WANT to eat more than 1200 but just gain weight HELP

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fakeuntilumakeit
fakeuntilumakeit Posts: 77
in Health and Weight Loss
Please advise, I didn't believe in the Plateau, but its seemingly hit. I've reached 132llbs great stuff, I'm 35 female, 5ft 7. But I would have liked to have gone further, at least to 126llbs. I'm even happy to sit at this weight for a while but I'm going back up. 133/134llbs last 2 weeks.

I've been trying to stick to 1200 cals and exercised about 4/5 times a week and the weight has dropped steadily for weeks. But I've had enough and feel ratty and quite frankly weak at this cal number, been doing this since mid feb, total loss of about 1.5 stone. I did have binge weekends , ate back cals and still lost steadily.

Now I want a life without calorie counting and such heavy exercise routine, I now run twice a week and do 1 or 2 home workouts gm dvd etc. I am allowing myself to eat more and my tdee says I can eat up to 1800 plus which I am still considerably under. What is going on. I don't want to stay eating soooooo little but gain weight the minute I relax this.

Is a plateau my body saying this is the right weight for me? My weight is going up but inches slowly coming down. VERY SLOWLY. CONFUSED.

Replies

  • rachelwilliams93
    rachelwilliams93 Posts: 30 Member
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    MFP says I need to eat 1200 a day. but I cant haha, its way to little for me and I have never stuck to that number for long. I eat around 1400 a day and do exercise everyday. I went from 147Ibs to 120Ibs so my advice eat more to weight less, your body needs food to burn maximum calories :)
  • toridames
    toridames Posts: 3
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    You really shouldn't look at weight in number. Of course when someone 5 ft 7 is 200lbs, to see the number drop is a reward.

    You're 5ft 7. Lets step in to reality. 130-135 is a healthy weight. If the inches are still going down, I'd say you're gaining muscle. Common sense tells us if you're working out 4/5 times a week, muscle gain is inevitable and we all know the adage "Muscle weighs more than fat," it's true. Also, if you are working out that frequently, your body will need to consume more than 1200 cals. Thats probably what is attributing to the rattiness/weakness.

    If the inches are still coming off, there's nothing for you worry about. Get off the scale for a couple weeks. A lot of people are way too reliant on that number.
  • wtw0n
    wtw0n Posts: 1,083 Member
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    You're 5ft 7. Lets step in to reality. 130-135 is a healthy weight. If the inches are still going down, I'd say you're gaining muscle. Common sense tells us if you're working out 4/5 times a week, muscle gain is inevitable and we all know the adage "Muscle weighs more than fat," it's true.

    If she's netting 1200, she for sure isn't gaining muscle.
  • toridames
    toridames Posts: 3
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    Depends on her protein intake. On average, I consume 1300 cals but I always manage to get at least 125 grams per day on workout days, and at least 100 on non-workout days. If she distributed her macro's properly, then she sure can gain muscle(especially since she said she had been allowing herself to eat more). You can definitely make small gains (of 1-3 lbs). As long as there is enough protein to complete repairation of her micro tears then she can gain muscle just fine.
  • d3mon4ngel
    d3mon4ngel Posts: 242 Member
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    As you are so close to your goal, you should set MFP for no more than 1/2lb per week loss. Keep netting the goal that it gives you. You may put on some weight while your body readjusts if you have been only eating at 1200 for a long time. Give it at least 8 weeks before you try anything different.

    Also, if you just want to lose more because you don't like the way your body looks even though you've got to a healthy weight, then make sure you are doing strength or resistance training of some kind, even if it's only body weight training like pressups and squats.

    Good luck :flowerforyou:
  • wtw0n
    wtw0n Posts: 1,083 Member
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    Depends on her protein intake. On average, I consume 1300 cals but I always manage to get at least 125 grams per day on workout days, and at least 100 on non-workout days. If she distributed her macro's properly, then she sure can gain muscle(especially since she said she had been allowing herself to eat more). You can definitely make small gains (of 1-3 lbs). As long as there is enough protein to complete repairation of her micro tears then she can gain muscle just fine.

    I'm just gonna leave this here: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/expert-guides/muscle-building
  • fakeuntilumakeit
    fakeuntilumakeit Posts: 77
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    Thanks guys,

    I eat a lot of protein my monitor always tells me I'm over count, but I find its the only thing that satisfies my hunger, and can't give this food up. Also I had been eating back my exercise cals, in fact its when I haven't this was the week I hit plateau and thought stuff this I'm gonna eat.

    I've changed from doing a lot of gm dvd's which included squats, push ups, weights etc more interval training, to running, I wonder if this is the reason I'm loosing less yet strangely my measurements are coming down. If I can loose the tummy and boobs (proper apple shape), I am happy. Stats 28in waist, but tummy 30.5in but can bloat to 32in., boobs 37in but back 30in. Skinny legs and arms, but carry weight in stubborn areas. People often ask if i'm pregnant because weight all here.
  • toridames
    toridames Posts: 3
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    wtw0n - Now, if you actually sat down and did a little research, using professional briefs and journals, you might be surprised at how the body consumes and breaks down proteins. So I'll do the leg work for you and you can have a gander at this brief. I won't, however, tell you where the information is at. You can go ahead and wade through that yourself, because if you have any true inkling, you'll be able to understand it.

    Oh, and as everyone should know, they don't put all the juicey information in the abstract, you actually have to read it.
    http://abbmcertification.org/inc/assets/articles/Symons 30 g protein serving maximally stimulates muscle protein synthesis JAmDietAssoc 2009.pdf

    Fakeuntilumakeit - No worries! You're doing fine, unless you're consuming less than 10g of protein (which is highly unlikely) your muscle protein synthesis will continue and you wount have a halted protein-anabolic response.
    Keep it up! :)
  • wtw0n
    wtw0n Posts: 1,083 Member
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    ^ lmao you're totally missing the point.

    I'm talking about calories, not protein intake. It's very very difficult to build muscle while eating in caloric deficit, near impossible actually, and it's even more difficult for women. It's pretty safe to say that a woman who nets 1200 cals doesn't build muscle.

    So how about you do that little research yourself.



    For OP, try increasing your calorie intake a little. You could try something like +100 cals every week or every two weeks. You may notice a gain on the scale first, just ignore it. Also, there's nothing wrong with running or other cardio, but I'd recommend doing strength training too.
  • elsinora
    elsinora Posts: 398 Member
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    THIS
    ^ lmao you're totally missing the point.

    I'm talking about calories, not protein intake. It's very very difficult to build muscle while eating in caloric deficit, near impossible actually, and it's even more difficult for women. It's pretty safe to say that a woman who nets 1200 cals doesn't build muscle.

    So how about you do that little research yourself.



    For OP, try increasing your calorie intake a little. You could try something like +100 cals every week or every two weeks. You may notice a gain on the scale first, just ignore it. Also, there's nothing wrong with running or other cardio, but I'd recommend doing strength training too.

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