Confused

kwmarissa

So I've been eating 1200 calories for the last I'd say 8 months or so, for the past 3 months I haven't lost any weight, even though I've only been eating 1200. I've reached my goal weight, I reached it a long time ago actually but for some reason I haven't been able to bring myself to maintain. Mostly because I've been eating 1200 for so long I'm kind of scared that if I do increase my weight might jump back on me? I lost 20 pounds in about 2-3 months and I've kept it off since, but I'd really like the start eating more because I don't think it's healthy for my body to be eating so little. I go to school and I have a pretty active job and I'm out and about all the time. I'm 18, I weigh 125 lbs and I stand at 5'6. So I guess my question would be, how much should I really be eating to maintain? and will I gain a lot of weight?

StaciMarie1974

My guess is you are eating more than 1200. Do you use a food scale for every solid, log everything every day? If not - you're estimating. At 1200/day you'd be still losing.

If you are active, 5'6", 125, 18: 2000-2500 per day depending on how active.

nxd10

You should set to maintenance. You aren't losing weight any more because you are close to your low natural weight. Raise your calories to maintenance and just go there. If you're nervous, change your goal to losing 1/2 pound a week instead of a pound. I might even suggest that you not look at a scale for a month and see how it goes - often people go up a little when they get to maintenance and then lose again. Although, if you've already plateued, I don't think you will. Personally, I'm a daily weigher.

I was just your bmi and just about at that calorie level before I went to maintenance. Since then I first maintained a year and then naturally lost another 5 pounds without trying and without dropping my calories. I've upped my calories again and am still maintaining at that lower weight.

mrsmcmo

I would set your calories to maintenance and see what MFP gives you. That is a fairly good indication of approximately how many calories you could be eating. But you're right that if you suddenly start eating 600 extra calories a day, you may see a jump on the scale. Go slowly. Try adding an extra 100 calories per day for a week, and see where you are. Keep raising it weekly until you hit the point to where you are feeling good and are maintaining your weight.

cwolfman13

I think you're underestimating your intake and already eating at maintenance...

dopeysmelly

cwolfman13 wrote: »

I think you're underestimating your intake and already eating at maintenance...

^^This. If your weight is stable, then you are maintaining, however much you're consuming.

xRiverX

try looking up(google) "reverse dieting" youll be surprised what your metabolism can achieve.

ndj1979

the only thing I would add - not trying to freak you out - but when you go back to maintenance you will probably gain a couple pounds, but this is NOT fat it is just your body replenishing glycogen stores. What you could do is add in 100 calories a day per week until you are at maintenance…

ETA - you are probably not losing now because you have been eating at 1200 calories for a pro-longed period and your metabolism has adapted and gotten used to 1200 calories, which may be your new maintenance set point…you may even find that as you increase, you start to lose a little more.

teswanso

I agree that you might loose. I was eating around 1300 for an extended period of time and was "maintaining" my weight. When I increased my calorie intake to 1600 I actually dropped 3 lbs. I was super nervous about transitioning from loosing to maintenance, and I was really under-eating. Go slow, make small adjustments, and think about establishing a sustainable lifestyle.

stuffinmuffin

Start putting your calories up gradually - e.g. 100 extra a week until you reach your MFP maintenance weight and see what happens. You wont be maintaining on 1200 cals a day and you might find you get a sudden loss of weight.

As an example, I'm 110lb and maintain at 2000 calories a day.

UtahSeth

How much exercise are you getting? Do you get to the 1200 net calories by eating 2000 and burning off 600, or do you just depend on your "active lifestyle" to burn them? No judgement here, but often we think we are more active than we really are, that's up to you to figure out. I would say up your calories but also start an exercise program, need cardio for a lifelong healthy heart anyway.

Another option, if 1200 cals was the 2 pound a week goal, then drop goal to 1 pound a week, and record religiously for a month and see what result you get, if its good, then up to half a pound lost a week, and go a month and then finally just go to maintenance. The trick is that during that month, if you initially gain weight, you can't freak out like I would and drop the cals again. Its hard, but you have to let it run its course for a period so that your body can re-acclimate to the calorie intake.

alereck

[quote=" I'm 18, I weigh 125 lbs and I stand at 5'6. So I guess my question would be, how much should I really be eating to maintain? and will I gain a lot of weight? [/quote]

I'm older than you are but I'm also 5'7 and 123 lbs. I ate at 1200-1400 to lose and once I reached 130 I tried going into maintenance but kept losing until I reached 123. It turns out my maintenance calories were a lot higher than I had thought. I can eat up to 1900 and still maintain and even though that number is high for me I am much happier eating more. If I don't log and eat only when I am hungry I'm usually at 1600 including desserts. I'm very accurate when I log.

So like others say, you are either eating more than you think or you could be eating more than you think. As always it's up to you, personal choice and how you feel about the process. I had no problems eating at 1200 and didn't feel hungry but the food choices are very limited at that number compared to 1800. Now I eat things that I didn't when cutting such as sushi, pizza, burgers, chocolate, chinese... all fitting my calories/macros for the day.

My advice, eat more, be happier.

kwmarissa

Thanks all. I measure my food, and I'm pretty accurate with my portion sizes. I do believe that I have perhaps just been eating 1200 for too long, my body has just adapted to it. I'm going to go into maintenance, but take it very slow. I used to have a very bad mindset on eating and calories and I've recently found that I'm getting back into my old ways. Hopefully with this increase I will be more happy and not so worried about food. I'll be updating. I want to be happy even if I do gain a couple pounds.

EnviDreams

1200 cals is not maintaining for anybody! I am also 125 lbs & 5'6. I lost 60 lbs & was following a 900-1200 cal diet every day for 7 months to loose the weight plus 1-2 hrs of cardio per day. Is what happened to me & what may of happened to you is that your metabolism has slowed & you can't loose weight because of that. Is what I did was up my cals by 200 every week until I hit 2,000. I made sure that I continued to eat healthy & no junk. I don't believe in eating all that bread, pasta, rice, fast food, etc.. At first I gained 4 lbs & freaked out. Then over a time of about one month the weight went back down to what it previously was & then today guess what? I lost a pound! My metabolism is cured & yours can be too

Cilenia

I did the same, lost all this weight on 1200 calories and then my maintenance calories were only 1450 or so. I killed my metabolism being on such low calories.

I had to do a reset in wich i ate at maintenance for a while to make my body understand that i could feed it normal amounts of food. Once i did that (i did gain some weight back) i started loosing weight at 1500 calories (yes thats the same amount i was barely maintaining on before)

Im now happily maintaining my weight at an average of 1750 calories a day (im 5'3" and weigh 123lb)

StaciMarie1974

Do you measure or weight? Not the same thing, and measuring (cups & spoons) solid food is not accurate. You could easily be getting 1.25-1.5 servings per 'cup' when you think you're getting 1. Short answer: if you are not using a scale, you are estimating. The human mind/eye is not great at it. If you're maintaining on 1200/day then you're not actually consuming 1200 a day. Assuming no medical issues, etc...

kwmarissa wrote: »

Thanks all. I measure my food, and I'm pretty accurate with my portion sizes. I do believe that I have perhaps just been eating 1200 for too long, my body has just adapted to it. I'm going to go into maintenance, but take it very slow. I used to have a very bad mindset on eating and calories and I've recently found that I'm getting back into my old ways. Hopefully with this increase I will be more happy and not so worried about food. I'll be updating. I want to be happy even if I do gain a couple pounds.