Adding back calories after weeks of irregular eating?

marcotomas

An extended period of extreme stress has led me to (albeit, unintentionally) eat an abnormally low amount of calories for about 3 weeks. I did not workout at all during this time. For better or worse, food was just an afterthought and I probably averaged about 900-1300 calories a day (I normally would take in about 1800-2500, depending on if I worked out and at what intensity).

I lost 10lbs in about 2-3 weeks. I gotta imagine some of that is water and muscle, as I don't exactly look any fitter (although I must say my pants fit MUCH better).

Now that I am starting to get back to normal and getting my appetite back, where do I go from here? I don't think I can just go back to eating normally again without blowing up. Obviously, I don't exactly want to put the weight back on but would like to start eating normal diet and get back into a solid workout regimen.

I am a male, 29, and currently about 159lbs. My ultimate goal is to be a lean 145-150lbs. Any advice? I assume slowly adding calories while at the same time adding in some moderate cardio is the way to go.

CoachAnnaG

Hi marc, it sounds like you shrunk your stomach over the past few weeks. if you start eating regular size meals you will stretch out your stomach you don't want to do that. Eat small meals and do start to exercise. How is your endurance level? How long can you exercise?

marcotomas

I certainly get fuller much quicker now, so I am being careful not too increase the size of my meals too drastically where I'll--like you said--stretch my stomach.

My endurance doesn't seem to be too affected. I just did 25 minutes on the elliptical, but felt I could keep going for a good while longer (I cut myself short because it was the first time I have exercised in about 4 weeks). I used to do about 40-60 minutes on the elliptical and then lift weights for about another 30.