metabolism wrecked?

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  • elainemorris1982
    elainemorris1982 Posts: 104 Member
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    definitely eat more. I'm 150 pounds and my calories is set at 1450. I eat back at least half my exercise calories or the whole lot most days and I'm losing 1/2 pound to a pound a week
  • khannickwechanged
    khannickwechanged Posts: 77 Member
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    I'm in the process of trying to get my calories up to my TDEE from the very same thing. Years of undereating, bouts of alternately restricting/starving and binging, blah blah. I'm done with that life. It's time to be healthy. I'd love a likeminded friend. :)

    Have you done any research on TDEE and BMR? I read a lot about it, and it made so much sense to me. I'm currently eating 1200, but I'm going to be adding 100 calories/day each week until I reach 1900 to maintain my current weight. Just one of many sources of info: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/680246-tdee-bmr-what-they-are-and-what-to-do-with-them
  • karenalgar
    karenalgar Posts: 10
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    Omg! What was I thinking!!! After doing some research I realise I was totally messing up.
    I was doing 1200 calories a day, workout 400-700 calories a day and now realise I was basically starving myself.
    So now have the mindset that my bmr is 1500 and tdee is around 2300. So if I aim for 1900 calories a day and continue with my work outs daily... Once my metabolism works out I'm not starving myself again I "should" eventually start to lose weight?
    Is this correct?
  • GymRatGirl13
    GymRatGirl13 Posts: 157 Member
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    Correct. I added calories 100 at a time, every other week until I started gaining weight. When I gained, I kept my calories there for a few more weeks, then added again. I kept doing this again until I reached my TDEE. I also added carbs, so my body could adjust to having them again. If you are a cardio bunny....STOP!! Lift weights and try HIIT cardio a few times a week. Your body will be addicted to cardio and will be resistent to letting go of body fat, otherwise. I strongly suggest you go to Layne Nordin's site and watch all his videos on Metobolic Damage. Good stuff...scientifically back, too. :-)
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
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    Omg! What was I thinking!!! After doing some research I realise I was totally messing up.
    I was doing 1200 calories a day, workout 400-700 calories a day and now realise I was basically starving myself.
    So now have the mindset that my bmr is 1500 and tdee is around 2300. So if I aim for 1900 calories a day and continue with my work outs daily... Once my metabolism works out I'm not starving myself again I "should" eventually start to lose weight?
    Is this correct?

    More or less.

    Your body's going to take some time to adjust, particularly if you've been pretty chronically undereating. Try gradually upping your calories (maybe 100 extra week) to help stave off some of the inevitable water retention/gain. Much of any gain you'd get from upping your calories will most likely be gone in roughly 6 weeks (a sort of "average" time it takes for the body to adjust to a change in calories, exercise, etc.).

    If you enjoy jogging, you don't have to give it up--however, any sort of strength training (heavy lifting, body weight, etc.) is something to consider. This will help your metabolism (weight training burns more calories, longer, than traditional cardio) AND help your lean body mass--lean body mass, LBM or muscle, also helps burn more calories just by existing (it takes calories to maintain it). Keep in mind, heavy lifting helps improve bone density (very important in women, particularly if you've potentially been undereating a long time) AND helps regulate various hormones (in turn, helping metabolism).

    And in regards to someone else who asked what "skinnyfat" was: it's a slang term for low weight, high body fat. When people tend to eat a low calorie diet for a long time, often with straight cardio for exercise, they're more likely to lose more LBM than someone who includes strength training with their deficit. As a result, someone might be a low weight on a scale, but at a relatively higher body fat.
  • erbell3
    erbell3 Posts: 22 Member
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    I'm kind of in the same boat, when I don't see a weight loss like I think I should I restrict more, and then more, and then more. It's a vicious cycle. I'm a runner too (at least I was until tendonitis in my foot :( set in) I have thought of food as an enemy to be conquered my whole life, that's just how I was taught to think growing up, and overcoming that mindset has been incredibly difficult. One thing that has been pretty helpful to me is that I started crossfit a couple weeks ago, I just could not do the workouts without eating more, it just wasn't possible. I started reading about 'eating to perform', this has helped me think of food as an ally rather than an enemy. Just a thought, it's still difficult and I think probably takes a lot of time to completely change the way you think of food, it's a process. I hope that all these comments are helpful.
  • ashleybr1980
    ashleybr1980 Posts: 70 Member
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    bump

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