What should I do?

AshFace22

Doctor said that I should at least be eating 2300 calories a day based on my lifestyle. I'm 22 years old, 5'11'', I work out and strength train 4 days a week and rest for the remaining 3. My job is fairly easy, as I work front desk at a hotel. I try to move around as much as I can, but it's mostly sitting behind a desk on a computer. Myfitnesspal even said I should be eating 2300 calories a day to maintain as well as my doctor. My problem is I'm deathly terrified of gaining weight again, I spent a long time losing and getting to where I'm at now (as you can tell in my profile picture) but when I do my research about 'how to figure out your maintenance calories' I always get the number '2085' or somewhere around that range. I also cannot stop losing weight, I just can't figure out my true maintenance! My body gets hungry some days and when I don't have any more calories left for the day I just don't eat, but I heard that if you're hungry, then eat! But I don't want the extra calories to be stored as fat in my body and I slowly start gaining again simply because of the wrong information. Help?

janjunie

You gave your age and height, but not your weight so it's hard to say much else other than listen to your doctor.

RightTrackBaby

You won't gain a lot in such a short amount of time. Listen to your body when you're hungry, eat intuitively. Your doctor knows what he/she is talking about. If you're feeling bloated due to something you've been eating, then cut back.

bkstein40

You should listen to your doctor, but is the 2300 gross or net calories. I run 4 days a week/walk 2/true rest 1 day a week. When I plug in the numbers for myself on MFP I do set my goal as sedentary as I to work from an office everyday, but I also am training for a marathon in August. I have really come to learn from MFP that I can gross anywhere from 1800-2200 a day and net 1200-1600 to maintain. One thing you may want to try is if you feel hungry is drink a glass of water wait 15-20 minutes and if your tummy is still growling you are probably hungry. But you may also just be dehydrated. What's weird for me is that on my run days I seem to eat less and on my Friday true rest day I am hungrier. Anyways the best thing about MFP is that you can find your middle ground to help you maintain. By the way you look amazing, great job on your lifestyle journey!

CharlieBeansmomTracey

AshFace22 wrote: »

Doctor said that I should at least be eating 2300 calories a day based on my lifestyle. I'm 22 years old, 5'11'', I work out and strength train 4 days a week and rest for the remaining 3. My job is fairly easy, as I work front desk at a hotel. I try to move around as much as I can, but it's mostly sitting behind a desk on a computer. Myfitnesspal even said I should be eating 2300 calories a day to maintain as well as my doctor. My problem is I'm deathly terrified of gaining weight again, I spent a long time losing and getting to where I'm at now (as you can tell in my profile picture) but when I do my research about 'how to figure out your maintenance calories' I always get the number '2085' or somewhere around that range. I also cannot stop losing weight, I just can't figure out my true maintenance! My body gets hungry some days and when I don't have any more calories left for the day I just don't eat, but I heard that if you're hungry, then eat! But I don't want the extra calories to be stored as fat in my body and I slowly start gaining again simply because of the wrong information. Help?

you wont gain unless you go over your maintenance calories. since mfp said 2300 calories then try that for awhile, if you are still losing up it by 100 a week.if gaining then drop it some. if not losing or gaining anything for a several weeks then you will have your maintenance calories.

are you eating back any of your exercise calories? if not that could be why you are still losing weight(by causing a deficit). you can also look at your weekly calories instead of daily so if you are hungry one day eat if hungry and eat a little less on rest days. so if mfp gave you 2300(2300x7=16,100 calories for the week) calories your weekly would be the 16,100 without exercise. so you want to try and net that 16.100 for the week.

lorrpb

Set a 5 lb maintenance rang. If you get to the too of the range, stop your calories by 200 til you get back to the middle. You won't gain the weight back instantly.

tomteboda

AshFace22 wrote: »

I also cannot stop losing weight, I just can't figure out my true maintenance! My body gets hungry some days and when I don't have any more calories left for the day I just don't eat, but I heard that if you're hungry, then eat! But I don't want the extra calories to be stored as fat in my body and I slowly start gaining again simply because of the wrong information. Help?

1. If you're still losing weight, you aren't eating enough. Eat more to maintain
2. It sounds like you've developed a lot of anxiety related to food and eating. It might be wise to have a chat with a nutritionist, and another with a counsellor.