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MyFitnessPal Community

Will I gain weight if...

KristiMMM

I couldnt fit the gym into my busy schedule these past 4 days and Im really really stressing out about it. I had school and then went straight to work after that. In fact, I worked for 12 hrs today alone. Im closely monitoring what im eating, but a couple days I ate 1400 calories and one day I ate 1500.
My reccomended calorie intake is 1200 and if Im not getting any real cardio in then Im worried im going to gain weight.
The things Im eating are healthy. I stick to salads, chicken, fruit, special k cereal, skim milk, and small servings of cheese.
Thing is, im wondering if my job helps me burn calories that I might have burned at the gym if I wasting slaving away. Im a waitress and Im ALWAYS on my feet. I literally didnt sit down until 10:30 pm tonight and that was to roll silverware. I got there at 11 a.m. So, am I burning enough calories at work to cover my extra ingested calories??
My BMR is 1295 I think.

Replies

KristiMMM

wilted6orchid

If BMR is what you burn just...being alive, then I would think that 1500 is okay for someone who is constantly walking around. When you 1st signed up and did your goals, you didn't put sedentary did you?! I mean being a waitress is definitely not sedentary.

I would think 1500 cals is fine.

SHBoss1673

you won't gain if you are eating below your maintenance calories. You could SEE a gain but you could also see loss. Short term it's hard to tell because our bodies fluctuate up to 5 lbs up and 5 lbs down on any given day. If you're eating right, you aren't going to gain.

The thing is, you seem awfully small for 1200 calories a day. What is your height? and what did you set your goals at? if you waitress and you are a student, you set your activity level at lightly active right?

KristiMMM

Im 5 foot 1. I would say im pretty active. Im always on my feet. and if i have time between school and work I work out (:
I usually get to the gym at least 3 times a week. Sometimes more

SHBoss1673

so you're 5'1" and 24 years old.

I'll assume you weigh somewhere between 125 and 140? is that right? I can make these assumptions because you said your metabolic rate was checked and is normal.

With 12 lbs to lose, you're eating below your BMR which is probably why you aren't seeing results. You need to feed your body.

See, a healthy (or very close to it) BMI means your body feels pretty good about it's weight. Trying to lose weight when you are so close is tough.

here is what you're body is doing.

1) it thinks it's weight is fine.
2) it's panicking a little because you aren't giving it enough calories to function normally (below your bmr calories)
3) it's slowing down your metabolism and storing any energy it can as fat because it feels that it's not getting enough calories.
4) it's canabalizing your lean tissue (muscle) to use for energy, which raises your body fat% and doesn't make you look better.

so what should you do?
1) Eat about 100 calories MORE then your BMI NET. That means if you exercise, eat those (or most of them) too. (you can find your BMI in the tools section of MFP)
2) get your body fat % checked, if you are above 25% then you can work on lowering it to around 22%. If you don't lose any weight but are at 22% to 20% trust me, your body will look smokin!
3) forget the scale, it's not a good judge of health at this point, moving up or down a few pounds isn't going to change how you look now. Loosing fat and gaining muscle definition will change how you look.
4) Focus on correct nutrition. Eating the right kind of calories is a big step towards lowering body fat and raising lean tissue density and mass, which is what will give your muscles definition.

Expect it to take a few months to really see results. Take pictures, compare them in a few months. Don't expect miracles. this is a long process, I'm there too, I know how you feel, trust the process, and give it time.

These are, of course, just recommendations, but I hope you will think long and hard about them.

regards,

-Banks