i need help, majorly!

toriaenator

Hey all!

Let me get straight to the point, I'm very very concerned with my eating habbits right now.

This weight loss thing started off innocently enough, I reduced calories and started working out. Every week that passes makes me more and more obsessed though. I'm eating less and less. I have lost over 15 pounds and getting close to my goal weight. But idk what normal eating is anymore! I feel like i can't start increasing my food intake or ill immediately gain all the weight back.

Please please PLEASE help me haha. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm 5ft 4 and 112 pounds, dropped down from 128 pounds. How much should I eat to maintain this?

psuLemon

Hey all!

Let me get straight to the point, I'm very very concerned with my eating habbits right now.

This weight loss thing started off innocently enough, I reduced calories and started working out. Every week that passes makes me more and more obsessed though. I'm eating less and less. I have lost over 15 pounds and getting close to my goal weight. But idk what normal eating is anymore! I feel like i can't start increasing my food intake or ill immediately gain all the weight back.

Please please PLEASE help me haha. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm 5ft 4 and 132 pounds, dropped down from 128 pounds. How much should I eat to maintain this?

You might want to start by seeing a doctor before this becomes a full blown eating disorder.


But to answer your question we can do some estimations. Base on your information, your estimated BMR is around 1355. This is the amount of calories you would burn if you were in a coma. Then you have to add your lifestyle multiplier (see below criteria). Assuming you are sedentary then it would be:

= 1355 * 1.2 = 1626 + exercise calories. And if you average 500 calories burn, then you should eat 2000 calories each day.


The other option is to add exercise calories into your daily lifestyle. So if you workout 3-5 days a week then your calculations would be:

=1355*1.55 = 2100 <-- daily intake and not eating exercise calories.



* Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
* Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
* Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
* Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
* Extr. active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2X day training, i.e marathon, contest etc.)



Also keep in mind these numbers are estimates and depending on how much body fat/lean body mass you have, these numbers could be higher or lower. If you are skinny/fat (person at low weight but high body fat... like 28%, then your ideal would be working on body recomposition where you would increase weight training and eat around maintenance or have a minimal deficit.


So what is your workout routine?

FierceFitBeautiful

Click settings at the top, then click "Update Diet/Fitness Settings," and then you can enter your current/goal weight (which are the same, I'm guessing?) and then from the drop down menu click "Maintain current weight" and MFP will output your caloric requirements

If' it's a lot more than you're eating now, I would suggest only increasing about 200 calories every few days until you get up there, that way you shouldn't gain any weight from the increase! Good luck!

psuLemon

BTW, when increasing calories, you might gain a few pounds. It's normal, it's just additional water weight from the increased calories that your body will need to break down. If you think about it, you need to eat an additional 24500 calories more than you burn to gain a lb of fat

Peta22

Your at my ideal weight I think you need to try and relax about all this to start with. I'm no expert but I think you would just increase your calorie intake until your weight stabilizes but don't stress over it. If the worst happens and you start to gain weight then you know how to lose it now! Everyone's weight fluctuates anyway though so just monitor it and you'll soon start to understand your own body's patterns. Maintenance can be managed easily as long as your vigilant! Good luck - and ongratulations on all your hard work so far!

TobyTimmyNala

I would suggest once you get down to your goal weight to then look at the calorie intake needed to maintain that goal weight and eat those calories EVERY DAY.

kryptonitekelly

Eating disorder much?
5`4 and 112....

I went through this. It's not nice >_<! Constantly thinking what goes in your mouth and counting.

Shweedog

I would suggest once you get down to your goal weight to then look at the calorie intake needed to maintain that goal weight and eat those calories EVERY DAY.

THIS! But once you get to your goal weight do not up your cals to maintenance all at once. Up them by 100-200 per week until you reach your maintenance cals. That is what I did. I did not gain any weight while doing this.

ladykaisa

Yep. That's how my ED started. First restricting, which got me the results I wanted. Then fear of eating. Then binging, and purging, and laxative abuse.
Coming from a recovery standpoint, the only way to really get over it is to throw out your scale, go by how your clothes fit, and increase your calories SLOWLY, as you feel comfy. Don't jump 500 calories in one go. I had to increase mine by 100 calories per 2 week span to feel comfy and not bring on anxiety attacks. Even now, it's hard eating all the calories MFP give me!
Talk with your doc about your fears, or find a nutritionist/dietitian that specializes in eating disorders if you feel that you'd "freak out" by increasing calories.
This thinking CAN stop, but you do have to work at it *hugs* add me if you'd like!

Amy

feistymoon

Eating disorder much?
5`4 and 112....

I went through this. It's not nice >_<! Constantly thinking what goes in your mouth and counting.

