Ate waaay below calories for months. HELP!

WanderingPomme

So I'm 26 years old, I'm 113.9lbs, 5'3 in height. Back in October 2012, I was 179lbs. I went on this drastic diet that (I didn't know until I started counting calories recently) puts me to eat below my supposed calorie intake. It put me on a refeeding program which introduced carbs, sugar etc for 2 weeks, so that reintroduced new food to my body. However, now I don't know how to eat normally.

Usually it would be:
Breakfast: Low Fat Yogurt and fruit
Lunch/Dinner: 140g of protein and 160g of vegetables (just with salt and pepper)
Snacks: crackers, fruits (I limit to fruit to like two times a day)

I ended the diet at 115.5lbs, lost some more after.

Now, I do eat out, drink, I've had binges but I always revert to that staple amount of food and I realized when I do, I am eating way below my calories. I am so scared to gain all the weight back. I've been working out since June, doing daily challenges just to ease my body into working out and making it a habit. It has worked though! I have had major lifestyle changes regarding food I choose (Well, on most days! Alcohol leads to bad decisions. LOL) This month, I've tried yoga, pilates, belly dancing, more challenges, having a rest day every after 3 days of working out.

I think I still want to lose a few more lbs, just in case a night makes me gain, makes me comfortable that way. I just don't know how to eat anymore. This makes me sad. I'm scared to eat. The weight loss place I went to gave us guidelines and told us not to count calories. This made me nervous, I needed a basis! After months of weighing my food every day, now I don't have to and I need a gauge.

Now I'm thinking of switching to the Paleo diet. I just want to maintain my weight actually but I'm scared that this diet messed up my hormones and will cause me to be more sensitive to food and thus causing me to gain weight easier. I lost weight and now I'm kind of unhappy with how I am and how weight gains stress me out daily.

I just need help! Maybe someone has gone through this? Low calorie diet for months? How did you cope after? I really don't want to gain the fat anymore.

Squirrel1601

If you feel you need to weigh your meals out then do it. Best way to increase calories is to do so gradually. If you were happy with the foods you were eating, continue with them, just increase quantities.

schnarfo

Not going to lie it is hard but the trick is to build it up gradually and to find a protein shake you like for after workouts

babyluthi

So I'm 26 years old, I'm 113.9lbs, 5'3 in height. Back in October 2012, I was 179lbs. I went on this drastic diet that (I didn't know until I started counting calories recently) puts me to eat below my supposed calorie intake. It put me on a refeeding program which introduced carbs, sugar etc for 2 weeks, so that reintroduced new food to my body. However, now I don't know how to eat normally.

Usually it would be:
Breakfast: Low Fat Yogurt and fruit
Lunch/Dinner: 140g of protein and 160g of vegetables (just with salt and pepper)
Snacks: crackers, fruits (I limit to fruit to like two times a day)

I ended the diet at 115.5lbs, lost some more after.

Now, I do eat out, drink, I've had binges but I always revert to that staple amount of food and I realized when I do, I am eating way below my calories. I am so scared to gain all the weight back. I've been working out since June, doing daily challenges just to ease my body into working out and making it a habit. It has worked though! I have had major lifestyle changes regarding food I choose (Well, on most days! Alcohol leads to bad decisions. LOL) This month, I've tried yoga, pilates, belly dancing, more challenges, having a rest day every after 3 days of working out.

I think I still want to lose a few more lbs, just in case a night makes me gain, makes me comfortable that way. I just don't know how to eat anymore. This makes me sad. I'm scared to eat. The weight loss place I went to gave us guidelines and told us not to count calories. This made me nervous, I needed a basis! After months of weighing my food every day, now I don't have to and I need a gauge.

Now I'm thinking of switching to the Paleo diet. I just want to maintain my weight actually but I'm scared that this diet messed up my hormones and will cause me to be more sensitive to food and thus causing me to gain weight easier. I lost weight and now I'm kind of unhappy with how I am and how weight gains stress me out daily.

I just need help! Maybe someone has gone through this? Low calorie diet for months? How did you cope after? I really don't want to gain the fat anymore.

Cohen's by any chance?

j6o4

If you feel you need to weigh your meals out then do it. Best way to increase calories is to do so gradually. If you were happy with the foods you were eating, continue with them, just increase quantities.

