Why am I gaining on a calorie deficit?
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MGHuf
Posts: 2 Member
Two years ago I weight 160lbs (5'5"). I went on the dukan diet (ketosis) and lost 40lbs in mere months. I remained on the diet and restricted my calorie intake up until currently from 2000, 1500, 1000, 700, 300, skipping meals (yes I realized I had developed a problem at 107lbs after doing this for 9 months) to now 700-1000 calories a day (splurging on the weekends). I have increased my calories to where there's still a deficit (averaging around 1200 a day) while maintaining physical exercise (burning 600 a day on top of the metabolic rate). I've noticed I am gaining weight with the deficit. I understand after years of "starving my body" my metabolism has decreased and my body had adjusted to the restricted intake. Now that I am eating around 1000-1200 a day and exercising when will my body adjust and I stop gaining weight? Please respond with facts and not with judgement.
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Replies
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How accurate have you been with your logging, and how much time has passed where you have been 'gaining'?
And may I ask your current weight, for a more complete view of your current frame? I know that feel on the food issues. So hard.0 -
How long have you been exercising and eating a 1200 calorie diet? What are your current stats?
No judging, we all struggle with something. so can you open your diary? are you weighing your food?1 -
yeah sounds like there is a chance of metabolic damage. how long have you been eating 1000-1200 cals and how much have you gained.
more importantly though, have you thought about seeking professional help for your eating disorder?9 -
DO NOT continue with this diet plan. You are potentially damaging your bodies metabolism eating such a low caloric amount.
I would look into seeing a dietitian. You need to figure out a healthy amount of calories and excersice. It wouldn't hurt to see a doc as well and make sure nothing serious is going on, like blood sugar issues.
The human body is designed to consume a certain amount. It varies from person to person but 1300 is generally considered the basement. Anything under for extended periods of time can seriously cause health problems. 700 could put you in the hospital if you aren't careful.4 -
Really no one can tell you when you will recover from this. Potential long term damage may be done, however there are many that have recovered with a lot of time and not only the mental aspect but from the physical/medical standpoint.
Have you been to a doctor for some blood work? Have you asked your doctor on the best approach for continuing with exercise and recommendations for getting back to your "real maintain" calories (this could take quite a while to do)?
And just know that even though you think this is still a "deficit", you have reached a new norm in which your maintain calories are much less than what you are eating now, hense you should get some medical advice.
My questions are, how are you measuring your intake? Food scale? How much weight have you gained back as a result of this?0 -
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Metabolic damage springs to mind. Estimate your maintenance and eat about 85-90% of this until your weight normalises. Also go and see a doctor or professional about your disordered thinking.5
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Two years ago I weight 160lbs (5'5"). I went on the dukan diet (ketosis) and lost 40lbs in mere months. I remained on the diet and restricted my calorie intake up until currently from 2000, 1500, 1000, 700, 300, skipping meals (yes I realized I had developed a problem at 107lbs after doing this for 9 months) to now 700-1000 calories a day (splurging on the weekends). I have increased my calories to where there's still a deficit (averaging around 1200 a day) while maintaining physical exercise (burning 600 a day on top of the metabolic rate). I've noticed I am gaining weight with the deficit. I understand after years of "starving my body" my metabolism has decreased and my body had adjusted to the restricted intake. Now that I am eating around 1000-1200 a day and exercising when will my body adjust and I stop gaining weight? Please respond with facts and not with judgement.
Assuming you're not miscalculating (are you weighing and measuring food?), have your thyroid levels checked. And make sure the test looks for antibodies because if you have Hashimoto's, your TSH can be perfectly normal depending on where you are in the cycle.
I had exactly this happen and it went on for years because I had awful doctors who ignored my symptoms and blood work, but it turns out I had Hashi's and was gaining weight while eating 1,000 calories a day AND exercising.0 -
What does your doctor recommend?2
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In your post you say you are 107lbs-why are you trying to continue to lose weight?9
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5'5 and 107? Gaining weight should be your goal9
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Two years ago I weight 160lbs (5'5"). I went on the dukan diet (ketosis) and lost 40lbs in mere months. I remained on the diet and restricted my calorie intake up until currently from 2000, 1500, 1000, 700, 300, skipping meals (yes I realized I had developed a problem at 107lbs after doing this for 9 months) to now 700-1000 calories a day (splurging on the weekends). I have increased my calories to where there's still a deficit (averaging around 1200 a day) while maintaining physical exercise (burning 600 a day on top of the metabolic rate). I've noticed I am gaining weight with the deficit. I understand after years of "starving my body" my metabolism has decreased and my body had adjusted to the restricted intake. Now that I am eating around 1000-1200 a day and exercising when will my body adjust and I stop gaining weight? Please respond with facts and not with judgement.
Assuming you're not miscalculating (are you weighing and measuring food?), have your thyroid levels checked. And make sure the test looks for antibodies because if you have Hashimoto's, your TSH can be perfectly normal depending on where you are in the cycle.
I had exactly this happen and it went on for years because I had awful doctors who ignored my symptoms and blood work, but it turns out I had Hashi's and was gaining weight while eating 1,000 calories a day AND exercising.
She's 5'5 and 107. Probably not low thyroid1 -
You recognize that your extended period of severely restricting your caloric intake has caused metabolic damage. Another way of saying that is that you forced your NEAT to decline. A mild case of such damage is often corrected with just a couple of weeks of eating at a slight surplus. However, your description of your experience seems to be a severe case of such damage. I mean to say, this looks like Biggest Loser damage, in which cases we don't yet know how long it takes to correct the damage. The '3500 calories = 1 lb fat' no longer applies in your case, and we don't know what does.
What is your weight today? You seem to realize that 107 was too low, and indeed it is too low for 5'5", but what do you weigh today?0 -
trigden1991 wrote: »Metabolic damage springs to mind. Estimate your maintenance and eat about 85-90% of this until your weight normalises. Also go and see a doctor or professional about your disordered thinking.
this ...
and any "gain" you are seeing would be glycogen replenishment from eating more calories, or as you say "binging on the weekends"0 -
The calculators for maintenance assume you haven't wrecked your metabolism through long-term restriction.
You're gaining because you convinced your body that you were living through a medieval-style famine and every hormone and neurotransmitter in your body are now working in unison to keep you from dying.0 -
The calculators for maintenance assume you haven't wrecked your metabolism through long-term restriction.
You're gaining because you convinced your body that you were living through a medieval-style famine and every hormone and neurotransmitter in your body are now working in unison to keep you from dying.
No. That is not how it works.4 -
Are you still 107lbs?0
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The calculators for maintenance assume you haven't wrecked your metabolism through long-term restriction.
You're gaining because you convinced your body that you were living through a medieval-style famine and every hormone and neurotransmitter in your body are now working in unison to keep you from dying.
This is just dead wrong2 -
Wait just to clarify - you are eating 1000-1200 calories a day and then exercising and burning 600 calories, (so 400-600 net calories) or are your net calories (after exercise) 1000-1200 a day?1
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