Help please!

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miratps
miratps Posts: 141 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I'm a male in his mid twenties around 5'6/5'7 tall.

So I reached my goal weight/range but having trouble finding my calories. In 7 months I dropped quite a considerable amount of weight (currently around 60kg) through aggressive calorie counting (1200 most days) and a hell of a lot of exercise.

Since reaching my goal (a few weeks ago) I don't know what to do. I thought it would be easy but my lack of 'end game' planning has hurt. My obsessive exercising has remained obsessive even though I do not enjoy it (I've switched from cycling to running). I know exercise is for fitness but I do not want to do it for hours every day or wake up at 3:30 each morning so I can hit a certain calorie number on my FitBit by the time I hit work. I'd like to be able to do some exercise just a couple times a week and move on.

But that's only one half, the other half is the calories. I tend to eat most my calories at night and is currently at 1200-1400 range (everything logged and weighed) which is more than what I was obviously losing on. I've gone back to weighing myself daily but have noticed that the numbers are creeping up each morning when I wake up, why? I am still eating less than my BMR and significantly less than my TDEE apparently. Is it because I eat post 7pm and consume most my calories then, go to bed at 9:30/10 and wake up at 3:30am so don't really have time for my body to digest it all?

Essentially, I am trying to find a way of eating a reasonable amount (not being scared of eating a bit more) and exercising less obsessively (I would still end up walking 10k steps a day easy without all the extra stuff I'm doing now). But I'm scared to do even one of them slightly because I see the scale creep up again. Anyone else had something similar?

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  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Figure out your TDEE and ease gradually into it.
  • PennWalker
    PennWalker Posts: 554 Member
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    If you find you are becoming obsessive about tracking, can you take the FitBit and scale away for a while? I would remove them from my house and put them somewhere where I could only use them once a week to see if that changed anything.
  • miratps
    miratps Posts: 141 Member
    edited November 2016
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Figure out your TDEE and ease gradually into it.

    My BMR is supposidly around 1600 or so and my TDEE for sedentary is 1900 or so but according to my FitBit and it's a minimum 2600 a day but I never go anywhere near that. I don't even go near 1800 still!

    As daft as it may sound considering it's such a low amount, I did try and ease my way back in through upping to 1200 and then eating anything (ice creams or whatever I fancied) after dinner to make sure I hit that amount at least. I never restricted my 'junk food' during weight loss so it's not like it's new but I am now using them as a way of making sure I hit a minimum 1200 and tend to basically be eating till 30/45 mins before i sleep.
    PennWalker wrote: »
    If you find you are becoming obsessive about tracking, can you take the FitBit and scale away for a while? I would remove them from my house and put them somewhere where I could only use them once a week to see if that changed anything.

    I put the scale away for a while but now that I've gone back to measuring myself in the last couple days I am worried I see the numbers creeping up and think 'glad I saw it now'. Maybe it is also because I lost so much weight, got used to how I looked I think any physical change for the worse (more chubby anywhere) is a concern - and that's actually why I brought the scale back out. I felt my face and stomach were getting slightly larger than they were before.

    But again, it doesn't make sense why. It's hardly like I'm eating a crazy amount and the exercise is still way over the top. I do not understand why the scale is going up - only thing I can think of is the eating time and lack of time to digest? So when I weigh myself in the morning I haven't lost any water etc.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    You clearly have some disordered thinking! As a first step I would suggest eating 1800 at least. Then work your way up to your predicted maintenance asap. 1200cals for a male is too low.
  • miratps
    miratps Posts: 141 Member
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    trigden1991 wrote: »
    You clearly have some disordered thinking! As a first step I would suggest eating 1800 at least. Then work your way up to your predicted maintenance asap. 1200cals for a male is too low.

    Oh I know, it's not something I am proud of either. Would you suggest I jump up asasp or as progression and would it be a case of 'less' exercise too? It may not be runs etc. but I would still daily get 10-15k steps minimum if I took away running and just did a bit of a longer walk on occasions.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    miratps wrote: »
    trigden1991 wrote: »
    You clearly have some disordered thinking! As a first step I would suggest eating 1800 at least. Then work your way up to your predicted maintenance asap. 1200cals for a male is too low.

