Lowered calories and weight increases

zfitgal
zfitgal Posts: 518 Member
edited July 16 in Health and Weight Loss
I took everyone’s advice and decided to lower my calories a bit. I was currently eating 1550 and lowered my calories to 1450. In addition to that I added one more day of cardio which was a 30 minute incline walk on the treadmill since I lowered my calories I have gained 1 pound a day, my body has felt completely anxious, I would go into bursts of sadness, and I haven’t been able to sleep at night. I know everybody was saying to me that the reason I wasn’t losing weight was because my 1550 became my maintenance which for my way I feel isn’t true but I do know some things off of my body. I don’t think I can lower my calories anymore and to be honest, I don’t have the mental strength to want to lose weight. Yesterday I was so hungry I went into a binge. I never binge. But I was starving. I am looking to lose about 15 pounds. But I’m not looking at it as losing 15 pounds. All I want to do is lose a pound to half a pound a week. All I want is to see the scale going down. And I haven’t seen that since March. I do go to a very prominent bodybuilding gym and I spoke to someone and she told me that my metabolism is shot. And then I cannot lose that anymore. The only thing to do is to start eating more to prep my body for a deficit again. I don’t want to gain any weight during this time. I would have no problem, maintaining where I am and increasing calories and just building a muscle and lifting for a while. What do you think about that? Has this ever happened to anyone before? I know when a person doesn’t lose weight the first thing you say is lower calories is it possible the opposite needs to be done for me? I have been in a deficit since July of last year never took a diet break for a consistent amount of time. I did have a day or two off track here there, but overall my compliance should have gotten me to my goal at this point. Looking forward to hearing your replies.

Replies

  • KareninCanada
    KareninCanada Posts: 959 Member
    You didn't mention your age/stats but I just want to encourage you - going back to 1550 and adding a little more exercise might be easier to maintain. Especially so if you're experiencing feelings of anxiety.

    But also remembering that changing your exercise pattern can trigger a little bit of temporary inflammation/water retention, and that your monthly cycle can include cyclical bloating. (I'm doing a personal experiment of weighing myself multiple times a day over a month to see the trends and learn more about my own body. If it doesn't trigger anxiety, I'd actually encourage that.)
  • zfitgal
    zfitgal Posts: 518 Member
    You didn't mention your age/stats but I just want to encourage you - going back to 1550 and adding a little more exercise might be easier to maintain. Especially so if you're experiencing feelings of anxiety.

    But also remembering that changing your exercise pattern can trigger a little bit of temporary inflammation/water retention, and that your monthly cycle can include cyclical bloating. (I'm doing a personal experiment of weighing myself multiple times a day over a month to see the trends and learn more about my own body. If it doesn't trigger anxiety, I'd actually encourage that.)

    I am a female who is 37 years old I’m 5’4” and I have been fluctuating between 145 and 147 pounds for the past six months. I currently strength training, isolated body, parts, five times a week, and I am doing four 45 minute cardio sessions per week as well. My step count is 10,000 steps per day.

    I went from eating 1600 cal to 1550 and then I dropped it down to 1450 and once I dropped it to that point, I started feeling very anxiety right in a sense of sadness and not being able to sleep much at night. I wasn’t reaching my goal at 1600 that’s why I decided to lower my calories.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,726 Member
    You can teach your body to 'survive' with lower calories, slowing your metabolism by slowing some processes. Sometimes you can notice this through slower nail and hair growth, for example, or feeling cold.
    From the strong reaction you had to lower calories (most notably a binge) I would advise a gradual reverse diet.
  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 2,133 Member
    Your metabolism is fine. Your weight is not reflected by your relatively immidiate calorie lowering. Usually the scale reflects what you were doing a week or 2 prior to lowering calories hence why people raise calories and see a loss a few days later and think raising calories caused fatloss when that is usually water fluctuation and\or the lower calories from before finally showing up on the scale.