I agree,i would gradually increase calories and still weigh out of my food if i wanted to maintain.

WanderingPomme

Yep, Cohen's. I think it may have effed up my hormones. Lol I'm trying to increase my calories but somewhere I read that if you've eaten way below calories for a while your BMR lowers too. So I don't know which calories to follow. Just so confused.

cdjs77

Like everyone else said, up your calories slowly. However, you probably didn't permanently mess up your metabolism. Your metabolism is pretty flexible. It may adjust downward if you eat well below your recommended calories, but it should adjust back to normal as you slowly up your calories.

fleetzz

Agree with most posters (don't know what Cohen's is)---

slowly increase the calories until you get to a point where you start to gain weight, then back off once you found your ideal weight (113 for 5'3" seems pretty normal to me). Accept fluctuations daily and don't get freaked out because when you added a salty snack you gained 2 lbs overnight.
You can increase the vegetables and actually add some fat (olive oil or whatever), add a piece of fruit , add some nuts, just do so slowly. You can add whole grains.

Keep track of calcium and iron and take supplements if necessary. Track your montly cycle and weight to see how they vary but don't get paranoid, just become educated about your own body.

khannickwechanged

I'm in the same boat. I ate low-calorie for years, and I'm trying to fix that now. It's true that your BMR adjusts to maintain on the low amount of calories, so a gradual increase is key. I'm starting at 1200 and will be adding 100 at a time each week until I reach 1900 or so (my TDEE to maintain). If you do it gradually you shouldn't gain suddenly. You should be able to work up to a higher metabolic setpoint to maintain your weight.

casy84

Yep, Cohen's. I think it may have effed up my hormones. Lol I'm trying to increase my calories but somewhere I read that if you've eaten way below calories for a while your BMR lowers too. So I don't know which calories to follow. Just so confused.

I was at 1200 for many months and slowly upped the cals. As soon as I saw a small weight loss I went up by 100 again and so on. I'm currently at 1500 and didn't gain any weight.

lithezebra

Yep, Cohen's. I think it may have effed up my hormones. Lol I'm trying to increase my calories but somewhere I read that if you've eaten way below calories for a while your BMR lowers too. So I don't know which calories to follow. Just so confused.

Eat at maintenance for your current weight. You can calculate that using MFP. You don't need to increase calories gradually, or eat more than your maintenance calories. Your BMR will recover, and you won't gain, because your body will resume making enzymes and tissues that were deemed expendable when you weren't eating enough.

fleetzz

Googled Cohen's but still couldn't find out what it is.
Educate me? Send a link?

Thanks

Yep, Cohen's. I think it may have effed up my hormones. Lol I'm trying to increase my calories but somewhere I read that if you've eaten way below calories for a while your BMR lowers too. So I don't know which calories to follow. Just so confused.

lithezebra

Googled Cohen's but still couldn't find out what it is.
Educate me? Send a link?

Thanks

Yep, Cohen's. I think it may have effed up my hormones. Lol I'm trying to increase my calories but somewhere I read that if you've eaten way below calories for a while your BMR lowers too. So I don't know which calories to follow. Just so confused.

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/cohen-syndrome

doriharvey

If you don't want to track calories, then it's okay to find out about other methods that will work for your goals but in my opinion the scale alone is not the best measure especially if you tend to weigh daily or freak out over 3-5 pounds either way of your target. I like tracking my calories because it gives me instant feedback and through this I can ensure a nutritional balance. I want to know I had enough fiber, calcium, vitamin A/C, iron, etc. I also want to know in general that I "am in the ballpark" when I am in new food situation like when I am away from home for work or holidays or if I am not, I want to know that too to the best of my ability to log it.

I have experienced years in my life in which I tried to get a feel for food balance, but I found myself struggling with bulemic/ anorexia issues. I worked an extremely strict vegan diet for 7-8 years, but I was a gardener and a cook and had a lifestyle that supported the time involved in making everything myself. I was thin and maintained an active lifestyle. However once I went back to work outside my home and needed to maintain a food budget, this lifestyle was not feasible for me. I quit the lifestyle when I realized that just because coffee, salted peanuts, potato chips, and protein bars can be vegan doesn't mean they are providing the nutrition and energy I need to maintain the demands of my work and social circles. Then I started dealing with another health issue that I am working to ensure I can continue to accomplish what I want from life physically, mentally, spiritually, financially, and emotionally.

