Some Advice please?

peanutbutteraddict1

I don't often post in these forums but could really use some advice.
Im almost 20 years old, 5'5 and weigh around 109ish pounds.
I am not really sure how much I should be eating to maintain my current weight/maybe put on a little bit of weight.(Really cannot afford to lose any weight at this point.)
Setting an activity level and logging exercise is really confusing me. I'm usually a typical lazy student and so do not do much exercise throughout the day except maybe shopping, walking my dogs, walking up and down stairs ect, but I have a job as a part-time waitress and work 6 hour shifts 3-4 times a week. Not sure how much I should be eating? I don't trust my appetite to because i have struggled with obsessive/disordered eating in the past... ideas? Thank you !
oh and I do have a dietician, but the waitressing is a new thing and so I am worried about unintentionally losing weight.

azulvioleta6

I don't have any great advice for you as I have never been in a similar situation.

I wonder if having a Fitbit or other tracker could help encourage you to eat enough? It calculates BMR, adds in how much you have burned by taking steps and tells you how many calories can you can potentially eat each day. This might keep you from going too low on food consumption.

kmcenery117

Once you start tracking your weight and what your eating every day you should hopefully be able to see how many calories a day you need to eat in order to maintain your current weight and then once you have that figured out you can start increasing your daily calories to put on weight.

sijomial

My advice would be to not spend too much time trying to figure out activity levels!
It's just a start point and you may need to make adjustments based on results after a few weeks anyway.
Have a stab at estimating the calorie needs of your waitressing and simply custom set your goal - be a little generous with your estimate if losing weight is the least desired outcome.

nxd10

If you get an inexpensive $5 pedometer, it will help you gauge activity. Many students bounce around a lot. If you feel more adventurous, buy a $40 fitbit zip (on ebay) that will sync with your computer or phone. It will give you extra calories when you exercise more and won't give you extra calories when you don't.

If you just get a pedometer, fewer than 3500 steps is just baseline. 6000 steps is around 300 extra calories and light activity. 10,000 steps is around 650. (at least for me). I'm not a student, but I am a professor and I run around a lot, but without going for a walk specifically to exercise, I won't get 10,0000 steps, and I walk to work.

peanutbutteraddict1

thank you very much for all the advice- tracking my steps seems like a great idea! guess only time will tell too- not going to let this stress me out too much:) does 1700ish calories a day seem about right as a starting point?

VeryKatie

Since we're the same height, I think my maintenance at 125 is supposed to be 1800 - 1900 (which is higher than you suggested. I only do very light exercise, easily less than you. So you're unlikely to gain much at 1700 - though you might a little since you're underweight).

My suggestion would be to find a calculator (such as the Scooby Calculator) and punch in the weight you want to be (since you're trying to gain). Then set it to maintain (or lose fat/build muscle as they put it, even though it really just mean to maintain your weight). It will output a TDEE (make sure you put at least active I think, since you're a waitress). Then... the theory is you'll gain weight up to the weight you want to be and already be at maintenance for that weight. Just my random thoughts.

So I just punched your *current* stats into the Scooby Calculator and to MAINTAIN your weight as moderately active (which I think is appropriate considering your waitressing job) you'd have to eat 2073 calories a day.

If you're looking to gain weight, you need to eat more. I'd suggest either 2115 per day (which is maintenance at 115 lbs, the bare minimum for a 5' 6" woman) OR at 2323 a day which should theoretically have you gaining 0.5 lb per week (2 lbs a month). You could definitely go higher/faster than that.

peanutbutteraddict1

thank you for your advice- that is a fantastic suggestion I like that idea alot! Will certainly focus on eating more from now going forward. 2100 seems like a lot of food though haha, will have to start upping my intake slowly.

terbusha

Don’t even bother with inputing your activity level. I’m a practical guy. If I’m losing weight at the calorie level I’m eating at, I add 100-200 calories to my daily intake and hold that for 2 weeks. I then *kitten* my progress. If I have lost more weight, I add more and hold that for 2 weeks. That accounts for your average caloric expenditure without having to figure out how many calories you’re burning through. Make sense?