I'm having a hard time figuring out how much to eat....

Takmeorleavme

I'm a former anorexic/binge eater and I'm a restricted eater. I tend to do best with a lot of micromanagement of my diet. I'm a vegan, gluten free and live about 90 percent raw and keep what I'm eating between 1500 and 1700 calories a day. The problem I'm having currently is my strategy for weight loss is working but I'm afraid I'm not eating enough with the amount I work out. I cycle to and from work which is about 60 mins each way ranging from moderate to mild intensity, I also do the Elliptical 6 days a week for between 20-30 mins at a high level of intensity and I am trying to work in low weight high rep weight training three days a week. I'm keeping a steady 1-2 pound a week weight loss average but I'm terrified I'm doing more harm than good. Because of my former anorexia I have a very slow metabolism and have always had to work much harder to take weight off. Before I added the elliptical I was slowly gaining weight with a roughly 2000-2200 calorie a day and the cycling to and from work. I'm afraid of adding calories and freezing my weight loss but am also afraid of doing more damage to my metabolism by not eating enough.

Two points concern me-

On days I think I eat too much the following day I tend to have a better workout.

I was recently hit by a car and did not control what I ate as much and ended up still losing weight while being stuck in bed.

Both of these thing make me fear I've gone into starvation mode.

Any thoughts? Advice?

terbusha

If you're losing ~2 lbs/week eating 1700 cal/day, try to bump it up a bit and see how it works for you. Even up to 1750 cal/day. Maintain that for a couple of weeks, and if you continue to lose weight, bump it up again. 1700 cal/day should be fine though for not reducing your metabolism. It's a good calorie level. I will say that if you can do more hard weight lifting, that is great for boosting your metabolism. Also high intensity sprints are great for this.

Allan