Risks of having a low caloric intake and high activity
At 5'10, 160lbs I was an athletic build. After I started rock climbing 6 months ago (4 hrs every other day with hard training ie sit ups, push ups, campus board...) I jumped to 170lbs in the first month with noticeable muscle mass increase. In the past three months I am down to 155lbs with visible abs and even more muscle definition/mass.
This prompted me to take a look at my caloric intake vs output and I found soemthing that may be of concern. According to many online calculators they gave me a result of 3800-4200 calories burned for 1 hr hard cycling per day and 4hrs rock climbing with training and all the normal daily tasks like walking.
After inputting the food I eat( all extremely healthy, no processed, almost gluten free and vegan except for eggs), the calculators say I consume 1600 calories!
What are the ramifications of having such a low intake to output ratio? Can this be sustained? If not how does one fix this?
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You could experience:
lack of energy/motivation or general fatigue
muscle/strength loss
hormone imbalance/low testosterone
There are two fixes which come to mind:
decrease activity level (# of days of activity or # of hours per session)
increase cals to around maintenance (+200 or -200 should be a good range)
Personally #2 sounds like the more attractive option, it's not that hard (even for a vegan) if you add in extra virgin olive oil, nuts/seeds, avocados, almond/coconut milk, and by drinking a caloric sports drink during training.
Don't rely too heavily on the online calculator, just do a weekly weigh-in (preferably at the same time of day, e.g. first thing in the morning), see what the difference is, adjust what you're eating accordingly.
Be patient and pay close attention to how you feel; it may take a while to find the right energy balance to support your level of activity.
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