'm not to sure how much that adds up to but I know I'd be starving with that amount.

You are starving yourself...with poor nutrients to boot. Eat 5-6 time a day, protein, carbs, good fats. I am a vegan, eat only 1200-1500 cal per day, but I make sure what I eat is PACKED with nutrients...no processed foods, no "white" foods, etc. Yeah, I work out hard twice a day, but because I have the energy from my fuel (food).
Look into an online nutrition program that will calculate your intake, like Vitabot. You'll be amazed at what you're actutally eating, I promise.

[freebirdmac]

You are starving yourself...with poor nutrients to boot. Eat 5-6 time a day, protein, carbs, good fats. I am a vegan, eat only 1200-1500 cal per day, but I make sure what I eat is PACKED with nutrients...no processed foods, no "white" foods, etc. Yeah, I work out hard twice a day, but because I have the energy from my fuel (food).
Look into an online nutrition program that will calculate your intake, like Vitabot. You'll be amazed at what you're actutally eating, I promise.

You are under eating as well.

[BestYearEver]

I'll leave detailed nutritional advice to people like Freebird or Kimm or Amanda, who really know their stuff, but mostly wanted to say, Stop beating yourself up!! You got back on track the next day, right? That's the absolute best thing to do. You're also looking to see WHY this is happening -- the next best thing to do.

A couple of general suggestions. You're keeping track of what you eat, but do you put them into something like Fitday, which will track calories and macros. Like a couple of other posters, it seems to me like cheese makes up a large part of your diet. I love cheese, but it is so calorie dense that it's easy for me to eat waaay too much of it for one "meal" -- perhaps you need some food that has more volume for the amount of calories (does that make sense?). It just seems like you're being so disciplined to eat such a small amount of food (even if the calories are right) that it would be hard not to binge just to feel full!!

Also, Fitday or a food diary will help you to see if there is any correlation with your monthly cycles, extra cardio, etc.

Good luck to you! Keep at it!

[CharliC]

It does look low on cals, with a significant absence of carbs and healthy fats- the severe DOMS are an indication of insufficient food. Solid pre and post workout nutrition (including carbs) are needed, especially if you're working as intensely as you say. What do your cals/macros total up to?

[TurbulentFluid]

Thanx everyone for your time and replies!

Everything you've said makes a lot of sense.

Yes, I do eat a helluva lot of cheese, it's sort of a mania of mine... I guess what I'm going to do now is go to FitDay and figure this stuff out. Macro-wise I go by the Zone but mostly I don't eat all my blocks (seems a LOT of food) and I usually end up eating more like 40c-50p-10f.

[freebirdmac]

Thanx everyone for your time and replies!

Everything you've said makes a lot of sense.

Yes, I do eat a helluva lot of cheese, it's sort of a mania of mine... I guess what I'm going to do now is go to FitDay and figure this stuff out. Macro-wise I go by the Zone but mostly I don't eat all my blocks (seems a LOT of food) and I usually end up eating more like 40c-50p-10f.

You know 10% fat won't meet your daily 0.3 - 0.5g per pound of body fat requirements. That alone will cause hunger and stall fat loss.

[tina722]

Thanx everyone for your time and replies!

Everything you've said makes a lot of sense.

Yes, I do eat a helluva lot of cheese, it's sort of a mania of mine... I guess what I'm going to do now is go to FitDay and figure this stuff out. Macro-wise I go by the Zone but mostly I don't eat all my blocks (seems a LOT of food) and I usually end up eating more like 40c-50p-10f.

YES, it is a lot of food, but you may NEED to eat it...you lift heavy and are not 110lbs!!

What if you try eating all your blocks everyday (even if it stuffs you - there are tons of posts about how to eat more ) and stop binging? Wouldn't the mental relief be nice?

You will likely adjust to eating that volume of food quickly.

[FemmeFatale28]

You know 10% fat won't meet your daily 0.3 - 0.5g per pound of body fat requirements. That alone will cause hunger and stall fat loss.

maybe try 50p/25c/25f or 40/40/20 keeps me sane with 1700-1800 calories, and thats coming from a habitiual undereatter-overexerciser -who was being set back by binges, has found lol not been doing it long, but so far so good, and absolutely no binges in 3 weeks which is kind of a big deal for me.

[kfisherx]

Hmmmmm... seems like there is a LOT out of balance here.

You do cardio 7 days a week PLUS lift to failure? Are you out of your mind?? Or are you amazingly type A. Okay seriously girl when do you give your body time to recover? You do know that muscles grow in rest right? When do yours grow? Here you are all worried about losing muscle... welp that right there is a good way to lose muscle.

Second it looks like you do all this cardio and you don't have any carbs in your diet. Carbs are sort of important to people who do lots of cardio unless you are a fan of the whole "keto" thing. If you ate enough carbs you wouldn't bloat with so much water when you "binged". More importantly you wouldn't bing if you got a better balance in nutrition and training.

Why not knock off the cardio completely and see if that doesn't make it so you can lift even heavier in the gym (this will help you grow muscles). Rest your body 2-3 days a week so that the tears in your muscle have time to repair. Fix your diet in the following "rough" manner....

Get 1-1.5g of protein per target bw. .5 g of fat per target bw. Fill the rest in with carbs.

And YES, you gotta log the diet so you know what you are eating.

[TurbulentFluid]

Hmmmmm... seems like there is a LOT out of balance here.

You do cardio 7 days a week PLUS lift to failure? Are you out of your mind?? Or are you amazingly type A. Okay seriously girl when do you give your body time to recover? You do know that muscles grow in rest right? When do yours grow? Here you are all worried about losing muscle... welp that right there is a good way to lose muscle.

