Would it work to reverse diet to gain weight? Or take it slow?

angierosas43

Hi everyone I'm currently trying to gain weight as I'm very very underweight ( 5'0, 73 pounds and 20 years old) I realize that's dangerously low and the story behind that is in another post I made on here if you're curious but what i want to ask is would reverse dieting be more necessary for someone who's as underweight like me and has been on low calories for a long time? I started to track my calories a few weeks ago and realized I only took in about 1300 calories which made me lose weight without realizing it. I want to build my calories up to a surplus to gain weight but I'm not sure whether to jump into a huge amount at one time and to how much? I know this is something I should ask a professional but i can't afford a dietitian right now and im still waiting on getting a primary doctor so it's gonna be a while. In the meantime I was hoping you guys could help me out and just give me some suggestions/tips. Any knowledge or experience anyone has on reverse dieting or increasing their calories I would love to hear about.
I'm also asking because some people told me to jump the gun up to 2000 but then others have told me that's too high of a jump and to take it slow. Nutrition is so confusing haha how should I go about this? Please share as much knowledge on this as you can and what would be practical in my situation. I gladly appreciate it!

TavistockToad

i would add 2-300 the first week, and then add 100 a week after that. expect the scales to jump on account of more food in your body and extra glycogen

angierosas43

TavistockToad wrote: »

i would add 2-300 the first week, and then add 100 a week after that. expect the scales to jump on account of more food in your body and extra glycogen

So then 1600 calories should be my next move? Because I'm currently at about 1300+

rybo

Don't overcomplicate it. Just eat more. Smaller jumps are typically easier to handle, but there is no need to stress over exactly how big of an increase is needed.

Hamsibian

You shouldn't reverse diet at this point. Trust me, I get the struggles. Eat above maintenance, and go from there. If you don't see results, or are not gaining as quickly, add another 100-200 calories.

If you struggle with eating, start by adding a few tablespoons of oil to every meal. Easy hundreds of calories right there. Then slowly add in calorie dense foods like fatty meats, avocados, nuts and nut butters, etc. It will get easier over time.

And stop running until you see some improvement. You're just damaging your body more since it is not being fueled properly. Eating and resting is key at this point. You can start running when you are healthier - really, the concept of running is not going anywhere anytime soon.

TavistockToad

Hamsibian wrote: »

You shouldn't reverse diet at this point. Trust me, I get the struggles. Eat above maintenance, and go from there. If you don't see results, or are not gaining as quickly, add another 100-200 calories.

If you struggle with eating, start by adding a few tablespoons of oil to every meal. Easy hundreds of calories right there. Then slowly add in calorie dense foods like fatty meats, avocados, nuts and nut butters, etc. It will get easier over time.

And stop running until you see some improvement. You're just damaging your body more since it is not being fueled properly. Eating and resting is key at this point. You can start running when you are healthier - really, the concept of running is not going anywhere anytime soon.

did not realise OP was the running girl...

as i commented in your previous thread @angierosas43 don't exercise if you cant fuel it.

1600 is fine to start with, but you need to be increasing to a surplus asap.

maybyn

Please don’t reverse diet. Eat above maintenance at least until you gain 15-20 pounds. Have you calculated you maintenance cals yet?

LiftHeavyThings27105

So, I have used reverse diet to get - their own words - fat people to lose weight. That is always an interesting conversation that usually goes something like "So, dude, what you are telling me is....you want a fat person to eat more to lose weight?". And, it ALWAYS works. Well, assuming that it is used in the proper context.

So, forgetting symantecs here (a reverse diet is something that folks do usually after a cut and are pretty low in terms of caloric intake where they start slowly adding calories each week....so, for example, they bump up from 900 calories to 1050 calories....then jump up to 1,200 from 1,050....and so on) I would say - no matter what we call it - that you increase caloric intake! Well, I guess that is safe to say. You - unless I have missed it - do not mention what your caloric intake is at the moment. So, jumping straight to 2,000 *could* be a good idea....but jumping from what to 2,000?