When you went through it would a comment like this have been a positive or negative influence? I think people on here need to learn to exercise a little sensitivity

thepetiterunner

Eating disorder much?
5`4 and 112....

I went through this. It's not nice >_<! Constantly thinking what goes in your mouth and counting.

Technically her BMI is still in the healthy range (albeit in the lower end), so I wouldn't consider this an eating disorder.

To the OP:
I do understand what you're going through. It's hard to start to relax without relaxing "too" much and slipping into old (bad) habits. Here's the thing though - hopefully, since you've been doing it the healthy way, this has become more of a LIFESTYLE. Now, as such, you're going to have days where you eat in a more controlled manner, but also days where you splurge. This should be a part of your normal life - unless you plan on micro-managing your diet/fitness forever.

I think it's hard to develop a healthy relationship with food after you get to (or get near) your goal weight. It's hard not to view it as the "obstacle" towards maintainng or feeling "guilty" when you have tasty "bad" foods. This is something I struggle with as well. I don't have the right answer for you, I think this is a very personal issue, but I'm right there with you.

EDIT:
Oh, I forgot to mention something that's helped me. I don't look at calories "over" or "under" really as a daily "fail" or "success". On days I do well, I sort of consider it "banking" those calories for a day that I need more, like on a weekly basis. It's helped me to feel less like I'm micro-managing and that having a big day where I enjoy something I love (and isn't necessarily the best caloric choice for my diet) is okay.

pwittek10

I totally get where you are!
I have to make myself eat about every 3 hours low fat low calorie something to keep my
metabolism going. My biggest fear is gaining the weight back.
If you stop eating you will gain weight because your body will store everything you eat
, I've been there done that!
To win you calories in and burn out. To much workouts will also have a negative effect
Balance for your body is the key to winning.
Good luck

MJ7910

Hey all!

Let me get straight to the point, I'm very very concerned with my eating habbits right now.

This weight loss thing started off innocently enough, I reduced calories and started working out. Every week that passes makes me more and more obsessed though. I'm eating less and less. I have lost over 15 pounds and getting close to my goal weight. But idk what normal eating is anymore! I feel like i can't start increasing my food intake or ill immediately gain all the weight back.

Please please PLEASE help me haha. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm 5ft 4 and 112 pounds, dropped down from 128 pounds. How much should I eat to maintain this?

please add me, i went through a similar thing years ago and recently lost weight on here again, had some of the same issues emerge but i've been able to stop it from getting out of control this time. i am 123 lb also 5'4". might be able to help a little. the main thing is that you are focused on control. you have to find a way to give up some of the control. you have reached a pretty low weight for you height, at this point you need to stop worrying and make your life about something else. it really will start to mess with you and drive you crazy if you continue to focus on it. right now i would encourage you to eat at least 1600 calories a day if you're not already. for 5'4" which i am also the same height, i would say you're still ok weight wise, but could gain a little more and be perfectly fine. a good indicator is whether you get a period or not. if it's stopped, you probably don't weigh enough. you could even work on gaining muscle and doing strength training, which would mean eating more in order to do that. it is very hard to go through an eating disorder and it starts with thinking about food and calories all the time. it is easy to get in that mode on here. the best thing to do is let yourself stray away for a week or so... i know it sounds scary... but take that time to think about what else is important to you. if you want to come back, keep in mind that logging your food shouldn't rule your every waking moment. you can and should think about other things in your life that are important to you. good luck with this, i know it's hard! it doesn't have to be all consuming to keep your weight at a reasonable level.

Justjoshin

Open your diary too. Everyone is just speculating that you are eating 3 leafs of lettuce and a lemon slice per day.

jaguar101570

psulemon is right on the money. Just go up in calories 100-200 calories a week until you get to your ideal caloric intake. You won't gain a lot of weight back. Don't fear! You will be o.k..

caseynoodles

This happened to me. I got down to 112 pounds and I am 5'3. I started at about 128. For me personally, 112 was too thin. But, I too got obsessed with it. So, I started eating and exercising just to maintain. I still work out everyday. My body adjusted itself to where I think it should be at 118-120. I still get upset if I get over 120 and I immediately increase my exercise and lower my calories, but I stop when I get to 118 and eat and exercise to maintain. It's just finding that balance.

Faintgreeneyes

May I also add that none of us on here are licensed doctors or psychologists and cannot diagnose people with an ED. Yes she may have some symptoms, but it might be wise to not throw out words or diagnosis on someone that we really know nothing about.

That being said OP- if you are noticing that this is a problem, and feel that you might need help, then please seek counseling or talk to your doctor.

