1200 Calories a day, a ton of cardio and GAINING? !

"How forums work" Well, if I quote someone, it means that something they said is going pertain to something I will say. It doesn't necessarily mean that my whole post is about their whole post. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on "how forums work."

Except nothing you said pertained to ANYTHING I said -- I said "strength training" and suggested eating at least 1,200 calories a day -- you started talking about heavy lifting/eat more to lose more blanket responses... neither of which I ever suggested.

This will be my last post on this thread since it's an old thread but just wanted to clarify a few things.

First, about the strength training. I will admit that with all the other posts about lifting heavy on this thread I lumped you in with them and assumed you were talking about heavy lifting too. Entirely my mistake on that one.

Second about the calories. You were talking about 1200 net, not gross, since you said that after the workout her body is sustaining on 400 calories or so a day rather than the 900 she said she was eating. That would mean you are recommending not 1200 gross, but 1700 gross for her on days when she's working out. Her current intake had been 1200, on which she had gained, so 1700 would mean a 30 percent increase on calories. I put a 30 percent increase in the "eat more to lose more" category, since it is so much more than her current intake.

If she did happen to be hypothyroid, she could gain quite rapidly on that and wind up with another 20 lbs to lose when she is already trying to lose and severely struggling with it. If it were me, I wouldn't want to take that kind of risk. It's up to her of course, but if I were in her situation the advice I would hope someone would give me, is to have the thyroid checked first to make sure everything is normal, and if it is, then proceed with upping the calories as you and many others have suggested.

Hopefully I have not grown too long winded on this subject. Have a nice day

Second about the calories. You were talking about 1200 net, not gross, since you said that after the workout her body is sustaining on 400 calories or so a day rather than the 900 she said she was eating. That would mean you are recommending not 1200 gross, but 1700 gross for her on days when she's working out. Her current intake had been 1200, on which she had gained, so 1700 would mean a 30 percent increase on calories. I put a 30 percent increase in the "eat more to lose more" category, since it is so much more than her current intake.

If she did happen to be hypothyroid, she could gain quite rapidly on that and wind up with another 20 lbs to lose when she is already trying to lose and severely struggling with it. If it were me, I wouldn't want to take that kind of risk. It's up to her of course, but if I were in her situation the advice I would hope someone would give me, is to have the thyroid checked first to make sure everything is normal, and if it is, then proceed with upping the calories as you and many others have suggested.

Hopefully I have not grown too long winded on this subject. Have a nice day

Um, suggesting somebody net the bare minimum number of calories isn't "eat more to lose more". Eat more/lose more is actually eating 1450+ calories per day in addition to all exercise calories. A good number of those people were netting 1,200 calories a day and not losing. So again, you're suggesting I said something I didn't. Just like with "lifting heavy".

And for the last time, YES, she will probably gain weight. That idea shouldn't even be a consideration or something she tries too hard to avoid right now in light of her not eating enough calories for however long (we know it's been a while). You cannot mistreat your body for a lengthy period and magically think it will work the same as if you'd treated it well. Again, that's why I asked HEALTHY or NUMBER ON A SCALE. If her response was scale, I wouldn't have even talked to her further.

I didn't advocate that she needed to start netting 1,200 in a BAM, all at one kind of way. I DID suggested to shift her work outs to something that burned less calories and eat more until she was netting 1,200 calories a day. What I am saying is this: if she has to gain weight to get back to a place were she is able to healthfully lose weight, that's what she needs to do. Period.