Maintenance before losing? Advice please!

wordpainter09

Hello women who eat,
Posted this over in the 2k boards as well but there's so many other folks in here I figured I'd repost it.
I'm in metabolism repair mode.Trying to recover my metabolism after about 6 years of undereating while exercising (about 1300-1700 cals per day plus 500 per day of exercise = 800-1200 NET cals a day for years)
I'm a distance runner and run 15-20 miles per week and cross train.
I never lose any weight and would like to lose about 10 pounds.
Stats: CW 135
GW 125
Height: 5'5"
TDEE according to Fat2Fit: 2150
Average daily burn according to BMF: 2400
I know many of you are here to either maintain or lose, and everyone is in this group to EAT more.
Question is: When you upped your calories, did anyone try maintaining for a few months to fix your metabolism as I am considering, or did you start right in with a deficit?
Maintenance for me would be about 2200-2400 per day depending on exercise levels. That's more than I'm eating now, which is about 2000 per day.
If anyone has done this, how did that work for you?

31prvrbs

I would absolutely recommend it. It allows your body to stabilize before trying to resume dieting. I just posted a bit about this over in this thread http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/532923-upping-cals-weight-drops-at-first-then-nothing

6 years of under-eating is a long time. And typically just trying to up cals to find a new "deficit" number is not what your body needs. It needs time to allow all bodily functions to return to normal again. A person that is just upping cals and "waiting" to start losing again will usually become very frustrated by the fact that their body will do these things *anyway*, then they won't give it enough time and give up on "eating more." A person that is purposely going into a metabolism reset, knows upfront that things will get worse before they get better, and are just working toward regaining health, and setting weight loss on the back burner for a while.

I actually ALWAYS recommend a person do a metabolism reset FIRST, however most women are not willing to put their weight loss efforts *completely* on hold, thus the need for this group. But many women who've been dieting for longer than they can remember, or that have NEVER eaten at maintenance, would have a much healthier/satisfying journey to first do a reset (eat at maintenance, lift heavy, and allow for stabilization....)

Kiki

wordpainter09

Thanks Kiki. I'm definitely willing to wait a while for this to work and even gain a few. I want this to be a long term solution, not a quick fix. The other stuff didn't work. Will check out your post in the other group!!!

OriginalWhatTheHelen

I just finished my metabolism reset...

A little background...I'd lost weight with good food, (1800+ calories/day) weight training and cardio, kept it off for a few years, then gained some of it back over the course of 2 years or so (career change, more time at home, etc.) I've been "stuck" trying to lose that regained weight with lower calories, weight training and cardio with no luck whatsoever. The only thing that really changed was that I was lifting a little bit more intensely, doing more intense cardio and, without really realizing it, eating LESS (A LOT less) than I had been when I originally lost the weight. I'd bought into the eat less, move more concept and it backfired. For most of those 2 years, I was NOT logging my food consistently, just checking in now and then to be sure I wasn't "overeating", so really, I was driving blind.

Today is my "Day 3" of eating 1850 calories, which is 15% below my TDEE, after 8 weeks of eating at or above maintenance (2100+ calories/day on most days) in an effort to repair/reset my metabolism. During those 8 weeks, I eliminated cardio and focused on heavy lifting. My goal was to also use the maintenance/surplus calories to (hopefully) build muscle as well as reset my metabolism.

During the 8 weeks of maintenance/surplus eating, I gained 6 pounds. Hard to take when my ultimate goal is to lose, but I was well informed and expected it as part of the process. My hope and expectation now is that I will start to lose the fat that I want to lose while fueling my body properly and maintain the muscle I've worked so hard to build over the last several years. I can tell you that the process, so far, has made me incredibly aware of how much/what my body can take and I am more confident than ever that, for me, this was the right thing to do.

Check out my blog if you want for a few posts as I was going through the process. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/hwc130

Good luck!

OriginalWhatTheHelen

By the way...listen to kiki. She's been a wealth of information and support for me.:flowerforyou:

wordpainter09

Thanks hwc! I read your blog and I'll be following along. Great info and encouragement!

morningrunner

WP - this is sort of what I'm trying this week. I'm not technically eating all the way to maintenance, but close, and I'm taking a week off from exercise. On a rest day, my BMF shows me burning anywhere from 1900-2100 and I'm eating about 1800 this week. Next week I'll be back in the saddle and trying to go back to a 350-500 deficit each day. I'll let you know how it turns out! Fingers crossed!

ETA: The reason I'm not eating all the way to 1900 or 2100 cals is to account for any inaccuracies in my measuring and for any inaccuracies from BMF. :bigsmile:

wordpainter09

@Morningrunner, sounds good. Are you only doing it for a week? From what people are saying it takes longer, more like a month or two at least right?

I'm going to do it too, only I'm going to eat at maintenance for a month or two and not even bother with a deficit. Then I'll try a cut later. Let me know how yours turns out!

jj3120

Thanks for posting this, makes sense - if I really think about it I've been under eating since I started at a weight loss class in 2006. Maybe I need to give myself more time at maintenance as well.

morningrunner

WP - yeah...after reading what Kiki posted I see that she reccommends way longer. I put this plan in place before I joined this group though, after emailing with the guys from Fat2Fit radio. This is what they recommended I do, so I'm going to give it a go. If it doesn't work I may look into doing it longer. OR I might have a maintenance week every few months or so. I can't do the NO exercsie thing again...I'm going CRAZY!!

wordpainter09

@JJ, me too! I've been undereating since I started college in 2005... been eating about 1300-1700 cals per day when in reality I was burning 2200-2600 per day at least -I was way more active then than I am now since I walked to class and worked out. I've really screwed myself over. The only reason I didn't gain major weight is because I literally ate NO treats during this time, I kept this strict diet up for 6 years.
I was able to stay thin somehow...not sure. Now I'm willing to take the risk of gaining a few pounds to get healthy.

@Morningrunner, yeah I hear you, it's so hard to take a break. I find breaks restful when I'm eating lower, but a break and higher cals can be mentally hard.
Do you think you're addicted to the exercise? I know I have been in the past. It sounds like you really struggled to take any time off.

KeriA

I figure I have been under eating for a year and a half since I got on MFP. I think that is long enough to need to reset my metabolism.