I'm afraid I'm damaging my body

MonsoonStorm

Ame_ly wrote: »

TheVirgoddess wrote: »

I'd recommend increasing your calories slowly, 50-100 calories a week. Take it nice and slow, so if you start gaining too fast, you can pull back a bit (but frankly I think you still have a ways to go until that happens). Continue with your strength training (are you doing a program?). If your goal is to gain muscle, you're going to have to eat more

I also think it might be worth it to talk to someone (like a therapist) about how you view yourself and what your goals are. It can't hurt, right?

Thanks for the recommendation, it's kinda what I'm trying to do but I think I tried to add too much too fast. 100 cal more every week seems a bit too much, I'll 50 without being to restrictive. I mean I'll try to hit 1,350 and if I'm a LITTLE it behind or above that I won't freak out.

Yes my goal is to gain muscle! I'm working with a professional trainer but I'm pretty sure he has no idea how little I'm really eating. So far he said I have good progress, lots of strength for someone who weights as little as I do but he mentioned I kinda lose energy mid workout. I have a program he made for me that I follow and he somtimes changes it a little. Since last month(where I gained like 1kg) I've actually got a few comments on my legs and someone even said my shoulders seem bigger , but I dont really see it.

I know I could use talking with someone about this, but I'd hate to give my parents a reason to worry even more about me so Id rather not.

I understand you wanting to do this, however, you are currently eating 1.2k per week. A poster said above that they reckon you need 1.9k per week to maintain. That means you will be potentially below maintenance (and thus losing whilst gaining little to no muscle) for another 14 weeks (4 months) before you manage to get there. You've gone for the "fix" that someone has given you that will allow you to stay in this state the longest, despite worrying that you are damaging your body.

I think you should be paying more attention to what Springfield said and focus on changing your outlook/mental attitude, with the help of a professional if necessary.

I also disagree regarding what one poster said regarding lack of periods being healthy. Yes, this will happen to female athletes, but you can be damn sure they aren't living on 1.2k/day.

Tell your personal trainer how little you eat. It's kind of important.

spyro88

Hi Ame. Well I am not an expert but I'm just going to give you some common sense advice which you can take or leave It sounds to me like you are stressing about this a lot. It sounds like you are doing loads of physical activity, and that should be plenty enough to maintain your weight at your age without you needing to worry too much about restricting calories. 1,200 calories a day and that much physical activity.... well, you will either continue to lose weight or certainly won't be able to gain much muscle and strength... it's simple science.

If you want to be stronger, you need to feed your body, not deprive it. The average woman (who is not trying to lose weight) needs 2000 calories a day, and that is on a normal level of physical activity. Your current intake is just over half of this and you are pushing your body even further with all the exercise. You will be running on empty Ame.

I know that this maybe isn't what you want to hear, but really, I do think it is possible to get very hung up on calories. At your age, you have a high metabolism. It's great that you are focussing on exercise and building muscle, so why not have that as your main focus for a while and not worry too much about calorie counting for now? Just try and keep it healthy and you could still log what you eat, but don't make it a major concern? It's a mentality shift and I know it's not easy but I think it could really help you to try and relax a little when it comes to food.

You could try it for say 2 weeks and see how it goes. Eat what you want within reason, just eat when you're hungry, listen to your body's needs. It's going against your common sense because you'll be thinking "But I can't eat what I want - I'll put on weight and be fat!"... but actually, bodies need good, nutritious food just as much as they need exercise. You wouldn't try to drive your car with no gas/ petrol.

My advice is, for 2 weeks, don't restrict yourself with food AND of course, don't stuff yourself either, just eat things you know are healthy, when you want them, not based on how many calories they have. You are very unlikely to gain fat because of the amount of exercise you are doing. And you will have enough sustenance in your body to build some strength and muscle, because you won't be depriving yourself. You will feel stronger and more energetic, more able to do all of this physical activity because you are not making your body run on less than it needs. And don't forget if you do gain weight it could be muscle. It's not all bad.

I know this sounds extreme because you have been so used to counting calories and not I am saying, IGNORE it. It's hard to do. But I think it's what you need to do, just to shift your mentality away from it for a little while. Give yourself a break from counting calories and trust yourself to know what foods are healthy (and filling!) based on your judgement. You know that anyway.

And if it doesn't work for you, 2 weeks is not going to be hard to recover from. It could be an interesting experiment for you and if it works it could totally take the pressure off for you with food. What do you think?

That's just my advice anyway, as I said you can take it or leave it Good luck whatever you do