What just happened here??

DaysFlyBy

I lost a lot of weight on MFP's recommended 1200 cal/day goal but after a few months I started feeling run down, my face looked tired and drawn and I lost so much hair you could see my scalp in places. I'm at my original goal weight but still need to lose a lot of fat in my *kitten* so I want to keep burning off fat until the rear looks as good as everything else, but maybe not SO much so fast, kwim? So I bumped up my daily goal to 1480 at which I should lose 0.5 lb/week but I feel fat again! The scale hasn't changed but I can literally SEE inches coming back after only two weeks at this higher intake!! Last night after putting on a pair of suddenly snug jeans I panicked and dropped goal back to 1400, but I'm still scared. My face looks healthier for sure but I cannot deal with my thighs getting thicker again. Am I stuck eating 1200 cal/day for the rest of my life or is this just temporary while my body adjusts to more food or what? And for maintenance I'm supposed to eat 1700/day - how the HELL is that not going to cause me to gain tons of weight?? I'm just so hungry and frustrated and desperate to be thin.

mumof5

hard to tell, your diary is locked. could it be that when you upped your cals you accidently upped your sodium?? is it near tom? how much do you exercise? have you got a strong core? so many different things. open your diary for a few days so we can have a peek and give you a shout

michellekicks

Click on "Groups" up at the top of this page, and look for one called "Eat more to weigh less"... read the stickies in there. Your body is starving for more fuel.

DaysFlyBy

Ok so the Eat More to Lose More group has been interesting, I finally know what TDEE means, I figured out my cut, it still seems like a lot of calories and I'm not gonna lie about it, it scares me to death. Just the thought of gaining even a pound makes me panic almost to a scary harmful degree. That said, it makes sense. Just don't know if I can actually force myself to do it.

glittersoul

It won't really be that bad.. You might gain a few, but after you reset your metabolism you will start losing again.. Try adding people from that group for support because I am sure a lot of them have been through what you are going through

cmriverside

Ok so the Eat More to Lose More group has been interesting, I finally know what TDEE means, I figured out my cut, it still seems like a lot of calories and I'm not gonna lie about it, it scares me to death. Just the thought of gaining even a pound makes me panic almost to a scary harmful degree. That said, it makes sense. Just don't know if I can actually force myself to do it.

You already ARE thin.

Your mindset is bordering on Eating Disorder, if not already full blown.

You may gain a few pounds when you start to fuel your body sufficiently. But it won't be permanent. Stop obsessing, you're going to make yourself sick(er). Please start eating before you do some permanent damage. I suspect there have been some days recently where you are nowhere close to eating even as much as 1200.

glittersoul

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AlphamaleBAMF

I lost a lot of weight on MFP's recommended 1200 cal/day goal but after a few months I started feeling run down, my face looked tired and drawn and I lost so much hair you could see my scalp in places.

Maybe you've got a thyroid problem? You should probably see a doctor.

I hope you have remembered that you still need your vitamins and minerals even when you are running a calorie deficit and made sure to be getting those. I take Optimens Multi Vitamin 3 times a day. 6 Fish oil caps, 2 vitamin C tablets, 1 magnesium and 1 zinc and drink Whey Protien isolate and Scivation Xtend for BCAA (even though I probably get enough from the vitamins but I like the taste so whatever)

Sometimes I can run over 1000 calorie a day deficit and it doesn't seem to negatively impact my health at all.

DaysFlyBy

I don't think I have an eating disorder and I almost always ate over 1200 cal/day, I would just workout enough to take me back at or under 1200. I am taking a women's one-a-day multivitamin as well as D3 and a B complex. I will try to slowly up my calories for my health and pray to dear God that I don't go up a jean size because that would devastate me.

ETA my thyroid is fine, just had it checked. I also drink a whey isolate shake every day. I guess I should add in some flax oil, maybe.

fiveohmike

I don't think I have an eating disorder and I almost always ate over 1200 cal/day, I would just workout enough to take me back at or under 1200. I am taking a women's one-a-day multivitamin as well as D3 and a B complex. I will try to slowly up my calories for my health and pray to dear God that I don't go up a jean size because that would devastate me.

Losing hair is a sure fire sign of eating far under what your body needs. You usually see these type of medical issues arise from people with eating disorders and what not.

1) I would check with your doctor. Hair loss is NOT normal.

