5'3" girls at healthy weight who eat over 1700 Help!

talisamb

I am 5 4" I range from 130-135 pounds and I maintain in the 1800-2000 range. I was eating the stupid 1200 while heavy lifting 4-5 days per week with cardio. Way too low! I ruined my metabolism and had to repair it by eating at TDEE for over a month. I gained during that time but the weight came off instantly once I started slowly reducing calories again.

I sure hope that ^^ is my experience, but as you will see from my previous post I've done nothing but gain since starting TDEE 3 weeks ago.

I understand how you feel because the scale would not stop going up and I was freaking out, but I stuck to it. It was a lot of water weight due to my body being restricted for so long. Just be patient and I hope you are successful. Those last few punds are so stubborn!!!!!

stephaniethomas80

I seem to be one of the few who has not found eating more successful.

After losing 50 lbs at 1200/day (& eating back exercise calories), keeping it off for 18 months, I gained 10 lbs over a few months (bad eating habits crept in again). I tried going back to 1200/day, eating exercise calories but didn't lose anything. I too was a bit cranky and hungry.

The begining of May I started the TDEE method, eating 1800 calories/day and not eating back exercise calories. I started a bootcamp April 1st so am working out less (only 4 times a week) but working out harder. My previous workouts consisted of 30 minutes of cardio (treadmill) and 30 minutes of lifting, buring about 400 calories/workout 5-6 times a week. The bootcamps are much harder and I burn approx 600 calories/workout.

I am sad to report that I have gained almost 5 lbs since May 3rd. I am now 15 lbs over where I was one year ago and very frustrated. And don't tell me it's 5 lbs of muscle, that would be impossible for a woman and even hard for a man to gain 5 lbs of pure muscle in one month.

It's water weight. Seriously you would have to eat like 3000 over your TDEE for a several weeks to gain 5 lbs of fat. We just have to be patient and drink lotsa water, keep on those intense workouts and wait for the metabolism to kick in.