I am scared I will gain if I up my calories

SarahLangley35

I'm a 23 year old female, I'm 5'2" and currently weigh 175 I haven't been losing like I want to, since I've joined MFP about 1 month and 10 days ago I've only lost 7 pounds, maybe that's on track I don't know but I do see others losing way more than me, I try to workout about 5 days a week, sometimes more, I eat about 1500 calories a day but a good bit of the time I'm a few hundred under that goal so, I'm just wondering how many of you were eating like this and raised your calories and started losing more and how long did it take you to see losses, I don't want to start it and gain a whole lot right away only to have to lose that weight again.

Also, the whole way you figure out exactly how much you need to be eating just confuses me how do I figure out the calories I should be eating?? Thanks for any answers.

bradthemedic

You WILL gain. There's a thousand threads here and the stickies are your friend.

One thing I will say: this works and is healthy.

Losses can take months to come. Learn to ignore the scale and focus instead on the mirror and measurements. If you can't do that then this isn't for you.

TraceyG1971

Definitely check out the stickies!!! They are full of very useful information. You are eating to few calories so your body may be holding onto what you give it for it's own self-preservation. I know this because I've been there. I just started my Metabolism Reset yesterday. Your TDEE is 2191 without a reduction and working out 1-3 hrs/wk of light exercise. You may have seen people talking about TDEE and BMR but aren't sure what the heck they are talking about. Check out this sticky post:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/680246-tdee-bmr-what-they-are-and-what-to-do-with-them