Trying to maintain after calorie restriction... Help!

bangles501

I've recently started following a normal eating and exercise lifestyle again after a few months of calorie restriction, occasional binges and quite a lot of exercise. I've gained some weight already, both on the scales and I can definitely tell from looking at my body, and I'm really starting to get worried that I'm going to put loads of weight on. I have no idea how much I should be eating, I know there are calculators for this but they only give a rough guide and I'm confused as to how I can eat more if I wasn't losing any weight on a 1200 a day diet.

Here's some background...

I'm 23, female and 5'3 and have weighed around 116lbs for years while exercising two or three times a week and generally eating quite a healthy diet most days but also having things like cake, alcohol, and lots of food at social events probably once a week. Earlier this year after coming off of antidepressants I started comfort eating and ended up going up to 126lbs, it doesn't seem like much but on a 5'3 size 8 girl, it definitely showed and even some of my clothes didn't fit anymore. I also knew it needed to be nipped in the bud before the weight gain continued. I started trying to diet in May by eating around 1400 calories a day but I could never keep it up and started to realise I had a problem with food. In an attempt to overcome my obsession with food I decided to give up refined sugars and wheat in July. I still allowed myself to have things at social events maybe once a week but the rest of the time I only ate whole foods, more natural sugars like honey and the occasional diet drink - I ate as much as I wanted and I was back down to 116lbs within a few weeks. I was exercising at leastfive times a week and ended up going down to 116lbs. I carried on with this throughout August but I became obsessed with seeing the numbers on the scales go down and I began restricting to make up for the excessive binges that occurred maybe once a week. I ended up eating 600-1200 calories a day during the week and binging at the weekends. I ended up at 112lbs, looking slightly too skinny, being scared of eating more than 1200 and really irritable.

Completely unrelated: me and my boyfriend broke up two weeks ago and I started eating normally again like I always used to, I can't calorie count as it brings back my fear of going over 1200 but I reckon on an average day I'm eating1500-1600 calories and I exercise 3-4 times a week now. I think the relationship was stressing me out so much, it had affected my personality and the effects of my eating disorder have substantially lessened since the break up.

I'm so much happier and although I've felt better since coming off of the antidepressants for a few months, I can safely say I have recovered from the depression I was taking the anti-depressants for in the first place. I still comfort eat a bit if I'm sad but I always used to do that before this year anyway and it doesn't happen often. I love food but I also like to look and feel healthy so I'm confident I'm on the way to going back to how I always used to be. I'm just really scared by how much weight I've put on already, I've gone from 112lbs to 118lbs in two weeks.

Has anyone else experienced this or have any advice for me? I've read about how starving yourself slows the metabolims and it takes it a while to get going again and I've also seen things about edema after calorie restriction but I'm not sure if either of these relate to me because although I was restricting it's only been a couple of months and I probably made up for it when binging.

I'd just like to maintain my weight now, maybe lose a couple of pounds so I'm around the 116lb mark again but I'm scared that I'll never be able to get back to how I used eat and exercise before and maintain my happy weight of 116lb.

agentventi

I am right there with you trying to recover from years of calorie restriction. Just this past year I was eating about 500-900 a day. Now I am up to 1600. I have gained 5-7lbs since July. It is mainly after I binge on food I have restricted to years that I gain but just eating clean 1600 calories of healthy food and I usually maintain. I am trying to up it more and more each week. I read to reset your metabolism you need to eat your TDEE calories for 4 weeks...and yes you will gain weight but then your body learns and it will level out and you might even lose. My TDEE is 1700. so I am close. I weight in on Fridays, If I have gained then I know to stay here a while if I lost then I will add 50 more.....anyway, this is what has worked for me. I say keep doing what you are doing and your body will learn.

salamagundy

I suggest you stop counting calories and count carbs instead. It is so much easier and effective! Check out the Primal Diet, which restricts carbohydrates but still allows you the occasional glass of wine, noggin of cheese and smidge of dark chocolate. In a nutshell this is how:

Ditch grains: refined grains, whole grains, bread, pasta, muffins, biscuits, bagels, cereal, baked goods, pancakes. Anything made from flour, really.

