Advice for maintenance after VLCD

andream1004

I recently finished a 5 week VLCD of 500 calories daily. I’ve increased my calories to around 1000-1100 and am gaining up to a lb a day. Help. How do I return to a healthy calorie intake without gaining weight. I’m eating healthy, only carbs from fruit and vegetables. Why am I gaining weight and how do I stop?

L1zardQueen

Were you under a doctor’s care? You should probably ask them.

TeaBea

1 pound of fat a day would be you eating 3,500 calories above your maintenance calories.

Carbs, or types of carbs are irrelevant, except with water weight maybe. Water weight gain (or loss) is going to be temporary.

There are other reasons for water weight gain - stress can be a factor. Your body is certainly stressed from crash dieting

https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

andream1004

It was through a medical weight loss spa. Pretty sure I got suckered falling for the hype of guaranteed quick weight loss. My weight was 145.2 at the end of the 500 calorie days and a week later of eating under 1200 calories is already back up to 148.8

L1zardQueen

They gave you no instructions on what to do after the five weeks are done? Ugh. Put in your numbers here and no more going to those weight loss clinics. Like TeaBea said above it will be a bump in water weight. Stick to the calories for your maintenance weight. Things will even out in no time. Hugs

andream1004

They told me to do a steak day (no breakfast or lunch) only water and coffee all day and then eat a large steak and apple for dinner anytime my weight goes 2lbs or higher than my last weigh in weight. I’m done with that nonsense. Healthy eating from here on out.

Fit_Happens_2021

At the end of the diet you most likely had very little food inside your stomach and intestines. Now that you are eating more there will be more food travelling through your digestive system so that will account for some of it, and some of it is most likely water weight as stated above. One pound of body fat is equal to 3500 calories, so try not to worry and be reassured you are not gaining a pound per day, and on 1100 calories a day it wouldn't be possible. Let things even out a bit, I would ignore any advice given from that place.

AnnPT77

andream1004 wrote: »

It was through a medical weight loss spa. Pretty sure I got suckered falling for the hype of guaranteed quick weight loss. My weight was 145.2 at the end of the 500 calorie days and a week later of eating under 1200 calories is already back up to 148.8

What everyone else said about water weight and digestive contents. Hang in there, it'll settle down.

Without even starting from a VLCD, in the last 7 days my weight has varied from 124.6 to 126.6, at consistent net calories (just slightly under maintenance calories, specifically at 1850+estimated exercise; my maintenance calories would be around 150-200 above that); and that's weighing under consistent conditions each morning. This is completely normal. I've been logging/counting for nearly 6 years, losing and maintaining.

That you started from 500 calories, which is very little food, and doubled it (maybe more), varying only upward, and by 3.6 pounds, doesn't seem out of the realm of normal fluctuations.

Recommendation: Get a calorie goal from MFP for moderate weight loss, eat that for a couple of weeks at least (with reasonable nutrition), ideally a whole menstrual cycle, if not two, then see where you are. It's gonna be OK, but it's realistic to expect to roller-coaster for a while after something that extreme, unfortunately.

andream1004

Thank you, I will do that. Thanks everyone for responding. The past week has definitely been scary.

AnnPT77

andream1004 wrote: »

Thank you, I will do that. Thanks everyone for responding. The past week has definitely been scary.

If you feel up to it, come back to this thread & let us know how it's going, maybe? I'm concerned that you may still realistically have a bit of a bumpy road for a while, but I'm confident you can sort things out and get on a more long-term sustainable path that helps you reach your goals! Best wishes!

AnnPT77

(duplicate post)

andream1004

I sure will. I’m going to continue to eat healthy and stay under 1500 calories for the next few weeks and see how it goes. Might stay away from the scale as well..at least for the next week.

cmriverside

Just as a reference point for you...

I've been in Maintenance for 13 years. I am 66 YO, retired, live in a tiny place so not a lot of daily activity.

I am female, 5'7" or 5'8" depending on who measures me, 140-145. I maintain on 2000 calories per day (net, so on exercise days I'm eating about 2400) and have done so for years...I use a digital food scale and log my food, so I'm as close as can be reasonable with those numbers.

1500 may be good for you or it may not, you haven't told us about your daily activity, exercise, age, height. And yeah, don't go back to those people.

andream1004

I’m 5’7”, currently 148.4 lb and 43 years old. I work in front of a computer all day. Try to get in at least 20 mins of weight lifting or elliptical through the week. I was around 138 lbs and an antidepressant I was put on caused severe weight gain. That was back in April 2019. Gained 20 lbs and couldn’t get more than a few lbs off. Then with COVID-19 I gained another 10 lbs from sitting home and eating DoorDash every day 😔.

PAV8888

More food and waste in system

Replenishment of depleted glycogen from both muscles and liver especially if previously keto or very low calories.

Normal weight fluctuations due to hormones.

Place you went to sounds more "medical" than medical.

It will be (many) months before body and hormones recover from stress that was applied. Only thing I can suggest is patiently riding out your recovery.

alexmose2

So if you fear weight gain, increase slowly from the 1500 recommended. Over 2 years, I went from maintaining at 1500 cals to 2200 daily cals. Resistance train to help facilitate this, as it will lead to an impressive physique

andream1004

I will definitely increase the calories slowly and start with the resistance training as well. Thank you!

cmriverside

andream1004 wrote: »

I’m 5’7”, currently 148.4 lb and 43 years old. I work in front of a computer all day. Try to get in at least 20 mins of weight lifting or elliptical through the week. I was around 138 lbs and an antidepressant I was put on caused severe weight gain. That was back in April 2019. Gained 20 lbs and couldn’t get more than a few lbs off. Then with COVID-19 I gained another 10 lbs from sitting home and eating DoorDash every day 😔.

You have very little weight to lose, so 1500 on non-exercise days might be too low for you.

I'd go up to 1700-1800 as quickly as you can, and then a couple hundred or three hundred above that on exercise days. Stick with that for a couple months before making any further changes.

psychod787

PAV8888 wrote: »

More food and waste in system

Replenishment of depleted glycogen from both muscles and liver especially if previously keto or very low calories.

Normal weight fluctuations due to hormones.

Place you went to sounds more "medical" than medical.

It will be (many) months before body and hormones recover from stress that was applied. Only thing I can suggest is patiently riding out your recovery.

I agree with this. Some weight regain is "normal" after a diet period. I think that it is proportional to the amount of weight one lost.

As Far as hormones, yes, it will take time to recover. Touchy subject, but I think the Adipostat, the part of the brain that controls body weight homoeostasis, tries to spring back just as hard and far as someone tried to pull away from it. Leptin, the hormone that controls among other things long term body fatness, drops severely when in an extreme calorie deficit. This in turn makes ghrelin, the hormone that makes you hungry, rise. There are other hormones that deal with hunger and satiety that also increase or decrease, but they are not really important to this conversation. Research suggest that the maintenance of the lower weight for a period of times seems to help balance the hunger hormones, while leptin still stays lowered. You may experience severe cravings and hunger a while. I've been at recovery for 2 years and has taken 26lbs, out of 200+ lost to get some relief. Just my experience.

As far as dietary "suggestions" , I suggest taking in at least 0.8g protein per pound of body weight, especially if you plan on resistance training. Might also help with potential hunger. The other is to learn the long term skills needed to navigate the food landscape we live in, while controlling hunger and overall calorie intake.

Best wishes....
@PAV8888