I know the feeling of doing well and losing weight and being afraid to eat more and gain back after all your hard work. I think that if you slowly started increasing your cals till you got to maintenance mode and saw that you can eat more and still stay at the same level, that would help you out.

Best of luck to you

Jenny_MSW

From what you've shared, you don't have an eating disorder and it doesn't look like your on your way to having on either, because you have really good insight into what's happening with yourself, which is not present in individuals with these disorders. (I'm a therapist) Just wanted to put that out there, since I really don't like seeing when people "throw" stuff like that around.

A lot of people who lose weight go through this when they get around their goal. It totally has happened to me too. You get really paranoid that you'll gain it back, which is a normal reaction because SO many people gain their weight back. The previous post about figuring out your maintenance calorie level is a helpful one, or just add 50 calories to your day and see how it goes for a week. If you're still losing, add 50 more/day for the next week. Just be gentle to your body so it doesn't freak out from a major change in your eating habits and you shouldn't see any increase. Your current height and weight sounds appropriate if it's something you're happy with.

whit1108

Im kinda in the same boat you are in. In the beginning that weight came off normal like it should 2 pounds a week with still eating the same stuff and making sure i work out 5 days a week and still allowing myself a cheat day. but now that i closer to my goal weight i find myself eating less than i should on days and than also working out. Sometimes idk what normal eating is anymore. I feel like if i eat normal I will gain all my weight back in one day or a weekend. I know you cant but thats what my head is telling me. I have went from 5'4 150 pounds to 5'4 125 pounds. I want to get down to 115 pounds. which is still in my healthy range. I had a girl last week on fb tell me so like 15 ppl could read this convo that she thought i had an eating disorder. I told her I dont because i dont make myself throw up or anything. and there is still days i eat bad but this weight loss thing is a huge mind game. One thing lead to another and she ended up un friended me on here and fb. I just feel like if she was concerned about me that isnt something you write on fb for that many ppl to read she could have inbox me or talked face to face and I feel like this is suppose to be a supportive website and be there for one another and by her unfriended me she isnt using this site what it is for. You can go ahead and friend me if you like since we are on the same boat.

shydaisi

BTW, when increasing calories, you might gain a few pounds. It's normal, it's just additional water weight from the increased calories that your body will need to break down. If you think about it, you need to eat an additional 24500 calories more than you burn to gain a lb of fat

Shouldn't this say that you would need to eat 3500 calories more than you burn to gain a lb of fat?!?

ssforcey

I think it's great you're recognizing this now and asking for help. Honestly I think where you're at is good and you don't need to lose anymore weight. Find out what your maintenance calories are and keep exercising and I think you'll be fine. Good luck to you.

kryptonitekelly

Sorry.
I'm just in the labs at the moment, so couldn't reply in detail on that post.

Basically, 2 years ago, I really watched what I ate. I ate too little due to MFP. I kept lowering my goal weights...soon enough I was below 8 stone and my hair fell out.

What got me back to eating "normal" (not quite as I still have counting calories in my head sometimes, I always go for products with lower cals but sometimes I dont) was that i was too light to give blood! That was a kick in the teeth, so I ate myself back up to around 8.5 stones...I'm now currently 124ish. And wanna be at 120lbs. And stay at that. No lower...

People also commented my weight too, cos my clothes dropped off me....feel free to message me...I did get over it on my own...bare in mind I'm 5`2..

this girl is a wee bit taller 5`4 and 112lbs is pretty low? That's 19.2 BMI...almost near underweight...

BeeElMarvin

I think it's pretty common to get into this, become a bit obsessed over it and tend to get carries away. Set your mfp settings to maintenance - follow it and see what happens. You can always reduce intake again if need be.

psuLemon

BTW, when increasing calories, you might gain a few pounds. It's normal, it's just additional water weight from the increased calories that your body will need to break down. If you think about it, you need to eat an additional 24500 calories more than you burn to gain a lb of fat

Shouldn't this say that you would need to eat 3500 calories more than you burn to gain a lb of fat?!?

Good catch it was a fat finger mistake.

toriaenator

Thanks for your help! I workout every day if I can, I love to run and run between 4 and 7 miles a day.

mhb7870

Congratulations:happy: , yes, readjusting is hard I hear. I do know that my sister insists to weigh herself every day, If she gains two pounds on any given day, she goes back to calorie restriction. so, when I get to my goal that is what I will do so that I don't allow it to get out of hand again. Boost your activity levels and add in one day of eating what you want, and see if that helps. Good Luck and I am so proud of YOU:flowerforyou:

toriaenator

I'm so thankful to all of you! I will definetely try increasing 50 or 100 a week and seeing how I feel. I love mfp for this awesome cmmunity of people supporting you!