I have seen a eating program that encourages people to eat when you feel hungry, take a small bite of the best part of the steak if you want steak, and don't worry about calories. When I do these things I constantly have food as a focus and let me body and the way it feels have to much say. For example, my body feels constantly hungry for four - five days every three weeks, even when I eat I still feel that I am ravenous. I need to mentally be able to realize that this is that time of month and I am not hungry, it is just the yucky way I feel. I have found foods (soy proteins) that make this time manageable and minimize the out of control feeling. On the opposite extreme when eating this way I also find I do tend to under eat as I keep checking to see if I really feel hungry, I get to the point of dizzy spells, low blood pressure, not enough energy to accomplish the physical demands place on my body, and there are times I can need nourishment but cover it up with water.

I also don't like "points" because an ice cream bar can be 2 points, but if I eat two in the same setting it will add up to seven.... I can get to many calories and am basing my decisions of information that does not give me the facts I need to make a good decision for me. For me a good decision considers that I don't want to be hunched over with osteoporosis, I want to be properly nourished physically, and I tend to be highly sensitive emotionally so that food balance or lack there of seems to impact me with tears, flushed skin, and being drained completely or the opposite of nervous energy.

I also want to be able to afford the food I choose for a diet. I want to be able to go places for work and socially without having to prepare so much food to take with me (which I often don't have time for) or to the opposite of expecting that some else be considerate of my dietary choices .... I want my social occasions to be about who is there and the purpose of the get together, I do not want to tell everyone about my latest and greatest dietary restriction. I used to carry protein bars, my own meals in a baggie, and it got to the point that the introvert I am am got tired of well meaning people asking about my dietary preferences that I would disappear during time of eating so I didn't have to deal with it.... that's not exactly healthy either.

So far my experience really likes the black and white facts that food/ calorie tracking here offers. I love that for 60 days I can look at a bar chart that shows me how much iron, calcium, fiber, vitamins.... I learned my multivitamin wasn't offering enough iron and that I regularly did not get enough calcium. I learned that my metabolism is probably higher than the calories MFP set for me when I set the goal of 1 pound every two weeks (because I saw the numbers on the scale moving faster over a four week period of time). I learned that MFP activity calculators probably overestimate my calories burned from an activity... but then I'm not sure because I see inches gone when weight stays the same. This kind of knowledge gives me power and lets me make "educated" changes.

I suppose if I was so into tracking calories and it was giving me negative consequences and impacting my ability to function at my job or within my family / social circles... that is another issue that needs to be dealt with but my post is already long enough.

Ultimately I think if you are concerned and want the freedom of knowing are you within your target calories/ nutrition consumption or not only tracking gives that. Perhaps, investing in one of those fit bits that can give you information about your activity and general calorie consumption can really give you the tools you need for maintenance like you are looking for and can eat calories to ensure you are not eating more than you are consuming.

WanderingPomme

Here's the Cohen diet:

http://www.1stpersonaldiet.com/international-contact.php
http://www.cohensdiet.com/Our-Brochure.html

The thing is, they gave me this maintenance guideline and told me not to count calories. Like max protein a day would be an egg, 50g cheese 200g yogurt for breakfast and for lunch max of 160g protein and 200g veggies, dinner, 170g protein and 200 veggies. There's a list of veggies too, not all should be consumed. As well as fruits. Limit of 2 fruits a day. And wheat crackers. I find it hard to fit that all in into my calories. If I eat within their guidelines, I'm always below my caloric intake for the day. After my carb binge, I'm taking it easy today. No carbs aside from fruit and veggies. I'm full from lunch but it was only 310 cals. I'm still thinking of what to eat to reach my calorie intake for the day which is within their rules. I will try increasing weekly! I only find it hard to estimate calorie intake when I eat out.

Thank you for all the replies. I will definitely follow your advice. To all those in the same boat, thank you for sharing! I knew you guys would understand and will be able to help me with this matter. It's completely been frustrating me which guidelines to follow. Still finding a way to incorporate the two and find middle ground. I'm such a noob!