And, I looked at a tdee on-line calculator and your information looks like this:

Basal Metabolic Rate 1,023 calories per day
Sedentary 1,227 calories per day
Light Exercise 1,406 calories per day
Moderate Exercise 1,585 calories per day
Heavy Exercise 1,764 calories per day
Athlete 1,943 calories per day

So, as I always say....these numbers generated by an on-line TDEE Calculator are all fine and good and generally offer a pretty good starting point BUT are generic and do not apply to you specifically SO you need to play with these numbers and find your maintenance caloric intake. Having said that, I would suggest the following (under the assumption

---

and I want to be very clear about that

---

assumption

---

that the above numbers are somewhat close to your actual numbers):

1. Let us know what your current caloric intake it.
2. If you are running a lot, please consider tapering that way down or stopping outright - for the moment.
3. If you can not fuel the activity (running) and the recovery from said activity then you are doing more harm than good.
4. Depending on where you are right now with respect to Caloric Intake can you jump to 1,585 - 1,625 Calories a day and see what happens at that level of caloric intake?


I am sure that you are painfully aware of this, but you BMI is well below "under weight" (and, for full disclosure, I am not fan of BMI but so many people use it so I usually include it my replies).

I would say to get healthy first.....then get fit. So, seriously, curb the running. Work on gaining some good weight.

Keep in mind how amazing the human body is and don't lose focus as to the human body's sole function - to survive. It is very adaptable and will do what it needs to ensure survival based on what you give it.

Not trying to get personal with you, but I would bet that you have lost your period, right?

That is an example of what the human body does (the female human body) to ensure survival. The body is a system of systems and, when push comes to shove, will start shutting down non-essential systems (and your period is one such 'non-essential system') to further improve its chances of survival. All of those systems require energy (translation: calories) to do what they do, right?

Anyway, we are all here to help you. I will gladly help you....if you want more specific, detailed information. All you gotta do is ask, girl! I am too glad to help!

angierosas43

LiftHeavyThings27105 wrote: »

So, I have used reverse diet to get - their own words - fat people to lose weight. That is always an interesting conversation that usually goes something like "So, dude, what you are telling me is....you want a fat person to eat more to lose weight?". And, it ALWAYS works. Well, assuming that it is used in the proper context.

So, forgetting symantecs here (a reverse diet is something that folks do usually after a cut and are pretty low in terms of caloric intake where they start slowly adding calories each week....so, for example, they bump up from 900 calories to 1050 calories....then jump up to 1,200 from 1,050....and so on) I would say - no matter what we call it - that you increase caloric intake! Well, I guess that is safe to say. You - unless I have missed it - do not mention what your caloric intake is at the moment. So, jumping straight to 2,000 *could* be a good idea....but jumping from what to 2,000?

And, I looked at a tdee on-line calculator and your information looks like this:

Basal Metabolic Rate 1,023 calories per day
Sedentary 1,227 calories per day
Light Exercise 1,406 calories per day
Moderate Exercise 1,585 calories per day
Heavy Exercise 1,764 calories per day
Athlete 1,943 calories per day

So, as I always say....these numbers generated by an on-line TDEE Calculator are all fine and good and generally offer a pretty good starting point BUT are generic and do not apply to you specifically SO you need to play with these numbers and find your maintenance caloric intake. Having said that, I would suggest the following (under the assumption

---

and I want to be very clear about that

---

assumption

---

that the above numbers are somewhat close to your actual numbers):

1. Let us know what your current caloric intake it.
2. If you are running a lot, please consider tapering that way down or stopping outright - for the moment.
3. If you can not fuel the activity (running) and the recovery from said activity then you are doing more harm than good.
4. Depending on where you are right now with respect to Caloric Intake can you jump to 1,585 - 1,625 Calories a day and see what happens at that level of caloric intake?


I am sure that you are painfully aware of this, but you BMI is well below "under weight" (and, for full disclosure, I am not fan of BMI but so many people use it so I usually include it my replies).

I would say to get healthy first.....then get fit. So, seriously, curb the running. Work on gaining some good weight.

Keep in mind how amazing the human body is and don't lose focus as to the human body's sole function - to survive. It is very adaptable and will do what it needs to ensure survival based on what you give it.

Not trying to get personal with you, but I would bet that you have lost your period, right?

That is an example of what the human body does (the female human body) to ensure survival. The body is a system of systems and, when push comes to shove, will start shutting down non-essential systems (and your period is one such 'non-essential system') to further improve its chances of survival. All of those systems require energy (translation: calories) to do what they do, right?

Anyway, we are all here to help you. I will gladly help you....if you want more specific, detailed information. All you gotta do is ask, girl! I am too glad to help!

Thank you so much for all the info! To answer some of your question though. I'm at 1300 calories currently so I'm not sure how much to increase right now. Do you think you could help me out with this? I would gladly appreciate the specific detailed information as you mentioned!