    Oh I know, it's not something I am proud of either. Would you suggest I jump up asasp or as progression and would it be a case of 'less' exercise too? It may not be runs etc. but I would still daily get 10-15k steps minimum if I took away running and just did a bit of a longer walk on occasions.

    The immediate priority should be to get your calories above your BMR! Cutting exercise and increasing calories is not a good idea in my opinion as your weight could swing the other way. Keep one factor the same (exercise) and increase calories to a reasonable level.
  • miratps
    miratps Posts: 141 Member
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    trigden1991 wrote: »
    miratps wrote: »
    trigden1991 wrote: »
    You clearly have some disordered thinking! As a first step I would suggest eating 1800 at least. Then work your way up to your predicted maintenance asap. 1200cals for a male is too low.

    Oh I know, it's not something I am proud of either. Would you suggest I jump up asasp or as progression and would it be a case of 'less' exercise too? It may not be runs etc. but I would still daily get 10-15k steps minimum if I took away running and just did a bit of a longer walk on occasions.

    The immediate priority should be to get your calories above your BMR! Cutting exercise and increasing calories is not a good idea in my opinion as your weight could swing the other way. Keep one factor the same (exercise) and increase calories to a reasonable level.

    Thanks. Is there a point I can/should my exercise? How would I know when or is it a pure judgement call...... but as you can see I have a pretty poor record of that at the moment
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
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    miratps wrote: »
    trigden1991 wrote: »
    miratps wrote: »
    trigden1991 wrote: »
    You clearly have some disordered thinking! As a first step I would suggest eating 1800 at least. Then work your way up to your predicted maintenance asap. 1200cals for a male is too low.

    Oh I know, it's not something I am proud of either. Would you suggest I jump up asasp or as progression and would it be a case of 'less' exercise too? It may not be runs etc. but I would still daily get 10-15k steps minimum if I took away running and just did a bit of a longer walk on occasions.

    The immediate priority should be to get your calories above your BMR! Cutting exercise and increasing calories is not a good idea in my opinion as your weight could swing the other way. Keep one factor the same (exercise) and increase calories to a reasonable level.

    Thanks. Is there a point I can/should my exercise? How would I know when or is it a pure judgement call...... but as you can see I have a pretty poor record of that at the moment

    I wouldn't want to comment tbh. I have no medical/professional qualifications in that field. Increase calories until your weight is steady and then reevaluate.
  • miratps
    miratps Posts: 141 Member
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    trigden1991 wrote: »
    miratps wrote: »
    trigden1991 wrote: »
    miratps wrote: »
    trigden1991 wrote: »
    You clearly have some disordered thinking! As a first step I would suggest eating 1800 at least. Then work your way up to your predicted maintenance asap. 1200cals for a male is too low.

    Oh I know, it's not something I am proud of either. Would you suggest I jump up asasp or as progression and would it be a case of 'less' exercise too? It may not be runs etc. but I would still daily get 10-15k steps minimum if I took away running and just did a bit of a longer walk on occasions.

    The immediate priority should be to get your calories above your BMR! Cutting exercise and increasing calories is not a good idea in my opinion as your weight could swing the other way. Keep one factor the same (exercise) and increase calories to a reasonable level.

    Thanks. Is there a point I can/should my exercise? How would I know when or is it a pure judgement call...... but as you can see I have a pretty poor record of that at the moment

    I wouldn't want to comment tbh. I have no medical/professional qualifications in that field. Increase calories until your weight is steady and then reevaluate.

    Thats fair. I just can't currently get over the psychology of eating more though. For example, weather has turned horrible meaning the morning runs and 3:30's are not worth it because I am tired at work and will probably fall ill. I also know I am meeting a friend tomorrow for dinner and drinks so my decision right now? Basically fast for a day and a bit save up all the calories just in case I do no exercise and 'just in case' there are more calories in the food I eat than I think.

    I'll get there but I just need to find a way to jump over what hopefully is the final hurdle

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