Scared to Raise My Calorie Intake

NekoneMeowMixx

At least I was...

A few months ago, my daily calorie intake goal was set to 1,400. Sometimes I went over, but I tried to stay right at or below that number, thinking a deficit would help me drop below 140. I was near-constantly lethargic; rarely had the energy to work out or do much else with myself...


November 2014; 145 pounds; Calorie Intake: 1,400

(Clearly those calories weren't always coming from the right places, either...)

Fast forward to ~March of this year. After being harshly reprimanded for my idea that "more calories = more fat", I decided to up my calories to 1,600. It was a small enough step that it was tolerable, but I was still terrified that I would start adding on pounds. I joined a gym and went very sporadically.


March 2015; ~133 pounds; Calorie Intake: 1,600

I was happily surprised that my tummy had shrunk and my thighs didn't quite rub together as much, even without the physical effort of exercise. I decided to start Stronglifts 5x5, but still, I was hesitant to increase my calories again. I decided to give it a few more weeks at 1,600 and see where I wound up.


May 2015; 135 pounds; Calorie Intake: 1,600

The scale hadn't budged much, but I didn't really notice since I was more focused on the obvious (to me at least) NSV. I felt tighter, stronger- I was amped.

I started Jamie Eason's 12 Week Live Fit on June 1st, and will be entering my 3rd week of the program tomorrow. I find that I'm hungrier more often, but I fuel my body with better foods and I'm seeing the results first hand. According to my Fitbit I'm burning an average of 2,000 calories a day. Considering I work a desk job and this program has had me on 3 rest days/week (which is driving me insane!) I was pretty impressed. Today I decided to bump my calories up to 1,800 (eating back what I burn in my workouts) and I will likely continue to raise it as I continue to see results.

tl;dr

Ladies. I know that a lot of us are scared about "getting big" if we eat too many calories. I've been there myself, and I still get a little panicky when I decide to up my calories. In reality, I could probably be eating 2,000+ calories a day and be fine (or even seeing better results). People can tell you how much to eat until they're blue in the face, but only you know your body. TRUST IT! I promise if you take the plunge and make the dedication to eating healthy and busting your *kitten*, you will reach your goals!

TrailBlazinMN

Great post. I believe so many women underestimate how many calories they need to be eating. You are right that you could probably eat 2,000 calories and be just fine. Since you seem like an open-minded person, I thought you would enjoy reading this:

https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/a-calorie-is-sometimes-not-a-calorie

professionalHobbyist

Great story for anyone to learn from.

Well done!

SideSteel

First and foremost I congrats to you, you're doing well.

And I do appreciate the intent of this post but I have some opinions on this --

You're not just increasing your intake without making other changes. You also added in gym training as you made increases to energy intake. And that's fine, but that's an important piece to mention.

While it's true that some people could get away with increasing calorie targets, many people actually can't.

I'd also add that sometimes (IMO often) when people make increases to energy intake they tend to improve diet adherence and it can also close the gap between how much they think they eat and how much they actually eat. So in short you can see scenarios where in the beginning someone logs 1400 calories but eats 1800 calories and then they increase their goal to 1700 calories and they eat 1700 calories.

Then you also have the likelihood of additional calories increasing thermogenesis through NEAT and through more productive exercise.

I do think that "eat more, move more" is a good idea, and it sounds to me like that's what you've done here.

JoRocka

I think it's a valuable lesson to learn that you have flexibility with calories- you're body will easily assimilate 100 calories without to much of a problem- especially if you are doing ANY sort of exercise.

So getting over that oh I ate an extra 100-200 calories thing- really can go a long way.

NekoneMeowMixx

@TrailBlazinMN -- Thanks for the friend request, and the article! I loved the "annoying friend who keeps stealing french fries off your plate" reference... xD

@professionalHobbyist -- I'm hoping girls who were in my position will have a look at this and learn from MY mistake, and not wait so long to trust the process!

@SideSteel -- Thanks, and you raise a lot of valid points. My point I was trying to get across was that if you're going to be lifting, you need to fuel your body accordingly. I didn't quite get that across as clearly as I had wanted to, and I definitely didn't take into consideration some of the points you bring up. I'm quickly finding out that getting in shape (especially when it comes to the nutrition aspect) is a huge balancing act (as the first linked article suggests). I guess the main point I want to share at the end of the day, is to listen to and trust your body, because it knows best. Looking forward to future results!

NekoneMeowMixx

JoRocka wrote: »

I think it's a valuable lesson to learn that you have flexibility with calories- you're body will easily assimilate 100 calories without to much of a problem- especially if you are doing ANY sort of exercise.

So getting over that oh I ate an extra 100-200 calories thing- really can go a long way.

Definitely. I'm trying to use my calorie intake goal as a rough guideline, and focus more on getting my macros in and eating often enough and enough food to keep me sated without feeling "stuffed". If I'm hungry, I'm going to eat- end of story. But I'm going to make sure what I'm eating is going to help me work towards my goals- not against them.

Basically it's the realization of "I get to lift heavy and eat a lot? This is beautiful!" And really, who doesn't want that? :P