HELP!

rach6348
rach6348 Posts: 5
edited January 18 in Food and Nutrition
Okay guys, I am way overthinking this but I'm SO confused about this nutrition stuff. I am 5'2 around 117 pounds. I am VERY active. I lift weights and run half marathons. I want to gain muslce and lose fat. So, my app says I need to meet my NET calorie goal of 1200 in order to lose weight. I'm so confused because in a day I usually eat around 1100 calories and I burn from 300-500 calories. This creates a net of about 400-500 calories a day. Is that too small? I don't feel like im starving or deprving myself at all. I am a vegetarian and eat very healthfully and plan my meals. I can't imagine re-eating the calories that I burned. I would be so full. I'm not losing weight either so I'm so confused..!!

Replies

  • Coyoteldy
    Coyoteldy Posts: 219 Member
    http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

    This will help you figure out your metabolic rate needed to gain or lose weight... for example if I want to simply maintain my weight I need to eat about 2200 calories...if I want to lose I need to reduce that.. so I eat about a 1400 calorie diet... IF I add exercise say 500 calories a day 1400- 500= 900 calories and thats WAYYYYY too low.. so I get those five hundred calories back to add to my calorie total...you need to eat at LEAST 1400 calories for nutrional benefits more if you are exercising a lot to build muscle.
  • emmymcq
    emmymcq Posts: 278 Member
    Use this>>>>> http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/#results
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    if you want to add muscle you are going to have eat at least at maintenance level, maybe slight surplus. Lift more , do less cardio ...you will start putting on muscle...

    Long distance running tends to cut into muscle gains...
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
    Yes, you are starving yourself.

    Leptin, the hunger regulating hormone in the human body, is produced in relation to your intake. If you eat a lot, your body produces more leptin and you feel more hungry. If you eat less, your body produces less leptin and you feel less hungry. This is how you get anorexics eating 800 cals a day and not feeling hungry. Or how you end up with a net of 500 without feeling hungry.

    The bottom line is you need to figure out your TDEE and eat ABOVE it to gain muscle. Eat BELOW your TDEE to lose fat. The two cannot really happen at the same time. Either way, you need to eat a minimum of 1200 calories a day, NET. Slowly increase your intake by 50- 100 calories per week so that your body doesn't feel like you're stuffing it. But you need to realize that your body will not send you reliable hunger signals in a deficit. It just won't. Please eat more to fuel your body.
  • KaraAlste
    KaraAlste Posts: 168 Member
    You are super young and active and Basically you're only eating 500 calories. I'm like losing weight on 1700, so I would say step it up girl. Don't jip yourself and maybe check out youtube videos on girls diets, they talk about everything under the moon on there. Good Luck hun.
  • tomcornhole
    tomcornhole Posts: 1,084 Member
    How do you lift weight? Building muscle requires lower reps and heavier weights. And you only lift 3 times max / week. ANd you need to eat a LOT more. Just don't eat a lot more by snarfing Big Macs and Whoppers. Meat and LOTS of milk will be your friend. I like the book Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
    Yes, you are starving yourself.

    Leptin, the hunger regulating hormone in the human body, is produced in relation to your intake. If you eat a lot, your body produces more leptin and you feel more hungry. If you eat less, your body produces less leptin and you feel less hungry. This is how you get anorexics eating 800 cals a day and not feeling hungry. Or how you end up with a net of 500 without feeling hungry.

    The bottom line is you need to figure out your TDEE and eat ABOVE it to gain muscle. Slowly increase your intake by 50- 100 calories per week so that your body doesn't feel like you're stuffing it. But you need to realize that your body will not send you reliable hunger signals in a deficit. It just won't. Please eat more to fuel your body.