Second it looks like you do all this cardio and you don't have any carbs in your diet. Carbs are sort of important to people who do lots of cardio unless you are a fan of the whole "keto" thing. If you ate enough carbs you wouldn't bloat with so much water when you "binged". More importantly you wouldn't bing if you got a better balance in nutrition and training.

Why not knock off the cardio completely and see if that doesn't make it so you can lift even heavier in the gym (this will help you grow muscles). Rest your body 2-3 days a week so that the tears in your muscle have time to repair. Fix your diet in the following "rough" manner....

Get 1-1.5g of protein per target bw. .5 g of fat per target bw. Fill the rest in with carbs.

And YES, you gotta log the diet so you know what you are eating.

Thanx. I do log the diet, only not on any software and usually go "by thumb". These softwares are amazingly badly written, I don't have that much time! I'm downloading an offline copy of FitDay , I seem to remember that was kinda quick. I'm planning to use it from tomorrow on, when I bring my Windows machine home (FitDay doesn't work on Ubuntu). I also plan to follow most of the advice given here, by you and others...

I however don't think cutting cardio alltogether at a time when I'm trying to lose fat and am 8 kg above my target weight is a good idea? I'm not trying to build any muscle ATM, just maintain it... but I understand what I'm doing wrong. I'll definitely get off the lifting to failure, and reduce the cardio to maybe 2-3 days/week. I have a question, tho, how do I know if I'm losing muscle? Is loss of strength a good sign, or fake? So far I had good gains in strength so I figured I was doing at least something right, but nah...

[TurbulentFluid]

http://figureathlete.tmuscle.com/fre..._makes_you_fat

WHoa.. .this was a good eye-opener... I mean I knew that already, just... needed a good reminder!

[kfisherx]

Thanx. I do log the diet, only not on any software and usually go "by thumb". These softwares are amazingly badly written, I don't have that much time! I'm downloading an offline copy of FitDay , I seem to remember that was kinda quick. I'm planning to use it from tomorrow on, when I bring my Windows machine home (FitDay doesn't work on Ubuntu). I also plan to follow most of the advice given here, by you and others...

I however don't think cutting cardio alltogether at a time when I'm trying to lose fat and am 8 kg above my target weight is a good idea? I'm not trying to build any muscle ATM, just maintain it... but I understand what I'm doing wrong. I'll definitely get off the lifting to failure, and reduce the cardio to maybe 2-3 days/week. I have a question, tho, how do I know if I'm losing muscle? Is loss of strength a good sign, or fake? So far I had good gains in strength so I figured I was doing at least something right, but nah...

Not losing strength is a good sign of not losing muscle UNLESS you are just starting out or re-starting. Sometimes the as the nervous system develops you will be able to lift heavier even if you are losing muscle. I think you should slow everything down and spend the extra time you have from dropping the cardio into getting the diet right. It really does work.

[FemmeFatale28]

Thanx. I do log the diet, only not on any software and usually go "by thumb". These softwares are amazingly badly written, I don't have that much time! I'm downloading an offline copy of FitDay , I seem to remember that was kinda quick. I'm planning to use it from tomorrow on, when I bring my Windows machine home (FitDay doesn't work on Ubuntu). I also plan to follow most of the advice given here, by you and others...

I however don't think cutting cardio alltogether at a time when I'm trying to lose fat and am 8 kg above my target weight is a good idea? I'm not trying to build any muscle ATM, just maintain it... but I understand what I'm doing wrong. I'll definitely get off the lifting to failure, and reduce the cardio to maybe 2-3 days/week. I have a question, tho, how do I know if I'm losing muscle? Is loss of strength a good sign, or fake? So far I had good gains in strength so I figured I was doing at least something right, but nah...

Also, unless you are mixing it up every time you do cardio your body is becoming efficent (spending less calories) which is not your goal. Short bouts of cardio can be good, but endurance, not so much.


edit to say : I just read the article you posted so I guess didnt need to say it This is why I can blame the military for my increase in weight but now that Im at a unit that doesnt run me 11miles a week I should be ok Cross fit yay!

[TurbulentFluid]

I just read the article you posted so I guess didnt need to say it This is why I can blame the military for my increase in weight but now that Im at a unit that doesnt run me 11miles a week I should be ok Cross fit yay!

Aw you're in military? Cool! Always wanted to be a military engineer, sadly my country virtually doesn't have an army... Do you have any suggestions or good links for HIIT cardio stuff..?

Also, OK - that takes a load of my mind; I didn't just "start out" with weight training, so I guess no muscle loss occured... Whew.

[georgiehopper]

I've messed up again. After over 2 weeks of being disciplined and seeing the results of this (lost 2 kgs and shrunk, too - my bathing suit stopped ripping into my shoulders! ) I was feeling really great and hype and happy - not just mentally but physically as well.

Then, last Friday, I did my leg routine and earned me week-long DOMs. I continued my w/o with unreduced intensity (lifting 4 days/week, "real" cardio 3xweek, and light cardio 4 days/week (15-20 mins after w/o), doing most exercises to failure for at least 1 set and raising either weights or reps on most exercises... and Wednesday I just went off on an eating spree - couldn't stop myself.

I also noticed I start binging every time I start working out with weights. During summer I do weights very seldomly, and much lighter since I don't have much equipment at home, and I don't binge. However, as soon as I start serious lifting, I start serious binging.

So I can't but come to the conclusion that my training, too, is out of whack. Am I simply doing too much and pushing my body over the edge... when it finally screams ENOUGH!!! and makes me eat the whole fridge? But I'm horribly afraid of lowering weights and reducing the training - I want to lose fat, but I definitely don't want to lose any of my muscle or strength... Please comment...

Lots of what you're eating is loaded with sodium. That will make me retain water for days. I do low sodium everything ...I keep it under 1200 mg per day.

[TurbulentFluid]

Thanx! Will keep that in mind!