Ditch sugar: white sugar, candy, cake, cookies, pastries, milk chocolate bars, high fructose corn syrup, soda, milkshakes masquerading as coffee drinks. If it’s made in a bakery or a factory or a restaurant and it’s sweet, just avoid it.

Ditch vegetable oils and trans fats: corn oil, soybean oil, canola, sunflower/safflower, margarine, shortening, anything with “partially hydrogenated” in the ingredients list. Use butter, ghee, olive oil, coconut oil instead.

Ditch all other junk foods, most of which encompass the previous three “food” categories: potato chips, crackers, “crisps,” Cheesey wots-its etc.

Only eat real food such as decent quality preferably grass-fed meat, fowl, fish, eggs, and dairy (if you're not lactose intolerant) vegetables, fruits and nuts.

To lose weight restrict your carbohydrate intake to less than 100 grams per day. Once you've achieved your desired weight 100-150 grams should effortlessly maintain it. Good luck.

bangles501

I don't want to lose weight, I just want to go back to a normal diet like I maintained for years with a healthy weight before the eating disorder began. Cutting out sugar and wheat and only eating whole foods over the summer has definitely taught me a lot about the health benefits and made me more aware of what's hidden in processed foods. I intend to carry on eating mostly whole foods and avoiding sugar but I never want to cut it out completely. Going on a restrictive diet like primal is what got me into this mess in the first place so I definitely don't want to give myself any rules like that again. I believe everything is ok in moderation and will be happy if I can stay at my current weight while eating a healthy whole food diet with the occasional piece of cake, pizza and night out drinking when I feel like it.

ndj1979

I suggest you stop counting calories and count carbs instead. It is so much easier and effective! Check out the Primal Diet, which restricts carbohydrates but still allows you the occasional glass of wine, noggin of cheese and smidge of dark chocolate. In a nutshell this is how:

Ditch grains: refined grains, whole grains, bread, pasta, muffins, biscuits, bagels, cereal, baked goods, pancakes. Anything made from flour, really.

Ditch sugar: white sugar, candy, cake, cookies, pastries, milk chocolate bars, high fructose corn syrup, soda, milkshakes masquerading as coffee drinks. If it’s made in a bakery or a factory or a restaurant and it’s sweet, just avoid it.

Ditch vegetable oils and trans fats: corn oil, soybean oil, canola, sunflower/safflower, margarine, shortening, anything with “partially hydrogenated” in the ingredients list. Use butter, ghee, olive oil, coconut oil instead.

Ditch all other junk foods, most of which encompass the previous three “food” categories: potato chips, crackers, “crisps,” Cheesey wots-its etc.

Only eat real food such as decent quality preferably grass-fed meat, fowl, fish, eggs, and dairy (if you're not lactose intolerant) vegetables, fruits and nuts.

To lose weight restrict your carbohydrate intake to less than 100 grams per day. Once you've achieved your desired weight 100-150 grams should effortlessly maintain it. Good luck.

Ignore this ..

any diet that eliminates whole food groups is just moronic...

you obviously did not read OP's original post as she is trying to "maintain" not "lose"....

ndj1979

you are on a calorie counting web site, but you do not want to count calories = confused..

I would recommend that you need to find your maintenance level through trial and error.

Eat 1600 calories a day for a week and weight yourself..if you lost then bump up, if you gained then bump down, if you maintained then keep eating that number...

I would also recommend weighing and logging everything that you eat, so that you really know how much you are eating...

geekyjock76

If your pre-restriction weight was 126 lbs, that might be when you stop recovering weight. That's exactly what your body is trying to do - replace the weight you rapidly lost with the semi-starvation diet.

