I can't exercise and eat less - which to choose?

[tulips27]

I'm eating about 1000 calories per day atm, not counting strictly but it's about that, sometimes a bit less. My local pool is closed so I'm running atm which is that bit more strenuous (considering the way I swim). The problem is I keep on finding I have to pause, but not because I'm out of breath but just there's no energy, nothing "in the tank". I'm pretty sure it's because of my diet. So now I don't know what to do, stop running and continue with the same diet, or eat more and possibly sabotage losing weight? It's easy enough for me to just stop running but I'm reasonably fit at the morning and I would miss it, on the other hand I need to slim down before summer and I know I can lose what I need by just eating 800-1000 calories a day. And if I run e.g. 5K that will not burn off the extra food that's needed for fuel.

Does anyone have any advice? I don't know how to balance the two aspects.

How tall are you? What is your bmi? Age?

Are you actually overweight?

It seems very low calorie

I would also go for exercise and eating well, but maybe you prefer being skinny to being fit?

For reference I can eat 2500 without gaining weight, your 1000 seems so low

OP

I was doing a lot of running in the past and according to Apple watch it was adding an average of 600 kcaL per hour. I also remember been going to the gym about 6 times a week, alternating cardio and weight training ad I was able to eat absolutely everything, not put count every calorie and weigh 9 stones (I am 5'10''). My daily consumption was between 2500 and 3000 kcal back then.. I'm pretty sure you cant run and eat only 1200 kcal. I would up by at least 300.

Cheers for all the advice, everyone. I suppose I was thinking of the easy way out (lolling round on the sofa @ 1000 calories) but continuing exercise will be better in the long run.

Honestly even just walking would be good. I'd recommend having a stepper on your phone if you dont want to download a calorie app. Your phone might have one in built & you don't need your data on to count steps. Even an extra 30-40 minutes walk per day would help.
If you put yourself on 1200 calories per day & don't eat back the calories you earn from exercising you'll lose weight faster. Speaking from experience. Doing that & just walking around an hour per day I was losing on average 2 lbs per week (sometimes a bit less). Make sure you drink plenty of water too & cut back on sugar & milk etc in tea & coffee if you drink them.
Good luck!

You're not eating enough calories.

1000 is extremely low and then you're exercising on top of that. That's not sustainable.

Use a calorie calculator and work out what you need to be eating, guarantee it will be more than 1000.
For context: I'm 31, 5'1, weight 70kg (too much I am aware), exercise 2-3 times a week and am currently breastfeeding. My target calories are 1600ish.

www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html

Please try to take low calories as you take out calories...!

When calorie restricting, instead of setting a specific number, I use my fitness tracker to keep myself at a target calorie deficit each day. Days with higher activity require more fuel. More sedentary days require less. I find it to be much more effective for weight loss and for promoting physical activity.

Don't do weight training at home. Join a body pump class or similar.
Eat more but opt for veg+protein based meals not bowls of pasta.

I don't think we should be encouraging disordered eating here. OP 1000 is far too low which I suspect you know.

How do you calculate your TDEE please?

Google for a basal metabolic rate calculator.

That will tell you how many calories your body uses per day, just by existing.

Then you add on any calories you burn during exercise etc.

I recommend OP have a look at this as well - I don't think you are eating enough , OP. The advice to eat more to fuel your workouts is good.

Thank you very much for this information.