Looking for guidance re: my fitness plan

Bananaleaf

Hi all

Thanks for reading.

So have been working on my fitness since February, and has been going well since.

I have only lost half a stone, but have dropped a dress size, so probably should be counting inches rather than kilos.

I started with 2 evenings of boot camp (indoor) and have now raised that to 4 nights per week plus a one hr cycle on a 5th evening.

While I do enjoy the fitness, I am finding myself quite tired after it and this week in particular my knees are extremely sore. I will of course speak to my trainer about this, but I think I know the problem - I don't warm up/down enough.

What exercises should I be doing to make sure I don't get this knee pain in the future?

Also, with the tiredness - should I be eating more? My sleep is great - I get 7-8 hrs uninterrupted each night, I'm drinking 2 litres of water per day and I take multivitamins. I'm not ill or run down, just quite tired. Is it a lack of energy?

I'm not starving myself, if I'm hungry I eat, but by loosely counting my calories taken versus burned on a given day, I'm sometimes coming up 7 or 800 calories below my goal (of 1200 per day for a woman who is looking to lose 0.68kg per week) do I need to take a protein supplement or something on top of my foods?

Thank you in advance

Bananaleaf

Oh also, I should add that I am 60kg at the moment, so the knee pain is not due to carrying a tremendous amount of weight around with me. Sorry if that sounds rude, just trying to get the most accurate advice.

Thanks again

Oryx

If you have suddenly upped your number of workouts and added cycling, it could just be too big a change, which is why your knees are complaining. A bad position on the bike or poor technique could also be guilty. In any case don't ignore it. If it doesn't get better, get the opinion of a sports physio.

Stench Blossoms

You're eating 1200 while training 4 times a week? Have I got that right?

Bananaleaf

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

You're eating 1200 while training 4 times a week? Have I got that right?

Yes that is correct. Some days I go over that, but more often than not I am well below it. Not on purpose, I would just find that I am not hungry.

I haven't experienced drastic weight loss, nor am I looking to. Just want to lose a bit around the waist and tone up.

I just find myself extremely tired in the mornings, despite getting quite a lot of sleep, mostly 7 hrs. (Not last night though, as was at a concert!)


Is it lack of energy? Do I need to eat more, despite never going hungry in the first place? I am taking tonight off training to recover a bit

Oryx

I would definitely eat more than that if I were you.

Alf Veedersane

Your body needs more fuel. That's why your tired.

You're not eating enough let alone to fuel that much exercise.

jlm29

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Hi all

Thanks for reading.

So have been working on my fitness since February, and has been going well since.

I have only lost half a stone, but have dropped a dress size, so probably should be counting inches rather than kilos.

I started with 2 evenings of boot camp (indoor) and have now raised that to 4 nights per week plus a one hr cycle on a 5th evening.

While I do enjoy the fitness, I am finding myself quite tired after it and this week in particular my knees are extremely sore. I will of course speak to my trainer about this, but I think I know the problem - I don't warm up/down enough.

What exercises should I be doing to make sure I don't get this knee pain in the future?

Also, with the tiredness - should I be eating more? My sleep is great - I get 7-8 hrs uninterrupted each night, I'm drinking 2 litres of water per day and I take multivitamins. I'm not ill or run down, just quite tired. Is it a lack of energy?

I'm not starving myself, if I'm hungry I eat, but by loosely counting my calories taken versus burned on a given day, I'm sometimes coming up 7 or 800 calories below my goal (of 1200 per day for a woman who is looking to lose 0.68kg per week) do I need to take a protein supplement or something on top of my foods?

Thank you in advance

How supportive are your shoes? And how old are they? That might explain the knee pain.

rick_fantastic

sounds like your overdoing it...

most of the bootcamps don't put enough emphasis on stretching i have found

eat more.. 1200 cals a day when doing that level of exercise is a bad idea

give your body time to recover!

Bananaleaf

Oryx wrote: »

If you have suddenly upped your number of workouts and added cycling, it could just be too big a change, which is why your knees are complaining. A bad position on the bike or poor technique could also be guilty. In any case don't ignore it. If it doesn't get better, get the opinion of a sports physio.

