New here, and rolling in with questions and fears!

milkyskinn

Decided to join this group as someone kindly recommended me to do so in an earlier topic this week. Hello fellow MFPers!

I come here with some questions about upping calories and it would be helpful to hear other people's experiences, too!
I seem to have hit a plateau for quite some time. As I am very short (5"1/5"2) bigger calorie numbers sound terrifying to me since I can not imagine my body burning that much.

However, in an earlier topic; http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/591258-plateau-i-m-going-insane
Somebody said I am overtraining and under eating at this rate. While I have had problems with this in the past, what I want now is to be healthy, and fit, not become a starved, bony person that can't enjoy life.

I'm slowly increasing lifting sessions, started out with light and only once per week, now aiming to do it 2-3times a week along with 3-4times cardio. I usually work out 6 days a week Since I'm working on the last few pounds and changing my body composition, it became extremely hard and I only seemed to have gained since 2-3 months ago
I tried increasing my calories for a while, but it became extremely discouraging because of this. But I am willing to try it again, and break free from my max 1200-1280, which, even for a 5"2 person, is too little when you're doing Chalean Extreme, TurboFire, and INSANITY.

Right now I am at 108 pounds; I want to get to 100, but with creating muscle mass, I realize this is most likely not achievable. What I want to know is, how did you guys started out with upping calories? How long did it take for your body to get used to it? Did you gain? Does increasing calories per 100 every week or two weeks avoid gaining too much that it's visible before it settles out?
Also after my first heavy lifting sessions this week I was super hungry the days after. I ate 14-1500 calories, and convinced myself it wasn't bad since I need to eat more, but I still feel terrible Is this hunger normal, and will I feel less like a ravishing beat anytime soon?

Any experience/answers/and motivation is welcome!

ANewLucia

Hi there, I want to know what is your goal a more toned you or just a goal weght? You are quite small and really can't have both in a sense. To have a toned body you must lift and lift heavy. You must fuel your body.

Many times people with low weights want to get smaller bec they want that toned look. Without weights and fueling properly you will just be a smaller version of you.

So if you are willing to put away the scale, lose body fat and not freak out with a gain... you will look smaller.

If I were in your shoes I would eat full TDEE, macros 40/30/30, lift heavy 3 days for one hour, on other 2 days do 20 min HIIT training and that is it. That will sculpt your body, you will lose fat, tone the muscle you and and hopefully you will gain a little lean mass too. The scale will go higher but your toned body will be smaller.

milkyskinn

Hi there, I want to know what is your goal a more toned you or just a goal weght? You are quite small and really can't have both in a sense. To have a toned body you must lift and lift heavy. You must fuel your body.

Many times people with low weights want to get smaller bec they want that toned look. Without weights and fueling properly you will just be a smaller version of you.

So if you are willing to put away the scale, lose body fat and not freak out with a gain... you will look smaller.

If I were in your shoes I would eat full TDEE, macros 40/30/30, lift heavy 3 days for one hour, on other 2 days do 20 min HIIT training and that is it. That will sculpt your body, you will lose fat, tone the muscle you and and hopefully you will gain a little lean mass too. The scale will go higher but your toned body will be smaller.

I'd rather be toned than become skinny fat! I want to have a leaner body and lose the last stubborn fat, so building muscle should be my way to go.

I actually don't have a scale in my house at all! I only know my weight from when I got weighed at the doctor's a while back. I pay more attention to my measurements!

Someone said my BMR is around 1300 and my maintenance is 1800. Is this somewhat correct? There's so many calculators out there, so it's hard to know which ones are a bit accurate and which formulas are good to use.

I also put my activity level on MFP as sedentary because I do computer work, but because of this my set cal goal for the days are set to 1200, unless I work out. Should I put it higher? To eat breakfast and see 1200 as goal every morning is misleading for me as it's too little like everyone says!

rebekahgo

You need to use the scooby calculator. Which I would post except I don't have it saved on my phone. It takes into account hours of weekly exercise, therefore is much more accurate. I'm sure someone will link it for you. That TDEE number has gotta be low for you. If you plan on following Lucia's advice (I would), do the calculator according to 3 lifts and 2 HIITs.

ANewLucia

I'm on phone too, the link to scooby is in TDEE topic. Yes use moderate if you use that plan. If your new to lifting maybe get the new rules of lifting for women to get going. If you been lifting for a while and would like a structured advanced program take a look at CATHE STS (whew it is awesome I'm doing it now)...www.cathe.com.

milkyskinn

You need to use the scooby calculator. Which I would post except I don't have it saved on my phone. It takes into account hours of weekly exercise, therefore is much more accurate. I'm sure someone will link it for you. That TDEE number has gotta be low for you. If you plan on following Lucia's advice (I would), do the calculator according to 3 lifts and 2 HIITs.

I'm on phone too, the link to scooby is in TDEE topic. Yes use moderate if you use that plan. If your new to lifting maybe get the new rules of lifting for women to get going. If you been lifting for a while and would like a structured advanced program take a look at CATHE STS (whew it is awesome I'm doing it now)...www.cathe.com.

Thank you both so much for the pointers! The scooby calculator seems pretty damn accurate.
Knowing all this I'm going to try and figure out what feels good to me and give a good long read to the other topics to get started; I'm excited!