For those of you who eat less than the recommended calories.
lucylou9701
Posts: 194
Hey everyone I just wanted to post a forum post dedicated to those people afraid to up their calories even though they fall way below what is recommended (1200) I was one of those people. I ate 500-800 calories a day for 4 months and you know what at the end of it sure I lost weight but I also lost a lot more. My hair began to fall out in clumps and now I practically have none left.... 
But I am here to tell you that there is light at the end of the tunnel...
If you follow the steps below and up your calories I swear to you you will feel 1000000x better like I do These last two weeks I took my calorie intake straight up to 1200 calories. I was so scared I was going to gain weight because that was double what I was eating before and sure it was really hard at first but you know what I have not gained a single pound thus far! So here is the plan
1) Week #1- Eat 1200 calories + half of your exercise calories
2) Make sure you eat a lot of PROTEIN during upping your calories (like I went from eating 600 calories a day and maybe 20g of protein to eating 1200 calories a day with 100+g of protein) Dont freak out its actually not that hard to eat 100g of protein if you have a little at each meal
3) Do not use the whole I cannot get enough calories out of healthy foods to eat 1200/day excuse... i know it is hard but you have to find things that you like and that have protein and calories in them.... like I recently found out I love greek yogurt!
4) Keep exercising... This is one of the most important is to make sure you keep exercising during the upping your calorie stage but make sure you eat half of your exercise calories back. Like yesterday I ate 1200 but burned just over 500 calories so I ate 1450 calories
5) Tell yourself you are beautiful.... You all are beautiful and I do not even have to see you to know that but you have to start believing it for yourself. Trust me I know how you feel... The whole wanting to cry every time you see a mirror or the constant thoughts that you are fat but no matter what you are all gorgeous people
6) reward yourself- Say that if I up my calories to 1200 and keep with it for ____ amount of time I will get _____. For me my reward is going to be to get my hair cut and styled at the salon.
7) Don't weigh yourself- Trust me I know how all you compulsive weighers feel... I used to weigh myself 25x a day and would get angry if I saw the number even go up an ounce but during the first week of upping your calories you should expect to see about 1-2lbs gain. DONT FREAK OUT! Some you are clicking out of this page right now because your like "but in the beginning she said there would be no gain blah blah blah" Its all water weight! You know how when you first started losing weight and your first week you lost like 4lbs well its sort of like that. For me the first 3 days I upped it I saw 1.5lb gain but by today two weeks later it is completely gone and I am back on the road to weight loss.
Additional tips
1) take a multi-vitamin (for me I also take a b vitamin supplement and a biotin supplement for my hair)
2) drink lots and lots of water (like +10 cups/day)
3) do some strength training
Benefits that i have felt from upping my calories
1) wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more energy (like x10000)
2) my mom says that my skin tone has improved she says I look like I am alive again
3) I feel strong. While i am working out I am like " damn i didnt know i could do 20 push-ups before" but again now my body has the energy and the strength to do that
4) My hair is already starting to get better
So sorry for the long post but I thought that this definitely needed to be put out there for all of those who are/were struggling like me. I kept telling myself this week I will just up my calories 100 calories per day blah blah blah but i never did so this time I just upped it straight up to 1200 and I feel great! I am hoping to up to 1300-1400 in the next month. So seriously all of you who are below 1200 go up your calories right now! Anybody who has any questions can add me as a friend or message me and I will for sure respond because I want to help you (yes you the one reading this) I can help I have been there.....
But I am here to tell you that there is light at the end of the tunnel...If you follow the steps below and up your calories I swear to you you will feel 1000000x better like I do These last two weeks I took my calorie intake straight up to 1200 calories. I was so scared I was going to gain weight because that was double what I was eating before and sure it was really hard at first but you know what I have not gained a single pound thus far! So here is the plan
1) Week #1- Eat 1200 calories + half of your exercise calories
2) Make sure you eat a lot of PROTEIN during upping your calories (like I went from eating 600 calories a day and maybe 20g of protein to eating 1200 calories a day with 100+g of protein) Dont freak out its actually not that hard to eat 100g of protein if you have a little at each meal
3) Do not use the whole I cannot get enough calories out of healthy foods to eat 1200/day excuse... i know it is hard but you have to find things that you like and that have protein and calories in them.... like I recently found out I love greek yogurt!
4) Keep exercising... This is one of the most important is to make sure you keep exercising during the upping your calorie stage but make sure you eat half of your exercise calories back. Like yesterday I ate 1200 but burned just over 500 calories so I ate 1450 calories
5) Tell yourself you are beautiful.... You all are beautiful and I do not even have to see you to know that but you have to start believing it for yourself. Trust me I know how you feel... The whole wanting to cry every time you see a mirror or the constant thoughts that you are fat but no matter what you are all gorgeous people
6) reward yourself- Say that if I up my calories to 1200 and keep with it for ____ amount of time I will get _____. For me my reward is going to be to get my hair cut and styled at the salon.
7) Don't weigh yourself- Trust me I know how all you compulsive weighers feel... I used to weigh myself 25x a day and would get angry if I saw the number even go up an ounce but during the first week of upping your calories you should expect to see about 1-2lbs gain. DONT FREAK OUT! Some you are clicking out of this page right now because your like "but in the beginning she said there would be no gain blah blah blah" Its all water weight! You know how when you first started losing weight and your first week you lost like 4lbs well its sort of like that. For me the first 3 days I upped it I saw 1.5lb gain but by today two weeks later it is completely gone and I am back on the road to weight loss.
Additional tips
1) take a multi-vitamin (for me I also take a b vitamin supplement and a biotin supplement for my hair)
2) drink lots and lots of water (like +10 cups/day)
3) do some strength training
Benefits that i have felt from upping my calories
1) wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy more energy (like x10000)
2) my mom says that my skin tone has improved she says I look like I am alive again
3) I feel strong. While i am working out I am like " damn i didnt know i could do 20 push-ups before" but again now my body has the energy and the strength to do that
4) My hair is already starting to get better
So sorry for the long post but I thought that this definitely needed to be put out there for all of those who are/were struggling like me. I kept telling myself this week I will just up my calories 100 calories per day blah blah blah but i never did so this time I just upped it straight up to 1200 and I feel great! I am hoping to up to 1300-1400 in the next month. So seriously all of you who are below 1200 go up your calories right now! Anybody who has any questions can add me as a friend or message me and I will for sure respond because I want to help you (yes you the one reading this) I can help I have been there.....
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Replies
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I am glad you saw the light and are having success with eating much, much healthier. Go you!!0
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that was a beautiful post.0
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Good post :flowerforyou:0
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I love how kind and supportive you were as you communicated these ideas. The fact that you're describing your own path should help soothe those who are struggling with this themselves. Thanks for sharing. :flowerforyou:
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i used to eat only a few calories a day and stopped having periods...for all of my twenties and only recently started getting them regularlly again...not a benefit, but I know my body is "working" now...
I have been eating at least 1200 calories for about a year now and since joining MFP upped my caloric intake even more (based on my activity) and I am the smallest I have ever been...at the holidays fort that matter!
Congrats to you for eating correctly, you need to fuel your machine!!
GOOD JOB!0 -
Wonderful post and I wish I had been that smart at 18!0
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Good for you!:drinker:0
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3) I feel strong. While i am working out I am like " damn i didnt know i could do 20 push-ups before" but again now my body has the energy and the strength to do that 0
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