Hmmm... I hadn't thought of the bike. That could very well be part of it. I am very much a novice and have been cycling on rough terrain and hitting rocks etc. so I will look into improving position and technique first.

jlm29 wrote: »

How supportive are your shoes? And how old are they? That might explain the knee pain.

I thought that might have been it so I bought a brand new pair. Needed to anyway.

rick_fantastic wrote: »

sounds like your overdoing it...

most of the bootcamps don't put enough emphasis on stretching i have found

eat more.. 1200 cals a day when doing that level of exercise is a bad idea

give your body time to recover!

Actually, I agree with you on the stretching. And in fact, he was trying some new techniques on Tues gone, and did NO warm up at all!! He must have forgot. Yeah, we run around, carry kettlebells and the like, for a full hr and then just 5 mins stretching. It can't be enough.


Okay and I need to eat more. So I will just increase that too. I am also taking today off the classes and won't cycle the weekend, which means it will be Monday before I go back to anything.

runawaybishop

Bananaleaf wrote: »

I'm not starving myself, if I'm hungry I eat, but by loosely counting my calories taken versus burned on a given day, I'm sometimes coming up 7 or 800 calories below my goal (of 1200 per day for a woman who is looking to lose 0.68kg per week) do I need to take a protein supplement or something on top of my foods?

Thank you in advance

You are eating 400 or 500 calories some days? No wonder you are fecked. You don't need a protein supplement, you need a dinner. Can i ask how you worked out the 1200 number? Often times it will be recommended to cut out 500 calories to lose 1 lb a week but if your daily requirements are 1700 then cutting out 500 is far too much. At such a low calorie intake you'll lose a lot of muscle as well as fat and this is to be avoided.

jlm29

Did you have any kind of foot assessment before you bought the shoes??
I know I need runners with a pronator support, and if I don't have them my knees get sore.

Bananaleaf

runawaybishop wrote: »

You are eating 400 or 500 calories some days? No wonder you are fecked. You don't need a protein supplement, you need a dinner. Can i ask how you worked out the 1200 number? Often times it will be recommended to cut out 500 calories to lose 1 lb a week but if your daily requirements are 1700 then cutting out 500 is far too much. At such a low calorie intake you'll lose a lot of muscle as well as fat and this is to be avoided.

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, I can explain the 1200. So I entered my weight and height into a calorie tracker, like My Fitness Pal but not that one. It's a Livestrong one.

I secected to lost 0.68kg per week. So they calculated my calorie limit at 1200. When I log exercise it obviously goes up, so on days that I do exercise I end up with a limit of 1600.

Now, there are days when I am over (probably 10 days since Feb) but there would be days that I am about 700 under. That is including the 400 extra for exercise, so that would mean that I am eating 1100 calories on those days really.

Hope that makes sense.

Days when I don't exercise I never have a defecit that large. It's nearly always under 100.

jlm29 wrote: »

Did you have any kind of foot assessment before you bought the shoes??
I know I need runners with a pronator support, and if I don't have them my knees get sore.

No I didn't have this done, I just went into a sports shop and, admittedly, bought the cheapest pair I could find.

rick_fantastic

does your bootcamp involve lots of squats / lunges etc ?

where on your knees is sore?

if the answer is below the to the left or right of the kneecap - you could be looking at an issue with your hip flexors rather than your knee itself...

from squats & cycling, hip flexors can get tight, in turn pulling on your ITBS band, in turn pullling on muscles in your knee.

strong quads and weak glutes can lead to this issue...

good news is its easily fixed! im no expert but a few quid spent to go to a physio is money well spent - nothing worse than sore knees!

Alf Veedersane

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, I can explain the 1200. So I entered my weight and height into a calorie tracker, like My Fitness Pal but not that one. It's a Livestrong one.

More food AND a transfusion so

jlm29

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, I can explain the 1200. So I entered my weight and height into a calorie tracker, like My Fitness Pal but not that one. It's a Livestrong one.

I secected to lost 0.68kg per week. So they calculated my calorie limit at 1200. When I log exercise it obviously goes up, so on days that I do exercise I end up with a limit of 1600.

