Decreased Calorie intake for about 5 weeks; need help!

Hannahrose206

I drastically decreased my calorie intake to about 500-600 a day and lost what i needed to lose. Now i want to intake more calories (1500-2000) a day without gaining weight. Any suggestions on doing this? I am 5'5 and 117 and want to stay here.

lacurandera1

Exercise? I mean, it's not just about what you eat. It's about what you DO. Unless you don't mind being skinny fat. Do you have a current exercise regimen?

Sincere24

you'll likely gain water weight with the added calorie intake, but you should definitely bite the bullet and just start eating your maintenance. Chuck out the scale for the month, until you're comfortable eating that amount. After you're weights stabilized or rather eating pattern, you can reassess your goals...the healthier way o fcourse

grawrrrr

That sounds like you were on an incredibly dangerous route.

Exercise and EAT! If you gain, it'll be muscle with enough strength training.

Good luck.

twinketta

Hannah, if you have been only eating such a small amount of cals and you increase them then of course you will put some weight back on...how long have you been under eating?

If you want to lose weight and keep it off then you have to do it in a good way x

Hannahrose206

I usually run or do cardio 3x a week and I was doing weight training 2x a week. I stopped doing the weight training and currently will do 30 minutes of cardio 2x a week.

zaph0d

Eat at a regular TDEE. But you will gain weight. I guarantee it. Some people have to learn the hard way.

gatorginger

What I did that worked so well for me was I slowly increased my calories by 100 more a day and stayed at that level for at least 2 weeks. I would usually lose more weight but this would then allow me a cheat day to gain some back while I slowly adjusted my body to eating more. I loved every minute of this journey. I am at my goal weight and I am now eating 1700 a day and still not sure if that is going to be my maintenance but if not I will increase again.

Emma_Problema

You can't avoid it. You'll gain some of that weight back as it was water weight. You also probably lost a ton of muscle mass too. You need to lift weights in order to get that muscle mass back, as muscle mass is directly related to metabolism. Also, you need to learn that that was a really unproductive way of losing weight and you will most likely be unable to maintain your weight loss. I'm not saying that to make you feel bad, I'm saying that so that you don't try it again if/when you gain that weight back. People keep trying fad diets and/or VLCDs again and again before eventually learning that it's not good for your body and it doesn't last.

ChristyRunStarr

I drastically decreased my calorie intake to about 500-600 a day and lost what i needed to lose. Now i want to intake more calories (1500-2000) a day without gaining weight. Any suggestions on doing this? I am 5'5 and 117 and want to stay here.

WAIT HOLD ON BACK UP. You ate 500-600 calories a day?! Not as in that's it, you worked out and that was your net?

ClementineGeorg

You could try with little steps.
Like adding every week 100 calories to your limit. Or 10 calories each day.

Shifting fast may be hard on your body (especially comning from such low values) and could cause weight gain.

Take your time to make your body realise that you are not trying to overfeed it, but you are trying to go to a normal state. Because 1500 of calories after 600 calories is overfeed to your body.

Also, like others have said, try to find other ways to keep fit and get lean. Eating that less is not good. It's not about starvation or anything, but there is no food in this world to proper feed a human (in terms of nutrients) in 500 calories.

castell5

My cat eats more then 500-600 calories a day. That is not healthy for a human adult, nor a child.
You can't hope to succeed if you starve yourself then try to creep back into normal eating.
You're lucky you didn't end up in the hospital!
You didn't gain the weight overnight, you wont lose it overnight. But you will lose it faster then you gained it. However you have to be sensible.
I gained 42 lbs over a 4 year period. I took it all off in 6 months and my calorie intake was about 1500 a day.

Recipe for weight loss: Diet / Exercise / Willpower.. that's it. No trick, no magic, no pills

heather_huggins

at only 117, you could probably increase your calories quite a bit. if you don't, you'll most likely continue to lose. i've heard that's a tough part, going from losing to maintenance. chances are you'll fluctuate, you might gain for a couple of days but it'll just be your body adjusting to the calorie change.

EDIT: oh my goodness! i just saw that you said you decreased it TO 500-600 calories a day, i thought you said you decreased it BY 500-600 calories. yeah, you'll most likely gain weight...that's very bad for your body, dear. especially because you were doing so much exercise and you weren't fueling properly.

kdiamond

Depending on the amount of time she did it she should be ok with small increases until she is back in the normal zone.

Start with 100 daily for 7 days, then increase 200 daily the next 7 days, etc. until you're back to a normal range, i.e. 1600-1700 daily. You will probably gain a little water weight back but if you're smart with what you eat (lay off the sodium and eat natural, non processed lean meats, veggies, fruits, and good fats) you won't see too much of a drastic increase.

axialmeow

Be prepared to gain something. On that low calorie diet you probably lost muscle mass so you aren't burning as many calories at rest anymore. I know I lost muscle because I have not been eating as many calories as I should. I am getting back on track currently(slowly).

closenre

just bring them back slowly and maintain the excersize. May gain a little but as long as you rebuilt the metabolizm you should be ok!

Hannahrose206

I have the metabolic repair manual and plan on using that. Thanks for all your help

love4fitnesslove4food_wechange

Eat at a regular TDEE. But you will gain weight. I guarantee it. Some people have to learn the hard way.

This!