maintainig weight

Options
skinniebee43
skinniebee43 Posts: 9
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
im recovering from anorexia.
i have a pretty good meal plan and its about 2,215 calories a day. Im 23 5'9 1/2 with a medium body frame. i usually work out for 30 minutes a day plus i take more than 4,000 steps aside from my work out. Ive been reading about calories and maintainig, its said that i should only have around 1,500-1,750 but i eat 2,215 and its been maintaining my weight of 120, im still under weight and need to get to atleast 128...but that obviously requires more food so i would be eating alot more...so i guess im a little confused at how all this works? why am i able to eat that much and not gain? i have read so many different things i feel like i may have some mixed information going on...so if anyone can help me understand i would LOVE that. thanks :)

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
    Options
    Everyone's maintenance calories are different...it's a matter of your activity level as well as your physical statistics. The more active you are, the more energy (calories) are required to maintain your weight as well as provide you the necessary energy to do all of your other stuff, including just being alive. Also, the larger you are and taller you are, the more energy is required...and the more muscle mass you have, the more energy is required to maintain that mass or build new mass.

    1800 - 2000 calories per day is basically for the average female who doesn't do much in the way of deliberate exercise. Also, it's just an average...you are going to have people that fall below those averages and people who are going to be above those averages.

    I'm a pretty active, though oldish guy of average height and I maintain pretty easily around 2700 - 2800 calories per day....my buddy who is of the same height and about 4 years younger than I am eats around 2300 - 2400 calories per day to maintain because he's not nearly as active as I am...he really doesn't do any regular, deliberate exercise...he might join me on a hike from time to time and that's about it.
  • loulamb7
    loulamb7 Posts: 801 Member
    Options
    Everyone's maintenance calories are different...it's a matter of your activity level as well as your physical statistics.

    ^^ This ^^

    My guess would be that you are underestimating your activity level in the calculators you are using. For example, using the IIFYM calculator with Female, 23, 5'10", 120 lbs and exercising everyday, your TDEE would be 2261 calories to maintain.
  • skinniebee43
    skinniebee43 Posts: 9
    Options
    thank you both for replying!!
    makes things seem not so confusing. lol :)
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    Options
    First of all, congratulations on being in recovery! I'm sure you realize this, but the fact that you're able to work on gaining weight is wonderful.

    Have you (or your treatment team) calculated your TDEE? At 5'9.5" and 120#, you'd definitely be under at 1500-1750. How long have you been at your current intake?

    Please don't get hung up on what "other people" do to maintain. The only real way to tell is to try it and see what your body does, and apparently your body is really happy maintaining at 2215. I'm trying to gain right now too and have been talking to a lot of women who are bulking, and one of the things I've heard over and over is that we have to eat more calories than we initially thought in order to gain. I took about six weeks to step up from 1500 to 2000, and then after the first several weeks of being consistently at 2000, I gained a grand total of...nothing. Originally, 2000 sounded sooo high to me, but in reality my body said "um, no, not really, I'm just happy you're feeding me again." I've had to step up since then, and probably will have to at least once more.
  • skinniebee43
    skinniebee43 Posts: 9
    Options
    Thank you so much, Alicedark!!
    i am so much happier now that i have food back in my life and i realize now how important it is to give my body what it really needs :) my nutritionist wouldnt tell me how many calories a day that i needed because i was a cronic calorie counter. It was a trigger for me
    but before i left for out patient she told me my total caloric intake a day and it was 2,215...and thats only for maintaining 120. I want to start weight training because right now im considered "skinny fat" higher body fat than muscle...and i really hate it its part of what drove my ED
    so i wanna fix that trigger. Anybody have advice on weight training for beginners? or should i post in a different section for that? :)
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
    Options
    Thank you so much, Alicedark!!
    i am so much happier now that i have food back in my life and i realize now how important it is to give my body what it really needs :) my nutritionist wouldnt tell me how many calories a day that i needed because i was a cronic calorie counter. It was a trigger for me
    but before i left for out patient she told me my total caloric intake a day and it was 2,215...and thats only for maintaining 120. I want to start weight training because right now im considered "skinny fat" higher body fat than muscle...and i really hate it its part of what drove my ED
    so i wanna fix that trigger. Anybody have advice on weight training for beginners? or should i post in a different section for that? :)

    Look into Stronglifts 5x5, and maybe post in the group here called Eat, Train, Progress. They usually have very good advice to give. Also, in terms of gaining up to the minimum weight for your height, you might be best experimenting. Just adding a little extra for a while and monitoring things. You can easily adjust as you go along until you reach a point where you are comfortable. I also used to suffer anorexia and am the same height as you...well half an inch taller. I was 72Ibs at my lowest. I am now 140 or so.

Categories