Scared to up my calorie intake.

ji225

Jenny:

My stats are - 5feet 4 inches. weight is 148. BMR (from fat2fit) 1426 TDEE is 1823.
I eat about 1310ish daily. Sometimes more, sometimes less. And currently doing C25K and Jillian Michaels. Just got the insanity work out too, but haven't started.

if 1823 is the number from the chart, that is not current TDEE, its TDEE for your goal weight.

I ran your numbers, current TDEE is 1961 Lightly active, 2210 moderate. If you are doing C25K and JM, I would say you are more than lightly active.
As you dont have much to lose you should be aiming for 0.5-1lb per week without net going below BMR of 1426.
Eat 1960 would get you 0.5lb
Eat 1710 for 1lb.
This includes exercise so no need to log and eat back.
If you burn more than 284 per day exercising, 1lb will be too much (1710-BMR 1426 = 284).

Also BMR can vary hugely depending on body fat %, so I would get your BF checked and rerun to work from Katch Mcardle BMR.

Thank you for the info. I just upped my calories to maintenance mode to try this out. I am up to 1680 calories now. I will try it at this for a little and see if it helps. It's pretty close to the 1710 suggested. I guess it can't hurt to try. I do have a while before the wedding to change things up a bit. Thanks again!

Agree with the other poster - it wont hurt and could do some good and make you feel better!

The only reason I think the science behind this works, is because twice now I have stopped all exercise other then some light yoga and pilates each day for approx 2 wks when I go on holiday, ate about 1600 cals per day, maybe bit more more with holiday drinks (BMR is approx 1400), and I lost about 1.5lbs per week. BUT gained it back when i started exercising again, which sounds ridiculous I know!
Normally, I work out 5-6 days per week and I guess I would be classes as moderately/very active, so the facts are staring me in the face I guess. I plan to continue eating 2000 avaerage each day and see what happens after about 6-8 wks, If it doesnt work out I'll just drop a few days exercise and play around a bit more.

Good luck tho and let us know how it goes, dont be disheartened if you put a bit on to start with. It's not going to happen overnight if your body has been trying to help you by reducing your metabolism. Absolutely believe that you should never eat below BMR, even if unwell, though I guess it cant be helped if you have a stomach bug or something similar.

em9371

While I am a huge fan of the eat more to weigh less club...I might consider moving up more gradually. If I read your posts correctly you are going from 1310 to 1610? That is a pretty big jump. IMO- you may suffer less immediate anxiety and be more likely to let it ride for while if you move a little slower. Up it by 100 to 150 each week... give the metabolism some time to jump start. I don't know what you do for excercise-- but this would assist you as well as you up the cals- as long as you eat back those cals. Just my two cents...

You are probably right. That does sound like a big jump in calories. I have set it to 1430 for the moment. I am not sure if i am going to be able to eat that much at the beginning, but i can work up to it if not. I do some jillian michaels, but currently doing c25k more than anything.
Thanks for the advice.

To easily increase your cals, 50g of nuts is 400 cals, full of protein and healthy fat.
A teaspoon of pb or olive oil is 100 cals
A whole avocado is 300 cals
It's not hard to do, you just need to know the right foods do you don't turn to junk to get the cals in :-)

googsgirl

I can totally understand the need to increase calories slowly, and did just that myself during this journey. However, if I knew what I know now about the effectiveness of this way of eating and training, I wish I had just made the leap sooner. I would have just gone for it and upped to what was recommended.

Just my two cents.