Am I Starving myself???

meggs9387

I am in need of some serious help. I have lost just about 30 lbs. in a few months, with stick eating and working out. I go the gym 4-5 times a week, and see my personal trainer twice a week. Recently I have noticed the scale stopped moving. I talk to my trainer and told him about my recent “plateau”, and looked for advice on how to break through. When I informed him I am eating 800-1000 calories on workout days, and 1200 calories on non-work out days, he was angry. He said I am starving myself and my body is in survival mode. My question for you is how many calories should I be eating? I also do not understand the “eating more to weigh less” theory. I am getting so discouraged with my plateau, but I am also afraid to eat too much and gain the weight back. I do allow myself 1 day a week to splurge, and go around 1500-1800 calories. Should I stop this?? I am 26 years old, 5’2 and 202 pounds. Please Help!

cynnamon93

You are not eating enough calories, that's for sure.
If I were you I'd try having a snack of healthy food after you work out or try eating more healthy foods for healthy calories.
There is nothing wrong with calories as long as they are healthy.
and im sure if you do this your scale will move again.
I speak from personal experience. :blushing:

JoanaMHill

Yeah you definitely aren't eating enough calories, especially if you work out five or six days a week. Talk to that personal trainer and ask them about options for eating better.

Poofy_Goodness

Your body needs fuel for your activities.

I can't tell you how much to eat, as I don't know your personal stats but 1000 calories is definitely not enough for your activity level.

Enter your info on this site:

http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/weight-loss-calculator.php

Put your activity level as "Moderately active" and pick one of the 5 calorie goals they provide for you.

misschoppo

I am eating 800-1000 calories on workout days, and 1200 calories on non-work out days, I do allow myself 1 day a week to splurge, and go around 1500-1800 calories. Should I stop this?? I am 26 years old, 5’2 and 202 pounds. Please Help!

I think perhaps you are eating too little considering the exercise you are doing. 1500-1800 cals is hardly a splurge. I am 5ft 3 so similar height to you & my weight fluctulates within the range of 99-104lbs. On days that I am doing no exercise at all I aim for around 1400 cals but will often go over by a few hundred. On days I exercise I will eat more as will eat back either some or all my exercise cals if I feel I need to. I usually have at least 1 relaxed day a week where I will have a splurge and eat 2000-2500 cals so even though my diary is set to 1400 a day, in reality I average more than that when you look at my weekly intake and yet I do not gain, I maintain within a range of 5lbs.

If you are exercsing as much as you say you need to fuel your body, I am surprised you are able to work out so frequently and put in sufficient effort to gain the most from your workouts if you are eating so little.

leslisa

You'll have to find what works for you. The following might help, it work for me.

Disclaimer: I'm 44yo, 5'1" and 125 - 135 lbs. I'm a large frame (my fingers don't touch around my wrist) and I carry a lot of muscle no matter what. I don't worry so much about lbs anymore, I worry about size. Goal = stay in small workout clothes and a size 5 regular clothes.

Don't know your metabolism (mine's pretty slow since I used to be anorexic) but I eat 10500 cals a week (1500 a day) and I run 3.5 - 8 miles a day, 5 - 6 days a week. I also "kick start" my metabolism with 10 min of abs as soon as I roll out of bed. I eat a lot of fiber loaded antioxidants like Granny Smith apples and berries. I stay away from pure carbs and instead eat whole grains. I avoid multi-grain stuff because a lot of it is high cal and loaded with sugar.

Sunday's usually my "cheat day" where I eat all my leftover calories because I freaking love buffalo wings and those little suckers have a lot of calories. :bigsmile: Also, having 1 high cal day a week seems to make it easier to burn/use cals the rest of the week.

Good luck!

ReginaM49

You are definitely starving yourself and slowing down your metabolism. As weird as it sounds.. if you start eating more, you will break thru your plateau. Go into your settings and make sure you have yourself as active. I was at a plateau at one point and increased my calories. I immediately started losing again. Its crazy and goes against everythink you believe is correct. But you gotta trust that trainer's advice.