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Post-WO/could I not be eating enough?


Puppyholic

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I did my first (and so far only) Whole30 back in September, and since then have been avoiding—for the most part, anyway—gluten, dairy, soy and added sugar. But I do incorporate rice, quinoa and occasionally legumes into my diet, as they make more economical sense for me at this time and have caused me no problems. I also managed to maintain the weight I'd lost during my September Whole30 while feeling great, even throughout the holidays.

 

Two weeks ago, I began a more intense fitness regimen—with the goal of reducing my BF% while building muscle—where I strength-train 5x/week for 30–45 minutes and do HIIT cardio 2x/week for 20–25 minutes (for HIIT, this time span includes warm-up and cool-down). I take a complete rest day on Sundays. Unfortunately, though, I've gained 3–4 pounds in the past two weeks (after having maintained throughout the gluttonous and inactive holiday season). I banned myself from the scale so that I wouldn't obsess over it, and because the scale is often a liar, but even before I weighed myself I noticed that I've been feeling puffier. I wake up in the morning with a bloated, more protruding stomach rather than the almost flat one I'd been getting used to since my Whole30. I'm just very, very frustrated.

 

Another note: I've been sort of dipping my toes in IIFYM. I don't always track macros, but on occasion I do just to see where I'm at. I usually meet or almost meet my protein goals, and I usually meet or exceed fat goals. But I'm almost always under my carb goal—even though I feel like I'm eating a lot. Is it possible my body is in "starvation mode" because of this? I struggle a bit with post-WO meals because I have to wait until 12:45pm to use the gym at work because there's a class in there at noon—so instead of eating a post-WO meal and then lunch, I just immediately eat lunch at 1:45pm when I return to my desk because I'm ravenous by that point. Should I be eating my post-WO meal/snack before my workout instead (meaning, should I eat protein + carbs instead of protein + fat right before my workout, since I apparently don't eat enough carbs anyway)?

 

Sorry for rambling! Just trying to figure out why my routine is causing my progress to backtrack and how I can fix that.

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There are several things at work here. One is that your stress level jumped higher with your new routine of training hard 6 days per week. To go from coasting to hitting it hard all at once is a huge shift that your body is probably unhappy about. Second, most people who begin a hard training program fail to begin a dedicated recovery program to balance the effort. Recovery involves things like sleeping extra, getting a massage, stretching, etc. When you hit it hard, but don't make an equal effort at recovery, stress goes up... A third thing is that you needed to scale up your eating when you began training hard. If you are not eating enough, it adds to stress and leads to a slower metabolism. 

 

By combining your lunch and post-workout meal, you may be shorting yourself. Back when I trained in a gym, I ate a can of sardines and a baked sweet potato at the gym as I cooled down. Then I drove home, prepared lunch, and ate a full meal within an hour of my workout ending. The funny thing was that I felt full as I finished eating at the gym, but could eat a full meal less than an hour later because post-workout meals digest very fast if you are eating the right foods.

 

What you might need to do. Stop strength training 5 days a week and make it 3 days per week. I once committed to a muscle building program where the Lord of strength who designed it warned against training more than 3 times per week at all and warned against adding extra work to his program. This meant that I trained less than 90 minutes all week (including warm-ups).  The result was that I got a lot stronger over 3 months, developed visibly bigger muscles, and gained only a few pounds. Most enthusiastic people over train. Don't be like most people. :)

 

Figure out how to eat both post-workout meals and lunch. 

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There are several things at work here. One is that your stress level jumped higher with your new routine of training hard 6 days per week. To go from coasting to hitting it hard all at once is a huge shift that your body is probably unhappy about. Second, most people who begin a hard training program fail to begin a dedicated recovery program to balance the effort. Recovery involves things like sleeping extra, getting a massage, stretching, etc. When you hit it hard, but don't make an equal effort at recovery, stress goes up... A third thing is that you needed to scale up your eating when you began training hard. If you are not eating enough, it adds to stress and leads to a slower metabolism. 

 

By combining your lunch and post-workout meal, you may be shorting yourself. Back when I trained in a gym, I ate a can of sardines and a baked sweet potato at the gym as I cooled down. Then I drove home, prepared lunch, and ate a full meal within an hour of my workout ending. The funny thing was that I felt full as I finished eating at the gym, but could eat a full meal less than an hour later because post-workout meals digest very fast if you are eating the right foods.

 

What you might need to do. Stop strength training 5 days a week and make it 3 days per week. I once committed to a muscle building program where the Lord of strength who designed it warned against training more than 3 times per week at all and warned against adding extra work to his program. This meant that I trained less than 90 minutes all week (including warm-ups).  The result was that I got a lot stronger over 3 months, developed visibly bigger muscles, and gained only a few pounds. Most enthusiastic people over train. Don't be like most people. :)

 

Figure out how to eat both post-workout meals and lunch. 

 

Thanks for the info and advice, Tom! I should have mentioned that before Christmas I'd been used to training 3–4x/week. The program I'm following now was created by a trainer, so it didn't occur to me that I could be overtraining. And I feel like I eat so much already that I didn't realize I could be undereating—especially when the IIFYM calculator is supposed to take all that training into account when it calculates macros, and I usually try to hit that target. But counting anything has never really worked for me, so I don't know why I thought it would now. Either way, this was enlightening. Thanks again!

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Good to know about 3/4 times per week. But still, the jump from 3/4 to 6 days per week is a big jump. My current plan is to train 5 days (Monday through Friday) each week. However, I have to take a rest day and use Saturday as a makeup day regularly. I am 58 years old, so maybe I need more rest days than I did 30 years ago, but I am not sure I could train 6 days a week without reducing intensity significantly.

 

Even when a program specifies intensity, it is possible to complete the program at either a higher or a lower level of intensity than expected. 

 

I have been reflecting on intensity for several decades now and attempting to get a handle on how to manage training for maximum benefit. One of the themes I've appreciated lately is that the important concept is not whether you were maximally intense in each session, but how many sessions have you missed over the past 6 months. Consistency in training is more important than always maximizing intensity. In fact, intensity should be wavy and vary from day to day. I find that I can stand to complete a session some days because I allow myself to take it a bit easier than I would if I were feeling great. 

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One thing some programs don't take into account is cortisol.

If more days per week or different types of training raises your cortisol too much, you will often put on weight as it messes with your hormones.

 

I used to do "chronic cardio" and just got fatter and fatter even though I was working harder and harder.

Some people will thrive on this, I certainly didn't (and now have adrenal fatigue).

 

Switched to less working out and to weights instead and my health has never been better :)

I'm not anti-cardio, but I no longer use it as a primary workout.

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