Your present goal is to find your adjusted TDEE by eating the maximum amount of calories until your weight finally stabilizes. You'll know you're getting closer when the weight gain becomes less noticeable. You could up calories by 100 or so and hold for a few weeks to track weight fluctuations. At this point, you may want to keep exercise volume and food intake (especially sodium and carbs) relatively consistent to remove any variables that can affect temporary weight gain from extra water weight. Chances are, your adjusted TDEE will be less than someone of your stats and will remain as such unless you recover lost lean mass.

Speaking of recovering lost lean mass, that should be your secondary objective. I don't know if you were lifting weights when you initially increased calories. If you did, you'll maximize the amount of lean mass you can recover. Otherwise, if you do not lift, you won't recover much lean mass which means, even if you return to your original weight, the difference will come exclusively from fat mass. Simply put: without lifting, you will have more body fat than you did prior to restricting despite being the same weight.

jayrudq

I don't want to lose weight, I just want to go back to a normal diet like I maintained for years with a healthy weight before the eating disorder began. Cutting out sugar and wheat and only eating whole foods over the summer has definitely taught me a lot about the health benefits and made me more aware of what's hidden in processed foods. I intend to carry on eating mostly whole foods and avoiding sugar but I never want to cut it out completely. Going on a restrictive diet like primal is what got me into this mess in the first place so I definitely don't want to give myself any rules like that again. I believe everything is ok in moderation and will be happy if I can stay at my current weight while eating a healthy whole food diet with the occasional piece of cake, pizza and night out drinking when I feel like it.

Congratulations. It sounds like you have been through a lot and come out the other side. It also sounds like you know what works for you and what your pitfalls have been. Being on a site where most of us are counting everything, you may not get the advice you are looking for. I know that I have nothing to add, but reading your posts makes me think you have the answers. Just not the confidence to let things play out for awhile. Another thought may be looking at Intermittent Fasting. I know that is what I plan to do when I go the maintain. It plays well with how naturally my hunger is up and down.

Good Luck!

bangles501

Well I was using MFP when I was counting calories, it was obsessive. I didn't feel like I could eat unless I had logged it first and the closer and closer it got to 1200 every day the more stressed I got even though I wanted to eat at least 1200 as I knew under that was too low.I've posted here before and always find the forums helpful so I thought I would turn here for advice. I might try and count calories again, but ever since the break up I haven't felt that obsessive need to. I've been wanting to get to this stage for so long and never knew the relationship was actually having a massive effect on my eating disorder.

My main worry is the weight gain and whether this is to be expected after restricting calories even though it was only for a couple of months. I know it will take a bit of trial and error to work out how to maintain but I used to eat more than I am now and exercise less and I was always the same weight. How come I'm gaining weight so fast?

Can calorie restriction for a couple of months like what I described above send your body into starvation mode?

bangles501

I don't want to lose weight, I just want to go back to a normal diet like I maintained for years with a healthy weight before the eating disorder began. Cutting out sugar and wheat and only eating whole foods over the summer has definitely taught me a lot about the health benefits and made me more aware of what's hidden in processed foods. I intend to carry on eating mostly whole foods and avoiding sugar but I never want to cut it out completely. Going on a restrictive diet like primal is what got me into this mess in the first place so I definitely don't want to give myself any rules like that again. I believe everything is ok in moderation and will be happy if I can stay at my current weight while eating a healthy whole food diet with the occasional piece of cake, pizza and night out drinking when I feel like it.

Congratulations. It sounds like you have been through a lot and come out the other side. It also sounds like you know what works for you and what your pitfalls have been. Being on a site where most of us are counting everything, you may not get the advice you are looking for. I know that I have nothing to add, but reading your posts makes me think you have the answers. Just not the confidence to let things play out for awhile. Another thought may be looking at Intermittent Fasting. I know that is what I plan to do when I go the maintain. It plays well with how naturally my hunger is up and down.

Good Luck!

