Grumpy / Tired After INCREASING Calories??

ChrysalisCove

When I joined MFP 2 months ago, I was stuck in the crash-dieting mindset many women grow up exposed to. I was eating well below my BMR & dropped weight fairly quickly. After reading through the forums & doing some research I am now on the EM2WL / TDEE-% path. My stats are as follows:

Age: 25 Sex: Female
SW: 198 (01/03/14)
CW: 175
Activity: Light
BMR: 1500 (+300)
TDEE: 2075 (+300)
TDEE -20%: 1650 (+300)

+300 is due to BFing my 12mo son.

The thing is, it seems that since beginning to increase my calories (only a couple days ago) I am feeling grumpy & more tired. I am *not* back up to my BMR yet, for this week I am still about 100cal/day below. I am increasing gradually to hopefully avoid some of the bloat associated w/ a metabolic reset. Am I feeling this way because my metabolism is resetting? Is it a delayed reaction to my calories being too low before? Does anyone else have experience with this? I just want to feel good :-/

ChrysalisCove

Anyone? Please? I this is a normal side effect then that's fine, but I want to make sure I'm not harming my body in some way...

Ninkyou

It could be the past eating low catching up to you now. That's why they say to allow 4 weeks to see any change. Your body has to adapt, and that takes time. Give it some time. Also, make sure you're getting the right amount of macronutrients (Carbs/Fat/Protein/Etc.). When I have low protein or low carbs I start to feel hangry.

LitheVixen

I usually associate those feelings with eating too many carbs in one serving/day. Even if one bag of Lay's Baked fits in my diet for a given day, it'll still make me feel drowsy, grumpy and lethargic afterwards.

ChrysalisCove

I am paying close attention to my macros & while I'm typically over on carbs by a couple percent, I am getting MUCH better about eating adequate protein & healthy fats. I'm thinking a delayed reaction is what's happening, especially since I dropped down to a net of 1200 for a week (& an increase in activity) right before starting this. Probably just threw my body for a loop...

neandermagnon

It could be the past eating low catching up to you now. That's why they say to allow 4 weeks to see any change. Your body has to adapt, and that takes time. Give it some time. Also, make sure you're getting the right amount of macronutrients (Carbs/Fat/Protein/Etc.). When I have low protein or low carbs I start to feel hangry.

I think this is about right

think of it in terms of your body's survival responses... you've been undereating for a while, now suddenly you're eating more, well as far as your body's concerned, the famine's over so it's cranking up the hunger signals to make sure you eat plenty to survive the next famine. This is where rebound overeating can happen, but if you're careful with your calories it'll just be rebound hunger, not rebound overeating. You could try eating your maintenance calories for a while, just maintaining your weight so you get yourself used to eating normal amounts of food again and your body doesn't react like there's a famine going on. Then after that you can go back to eating at a small deficit and you should start to see slow and steady fat loss.

So long as you stay at maintenance and don't regularly eat above maintenance you shouldn't gain any fat. you may gain up to 5lb water weight due to your glycogen stores getting replenished, this is a good thing, and may help to curb the excess hunger. And glycogen/water weight gain isn't fat gain and you shouldn't gain any inches with this. i.e. you'll look the same (possibly a bit healthier in terms of complexion etc) so don't stress about it.

The above advice about ensuring your macronutrients are well balanced is good. Make sure you're getting enough fat as well. Personally, I find that eating too many carbs but not enough fat and protein makes me really hungry and prone to overeating... but if I get enough fat and protein then I feel full eating at a suitable calorie deficit.

AliceDark

Every time I've gone through and upped my calories, it takes a week or two for my body to adjust. I'm usually starving for awhile, but my appetite calms down eventually.

My other thought was to try playing with your macros a little and see if tweaking them a bit would help. I generally do pretty well with higher fat and protein, but if I'm not getting enough carbs on a regular basis I start feeling really tired.

Finally, and I hope this doesn't sound too off-the-wall, but could some of it just be emotional? Especially if you've been undereating for awhile, trying to increase your calories can really spin your head. I'm wondering if it isn't you, subconsciously of course, going "more calories = bad, so I'm going to make sure I feel bad when I eat more." Just to be clear, I don't mean that you should think that way at all! It's just that the diet industry is a bee-yatch and we can internalize a lot of unhealthy messages without meaning to.

deksgrl

Is 300 calorie surplus for breast feeding enough? I would figure 500. If you were eating 1200 + 300 = 1500 which is also about your BMR, but now you are eating about 1900 (your TDEE - 20% + 300), you are still eating under your BMR + 500 for breastfeeding.

mortuseon

I'm increasing my calories to maintenance, began last week, and to begin with I felt tired and gross. So maybe it's just a side effect of your body adapting.

ChrysalisCove

Is 300 calorie surplus for breast feeding enough? I would figure 500. If you were eating 1200 + 300 = 1500 which is also about your BMR, but now you are eating about 1900 (your TDEE - 20% + 300), you are still eating under your BMR + 500 for breastfeeding.

I'm breastfeeding a toddler, not an infant - he only feeds about 4x/day :-)

ChrysalisCove

Every time I've gone through and upped my calories, it takes a week or two for my body to adjust. I'm usually starving for awhile, but my appetite calms down eventually.

My other thought was to try playing with your macros a little and see if tweaking them a bit would help. I generally do pretty well with higher fat and protein, but if I'm not getting enough carbs on a regular basis I start feeling really tired.

Finally, and I hope this doesn't sound too off-the-wall, but could some of it just be emotional? Especially if you've been undereating for awhile, trying to increase your calories can really spin your head. I'm wondering if it isn't you, subconsciously of course, going "more calories = bad, so I'm going to make sure I feel bad when I eat more." Just to be clear, I don't mean that you should think that way at all! It's just that the diet industry is a bee-yatch and we can internalize a lot of unhealthy messages without meaning to.

I'm sure you are right & my body is just having a hard time adjusting. I am terrible w/ my macros, but working on it... Gotta get that protein!! You probably have a point about the subconscious guilt-tripping also, especially considering my history of ED. I'll try to just let my body rest & even out again.

Thanks for your help, everyone! I feel marginally less crazy ;-)

HawkeyeTy

PMS.

Serah87

Is 300 calorie surplus for breast feeding enough? I would figure 500. If you were eating 1200 + 300 = 1500 which is also about your BMR, but now you are eating about 1900 (your TDEE - 20% + 300), you are still eating under your BMR + 500 for breastfeeding.

I'm breastfeeding a toddler, not an infant - he only feeds about 4x/day :-)

12 month old baby, is an infant, not a toddler.

ChrysalisCove

Is 300 calorie surplus for breast feeding enough? I would figure 500. If you were eating 1200 + 300 = 1500 which is also about your BMR, but now you are eating about 1900 (your TDEE - 20% + 300), you are still eating under your BMR + 500 for breastfeeding.

I'm breastfeeding a toddler, not an infant - he only feeds about 4x/day :-)

12 month old baby, is an infant, not a toddler.

Hahaha - not when he's been walking since 8mo & now runs circles around me!

Regardless of semantics, though - he is only nursing a few times a day (as opposed to being EBF) so I am adjusting calories accordingly.