Suggestions?

kotcherr

Hi everybody! My diary is open and I would love some suggestions..

Here's the story:
I have been eating low carb since (basically) the middle of high school and am now almost done with college (one more year!!). This excludes my freshman year, when I went on an extremely restrictive diet (vegetarian, salad for dinner every night, not low carb but probably really low calorie - never counted). My weight went from 132 to 119 in a semester. When I hit the 119 mark I realized that I had a problem (I'm 5'8'', female). I switched back to a low carb, non-vegetarian diet and before long was up to 138 again.

A couple of weeks ago I had one of those moments, when I realized what I was doing to my body was wrong. I joined MFP with the goal of establishing a "normal" diet and hopefully losing down to 125 lb. I lost a few initially but am now gaining. I originally had a calorie limit of 1200 but increased it to 1300. I exercise 5-6 times a week (usually running or spinning) and have been having trouble keeping my calories high enough. I'm really worried that I did damage to my metabolism when I had such a restricted diet for so many years and this is why I am gaining weight at 1200 calories per day.

Please take a look at my diary. I would love any constructive comments from people who have had similar experiences. Low-carb is not an option for me, as it has caused me a lot of weight/emotional problems in the past that I intend to avoid at all costs.

Thank you!!

bathsheba_c

1. You are actually still not eating enough. Your target should be a target; you don't get brownie points for being extra calories under (well, I guess you do if you are saving them up for brownies).
2. Does your campus health center have a nutritionist or a dietitian for you to talk to? Sounds to me like that should be a priority, especially if you think you mucked up your metabolism?

tammyc226

Perhaps you could try eating at least some of your exercise calories back. I noticed that most days you aren't even hitting the 1300 cal mark let alone the exercise cals. If you are full then try eating nuts? These shouldn't be too filling but have lots of cals and good for you.

TavistockToad

If u are trying to work towards a 'normal' diet why r u only eating 1300 cals?

kotcherr

Well, I'm trying to work towards it. I feel like 1300 is a good starting point... Going from less than 1200 to "normal" in a day would probably be abrupt, right?

kotcherr

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far, by the way. I am going to schedule an appointment with a campus nutritionist for when I return to school in the fall.