Am I eating enough for maintenance?

bellexx729
bellexx729 Posts: 5 Member
edited September 2017 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I'm not sure if you guys can see my diary but would someone be able to help me! I have been dieting at 1200-1300 and running 2-3 times a week for a couple months now. I've noticed i still feel fat but I think I'm scale is continuing to go down. Recently, I've been trying to incorporate more calories into my day and focusing more on my macros but I'm just not sure if I'm doing it right! Help would be appreciated. I'm 5'8, female, and 142 (could be a little lower rn tho). Also any tips to get over the fear of gaining weight?!

Replies

  • countcurt
    countcurt Posts: 593 Member
    I don't quite understand. Are you happy with your weight? Are you happy with the amount you're eating? Because it appears the answers are no and yes. If so, you're doing the right thing. I'm not a big proponent of adding calories unless your weight is unhealthy. Because if you are happy with your current eating, the likelihood is you'll eventually stop losing. So long as you're healthy at that point, you'll be fine.
  • kokonani
    kokonani Posts: 507 Member
    1200 is very low and it's basically a minimum to eat for a deficit. You do need to calculate and find your maintenance number but that number is not exact. I'm in maintenance, eating 1700 (weigh 112lbs), little excersise, and I'm still losing. So I've increased a bit and still figuring out the numbers. If you gain, reduce. If you lose, increase.
  • bellexx729
    bellexx729 Posts: 5 Member
    sijomial wrote: »
    You think your weight is going down?
    If you record / track your weight you will know if it is or not - but look for the trend rather than individual data points. If you have lost weight over that "couple of month" then you aren't eating enough to maintain.


    Highly unlikely someone your size / height would actually be maintaining on such a small amount of calories - your BMR alone could well be higher than 1300!
    Your food diary doesn't look that accurate to me but it doesn't actually have to be, consistency is fine. Making adjustments based on results is a great way to nail down your maintenance levels.

    Fear of regaining goes with time and trusting the process. Set yourself an upper weight limit that triggers you to intervene as a safety net.

    Wait what doesn’t seem accurate?!
  • misnomer1
    misnomer1 Posts: 646 Member
    edited September 2017
    As others have said, you're not maintaining at 1200.
    You might still feel fat because you're not toned. Try increasing strength training with a weight routine or a good bodyweight routine.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    bellexx729 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    You think your weight is going down?
    If you record / track your weight you will know if it is or not - but look for the trend rather than individual data points. If you have lost weight over that "couple of month" then you aren't eating enough to maintain.


    Highly unlikely someone your size / height would actually be maintaining on such a small amount of calories - your BMR alone could well be higher than 1300!
    Your food diary doesn't look that accurate to me but it doesn't actually have to be, consistency is fine. Making adjustments based on results is a great way to nail down your maintenance levels.

    Fear of regaining goes with time and trusting the process. Set yourself an upper weight limit that triggers you to intervene as a safety net.

    Wait what doesn’t seem accurate?!

    Mixture of measurements (ounces and grams, cups).
    A banana.
    An apple.
    A sweet potato.
    A lot of round numbers.
    Not many drinks logged?
    28g of cereal as a snack?
    2g of M&Ms would be admirable restraint! :)


    It's just an impression and only you know how complete and accurate your measurements are and how regular your fruit is (as an example).

  • LiftHeavyThings27105
    LiftHeavyThings27105 Posts: 2,086 Member
    Happy Fall, 2017! I will chime in a little bit. The short version is that you will need to play with your numbers!

    So, assuming that you are 30 years old (the age will change things slightly) here is your TDEE:

    Basal Metabolic Rate 1,413 calories per day
    Sedentary 1,695 calories per day
    Light Exercise 1,942 calories per day
    Moderate Exercise 2,190 calories per day
    Heavy Exercise 2,437 calories per day
    Athlete 2,684 calories per day

    So, this is a little bit different from using MyFitnessPal....just to be clear. But, your BMR is roughly 1415 Calories. However, this is a formula. Use this as a starting point. Play with these numbers and see how your body responds. Just make sure to give each a little bit of time.

    So, I would suggest that you weigh yourself each and every day - on the same scale at the same time (usually, after you wake up and go to the bathroom) and log that each day. Start tomorrow.

    So, after weighing yourself each day for the week - what does the trend tell you?

    Also, parallel to the weighing yourself each day eat the same amount of food for the first week. Make sure that you are being consistent, as @sijomial suggested. That is the most important. Getting accurate calories per meal is important, too.....

    The goal is to figure out what your maintenance is. Maintenance is the amount of food that you eat each day with the amount of exercise that you perform each day (over the time frame of one week....I like one week vs. daily) and what is the net effect over that one week's time? Maintenance would be where you do not gain any weight or loose any weight.

    Once you figure out your maintenance calories you can play with other things.

    I make this suggestion because it sounds like you are new to this (shoot, aren't we all?) and getting the baseline - for YOU - is going to help you with everything moving forward!

    And, once you KNOW these numbers then - well, it does so for me - you will likely loose the fear of gaining weight! And, as others have suggested, I would strongly recommend that the number on the scale *NOT* be the only 'measuring stick' that you use. I would use the mirror as well! And, how do you feel (satiated?).....

    I mean, if you are going to use 'the number on the scale' then I would suggest - as others have - to have a range. So, maybe 137 - 146 is your range (totally made that range up.....YOU need to come up with that set of numbers).

    But incorporating the other two things that I suggested might help you get in the right mind-set. For me, mind-set is everything.

    Does this help you?
  • LiftHeavyThings27105
    LiftHeavyThings27105 Posts: 2,086 Member
    And, to continue with my previous post....I tend to be a bit on the verbose side (well, that is what my ex-wife says) I wanted to add the following....

    Someone mentioned incorporating a reverse diet (the add 100 calories a week until you reach 1800 calories and see what the scale says)......

    In theory, I love the idea of a reverse diet. I truly do. However, I would not suggest just adding 100 calories a week for the next six weeks (ie, going from 1200 to 1800) without regard to what happens over those six weeks. IF - and please notice the upper case letters - your maintenance is, let's just say, 1500 calories then that means that you will be eating in a surplus for the last three weeks. The scale will slightly go up [it takes 500 calories a day - or 3,500 calories a week - to increase (or, to be complete, to decrease) one pound of weight.....].

    So, would a reverse diet be a bad idea? Maybe, maybe not. I would only take issue with the "blindly do this until you get to 1,800 calories" part. And, "take issue" is likely too strong a phrase.....

    I am old school. I like knowing the basics. I like knowing what my maintenance is. And, I like knowing that based on real world experience - not what some tool tells me (but, to repeat - these tools are really good starting points......for most!).

    My suggestion takes a little bit of time. To be sure. Patience is an issue for some people! :wink:

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