Did Anyone put on weight when.....

Options
Hi

I'm just wondering if anyone put on weight when they first upped their calories out of starvation mode??

I have read how too little causes starvation mode and plateaus weight loss so i have upped to 1200 from about 800 but not eating my excercise cals back yet as a) i didn't want to increase by such a huge amt straight away and b) i don't know my true calorie burn.

Just wondered if i need to prepare myself for a gain this week for better results in the future?

Thanks

Replies

  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    Options
    Some do, some don't. Some jump from the low cals to a higher amount all at once, some go up gradually, 100 a week or every few days.

    I went from 1200, to 1400 (because I was so stinkin' hungry), to 1500 - and then finally jumped to 1800. I don't remember gaining, so if I did, it was minimal, and nothing outside of a normal weekly fluctuation.

    But yes, gaining is common, especially if you've been eating really low, which you have. Heck, 1200 is still way too low for most women - have you found a place to calculate your numbers to find how much you should be eating for your height, weight, age, activity? Looks like you don't have a lot to lose by your ticker, so I'd say either go with MFP's settings, but make sure you've got it set to lose no more than half a pound a week, and work on starting to eat back exercise cals - those are important! :smile:

    Or, if you want to calculate your all day burn and take a cut from that to find a daily goal, check out this topic: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/974888-in-place-of-a-road-map-2k13 Great info there. And with that method, you don't eat back exercise cals because they will be figured into your daily goal.
  • beccib2
    beccib2 Posts: 44 Member
    Options
    cheers for that..... i'll check it out!!!

    The problem i have is i have a desk job in the day so i'm sedentry, but i am a dance instrutor at night and cause i do the same thing all the time, my body is complacent with this type of exercise compared to someone else who doesn't do it often so without a HRM which i cant afford at the mo, i don't want to over estimate how much i am burning through exercise. and end up eating too much. my aim is to increase to 1500 a day without eating calories back, but figured a 400 aday leap this week was enough. All the TDEE websites seem to vary because i can't be calorie burn specific, and vary as much as 500 cals so don't know where to start with that..... :-/
  • Denise_1010
    Options
    Please remember, when you're tracking your food intake on this site that you need to not focus so much on the calories but where the calories are coming from. 800 calories from a tv dinner is vastly different than 800 calories coming from a balanced diet of fruits, nuts, vegetables and protein sources (beans, meat). What you should be focusing on is your sugar and fat. Also, you should never, ever be below 1,100 calories. Ever. For any reason. Basic natural snacks throughout the day at your desk like grapes, oranges, apples, bananas, celery, carrots, walnuts, almonds (unsalted!), peanuts (also unsalted!), etc are wonderful ways to get your vital nutrients and calories without the fat and sugar from processed foods. If you notice an increase in weight on the scale it'll be because you're retaining water. Increasing your calories from natural foods isn't going to cause you to gain weight if you're only increasing from 800 to 1200. In fact, you're going to find that you have more energy and therefore you're going to burn more calories. Think of your body like a car. The car won't run if it's out of gas. Your body is the same way. It's not going to eat the fat and turn you into an athlete's body. It's going to do it's darnedest to preserve what precious resources it has. So, please reconsider your calorie intake and at least go up to 1,200 and cut unnatural, processed foods out. :)