Will I gain the weight lost back if I eat more?!

Lody98x · August 2014

I'v been eating about 900 calories most days for 3 months and I'v nearly lost 20 pounds.I thought I was eating more because I thought the nutritional information on rice,pasta and cous cous was referring to the cooked form so I'v been eating less than I thought.I also work out 5/6 times a week for about 30/40minutes using fitnessblender's cardio and strength training videos and I'm 5'5 and currently weigh 154.6 pounds.If I bump up my calorie intake to at least 1200 calories a day,will I gain all the weight back?Also does anyone know how many calories are in Golden Sun's long grain cooked rice?

4legsRbetterthan2 · August 2014

You will not gain the weight back, you may see temporary gains as your body readjusts to the new routine. At 1200 calories a day you are still in a deficit so it would be impossible to gain body mass of any kind. In addition to that you probably don't need to be eating only 1200 calories either, my guess is you have your rate of loss set too high for your current goals.

If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

heybales · August 2014

You gain if you eat more than you burn.

You lose if you eat less than you burn.

If you eat more than what caused to to lose weight, doesn't mean you are eating more than you burn.

That's a real bummer you forced your body to burn that slow - you gonna maintain on 1200 daily with the amount of exercise you've been doing?

What happens when sick, or injured, or vacation?

Oh well, no matter. Figure out how much less you've truly been eating from maintenance, and you can eat that much more.

Be aware some of the fast weight you lost at the very start was water weight, that will come back.
Goal weight should be a range, not a number, unless you enjoy being stressed out.
So move up slowly, like 100 extra daily for a week at a time.

That way you know when you gain faster than 1 lb in 35 days, it was merely water weight. Because if it was fat due to eating more than you burn, it would take 35 days to gain 1 lb slowly if you ate 100 over maintenance.
Reread that until you understand it.

You won't find out exactly how they make their rice, find a similar listing, and then the biggest thing will be estimating the amount they give you.

tibby531 · August 2014

I recently had to up my calories. I was scared, so I did +200 at a time. I would retain up to 15 pounds until my body realized what was going on, then the weight would come right off, again. just stick with your workout routine. and maybe don't get on the scale for a month-ish.

FitOldMomma · August 2014

You are eating way too few calories.

Let me repeat that: WAY TOO FEW calories.

Use this to see what you should be eating.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

Lody98x · August 2014

Oh thank god I was really worried but I was trying to bump up my calorie intake to about 1400 calories because I was begining to binge at least once a week and I was getting headaches, I was really cold and just felt terrible overall some days but I guess know why now.Also,is it possible I lost muscle mass?

heybales · August 2014

You for sure did.

Your maintenance calories will be less than they could have been.
That also means it will be easier to gain fat back.

The other part of that, you likely suppressed your metabolism even outside that muscle mass loss, you may be eating for a long time, years, up to 20% less than you otherwise could have.
Yet another reason maintenance will be so hard.

If you are curious about the why behind it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A

heybales · August 2014

You are eating way too few calories.

Let me repeat that: WAY TOO FEW calories.

Use this to see what you should be eating.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator

Uh, before making that bad recommendation as to proper amount to eat - you might review what it even says right there on that link as to what BMR means.

That is going to be way too little also, once you wake up.

Lody98x · August 2014

You for sure did.

Your maintenance calories will be less than they could have been.
That also means it will be easier to gain fat back.

The other part of that, you likely suppressed your metabolism even outside that muscle mass loss, you may be eating for a long time, years, up to 20% less than you otherwise could have.
Yet another reason maintenance will be so hard.

If you are curious about the why behind it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A

What about the strength training?(Sorry I'm pretty ignorant on this topic)Also if I lost the weight on a higher calorie intake would my body look more toned?

heybales · August 2014

You for sure did.

Your maintenance calories will be less than they could have been.
That also means it will be easier to gain fat back.

The other part of that, you likely suppressed your metabolism even outside that muscle mass loss, you may be eating for a long time, years, up to 20% less than you otherwise could have.
Yet another reason maintenance will be so hard.

If you are curious about the why behind it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A

What about the strength training?(Sorry I'm pretty ignorant on this topic)

It most definitely can help along with a reasonable deficit - which you didn't have.

Your workouts with that much deficit were no where near the overload they could have been. Of course it felt like you were pushing hard, and indeed you were for what had to push with.
If starting fresh you for sure would have made existing muscle stronger, but once that happens, something is going to be lost and not built back to what it was prior, least used is first lost, but even then an extreme deficit can impact everything.

You'll likely be shocked how strong your workouts can become eating more reasonably. And that may aid recovery actually, if you consider lower than normal daily burn something to recover from.

Here's a study with only 25% deficit taken off lab measured daily maintenance. And even the cardio group, having done no exercise prior, was really doing resistance training. That would have stopped being a benefit if the study had continued.

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

kcjchang · August 2014

Liftng4Lis · August 2014

Oh thank god I was really worried but I was trying to bump up my calorie intake to about 1400 calories because I was begining to binge at least once a week and I was getting headaches, I was really cold and just felt terrible overall some days but I guess know why now.Also,is it possible I lost muscle mass?

YES!

lilMimi24 · August 2014

You for sure did.

Your maintenance calories will be less than they could have been.
That also means it will be easier to gain fat back.

The other part of that, you likely suppressed your metabolism even outside that muscle mass loss, you may be eating for a long time, years, up to 20% less than you otherwise could have.
Yet another reason maintenance will be so hard.

If you are curious about the why behind it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i_cmltmQ6A

Ok well, i do agree with this but don't be to hard on yourself. You have been consuming way too few calories and have most likely done damage but it is not irreparable! Basically you have starved yourself for 3 months. The Minnesota experiment enables a good take on this. When the subjects calories were upped they gained 100% of their original body weight, but had approximately 140% of their original body fat, so yes the recomposition thing is true. HOWEVER, the body weight and relative body fat of the Minnesota volunteers had begun to approach the pre-experiment levels after JUST OVER A YEAR (this may seem like a long time but in the grand scheme of things it is not a lifetime). Large increases in calories in the diet of the men caused increases in BMR so no, their metabolisms were not broken!

Learn from your experience, take time to mend, have patience, you will reach your goals, just in a sustainable way.

Will I gain the weight lost back if I eat more?!

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