why I am here and a help question

bio01979

So, I have been very fit for most of my life and I ate "normal" - not a ton of food, reasonable portions, decent food mostly non pre-prepared. A typical dinner would be a chicken breast, rice and broccoli. I indulged occasionally as well but was still always very fit.

6 years ago I had a few injuries one after another - one of these injuries is chronic lower back pain and we are still not sure what causes it or sets off a flare up. I do not know what a pain free day feels like any more. Most days (9 out of 10) are minor nagging pain now though and I have some heavy pain meds for the days that are bad. The problem is that these injuries severely limited the physical activity that I have been able to do. Many activities seem to make my back flare up.

Due to this lack of activity I put on WEIGHT, I capitalize this because I have put on an obscene amount of weight (110 lbs). I don't over eat (in fact for a few years I possibly underate because I just wasn't hungry - I was a smoker and that suppresses the appetite, I have now quit smoking and am starving ALL the time lol). I could eat a bit better but my eating habits are not horrible.

I have never tracked what I eat or the calories so I figured I will give this a try. I am also going to try to be more active even though this means taking more pain meds.

I do need help with something though. I tracked what I have eaten today and yesterday and it is way under (I am only getting 1000-1100) what they said I should have in calories but it is a lot of food. Do I have to add more calories? If so how can I add calories without eating stuff I shouldn't?

michellechawner

Everyone is different. Technically, as a new person here, you should eat at least 1200. I started at 1200 but noticed I was STARVING so much, so I upped my calories.

I don't have injures, just medical conditions (moderate Fibro). I am on meds, and am slowly upping my activities. I gained all my weight in college (from the time i graduated high school to the year I graduated college, I gained 57 pounds).

Learning portion control is key. I thought I knew what a portion was until I started here. Wow was I wrong! I've been at this about 10 weeks, and yes have only lost about 8 pounds. But slow and steady wins the race!

If you're hungry eat back your exercise calls. MFP already created a deficit for you, so eating them back you will still be at a deficit. If you're realizing you aren't hungry even after all the exercising, then don't eat them back. Just watch your micros to make sure you are getting enough nutrients.

annabellj

peanut or nut butters, avocado, any healthy fats. swimming is very good for a body in pain. walking is good also but sometimes even that is too much. you are probably eating way under what you should be.

TJMiddaugh

if you gained 110 lbs and you absolutely SURE your not over eating. i would go talk to a doctor about it. all your going to get here is a bunch of random theories. just IMO something is obviously not right

eazy_

congrats on getting started. good luck on your journey. feel free to add me, I log everyday and will be encouraging.

I suggest you eat your TDEE minus 20%. http://www.fitnessfrog.com/calculators/tdee-calculator.html

bio01979

peanut or nut butters, avocado, any healthy fats. swimming is very good for a body in pain. walking is good also but sometimes even that is too much. you are probably eating way under what you should be.

lol yes swimming is good, I have trouble with it though because I find it hard to go easy when swimming (I swam competively for 15 years) and it sometimes causes pain issues lol

bio01979

yeah, they haven't found anything I just made my diary public so you can see what I am eating the last 2 days, today is pretty typical for me

I have hypoglycemia (have since I was a kid) though I get it less when I was eating only twice a day, I get it more often when I try to eat small things every 3 hours. and they can't even find the cause of that and all of my blood tests come back normal.

I agree this isn't normal and I am at my wits end pretty much lol.

So frustrating, especially since I am used to having an elite athlete physique and being that active

jennmalport

I am here because I have tried it all. I had great success a few years ago by eating basically no carbs and exercise daily. I lost almost 60 lbs. Slowly but surely, I have regained all but about 25. I am probably 25 to 30 lbs over-weight, or at least over what I would feel comfortable being. I have tried weight watchers, atkins, 17 day diet... blah, blah, blah.
Once I signed up here, I realized (as my sister has been telling me all along) I am eating way too FEW calories each day. When this program first recommended 1200 calories for me I was not excited, and thought I would be starving. After a few days of tracking however, eating pretty much as I normally would, I find that I am lacking calories. And to top it all off, I get calories back when I workout! I am a lttle frustrated, I must admit. But, I plan to stick with this and hope to see some results. Not too quickly, but not too slow. So, thats that.
I guess my question is if I should consume the bulk of my calories as early in the day as possible, or keep a steady stream of calories going all day. (?)
Thanks