LiftHeavyThings27105

You are most welcome and will gladly help. :-)

LiftHeavyThings27105

Okay....so, saw the reference of 1,300 Calories in your post did not did put that as what you are currently doing.

So, your initial question is a good one: do I jump straight up to xxxx Calories or do I go slowly up? Super good question.

Lots of people would (correctly) suggest to you to jump straight up to xxxx calories. And, they will tell you about some recent studies that back this suggestion up (I really can not recall off the top of my head, but there was a study that suggests jumping up to maintenance is the way to go). And, in this case, it does not seem that the jump from your current caloric intake of 1,300 Calories to maintenance (1,585 Calories) is a super high jump. Easy for me to say, right? I am a 50yo 6'0 205lbs male....easy for me to eat another 300 calories! It might be a bit difficult for you.

Anyway, do that. Jump from your current intake to your maintenance intake. Again, we are ASSUMING that the TDEE numbers are accurate. You will have a better idea of that after you have done this!

So, jump immediately to the 1,585 Calories. Do this for a week. Then we will start increasing your caloric intake. Well, based on what happens. But the plan at this moment is to increase your caloric intake after the first week at maintenance.

Now, do you have any medical conditions that we need to know about? I do not need to know what they are.....necessarily....we just need to make sure that we are not going to suggest anything to you that ends up putting you in harms way. So, if you do have a medical condition (not assuming anything) and you are comfortable disclosing it then please do tell. If you are not comfortable disclosing this in public, then PM me.

Also we are going to initially worry about caloric intake. So, how many calories you consume. We will in a little bit start to be interested in the macro and micro breakdowns. But, for now - let's get some food in you!

Do you have any food allergies?

What you eat now.....what does that look like?

And, feel free to PM me anything. I would suggest that we keep this in the public forum so that others can see....but feel free to PM me anything.

And, do you have an idea of how to get those additional calories in? I do, if you do not.....

As an FYI, I will be traveling tomorrow (going to the company christmas party in Maryland) so if I do not respond quickly - that is why!

Hamsibian

@angierosas43, just to give a little background, I am 5'11". I lost a considerable amount of weight due to health problems. Started on MFP at 118lbs. Due to malabsorption, I kept losing weight even though I was accurately weighing and logging everything. It took me months until i figured out the issue, and it wasn't until i went down to 92lbs that I became more vigilant and figured out my sweet spot. So even though MFP gave me 1900 calories, I needed to eat closer to 3500 to start gaining.

This isn't to scare you, but it's something to consider when you start getting the bang of calorie counting, especially if you have health issues. So @LiftHeavyThings27105 is right, start at maintenance, and work from there. I am now at a "normal" weight of 133lbs, and still have about 7-12 to go. And this is with a limited diet, so it's possible no matter what you eat! Here are some other tips and possible things to expect:

1. It's okay to gain weight rapidly at first; I would say it's absolutely necessary. My doctor gave me the okay to gain ~2lbs a week.
2. You will see gains mostly in the abdomen area. As unpleasant as it is aesthetically, the body is restoring and preserving the organs. Basically a survival mechanism. Luckily this is temporary, and the weight will be redistributed overtime.
3. Lay off the activity until you have gained considerably. That doesn't mean you become immobile. In fact, a little movement can help increase your appetite. I started out with stretching yoga and walking around the house for a few minutes at a time. You can move just enough so it won't cause more damage to your body, and build it up from there as you gain more weight/energy.
4. It is so difficult at first, but you will get used to all the food. you will start receiving hunger signals, which is awesome! However, there will be days where you want to keep eating. Even if your stomach is full, your mind will tell you it's hungry. Remember, your body is starving for nutrients, so respond to all the cues, even if that means you end up going over your intake by 1000+ calories. Again, this will sort itself out eventually.
5. See a doctor and a therapist as soon as possible. Gaining weight is tough both physically and emotionally. You will need all the support you can get.

These are just a few things that come to mind, but Right now the focus should be for you to eat and relax. Be kind to yourself, and we're here to help! Feel free to message and/or friend me if you want. Best of luck, you got this!

PAV8888

Refers protocols tend to add ~250 every 2-3 days till you get above danger of refers syndrome then push you to 2k and then to 2500 to 3000 as fast as possible.

The aim is usually to get to at least BMI 20--rapidly.