Regained 6 pounds in 3 weeks?... and avoiding the freshman 15!

eardabac18

So I lost 29 pounds but gained 6 back in 3 weeks after cutting my running mileage by half and eating more. I was eating 1300 calories and running 130 miles monthly, and I went up to 1600 calories a day with 90 miles monthly. I am so angry with myself for slacking and gaining so much back! I've managed to loose a pound this week but want to ramp it up to 1.5 pounds lost. My fitness pal overestimates the calories I need to eat to loose weight. I'm 18, female,
5'6, and 130 pounds. I'm off to college next week and so I'm also worried about the freshmen 15. I think I'll join the running club on campus and limit myself to 2 meals a day (salads, fish, no sweets or second helpings). Please give me advice on how to get my weight back to 125 and stay motivated!! Any inspiring stories of loosing regained weight?

janejellyroll

This sounds unnecessarily punishing and also like a great way to burn out (and potentially injure yourself).

Why not just eat at a reasonable deficit?

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

I can't see you gaining on 1600 calories a day and running 90 miles a month. Did you continue to log and weigh properly?

bribucks

I can easily fluctuate 6 lbs in a week - or even a day, sometimes! Chances are it's not all fat and is probably water weight, especially if you ate more sodium than normal or depending on where you are in your monthly cycle.

With only 5 lbs to lose, you really don't need to be at such a strict deficit. Use an online calculator to figure out your TDEE, and eat 500 less than that.

The most important thing is to be as consistent as possible, and eat healthy when you can - but don't deprive yourself. Allow yourself a small breakfast (piece of fruit or a protein shake - I like Sunwarrior). Eat a relatively healthy lunch and dinner if you can ... but don't beat yourself up if you can't resist that delicious Chinese food in the cafeteria or pizza with friends. Let yourself have fun, build it into your plan, but adjust the rest of the day accordingly. If you know your friends want to hang out later (re: pizza) then eat a salad beforehand, but allow yourself a slice.

Also, you will be walking A LOT on campus. I suggest getting a tracker to track your steps - you may end up burning more calories than you originally thought.

(I graduated college 2 years ago. In my experience, the post-college weight gain is much worse, because you aren't walking it off anymore!!)

icemom011

What others said, ditto to that, but make sure to nurish your body and your brain properly, don't restrct too much. Just be mindful

Graelwyn75

You are in the healthy weight range, and to be honest, it is much better to set yourself a 5 Ib range of weight where you would like to maintain than a specific number because in the end, weight will constantly fluctuate for a variety of reasons.

Your current mindset sounds very unhealthy and extreme and you need to ask yourself whether 1300 calories with the amount of exercise you do is sustainable. There is absolutely NO reason to be angry with yourself -you are just human like everyone else. I would understand a little more if you were overweight but you are not, and you will only make yourself miserable by placing such great importance on the scale number when you have a stressful transition coming up. Cut yourself some slack and just focus on eating a balanced and healthy diet and maintaining a sustainable level of activity.

Moxie42

I gained a freshman 20 (and ballooned from there) and looking back there are a few things I could have done to prevent that, and I wish I had thought of them at the time. I just wasn't prepared for the sudden world of being 100% responsible for my own food choices. I had no idea drastically changes in my diet and activity levels would affect me since I had been average-slim my whole life until college.

1) If you're eating cafeteria food, have smaller portions of whatever you'd like, but pair it with salad or fruit so you get important nutrients and so you can enjoy the smaller portions of higher-cal foods without going hungry. Do your best to estimate cals using MFP even if you can't get exact nutritional info from the cafeteria.
2) Join a gym or some other fitness class/activity- this can be a walking group, a dorm softball team, whatever. If those options aren't available or if you'd rather not work out with others, find at-home videos you can do.
3) Get a step tracker to see how many steps you're getting each day. Maybe there are longer routes you can take from one class to another to sneak in extra steps.
4) Not sure where you're from or what the drinking age limit is there...but generally speaking, if a person is trying to lose weight, it can help to limit drinks and stick to lower-calorie drinks, whether alcoholic or not.
5) Not sure what your financial situation is but a lot of people struggle in college because they don't have much money and buying groceries can be expensive. Check out prices at grocery stores for certain items, and find what grocery stores near you are the most affordable. Check out lower-cal options at fast food places too and keep a list in mind of good fast food/ eating out options.

All in all, I think the most important thing is to prepare. Learn from others about WHY the freshman 15 happens, think about what your challenges will be, and come up with a plan to address those challenges. Staying at a reasonable deficit is all you really need to do. These are just some tips on how to make that easier to achieve.

eardabac18

I can't help it... I liked it when I was thinner but I'm so sick of running to get these results. And I know it's all fat gain because I went to the nutritionist...

cwolfman13

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »

I can't see you gaining on 1600 calories a day and running 90 miles a month. Did you continue to log and weigh properly?

This...At 5'6" and running 90 miles per week, I have a really hard time believing you would actually gain 6 Lbs of fat in 3 weeks...either you're way off in logging or what you're seeing is glycogen replenishment (water) and more waste in your system. Hell, my wife is 5'2" and 42 years old and puts that kind of mileage in and maintains on around 2200-2300 calories.

Also, your weight is a range, not a specific number.

At 5'6" and running 90 miles per week, I have a