Thank you, I have actually started IF, like the 5:2 diet but only one day a week. It's the only time I've counted calories since I suddenly stopped counting after the break up and thats only because I need to make sure I stay between 500-600 calories. I've done it the last two Mondays, mainly because I tend to eat healthy during the week and splurge a bit at the weekends. So far I find that I don't feel as bloated as I used to after the weekends and also it helps refresh my system as I only tend to eat processed foods and drink alcohol at the weekends.

bangles501

If your pre-restriction weight was 126 lbs, that might be when you stop recovering weight. That's exactly what your body is trying to do - replace the weight you rapidly lost with the semi-starvation diet.

Your present goal is to find your adjusted TDEE by eating the maximum amount of calories until your weight finally stabilizes. You'll know you're getting closer when the weight gain becomes less noticeable. You could up calories by 100 or so and hold for a few weeks to track weight fluctuations. At this point, you may want to keep exercise volume and food intake (especially sodium and carbs) relatively consistent to remove any variables that can affect temporary weight gain from extra water weight. Chances are, your adjusted TDEE will be less than someone of your stats and will remain as such unless you recover lost lean mass.

Speaking of recovering lost lean mass, that should be your secondary objective. I don't know if you were lifting weights when you initially increased calories. If you did, you'll maximize the amount of lean mass you can recover. Otherwise, if you do not lift, you won't recover much lean mass which means, even if you return to your original weight, the difference will come exclusively from fat mass. Simply put: without lifting, you will have more body fat than you did prior to restricting despite being the same weight.

Well my weight was 126lbs before I tried to diet in May, I did lose some weight then and was probably around 118lbs when I started 'clean eating' in July, by the time the restrictive eating began In August I was more like 116lbs. Stupid I know because that was my goal weight really but I just liked seeing the scales go down each day and for some reason I really wanted to weight 8 stone.

I used to run and do some light strength training a few times a week. Since July, when I started to lose the weight I've begun running longer distances on alternate days and also doing heavier strength training the other days, about five or 6 times a week. So far I'm only squatting 15kg but I hope to increase that over time.

Since the break up two weeks ago I've only been exercising 3 or 4 times a week. I think I was exercising excessively before to be honest. Somtimes I wouldn't have a rest day.

jayrudq

^^^^ Me too! I always splurge on the weekend and this helps get me back on track and feel better.

I don't believe in starvation mode, but I also can't answer why things are different for you now. I think conventional wisdom says up your calorie intake slowly. If you aren't counting, and I get why you wouldn't, some experimentation and time is required.

geekyjock76

Realize that 1200 calories won't be your adjusted maintenance intake when your weight finally stabilizes; so don't worry so much about it.

You are gaining weight due to three likely reasons.

One, you recovered lost water and glycogen weight which was removed when you first began restricting. You've probably heard that most of the weight people lose in the first few days is water weight. Well, you are simply replenishing water weight to normal levels. This occurs within the first few days of increasing calories.

Second, as mentioned, you are recovering weight you lost through semi-starvation. This is a common response when placing your body in such a famine-like environment when you were more or less within a normal weight range at the beginning. It is more or less responding in the same manner that occurs with someone recovering from Anorexia Nervosa during a refeed in weight recovery.

Lastly, without accurate measurements, such as a digital food scale, you could also be routinely eating beyond your adjusted TDEE.

I would try counting calories and use a digital scale to weigh all your food so you're getting a more accurate estimate of food intake. Even if you are eating the same foods every day during this process, you won't know exactly how many calories your adding without accurate measurement methods. You don't want to inadvertently add too many calories that sends you beyond adjusted TDEE which would lead to excessive weight gain.

jayrudq

I would try counting calories and use a digital scale to weigh all your food so you're getting a more accurate estimate of food intake. Even if you are eating the same foods every day during this process, you won't know exactly how many calories your adding without accurate measurement methods. You don't want to inadvertently add too many calories that sends you beyond adjusted TDEE which would lead to excessive weight gain.

