Losing weight after recovery

zoewatson921136

Hello! My current goals for my fitness is to lose weight, however I have just not long came from recovery of an eating disorder. I want to lose weight in a healthy way, but i've been going to the gym around 3 days a week for about an hour, as well as eating within my calorie deficit and i'm still not seeing results.

I am currently a student with a part time job and I also do volunteering on the side, so I am still quite active on my day to day as I have to stand for my job, as well as long travel, ext. I do see a few differences since going to the gym, but it is mainly that i have gained more muscle rather than losing weight which is not my goal.

I've been going to the gym and been trying out a calorie deficit for just over a month, I started in March. I currently weigh between 70-68 kg (154 lbs), but each week it changes very little. My goal weight is 60-55kgs (132 lbs). My total calories are around 1720 a day, So i'm not sure if my deficit is too high..? But i'm also not used to eating a lot, so i'm not sure if that's a factor aswell. Or if i'm eating the right foods.

Any help besides walking 10k a day and drinking more water would be much appreciated. I've been trying everything but I don't feel like i'm doing good enough or that i could be doing better.

Thanks :)

AnnPT77

Is your ED treatment team aware you're using a calorie counting site? They would be in the best position to provide you guidance, in part because ED recovery may have individual implications for calorie goal or nutrition goals.

Other than that, I'll answer very generically, as if that weren't part of the picture, though I think in practice it's a very important factor.

First, when you say "weight changes very little", can you be specific? How many kilos/pounds change have you seen each week?

You don't have much weight to lose, so slow loss would be the best idea, like a quarter kilo or so per week, not lots more. That can take many weeks to show up in the trend line of scale weights - actually, any loss rate takes weeks to be more clear, because water and weight fluctuations tend to vary more from day to day than any realistic rate of fat loss.

New exercise is a thing that increases water retention, potentially for a period of weeks. If you started a month ago, that could still be part of what you're observing. If you have menstrual cycles, that can also matter. It's not the most common pattern, but a few women here have reported only seeing a new low weight once a month at a particular point in their cycle, because hormone-related water fluctuations can be that wild.

It's common to see people here with expectations about weight loss rate that have been shaped by the blogosphere, tabloids, and reality TV. Those people may believe that their sensible real-life loss rate is very slow, when it isn't. I have no way to know whether that's part of this situation, since you weren't specific about your loss-rate goals, expectations, or current results.

It would help if you told us how tall and old you are, if you'd like feedback on whether your calorie goal is realistic. If MFP gave you that goal, it basically gives you a goal based on the average calorie needs of demographically similar people. Most people are close to average, but not all. Perhaps your ED history would be a factor that could maybe make you non-average, which is one reason I asked whether your treatment team was advising you.

Many women would lose weight at 1720 calories, but possibly rather slowly. How fast to expect - based on those averages of similar people - would depend on demographics and life habits, such as what you're doing at the gym, how often, and for how long.

Purely looking at it in terms of a weight loss goal, what matters is the calorie balance. Food choices don't matter much, nutrition doesn't matter much, timing doesn't matter much - unless those affect a person's energy level or appetite enough to affect calorie intake/expenditure. Obviously, things like food choice and nutrition matter for satiety and health, so I'm not saying they're not important. I'm just saying they're not the direct determinant of changes in body fat weight. Calories are.

Without knowing more, but in light of your new exercise, your health history, so little to lose, and the timespans you mention, I'd suggest hanging in there for a few more weeks at this level, before taking any kind of drastic action. In general, averaged multi-week results (that 4-6 weeks/minimum one menstrual cycle) will tell you whether calorie goal needs adjusting, but your personal situation complicates that generic advice somewhat.

One comment, which I'd give anyone, with or without your personal history: Please keep in mind that faster weight loss isn't necessarily better weight loss. Gradual loss is a better idea when one has less weight to lose, because our bodies can only metabolize so much stored fat per kilo/pound we have on our body, before they turn to using other body tissue for fuel. We want to lose mostly or entirely fat, right? To accomplish that, the less excess body fat we have, the fewer fat calories we can metabolize daily, so slower loss is better in that situation. Faster loss - i.e., too fast loss - increases health risks. No one needs that.

Best wishes!

sollyn23l2

"I've been trying everything but I don't feel like i'm doing good enough or that i could be doing better."

This statement stood out to me. It's an indicator that you are not recovered from your ed, are still struggling, and are falling down the rabbit hole. Nobody else can tell you what to do, but this has a bright neon "bad idea" sign over it.