Naive Dieter made some mistakes -- Need Advice

dazedandconfused87

Hi all,

Really excited I found this board and hoping some of you kind people with more experience can help me understand what I need to do now and what my next best steps are.

Background: I've always been a fairly slim girl -- don't weigh myself purposely bc I don't want to obsess over numbers but summer was coming and I wanted to lose some vanity pounds and just feel good and toned in my summer clothes. So go figure I found a program online called Tone It Up which has a workout schedule and nutrition plan. I started following this plan which emphasizes no calorie counting which I was so thrilled with -- didn't want to get caught in the number game. I also started doing the workout schedule for the most part -- which was pretty intense with a morning and evening workout, and no official "rest" days -- they always encouraged some kind of activity. Very cardio and running heavy as well with calisthenic workouts too.

I started following the plan which is also touted as a lifestyle -- amazing! I didn't want a diet I wanted a lifestyle and to be healthy and whatnot. Fast forward a few months -- about 3 -- and I definitely lost weight and at first felt so awesome. Didn't play the numbers game but I would say I'm around 130 - 135 right now and 5'7. So many compliments about how great I look, felt really great initially -- but then slowly I found myself so much less energetic, realized that my period hadn't come around and I feel like I'm shedding more hair than normal... what? So I downloaded MFP, plugged in a day of calories just to see an estimation and realized I was eating between 1400 - 1500 per day, exercising about an hour, and not "eating the exercise calories back" (I didn't even know this was a thing!)

I immediately freaked out and panicked and since then I have ceased working out and have been eating A LOT because I realized my body is quite literally starving and that is really, really scary to me. I don't look unheathily thin at all though - just very lean and in shape. I understand that I need to eat more and I may need to gain a few lbs and that's ok -- it's just terrible timing as I am in a wedding in August and am going on a beach vacation after. I do not want to lose anymore weight so I am obviously going to add calories back in and I need to count them to make sure I'm getting enough since like most people have said, I am full so quickly and eating more this past week has left me sooooo gassy and bloated. I'm not going to step on a scale but I do need to make sure I still fit into my dress for the wedding since I'm in the wedding party!

I also still want to be able to workout -- since I'm not looking to lose weight I'm going to focus on lifting weights and lower body with a bit of HIIT (2x per week max). I want to shape my body if anything and gain muscle and definition. This whole week I've eaten a TON of food and some of it unhealthy and very calorie dense bc my body was screaming at me. I also took a complete rest week off exercise to help with the overtraining. I had no idea that this "lifestyle" was actually an overexercise and low calorie meal plan I thought the portion sizes seemed pretty small but I also thought I was just accustomed to North American serving sizes.

So... what the heck do I do with my calories? Do I eat at maintenance level? Do I calculate TDEE and still eat a bit above that since my body is clearly upset with me for running it literally into the ground? Very confused but the posts I have seen around here make a lot of sense and I am hoping one of you knowledgable and kind MFPers can help me out.

Stats are:
Height: 5'7
Age: 26
Weight: 130 - 135 lbs (approximately)
Workouts: Was doing 6x per week, 1 hour -- looking to move to 4 -5x per week, with a focus on weights and 2 HIIT sessions max

Thank you for reading my novel!

heybales

HIIT, even actually done correctly, which I rarely find, is the cardio answer to getting the benefits from lifting.
If you lift, skip the HIIT, likely it's just impacting your ability to recover from a good lifting session, while also preventing you from getting a good lifting session. Just get the desired benefits straight from the lifting.
If you just like the interval nature of HIIT, then after your lifting session, do whatever you can do, which shouldn't be much if the lifting was good. Warm-up with short easy cardio if desired. Walk on between lifting days.

So leave the lifting - drop the HIIT. That's just piling on extra stress.

To get the most benefit from the lifting, meaning reshaping the body, eat at maintenance.

Just to keep the amount of calories sharply in mind as to too much and too little and expected weight gain/loss.

If you ate 250 calories over true TDEE/maintenance daily, it would take 2 weeks to slowly gain 1 lb.
Reread and understand that clearly.

So be very willing to increase your calories.
If you ate 100 more daily for a week, and gained 2 lbs - it's obviously water weight, as that would take 35 days to gain 1 lb slowly.

And with lifting, that 1 lb isn't even all fat.

And yes, you shocked your body eating way too much now.
Increase slowly.

100 extra daily for a week.
Next week eat another 100 daily.

If it's been awhile since you had an exercise rest break, then take a week off right now, walk during that time only. Really unstress body from that.
Still do above with calories.

You were also stressing your body badly with probably little to no recovery with 6 days exercise, I'm guessing as hard as you could. Another reason to drop the HIIT. You need rest days for max recovery from the lifting.

Exercise if done right tears the body down.
Rest for recovery and repair allows it to build back up, stronger if diet allows.

Eating in a great deficit greatly impairs recovery, probably little to none. You have likely no idea how great your workouts could have been eating at proper level, and the improvements possible from them.

If you want a best estimate of TDEE, use the spreadsheet on my profile page.
Stay on Simple Setup and Progress tabs.
Look at sample data in yellow cells, change it to see changes if desired - then delete all yellow cell data.
Enter your own stats, put in revised workout schedule that has 2-3 walking only days, and see TDEE.

dazedandconfused87

Thank you for your help, I greatly appreciate this.

I am so much hungrier all the time already, so I have no idea how I was working out so much on so little and still felt as though my strength were increasing and I was seeing better results.

I will keep checking in on these boards as it seems there are numerous very knowledgeable members. It's a shame how many unhealthy practices there are within the health and diet industry that most people are unaware of simply because they trust what they are told by "professionals" or respected figures. I guess I should have remember it's still a moneymaking industry at it's core and should have done my own research. Now I am just very frightened thinking about the stress I have put my body under and the damage I have done unknowingly.

sarahorange55

hello! and welcome - great that you have woken up to the bad diet way I agree its so very easy to think you are doing the right thing but just getting swallowed up in the diet and money revolution!

anyway 3 months of that diet yes probably has lost you some muscle but its far from awful and easy to rectify - you are rectifying it you are here and eating more!

many of us did years of bad dieting so don't beat yourself up too much - you figured it out certainly quicker than I plus being such a wonderful age means your body will bounce back nice and quickly too!

anyway I was really writing to say many of the guys/gals on here also post a journal on http://forums.eatmore2weighless.com/index.php so you start your own and keep us informed of how you are getting on - or read about how we are all doing / have done

Its a great additional resource to the MFP boards too

good luck!

dazedandconfused87

Thank you! It is so misleading and also incredibly frustrating because I am an intelligent enough person that I should have done more research and figured out how to lose weight and build muscle properly BUT with work, social life, friends, family, exercise, and personal relaxation time... who finds the time?! No wonder we all are quick to look for the easiest solution.

Thank you -- I do have to be honest and say this isn't the first time I have dieted irresponsibly but in the past while I did lose weight and was eating much less without counting calories, I also exercised MUCH less (20 -30 min per day with 2 days of rest always) and I never lost my period at that time so I am inclined to believe while I may have been metabolically stressed or damaged, it wouldn't have been to this same extent I would be now.

I am going to check out that forum and start my journal -- thank you so much for pointing me in that direction and for taking the time to respond to my message.

Cheers!

sarahorange55

not a problem at all glad to help and actually when eat less move more is pushed down your throat why should you look eslewhere! only when you realise that doesn't work well not really - anyway looking forward to your journal!