Help/advice please:)

DancingMoosie

I've been steadily losing weight since Feb. I wanted to maintain over the summer (around 116-119lbs). I started back to work 4 weeks ago, and immediately lost 3 lbs. I increased my calories and decreased my workouts this week, as planned. Had my weigh in today, and lost another 2lbs. How many calories do I need to try to eat to even maintain? My weight is now 111. At this point, I need to gain at least 5lbs. I'd like to do it in a healthy way (not resorting to junk food to get the calories) and gain some muscle. Can I do this with body weight and dumbbell exercises at home? I no longer have access to the gym, and won't until the weight goes back up. My diary is open. What should I change my settings to, in order to do a slow, healthy gain?

samammay

Have you calculated your TDEE?

HeidiCooksSupper

Check out the information at http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/ and it will help you make healthy choices of what to eat.

DancingMoosie

Have you calculated your TDEE?

I find it hard to calculate my TDEE because it is based on time and I don't necessarily know how much time I spend doing each thing during the day. I use MFP method. My activity setting is active, because I average around 10,000 steps each day at work. I add other exercise in separately and eat back those calories. Each day is different, which is also why I choose to calculate it this way, instead of with TDEE. I was figuring on 1500 to maintain as sedentary, then 1700 to maintain as active, but have still lost. I am either under estimating my exercise calories, or my BMR is higher than expected.

Live4theLift

You can use calculators online to find your TDEE but even then its only a rough estimate. It took me almost a month to find my TDEE then i had to up it. Just remember your weight will fluctuate throughout due to sodium and other factors

Barbellgirl

Your diary looks good. I'm at a loss as to why you are losing weight except for stress. I would suggest doing what ever you can to relax and reduce your stress and try to increase your calorie intake with the same types of foods you are eating, just eat more. Try bumping up your calories to 2000 while keeping your macros where they are and see if that doesn't help.

samammay

While in theory it's a perfect math problem, that's not the real world. Bump up 250 a day and see where you are in a few weeks.

redbev306

gradually increase your caloric intake (when I am trying to eat well, but high calories I go for "healthy fats" like nuts or avocado.... If you're still losing, maybe you need to be checked out by a doctor to rule out any health issues? (not trying to scare you, it just doesn't really make sense that you're losing.) Best of luck!

DancingMoosie

Your diary looks good. I'm at a loss as to why you are losing weight except for stress. I would suggest doing what ever you can to relax and reduce your stress and try to increase your calorie intake with the same types of foods you are eating, just eat more. Try bumping up your calories to 2000 while keeping your macros where they are and see if that doesn't help.

I would just like to say that I don't think I am stressed:) I'm also glad that you think my diary looks good. I am happy with my job and find it much less stressful than where I was 2 years ago. Of course, there are stressful days and times, but that is normal. I do pilates or yoga if I need a workout break or de-stress type of workout.

Should I change my goal to gain? Its set to maintain at 1700. I could change it to gain .5/wk or change it to maintain with custom calories. Does it matter?

Barbellgirl

I think you should change your MFP goal to gain at the rate of 1/2 lb. a week.

MistyMtnMan

Maybe up your calories by 500 a day and see how that works.

POPS9

Have you tried protein shakes, they give you added calories

Barbellgirl

What do you get using the TDEE calculators with moderately active and clean bulk settings?

DancingMoosie

Scooby gives me 1950 to maintain and 2200 for clean bulk, 5 meals a day at 440 each, with macros set to 25% protein, 40% carbs, 35% fat. Does this look right? That gives me ~135grams of protein a day. I usually aim for 100. Do I need that much?

My workouts consist of dvds, dumbbells, pull-up bar, mat for core work. Any suggestions appreciated.

TavistockToad

i would just custom set your calorie goal - MFP sets maintenance low in my experiece (it says 1600 but its actually 2000).

you ars estill losing so up your cals by 200 or so for a week, if you are still losing up them another 200 until you maintain your weight for a few weeks in a row before you then add more cals to be in a surplus.

you can gain muscle just using bodyweight, but its harder to progressively stress the muscles, so lifting heavy is generally recommended. something like New Riles of lifting or stronglifts would be a good starting point.

Barbellgirl

Scooby gives me 1950 to maintain and 2200 for clean bulk, 5 meals a day at 440 each, with macros set to 25% protein, 40% carbs, 35% fat. Does this look right? That gives me ~135grams of protein a day. I usually aim for 100. Do I need that much?

My workouts consist of dvds, dumbbells, pull-up bar, mat for core work. Any suggestions appreciated.

Those numbers look fine to me, and definitely increase your calories to 2000 a day and see what happens. You want to lift as heavy as you can. What are the heaviest dumbbells you have? There are still a lot of really good exercises you can do with dumbbells, New Rules is a pretty good at home program, though eventually you'll want to get more equipment if you are staying at home to workout. The Strong Curves program is another really good one.

DancingMoosie

my dumbbells have change-able plates ranging from 1.5 to 10lbs. With the 1.5lb plates, the bar, and the screw, they weigh about 8lbs each. That's pretty good for doing videos like 30 Day Shred. I'll have to look up illustrated versions of the stronglifts and curves, as I don't have enough bandwidth for online videos.

heybales

If you lost 2 lbs, and both times were valid weigh-ins, no false gain or loss including water, then your eating needs to go up 500 calories for whatever the routine was that week.

But, since you are a woman, you actually need to wait a month as your BMR literally does change.

So perhaps 250 more daily if you keep up that routine.

DancingMoosie

I usually weigh in twice a week, once at the beginning(M or T), and once at the end(Th or F), just to see if there is much difference. I usually only log one of those. Right now, I'm using the latter. I thought last week's 113 was maybe a "low" fluke, but then this week's was even lower. I also measured, and lost about an inch off my hips. Pants I bought in May are starting to fall off. I have this weird hollow space near my tailbone and my rear is uncomfortable when I sit for long. I want to build some muscle, but HB won't let me go back to the gym until I put some weight on. I will try to do some squats with my dumbbells and some pull-ups, on alternate days with my dvds. I am fine with eating more, I just don't want to fall into old bad habits of over-eating and then start a cycle of yo-yo dieting. I'm afraid that once I start to gain, I won't stop.