Eating more and trying to lose weight

kalrosie394

I am 5'1" and 18 yeas old (female). I have a past with disordered eating and severely restricted my calories down about a 1 1/2 years ago and lost a lot of weight. After I gained it all back eating around 1400-1700 (I know, too low but I did it without doctors was very uneducated), I got scared and cut my calories again. I was maintaining my weight for a while on 600 cals a day but then started to gain, so I dropped them by 100 (I know this is an unhealthy mindset, I now have a recovery team helping me with this). No weight loss but I decided I wanted to get fit. My trainer told me I needed to raise my calories in order to build any muscle so within the last 3 months I raised them up to 1200. The problem is that I have gained about 10-12 pounds on an already healthy weight body. My trainer says some of it is water/muscle/a little bit of fat, but it is still very scary to me. I lost about a month of working out due to an injury on my ankle, but within the last month I have increased my exercise and changed it to be less weight lifting and more high-intensity training/cardio. I still have around 500 cals to add to my diet to reach my TDEE, but I want to know...
Is it normal to gain weight like this adding calories to my diet?
Will I gain a lot more adding this next chunk of calories?
When will I start to lose again? And will I be able to maintain on a higher amount?
I am feeling very puffy and bloated and dense. I am searching to finally feel confident in my body and abilities after years of hiding.

aub6689

You need to put away the scale and eat a healthy amount. You are on a slippery slope of hurting your metabolism by underfeeding your body. You need to eat at least 1200 calories for a while to let your body get used to you feeding it so that your metabolism can adjust and use more calories in daily function. Also exercise is great and lifting will help shape your body so that any weight loss is fat not muscle. Being dense is good, dense is muscle! It is clear from this post that you have some form of body dysmorphia. Getting fit requires feeding your body so you can perform. Please work with professionals to get to a healthy pattern of eating. I wish you best of luck.

kshama2001

Have your trainer speak to your recovery team. It's very unlikely your trainer is actually qualified to give specific nutrition advice.

However, my scale went up seven pounds when I started lifting weights again last fall, and it did take a few weeks for that water weight to come back off.

Also, where are you in your menstrual cycle? Could the puffiness be due to being premenstrual?

tonkacrew3

Please be careful and just eat healthy foods! I have dealt with an eating disorder in the past. I got myself down under 100lbs. VERY, VERY, VERY unhealthy! While I was focusing on that number on the scale, I caused heart and kidney damage that I am still dealing with 20 years later. Just throw that scale out the window and eat healthy foods, drink the recommended daily amount of water and exercise according to your health coach's recommendations. Everything else will fall into place after that. Besides...we, as women, need to realize that beauty comes from who we are on the inside...not what others see or don't see on the outside.

shank35l

kalrosie394 wrote: »

I was maintaining my weight for a while on 600 cals a day but then started to gain, so I dropped them by 100 (I know this is an unhealthy mindset, I now have a recovery team helping me with this).

Seek more help from your recovery team.

kalrosie394 wrote: »

No weight loss but I decided I wanted to get fit. My trainer told me I needed to raise my calories in order to build any muscle so within the last 3 months I raised them up to 1200. The problem is that I have gained about 10-12 pounds on an already healthy weight body. My trainer says some of it is water/muscle/a little bit of fat, but it is still very scary to me.

Raise them up more, period. You need gains and you need them badly. Where you are in recovery, and given this post, that's debatable, you need to be eating more calories, and more protein and carbs even. Your body needs workout fuel and from what I've read you are not getting nearly enough.

kalrosie394 wrote: »

I lost about a month of working out due to an injury on my ankle, but within the last month I have increased my exercise and changed it to be less weight lifting and more high-intensity training/cardio.

You are doing it wrong. Flip that whole thing you just said right around on it's head. You need more weight lifting and less cardio. I'm going to take a wild guess here and say that you likely injured your ankle because you lack the muscle to support your body. The road you show us is one where at best you are extremely skinny, with advanced cachexia, and likely to suffer from SCD. 3 days you lift and 2 days you do HIIT, and you eat like a powerlifter. That's stable and will get you out of the danger zone.

kalrosie394 wrote: »

Is it normal to gain weight like this adding calories to my diet?
Will I gain a lot more adding this next chunk of calories?
When will I start to lose again? And will I be able to maintain on a higher amount?
I am feeling very puffy and bloated and dense. I am searching to finally feel confident in my body and abilities after years of hiding.

Yes it is normal, your body, which you've abused, is trying to adjust. It will pass. At this point it sounds like you need gains, not loss.