I recently commented on another post about how I managed my calorie deficit during my weight loss journey whilst also having fitness goals. To summarise, I made the mistake of not RAISING my calories as I lost weight to match my fitness goals. This is the complete opposite of what people tell you to do as you lose weight - your BMR gets lower therefore you should lower your calories.
But. As I lost weight, I was also becoming fitter, stronger, I had more energy and endurance. Yes my BMR was getting smaller, but I was also increasing my NEAT and EAT as this happened. The result was that my TDEE was remaining the same, if not higher than when at my heaviest. I have a fitbit with HR monitor, which for me alongside food logging, has been incredibly accurate.
After 5 months of losing at a rate of 2lb a week for a total of 45ish lbs I stalled and burned out. I was exhausted, weak, tired all the time, and my workouts were, in hindsight, subpar. I ended up taking a 3 month maintenance break but continued to exercise. This time when I came back, I increased my calories by 400. You see, becoming healthy and fit for me includes my fitness goals. These became as important, if not more, than simply losing weight alone. In order to facilitate this I had to raise my calories, not reduce them, despite my BMI going from HW of 37.7 to CW 25.1. I'm still losing at about 1.5lb a week (for a total of 68lbs lost now), and have enough energy to achieve my fitness goals. We get so wrapped up with the number on the scale that we forget or in my case, hinder other aspects of becoming healthy.
So a cautionary tale for people with or who develop fitness goals. Be aware of your energy requirements and don't make the same mistake I did!
A little humble brag cardio score from my fitbit that measures Vo2 max because we don't see many fitness NSV's here :)
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