Not enough calories and macros wrong = problems

DVaughan1975
DVaughan1975 Posts: 158 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So.......I was losing about 1.2lbs per week which was exactly what MFP told me I would lose. This was great!! I felt better, looked better, ate better, but obsessed over it. I workout 6 days a week and would feel guilty if I only did 5. My eating wasn't perfect because I couldn't stay undering my fat macro of 20% (even with healthy fats) and surely could not meet the 40% protein macro. My sodium has been pretty good (set to 1800) and my sugar is so so but I eat a lot of fruit so...ya know. The scale stopped moving and I even started to gain. What went wrong????? I did some quick math and realized that last week I averaged about 1110 calories per day. Someone inpsired me so I sent them a message and they begged me to increase my eating. I have a friend who is a dietician (degreed) and she said that my body was in starvation mode. With a lot of fear and research I have upped my calorie allowance to 1400 and brought my protein down to 35% which increased my fat to 25%. My husband asked me why I would change something that is working and I told him because it stopped working. Plus, I was hungry ALL of the time and thought about food ALL of the time. SCARY!!! I don't want to feel that way. Whenever something positive happens (like shopping and comfortably fitting into a size 4) I think that there must be something wrong with the clothes...like they messed with the sizes so you will feel better and spend money. Anytime I look in mirror and look skinny I think that it must be a skinny mirror. Anyway, the person I reached out to was extremely helpful and pointed me in the right direction so I am grateful. Here is to feeling good about the small victories. I learn everyday from people on here.

Replies

  • jlove1989
    jlove1989 Posts: 4
    I'm 115lbs. and I eat 1700 calories a day. My workouts are only 4 days a week and only about 30 minutes of moderate weight training. I set my macros to 35% carbs 25% protein and 40% fat. I kind of use primal eating as a guide except I'm not grain free. Mark's daily apple has a lot of good information. He says for keeping lean but building muscle (if that's your goal, not just weight loss) and just being moderately active 150g of carbs a day is plenty, then I do 100g of protein, which is plenty for my weight. That's a little over 1g for every pound of lean body mass and the rest I fill with healthy fats. Full fat dairy, peanut butter, cheese...stuff like that. If you have your carbs and protein set for what your body needs it will use all the extra fat for its primary fuel source plus with all that fat you always feel satisfied!
  • Supershop2mom
    Supershop2mom Posts: 28 Member
    I was in the same boat as you. I was only eating 1200 calories a day and was very fatigue all the time. I came across this post about eating more to lose weight and I ask him about how much I should be eating. He suggested me to eat 1500 calories a day and make sure I get enough rest for my body to recovery between work outs. I still work out 5 day a week, I only do Zumba and RIPPA class for an hour, because I enjoy them and the people there. I have a hard time eating all my calories. But, now I added protein shake to my diet to get the calories and protein. I am going to change my work out to 4 days and up my calories to 1700/cal a day when we come back from spring break. I will post how that is working out.
  • DVaughan1975
    DVaughan1975 Posts: 158 Member
    I was in the same boat as you. I was only eating 1200 calories a day and was very fatigue all the time. I came across this post about eating more to lose weight and I ask him about how much I should be eating. He suggested me to eat 1500 calories a day and make sure I get enough rest for my body to recovery between work outs. I still work out 5 day a week, I only do Zumba and RIPPA class for an hour, because I enjoy them and the people there. I have a hard time eating all my calories. But, now I added protein shake to my diet to get the calories and protein. I am going to change my work out to 4 days and up my calories to 1700/cal a day when we come back from spring break. I will post how that is working out.

    I just upped my calories to about 1600 based on my TDEE and BMR. I am hoping this fixes things. One night I was trying to sleep and couldn't because I was so hungry. Please keep me posted. Good luck: )
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    I was in the same boat as you. I was only eating 1200 calories a day and was very fatigue all the time. I came across this post about eating more to lose weight and I ask him about how much I should be eating. He suggested me to eat 1500 calories a day and make sure I get enough rest for my body to recovery between work outs. I still work out 5 day a week, I only do Zumba and RIPPA class for an hour, because I enjoy them and the people there. I have a hard time eating all my calories. But, now I added protein shake to my diet to get the calories and protein. I am going to change my work out to 4 days and up my calories to 1700/cal a day when we come back from spring break. I will post how that is working out.

    I just upped my calories to about 1600 based on my TDEE and BMR. I am hoping this fixes things. One night I was trying to sleep and couldn't because I was so hungry. Please keep me posted. Good luck: )

    you should never be starving yourself. if you're hungry it means you need more food - end of story. glad you went with 1600 - that sounds about right to me.

    good luck!
  • CLFrancois
    CLFrancois Posts: 472 Member
    you should never be starving yourself. if you're hungry it means you need more food - end of story. glad you went with 1600 - that sounds about right to me.

    good luck!

    ^listen to himeth, he is smart.^

    I also just upped my calories because, well, I am a woman and I changed my mind! Instead of trying to get rid of weight I am focusing on more muscle. But guess what? I lost 2 pounds anyway. I had only lost 1 in 4 weeks before that.

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