    Interesting... it is crazy.. you can be eating so little that it's unhealthy.. but you don't feel the urge to eat.. I';ve never heard of that hormone.. i'm gonna go look it up, but once I started monitoring what I was eating and making it a point to eat more.. I started to feel hungry again.. I still don't think ti eat enough.. but I do feel hunger again and I do eat more.. and once I got it going I started losing weight again... and I'm way stronger then I was a few months ago.
  • rach6348
    rach6348 Posts: 5
    Okay thanks. I realize that was dumb to say lose fat and build muscle. I just need to build muscle, and runnning so much is causing me to burn so many calories and I didn't know I needed to eat more to prevent from "starving" myself. Has my metabolisim slowed down because I haven't been eating the full amount?
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    Okay thanks. I realize that was dumb to say lose fat and build muscle. I just need to build muscle, and runnning so much is causing me to burn so many calories and I didn't know I needed to eat more to prevent from "starving" myself. Has my metabolisim slowed down because I haven't been eating the full amount?

    no, but your stomach may take a bit to get used to the increased food intake. do your best to ramp up your calories - you'll get better results. good luck!

    EDIT: unless you've been eating like this for some time... then it may have had an effect. i assumed this was a recent thing but maybe that was incorrect
  • CariS001
    CariS001 Posts: 169 Member
    Okay thanks. I realize that was dumb to say lose fat and build muscle. I just need to build muscle, and runnning so much is causing me to burn so many calories and I didn't know I needed to eat more to prevent from "starving" myself. Has my metabolisim slowed down because I haven't been eating the full amount?

    YES!!!!!! VLCD will trash your metabolism. I speak from experience on that. Long distance running will ALSO trash your metabolism (ditto on the experience!!!). Your body gets better and better at being efficient - ie NOT burning calories when you bust your *ss running! Not a good thing! :P

    Use the scooby calculator and try 4 weeks at TDEE to reset, then go to maybe -15% Add in interval training (HIIT or Tabata) and weights. It will build that muscle and decrease your BF%
  • pinkperfume
    pinkperfume Posts: 50
    bump
  • rach6348
    rach6348 Posts: 5
    okay excuse me ignorance, but what is VLCD? and TDEE?
  • 1ConcreteGirl
    1ConcreteGirl Posts: 3,677 Member
    okay excuse me ignorance, but what is VLCD? and TDEE?

    Very Low Calorie Diet

    Total Daily Energy Expenditure.

    I suggest you read this to get the knowledge you need

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    just hit up one of those sites listed, do the calculations, and eat accordingly. you'll be good to go.
  • SRH7
    SRH7 Posts: 2,037 Member
    okay excuse me ignorance, but what is VLCD? and TDEE?

    Very Low Calorie Diet

    Total Daily Energy Expenditure.

    I suggest you read this to get the knowledge you need

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

    :drinker:
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    okay excuse me ignorance, but what is VLCD? and TDEE?

    Very Low Calorie Diet

    Total Daily Energy Expenditure.

    I suggest you read this to get the knowledge you need



    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/912920-in-place-of-a-road-map-3-2013

    Wait till Sunday on IPOARM, I made some changes on it for Dan. The new one will be released Sunday.

    This is why I wanted you to be my friend. You are awesome and achieved what most think can't be done. Love you! for that!
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    OP, please read this if you are consistently netting 300 to 500 calories while very active.

    http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/88/1/297.full

    Her study includes formulas you can utilize to figure out the threshold which would likely lead to disruption in LH pulsatility and ovarian function. What's your present body fat percentage?

    The endocrine system takes a toll during very low net calories. As a result, your body assumes specific adaptations to protect itself from unintentional starvation. The reason you don't feel hungry is because your leptin receptors are no longer reading levels accurately; thus, you are getting false confirmations that you have eaten enough to meet energy demands. This, in turn causes you to eat gradually less and less while feeling "full."

    Spiked levels of cortisol due to excessive stress - caused by high level of activity and low caloric intake - can also lead to excessive water retention.
  • rach6348
    rach6348 Posts: 5
    wow that is SUPER helpful. thank you
This discussion has been closed.

Categories