Looking for friends trying to leave starvation mode

alana_swiss

Hi I'm new to MFP and really need the support when resetting my metabolism. I'm an 18 year old female, 4' 10" (yes, I am very short), Asian, sedentary and weigh 90lbs/41kg. I have been on my weight loss journey since last June when I was at my heaviest at 70kg.

I am finally ready to stop losing and changing to maintenance. The only problem is, I have constantly been told to eat less to lose weight. I didn't know anything about BMR or TDEE while on my weightless journey and just drastically cut my calories to lose weight. It was so easy for me. I never got hungry anymore so I thought my body was completely fine and I continued to lose more and more weight.

Over the last 3 months I have been eating only 700-800 calories. I weight so quickly and everyone complimented me on my weight loss. But then i started noticing things in myself like fatigue, loss of concentration, constantly feeling cold, purple nails and hair loss! So even though i looked skinny, i felt so unhealthy. That's when I knew that I had to make some changes.

After researching articles and MFP forums I know now that living off of 700 calories a day is terribly unhealthy and I really want to get to a healthy maintenance diet without losing or gaining any weight. I would like to remain around 41-44kg.

I have no idea what to do... Do I have to eat my BMR calories (1234.5 calories) or my TDEE (1475 calories)? I'm so confused...

I increased my calories by only 200 everyday for the past week because I want to increase to my BMR calories slowly. So I've been eating around 900-1000 calories a day. I plan to increase it slowly by 100-200 calories a week until I reach a daily net calorie intake of about 1300.

I would like to get some feedback, tips or support from anyone who has experience with this issue. I would also like to know if there is any dramatic weight gain during the reset process. For someone who has been losing weight for more than a year, it's so hard to grasp the concept of weight gain even though I know it's better for me in the long run.

Please help!
-Alana

Scandinavia

Hey there - I was (and still am) in the hospital for an eating disorder. I have only gained 10-15lbs from my lowest weight, and this was from jumping into the program eating about 2000-2500 calories a day. Unfortunately, gradually increasing and stopping at 1400 calories will not repair your metabolism.

alana_swiss

Have I completely ruined my metabolism? What do you think will help?

strutdivastrut

For weight loss Set your goal to 1200 and leave it there make sure you eat 1200 calories at least. It autimatically adds more calories when you exerciseIt. also varies according to how a active you are. . but stay within the range you set. dont starve yoursek its not worth it. to maintain your weight you should be eating at least 2200-2500 calories a day.