Here's the thing...

sjb85 · January 2013

So I started losing weight a year and a half ago. I lost 22 pounds and then stalled out and went back to slightly less crappy eating habits. Somehow I was able to keep that off, though, and on Easter of 2012 I decided to get serious about it again. I figured even if I lost another 20 it would be fantastic. I joined here and over the course of the rest of the year I lost another 65 pounds through eating right and running. I've proud of what I've accomplished and I know that this is a "for life" thing, NOT a diet. Unfortunately I stalled out about two months ago. I didn't overdo it for the holidays. I made sure if I was going to splurge on dinner that I ate sensibly the rest of the day and there was probably only two or three days in the two months since I stalled out that I ate over my calories. Since I stalled I've been doing a bit more research into the whole TDEE thing and wondering if I've been eating way under what I should be. When I started on here, MFP had me eating 1700 calories a day to lose weight, and it worked wonderfully. Since changing my stats and goals it has me at 1580. I'm usually a bit under but not by much.

Figuring out my TDEE, with a deficit of 15% I should be eating around 1900 calories a day. Now I'm worried that I've completely screwed up my metabolism by not eating enough all this time. And to be honest, eating that many calories worries me. I've worked so hard to lose what I've lost already and I have about 40 more that I want to lose. So I need some encouragement/advice. Should I slowly up my calories over the next few weeks and see what happens? Take a break for awhile and not be so worried about what I'm eating(Within reason, of course. Lifestyle change, remember?) and start back up with a "clean slate?"

I'm 27
5ft 3in
Current weight is 181
Goal weight is 145

Greenrun99 · January 2013

Were you eating back your exercise calories during your weight loss? Sounds like you had alot to lose to begin with, so a higher deficit is something you can get away with, but as you get lower you will need to start eating correctly for your activity level to be able to maintain that weight in the long run...
Most calculators will factor in an average calorie loss per activity, where MFP expects you to eat back that number.. so when you exercise would you say your burn 320 calories in session (at your weight/height if your HR is up there, thats probably 30 minutes of exercise).. then the calculator is probably on for your calories you eat.

sozisfitnow · January 2013

You dont say any thing about exercise. aerobic or weight training will improve your metabalism and keep weight off.
Try to eat nutrition dense foods and no processed foods. Just keep motivated and on track is my advice!

BarackMeLikeAHurricane · January 2013

If you want to up your calories join the "eat more to weigh less" group. Personally, I don't think it works for everyone but it's worth a shot. What I do when I plateau is up my protein, lower carbs/sugar, exercise more (particularly if you only do cardio or only weight train, start doing both). The smaller you get, the harder it gets.

successgal1 · January 2013

If you're still running and thats your only source of formal exercise, I would change the type of exercise.

Justkritter · January 2013

Hi there. I've also been through that extreme calorie deficit. For one, we can't really confirm how bad the damage to our metabolism has been but I guess if you were feeling rather weak, sluggish or just not feeling that great despite eating that low then I guess that would help confirm a bit of that.

I've also greatly tampered my metabolism by eating 1300-1600 instead of 2000-2500 ( including workout deficit). What I got as advice from a trainer was to slowly creep your calories back and be more active working out. I did 100 cal add to my daily diet every week and sometimes I hold adding another 100 cal if I feel its hard to add in more foods so I try to get myself used to the previous increase to. So far so good. I've been feeling a lot more energetic and have slowly been rebuilding my strength through concentrated heavy lifting. I suggest to not take a break since that might stale down your metabolism even more. Just do it slowly with good workout 3-5 times a week depending on how often you can or even a good hour walk in the park will do it. And this time, aside from just focusing on pure calories, pay attention more to your macros as you want to fulfill them for better outcome.

Hope this helps.

sjb85 · January 2013

I started running last May. I ate back most of the exercise calories but not all of them. Now that I'm running more and more (I want to run the relay here in Pittsburgh in May and it's 6.2 miles) I'm not eating all of them back because I just can't. I ran almost 7 miles the other day and burned a crap ton of calories. Before when I didn't care what I was eating I could eat those extra calories without even thinking about it.

Also, I eat almost nothing that isn't fresh and homemade. If it's in a can or a box I just don't buy it. I eat a lot of chicken and fish, fresh vegetables and jasmine or brown rice. I do try to add almonds or things like that to my dishes if I need the extra calories. I use olive or coconut oil in my dishes. Basically, I'm doing everything right and my body is just telling me no. XD

I'd like to add in weight lifting but it's not working with my schedule so far. I work 12 hours a day M-F so I have to get up early and go to bed early but I guess I'm just going to have to figure something out for that.

*sigh* I liked it better when this was easy, lol. Not that it's been easy but compared to this it was.

prokomds · January 2013

First of all, congrats on everything you've done so far! It's a huge success getting as far as you have

I think worrying that you've ruined your metabolism is probably a slight overreaction... when you had the most weight to lose, your body could handle eating a little less, because it had more fat to work with. As you get smaller you need to have a smaller deficit between what you're eating and your TDEE. Now is probably a good time to reevaluate

How often are you running? If it's every day, that's probably too much, and you could replace some of those times with other types of exercise. If it's every couple days, could you spread out the extra calories over the days when you're not running? I think there are a lot of things you can do to get close to your calorie goal.

Also, how much weight does MFP say you'll lose per week? If it's more than 1lb/week, it's probably too aggressive of a goal at this point.

Generally, I'm guessing you should pick a number between that 1580 and 1900 (maybe you go back to 1700?) and try that for awhile. Make an effort to eat a good portion of your exercise calories, because all that running definitely puts a strain on your body

Lastly, are you really sure you're stalled? Maybe you maintained through the holidays, since it's tricky to lose weight with so much going on, but maybe now that you're hopefully back to normal you'll go back to losing. The weight loss isn't going to be as fast or regular as when you first started, it definitely gets slower as you go

sjb85 · January 2013

Thanks

It was a long time coming. But when I got on the scale right after my 26th birthday and saw 267 something finally clicked, thank goodness. I've gone from a size 24W to a plain old 12.

I try to run 3 times a week. Sometimes it's 2, sometimes it's 4. It's been really cold and I was only going 2 days for a few weeks. I don't have a treadmill unfortunately so I'm kind of a slave to the weather. February will probably be brutal.

I have it set to lose 1 pound a week. I know that at this point the 2 or 3 per week that I was losing is unrealistic(I had it set at 2). It came off really fast and I think I got spoiled by it.

I noticed that I was slowing down in September. Like I said, I knew it would happen eventually so I try not to get too frustrated. But I've only lost 0.4 pounds since the beginning of November. I took a bit of a break from tracking my calories but I was still watching. I eat a lot of the same stuff(by choice) so I have a pretty good idea of how many calories I'm eating.

I might try to add a little bit at a time. I ate a little bit bigger lunch today than I usually do. I generally eat a small breakfast and a medium sized lunch with a small snack in between and then eat more for dinner. It just works better with my job to do it that way and I'm not really a big breakfast person.

Here's the thing...

Replies

Categories