Now, there are days when I am over (probably 10 days since Feb) but there would be days that I am about 700 under. That is including the 400 extra for exercise, so that would mean that I am eating 1100 calories on those days really.

Hope that makes sense.

Days when I don't exercise I never have a defecit that large. It's nearly always under 100.



No I didn't have this done, I just went into a sports shop and, admittedly, bought the cheapest pair I could find.

I personally would have sore knees if I did this. That might not be your problem, but it also might.

hidinginthebush

What's your cycling cadence (how fast your legs spin) like. You should be in an easy gear spinning fast, as opposed to in a hard gear grinding away slowly, its easier on the knees that way!

If you're really getting into it, most bike shops will give your bike a proper setup (saddle, handlebar height etc), but it can be pricey if you get it done.

Bananaleaf

jlm29 wrote: »

I personally would have sore knees if I did this. That might not be your problem, but it also might.

Well thank you for the advice. I will try the other things first - eat more and rest more and work on how I cycle and if that doesn't change it, I will look into more expensive runners and a consultation about my feet. Thank you.

hidinginthebush wrote: »

What's your cycling cadence (how fast your legs spin) like. You should be in an easy gear spinning fast, as opposed to in a hard gear grinding away slowly, its easier on the knees that way!

If you're really getting into it, most bike shops will give your bike a proper setup (saddle, handlebar height etc), but it can be pricey if you get it done.

I do use the gears properly as far as I know, but I didn't stretch myself out before e cycle and did feel stiff afterwards. Im not a big cyclist to be honest and just bought one second hand as we have a canal nearby and it can be nice to cycle to the next town.

JJayoo

Your calories are way too low.

runawaybishop

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, I can explain the 1200. So I entered my weight and height into a calorie tracker, like My Fitness Pal but not that one. It's a Livestrong one.

I secected to lost 0.68kg per week. So they calculated my calorie limit at 1200. When I log exercise it obviously goes up, so on days that I do exercise I end up with a limit of 1600.

Now, there are days when I am over (probably 10 days since Feb) but there would be days that I am about 700 under. That is including the 400 extra for exercise, so that would mean that I am eating 1100 calories on those days really.

Hope that makes sense.

Days when I don't exercise I never have a defecit that large. It's nearly always under 100.



No I didn't have this done, I just went into a sports shop and, admittedly, bought the cheapest pair I could find.

What are you daily calorie requirements, not what is recommended to lose weight? Being 700 under your allotment is far far too much unless you are really heavy.

Bananaleaf

runawaybishop wrote: »

What are you daily calorie requirements, not what is recommended to lose weight? Being 700 under your allotment is far far too much unless you are really heavy.

I'm ashamed to say that I don't understand your question.

I input my weight and height and said I wanted to lose 0.68kg per week.

The app (which I'm aware is not accurate in the first place, I'm just using it as a kind of rough guide) said that my calorie goal would therefore be 1,200.

Now, when I started with this app I was pretty much sedentary so said as much. Recently when updating my weight (I'm not really heavy, was 66kg, am now 59kg, height 5ft 2) I chose the moderately active option and I now see that my daily calorie goal has shot up to 1,345.

By tonight, as I'm not exercising, hence not 'buying back calories' if you know what I mean, I would say I will reach about 1,000.

But had I gone to boot camp this evening, that would be +another 400, which would be why I am coming up 700 short.

I am eating around 1,000 calories per day. But is that not enough? Sorry to sound stupid but is the point to REACH that goal or try to stay under it?

fits

.68kg a week is a load! Its way too high a target. Maybe just focus on being healthy and toning up from now on? Long cycles are great for fitness and losing weight. and you should eat more.

1.5 lbs surely isn't that mental
Depending on starting I suppose

fits

Op is 59kg. So yeah I think its a lot!

fits

(maybe I'm not qualified to judge, I don't really believe in diets...)

Bananaleaf

fits wrote: »

.68kg a week is a load! Its way too high a target. Maybe just focus on being healthy and toning up from now on? Long cycles are great for fitness and losing weight. and you should eat more.

Is it? I'm an idiot really and I don't really know what I'm at. I suppose .45kg per week en maybe?

Well, I have only went from 66kg to 59kg since February so I'm not even achieving the goal.

