Question on increasing calories

runway12

I am trying to gain weight. All the websites are telling me to eat 2500 or more calories a day to do so, but these online calculators don't know that my body has been used to eating just 1100 cals a day for the past year. I know this is too low and is why I'm increasing, but my question is... since my body is so used to the 1100 won't I gain weight by increasing to something a little less drastic like 1600 or 1800?

heybales

If you jump straight up - sure.

Eat an extra 100 daily for at least a week.
If you get fast water weight gain that first week, good, eat at that level another week.
Then add another 100 daily.

Also be aware, if those sites are basing TDEE on BMR based on age, weight, height, and you have much less muscle mass than the average gal because of prior diet and muscle mass loss - those are inflated figures.
So get a BF% estimate and use Katch BMR as start of the math.
Or use spreadsheet on my profile page to do it all.

So always keep the math in mind as you perhaps gain 1 lb in a week.

If your suppressed TDEE stayed at say 1200 and you ate 100 extra, you would have to eat that way with no increase to TDEE for 35 days to slowly put on 1 lb.

Read that again.

So 1 lb fast gain in 3 or 4 days is NOT fat - it's glycogen stores with water. Good need water that is increasing your LBM and your metabolism, as it takes energy to deal with intracellular water.
You've likely been living with very depleted stores for a long time.

But do expect this possibility, that it may take months eating at some level of suppressed TDEE to slowly increase RMR.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/heybales/view/reduced-metabolism-tdee-beyond-expected-from-weight-loss-616251

MelodyandBarbells

If you're maintaining at 1100, 1600 would make you gain. If you're losing at 1100, then 1600 may or may not still be a deficit and you could just maintain, for example. If you really want to increase your calories but not feel like you're eating all the time, you may wish to look into calorie dense options. Full fat everything, a little more oil in the foods you cook, peanut butter, avocado, most nuts, butter with your toast, etc.

neanderthin

Don't forget binges, they have calories.

runway12

If you jump straight up - sure.

Eat an extra 100 daily for at least a week.
If you get fast water weight gain that first week, good, eat at that level another week.
Then add another 100 daily.

Also be aware, if those sites are basing TDEE on BMR based on age, weight, height, and you have much less muscle mass than the average gal because of prior diet and muscle mass loss - those are inflated figures.
So get a BF% estimate and use Katch BMR as start of the math.
Or use spreadsheet on my profile page to do it all.

So always keep the math in mind as you perhaps gain 1 lb in a week.

If your suppressed TDEE stayed at say 1200 and you ate 100 extra, you would have to eat that way with no increase to TDEE for 35 days to slowly put on 1 lb.

Read that again.

So 1 lb fast gain in 3 or 4 days is NOT fat - it's glycogen stores with water. Good need water that is increasing your LBM and your metabolism, as it takes energy to deal with intracellular water.
You've likely been living with very depleted stores for a long time.

But do expect this possibility, that it may take months eating at some level of suppressed TDEE to slowly increase RMR.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/heybales/view/reduced-metabolism-tdee-beyond-expected-from-weight-loss-616251

runway12

What if I am very underweight and I want to be gaining 1/2 a pound a week or a pound a week? That gain would be real weight and not water right? At first when starting this increase, my weight dropped and it scared me because I am already underweight, I am waiting till the end of this week to see if It was just a shock and if I can still gain this week, but if not I will go up to 1800 calories and if that isn't making me gain, then 2000.

If you jump straight up - sure.

Eat an extra 100 daily for at least a week.
If you get fast water weight gain that first week, good, eat at that level another week.
Then add another 100 daily.

Also be aware, if those sites are basing TDEE on BMR based on age, weight, height, and you have much less muscle mass than the average gal because of prior diet and muscle mass loss - those are inflated figures.
So get a BF% estimate and use Katch BMR as start of the math.
Or use spreadsheet on my profile page to do it all.

So always keep the math in mind as you perhaps gain 1 lb in a week.

If your suppressed TDEE stayed at say 1200 and you ate 100 extra, you would have to eat that way with no increase to TDEE for 35 days to slowly put on 1 lb.

Read that again.

So 1 lb fast gain in 3 or 4 days is NOT fat - it's glycogen stores with water. Good need water that is increasing your LBM and your metabolism, as it takes energy to deal with intracellular water.
You've likely been living with very depleted stores for a long time.

But do expect this possibility, that it may take months eating at some level of suppressed TDEE to slowly increase RMR.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/heybales/view/reduced-metabolism-tdee-beyond-expected-from-weight-loss-616251

heybales

If you jump straight up - sure.

Eat an extra 100 daily for at least a week.
If you get fast water weight gain that first week, good, eat at that level another week.
Then add another 100 daily.

Also be aware, if those sites are basing TDEE on BMR based on age, weight, height, and you have much less muscle mass than the average gal because of prior diet and muscle mass loss - those are inflated figures.
So get a BF% estimate and use Katch BMR as start of the math.
Or use spreadsheet on my profile page to do it all.

So always keep the math in mind as you perhaps gain 1 lb in a week.

If your suppressed TDEE stayed at say 1200 and you ate 100 extra, you would have to eat that way with no increase to TDEE for 35 days to slowly put on 1 lb.

Read that again.

So 1 lb fast gain in 3 or 4 days is NOT fat - it's glycogen stores with water. Good need water that is increasing your LBM and your metabolism, as it takes energy to deal with intracellular water.
You've likely been living with very depleted stores for a long time.

But do expect this possibility, that it may take months eating at some level of suppressed TDEE to slowly increase RMR.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/heybales/view/reduced-metabolism-tdee-beyond-expected-from-weight-loss-616251

What if I am very underweight and I want to be gaining 1/2 a pound a week or a pound a week? That gain would be real weight and not water right? At first when starting this increase, my weight dropped and it scared me because I am already underweight, I am waiting till the end of this week to see if It was just a shock and if I can still gain this week, but if not I will go up to 1800 calories and if that isn't making me gain, then 2000.

Yes, it would be real fat, and water weight. You increase cal's, and for 3-4 lbs you will gain water weight eventually, no way around that, starting where it sounds like you are.

You can NOT gain muscle that fast even if doing the best progressive overload weight lifting program you could do, no matter what, so it will be fat. If you need more fat, fine.
Just be aware a 600 cal surplus is over 1 lb weekly of excess unless your metabolism slowly starts to rise during the week.

Just as a big calorie deficit is a shock on the system, and big surplus is too, really recommend you start slow.

Your body can get used to a certain level of fat once you have more, and it'll fight to keep it at that level. in other words, don't gain unneeded fat.