She doesn't want to count. It makes her obsessive, which is common. And Famine like environment? Google famine. Hit images. That is famine.


Edit: That is only for Geeky. It is graphic and horrid.

QuietBloom

I would try counting calories and use a digital scale to weigh all your food so you're getting a more accurate estimate of food intake. Even if you are eating the same foods every day during this process, you won't know exactly how many calories your adding without accurate measurement methods. You don't want to inadvertently add too many calories that sends you beyond adjusted TDEE which would lead to excessive weight gain.

She doesn't want to count. It makes her obsessive, which is common. And Famine like environment? Google famine. Hit images. That is famine.


Edit: That is only for Geeky. It is graphic and horrid.

Yeah, Geeky is chock full of broscience. All over MFP. I can hardly keep up, so THANKS!

salamagundy

So you didn't need any help then? What a disingenuous question if you don't want to change anything in your life. You said you wanted to lose a couple of pounds (maybe?) and then maintain it and that's what I responded to. I have spent years eating healthy and suffering from insidious weight gain...until I connected the dot and put everything I knew about diet and nutrition together and finally became willing to 'suffer no exception'. The definition of insanity is to keep on doing what you're doing and expecting a different result. You can try the 80/20 rule but I bet you'll still be obsessing about your weight whilst ever you continue to do so.

bangles501

So you didn't need any help then? What a disingenuous question if you don't want to change anything in your life. You said you wanted to lose a couple of pounds (maybe?) and then maintain it and that's what I responded to. I have spent years eating healthy and suffering from insidious weight gain...until I connected the dot and put everything I knew about diet and nutrition together and finally became willing to 'suffer no exception'. The definition of insanity is to keep on doing what you're doing and expecting a different result. You can try the 80/20 rule but I bet you'll still be obsessing about your weight whilst ever you continue to do so.

I wanted advice, I wanted to know whether what I'm experiencing is normal for someone who has been restricting for a few months.
I have made a change, I was starving myself and now I'm not! I used to eat how I'm doing so now but slightly less healthy for years and I stayed the same weight, so the whole point of my post was to find out whether this weight gain is something temporary while my metabolism sorts itself out or whether that wouldn't happen after only a couple of months restriction.

PaytraB

When you first start to lose weight, the easiest fat for your body to use is glycogen. It's your "quick, fast" energy source. After losing glycogen, you start to lose your body fat. When you go back to a normal diet, you replenish your glycogen stores, which results in a weight gain (usually 5-10 lbs). This is normal. You'll steady out after your glycogen stores are replenished.

I was freaked, too, when I went onto maintenance. I gained a few pounds but then steadied out. It's normal to be worried but as long as you're eating healthy and watching the sweets, you'll be fine. You can do this.

wnbrice

When I was maintaining for a few months I didnt bother to count calories but made sure not to go overboard. At the end of the week if I was above a certain mark I would count calories and get it back under. Usually only took a few days.

Rinse and repeat. More you stress about it the more difficult it is gonna be. As long as you are kinda aware of how much you are eating(which kinda comes with counting for a diet) then you shouldn't have to worry about going up too much.

For example I hit 225 and aimed to maintain for a few months before another round of weight loss(set my bodies weight point). I said I am not going to go above 230. So I went above about 3-4 times over the course of 4 months and just lost it again.

Worked for me, not sure if it will work for you.

geekyjock76

Yeah, Geeky is chock full of broscience. All over MFP. I can hardly keep up, so THANKS!

Please point out this broscience you claim I am full of.

Replenishment of lost water weight when increasing calories back up towards maintenance is broscience?
Decrease in daily energy expenditure during and after chronic calorie restriction is broscience?
Weight recovery following a semi-starvation diet is broscience?

JustineMarie21

I know 20000% of how you feel because I was in your situation 2 and a half years ago. I know strength train and know that my body needs to be fueled all the time. Now I have worked myself up too 1300 cals. feel free to add me