Am I doing this right?

ariba27

Hi, I'm 17 and currently 190 lbs. That's not good because I'm only 5'3" . I began losing weight about a year ago by going into a deficit. I barely ever ate over 1200 calories. Lost 30 lbs in about 4 months. Sustained it and then started noticing it crept back up. By like 5 lbs. So I began the cycle of cutting to 500 calories then bingeing. You know the deal, did it for about 5 months before I realized I am lost. I found this two weeks ago and am now eating 2000 calories a day. I have a few questions though:
I don't lift, and don't really want to- atleast not heavy duty. Is this necessary to lose weight?
When can I create a deficit again? I'll have maintenance days but I really need to get this weight loss train moving again.
I really am just kind of lost because it seems like everyone who does this works out a lot and that just isn't possible for me. I do cardio about 3 times a week with some weights. Any help or advice or answers to my questions?

heybales

You must merely create a deficit, that's all.

Many do the lifting to repair the damage of losing muscle mass doing exactly what you did - and you did lose muscle mass, no way around that.

So the many you see doing lifting are ready to stop the yo-yo dieting that comes with not only bad metabolism, but also reduced muscle mass, which also means your metabolism is lower.

Lower than needed means you have to eat less. It means you have narrow margin for error to see good results.

10% difference in eating level if your TDEE is at 1500 is mere 150 calories - the inaccuracy in food labels for 1 meal potentially, very easily eating out once.
But if TDEE is 2500, 250 calories is much easier to deal with for inaccuracy.

So you don't have to workout, but you'd be wiser to spend any available time you have doing body weight exercises, or weights if you really have access, leave the cardio to that desired for heart health, 20 min 3 x weekly.

Otherwise, take a reasonable 10% deficit from your estimated TDEE.

But I'd suggest working your way up slowly - even if your estimated TDEE was bang on 2000, it isn't that yet in reality, you will gain fat with that big of a difference, 800 calories or more almost daily until your body decides to speed up - that's 1.5 lbs weekly of fat since no strength training.

You can create a deficit when it looks like your body is unstressed, and unlikely to treat extra food as fat storage time in case the craziness comes back it went through.

So you already lost 5 months, what's another month at least repairing body so you can get this back.

AnitraSoto

Congrats in deciding to work on your health and repair your metabolism!

Have you figured out your TDEE? (is that the 2,000 figure?) Coming from that restrict/binge past, your metabolism has probably been suppressed, and chances are that you have lost quite a bit of muscle in the process (thus lowering your metabolism even further...)

Depending on how long you have been eating at that 2.000 calorie level, you might want to consider working your way up there a bit slower. Perhaps add 100 or 200 calories a day to your goal and stay at that level for a week or two before going up another 100 or 200 calories. This might minimize any initial weight/fat gain as your body readjusts to this new eating level. Then, after you get to your TDEE, plan on staying at that level for at least a month (probably longer) until your weight completely stabilizes. This is the part of the process that really should not be rushed. After the restrict/binge history, your body may require a fair amount of time before it adapts and "trusts" you that these cycles will not return....

Certainly "heavy lifting" is not for everybody, but I would definitely try to incorporate some type of lifting. Remember, you have probably lost a lot of muscle mass with the low calorie dieting, and if you can get some of that back you will not only look and feel better, but you will also speed up your metabolism. If you are pressed for time, try to make sure those workouts incorporate some weights of body weight exercises, and then keep that cardio short and sweet (HIIT type workouts). When you are doing your reset, you want to try to get that "burn off as many calories as I can during my workout" mentality and instead, concentrate on building lean muscle mass. Spend that time effectively, building muscle, not breaking it down...

Congrats on your decision to treat your body tight, and feel free to add me if you feel like you need a shoulder to lean on along the way :-)

Anitra

mnsmov15

Good luck and congrats on deciding to do it the better way!

I am very new to this myself, but I know where you are coming from - been there
Have been slowly increasing my calories from 1350 - 1450 and now 1550 this week and have not gained much. That still surprises me - really

I will slowly work my way upto TDEE and then plan on a TDEE-15% deficit. I have been working on lifting. That need not be too much heavy stuff, just starting off by increasing the lifting - cardio ratio.

For me, I have been doing bodyweight workouts like squats, pushups and lunges now, so have been adding in weights (dumbbells and body bar /smith machine) to those workouts

You can start slowly doing more body weight routines too.