I don't put a huge emphasis on it anyway to be honest. I've been doing this since feb and not losing much (in my opinion) but it hasn't bothered me as I have been feeling better, but just lately I have upped the exercise and have been feeling really tired.

I suppose the key then is to eat more. That way I will be able for the increased fitness and will become more toned.

Thank you all so much for your help.

fits

Bananaleaf wrote: »

Is it? I'm an idiot really and I don't really know what I'm at. I suppose .45kg per week en maybe?

Well, I have only went from 66kg to 59kg since February so I'm not even achieving the goal.

I don't put a huge emphasis on it anyway to be honest. I've been doing this since feb and not losing much (in my opinion) but it hasn't bothered me as I have been feeling better, but just lately I have upped the exercise and have been feeling really tired.

I suppose the key then is to eat more. That way I will be able for the increased fitness and will become more toned.

Thank you all so much for your help.

What are you like, I think its pretty impressive loss and a sustainable one. You must be very close to a healthy weight now. Do you think you'll keep up the boot camps though? Or will you do something else?

Bananaleaf

fits wrote: »

Op is 59kg. So yeah I think its a lot!

Yeah actually I should mention that I'm not really looking to lose a lot. But was 66 and wanted to come down from that. Also, a lot accumulated around the middle and I'm trying hard to get that down. Looking to get down to about 56kg then maintain that. If that sounds healthy

fits

It does, sounds ideal. I'd be around same range as you (though at wrong end of it at the moment)

Bananaleaf

fits wrote: »

What are you like, I think its pretty impressive loss and a sustainable one. You must be very close to a healthy weight now. Do you think you'll keep up the boot camps though? Or will you do something else?

Thank you

I think I will keep them up, but maybe not as many as 4times a week gets expensive too. Also as summer approaches hopefully it will be easier to get outside. There is a stretch of canal where we live which I plan to walk/jog/cycle every other day maybe.

runawaybishop

Bananaleaf wrote: »

I'm ashamed to say that I don't understand your question.

I input my weight and height and said I wanted to lose 0.68kg per week.

The app (which I'm aware is not accurate in the first place, I'm just using it as a kind of rough guide) said that my calorie goal would therefore be 1,200.

Now, when I started with this app I was pretty much sedentary so said as much. Recently when updating my weight (I'm not really heavy, was 66kg, am now 59kg, height 5ft 2) I chose the moderately active option and I now see that my daily calorie goal has shot up to 1,345.

By tonight, as I'm not exercising, hence not 'buying back calories' if you know what I mean, I would say I will reach about 1,000.

But had I gone to boot camp this evening, that would be +another 400, which would be why I am coming up 700 short.

I am eating around 1,000 calories per day. But is that not enough? Sorry to sound stupid but is the point to REACH that goal or try to stay under it?

Using myfitnesspal? 1.5lbs a week is too much at your weight. Many sites will just take 500 calories off your normal daily requirments. This is grand if you are 200lbs, not so grand if you are 100.

Work out your calorie requirments a day and take away 10-15%. If you exercise eat back your calories.

FYI, losing 10% of your weight in 3 months is a lot.

Remember to do strength work of you will lose muscle as well as fat.

Bananaleaf

runawaybishop wrote: »

Using myfitnesspal? 1.5lbs a week is too much at your weight. Many sites will just take 500 calories off your normal daily requirments. This is grand if you are 200lbs, not so grand if you are 100.

Work out your calorie requirments a day and take away 10-15%. If you exercise eat back your calories.

FYI, losing 10% of your weight in 3 months is a lot.

Remember to do strength work of you will lose muscle as well as fat.

Okay, I understand you now, thanks for your advice and help.

I didn't use my fitness pal, I just went with the first free result ( probably a bad idea) it's called Livestrong.

It is bad? Should I switch to myfitnesspal? Or should I just do it myself manually really?

homemadecider

I'm around the same height and weight as you and I aim to eat around 1400 cals a day. This goes up a bit on weekends. If I only ate 1000 per day I'd go mental and be the crankiest woman imaginable.

For the record I only lose about half a pound a week but I've steadily reduced my weight since Christmas and have never felt unwell, overly tired or deprived.