2) I would start looking into eating more calories.

3) I would make sure you are getting the correct nutrients. Eating 1200 calories a day, it can be very hard to get enough vitamins in your foods, depending on your choices.

4) Are you doing heavy cardio while eating at 1200 calories?

DaysFlyBy

I don't think I have an eating disorder and I almost always ate over 1200 cal/day, I would just workout enough to take me back at or under 1200. I am taking a women's one-a-day multivitamin as well as D3 and a B complex. I will try to slowly up my calories for my health and pray to dear God that I don't go up a jean size because that would devastate me.

Losing hair is a sure fire sign of eating far under what your body needs. You usually see these type of medical issues arise from people with eating disorders and what not.

1) I would check with your doctor. Hair loss is NOT normal.

2) I would start looking into eating more calories.

3) I would make sure you are getting the correct nutrients. Eating 1200 calories a day, it can be very hard to get enough vitamins in your foods, depending on your choices.

4) Are you doing heavy cardio while eating at 1200 calories?

I almost always ate more than 1200, closer to 14-1500, but then I would do heavy cardio until I was at or below 1200. My BMR is 1295 so I figured I was close enough. My body was coming along beautifully but my face looked so haggard and the hair issue was disconcerting. Today I learned that my TDEE is 2235 and for a 15% reduction (as suggested on EM2LM) I should be eating 1900/day which is higher than MFP puts me at maintenance! And I learned to never net less than BMR, so do I have to burn 600 cal/day to get back down to BMR or....? I'm so confused. I just want to be skinny and not feel like crap, why is it so complicated??

Doing_The_Unstruck

Your rear looks fine to me. Why do you want a pancake butt?

minkakross

I see a doctor for my weight loss, they told me up front that hair loss could be a side effect of weight loss if you did not get enough daily protein and they recommend 60-80 grams per day! I don't know if you are averaging 60+ per day but you might try that to see if you have better energy and the hair loss slows down. looking gaunt in the face could just be the weight loss as well but not knowing how much total weight that is, I'd fall into the category of supporters who would recommend seeing a doctor and ruling out thyroid or other medical issues.

DaysFlyBy

Your rear looks fine to me. Why do you want a pancake butt?

From the side it's not as apparent just how wide, square and flabby it actually is lol.

overfences

Your rear looks fine to me. Why do you want a pancake butt?

From the side it's not as apparent just how wide, square and flabby it actually is lol.

You need to actually work on those muscles, not just do cardio. Squats, lunges, strength training, Brazillian Butt Builder-type stuff.

thekarens

Exercise, not eating less is your answer. Work those muscles....bodybuilding.com has some great videos for specific muscles. I also agree with squats, lunges, etc.

kdeaux1959

Hair loss may reflect something else that may be incidental to weight loss... That should be assessed by your doc. I don't know your height but I am not sure what you are supposed to be. Your pic looks a bit on the thin side... May be that you went below your weight range... It is not unusual for your body to not be what you want it to be when you lose down to your target range... The best way to deal with that is targeting those areas with weight training. It appears to me that you are now wanting to sculpt your body into what you want it to become... If that is the case, then target those areas with weight training... By building muscle mass, you continue to lose fat percentage while not necessarily losing weight... You may even gain some but muscle does weigh more per cubic inch than fat does... In order to build that muscle though, you will have to eat.. especially good carbs and protein.

Kalynx

GL to you O.P. I had hair loss when in the 9th grade in high school...my mom sorta forced a physicians clinic weight lost deal on me that involved scant "real" food, shakes they sold and B12 shots...I had to REALLY protest LOUDLY to get her to see the light on that one.

Good thing is, you are an adult and control your choices!! I suggest getting a full blood workup from your primary doctor and going from there - that will point out what your body is lacking nutrient wise and you can adjust your food choices accordingly!

DaysFlyBy

Hey thanks for all your help everyone! I'm not below my weight range, I currently weigh 120 lbs and I'm just under 5' 2”, I really think the hair loss came from losing weight so quickly, I have a pic if me from Jan and a pic of me from April and the difference is extreme! I love LOVE being thin now but I also want to be healthy so I can ENJOY and MAINTAIN my newfound thinness. I am going to really start focusing a lot more than I have been on weights and I've been slowly increasing my net because I have realized now that I was netting far below my BMR more often than not!! Time to get healthy about this crap.