Help and advice please!

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mariposajar
mariposajar Posts: 5
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hey everyone, this is going to be a long post so I beg you to bear with me. I'm 5'6", 113 pounds, 18 years old. I'm sedentary and only workout 3 hours per week. Its been a while since I started counting calories to keep track of my weight. I've only lost about 5 pounds but I don't want to lose more, I want to maintain. However, I've become so obsessed with my calories that the idea of increasing them and gaining weight frightens me. I want to stop counting calories and eat what I like, but I don't trust myself or my body. Also, I've never starved myself (I've always eaten about 1400 per day with the exception of some days in which I'll go under or over). Some people say that that calorie intake is too low to maintain but this was suggested to me. I was told by others to eat 2000 cals, or stop worrying about calories, although I think that's quite an exaggerated number. I'm scared that I'm undereating and damaging my metabolism for no reason (I've never been overweight), but I'm afraid that if I try to trust my body, I will gain a lot of weight. I want to experiment eating 1800 but I can't bring myself to do it because I'm so scared of becoming too heavy without noticing it. I don't like my body, it's disproportionate, and no matter how many times I tell myself to stop worrying and love my body I can't and feel like I'm not trying hard enough, and I wonder: if I dislike my body at this weight, how is it possible that I could like it any heavier? I really want to be able to eat what I want, when I want it without all this guilt and fear. I'm really confused, so if you guys could help me figure this out, I'd be really thankful. Am I eating enough? Would you suggest I bring my calories up, ignore weight gain at first, and see what happens? Or should I just keep eating 1400 cals as I've been doing to maintain? Anyone that has gone through a situation like this? Opinions in general?

If you actually read all this, thank you so, so much. I'm sure it was really confusing.

Replies

  • chocolate_moose
    chocolate_moose Posts: 12 Member
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    "I want to stop counting calories and eat what I like"

    You can try to stop counting calories, but I can pretty much guarantee that if you start "eating what you like" you're going to start gaining weight. Unless of course you have a fantastic metabolism that burns everything off, but chances are, that will only last so long.

    Have you considered talking to your doctor or seeing a dietitian to see how many calories or how much food is appropriate for you?
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
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    Or should I just keep eating 1400 cals as I've been doing to maintain? Anyone that has gone through a situation like this? Opinions in general?
    If you've only just now started counting, you haven't been going nearly long enough to really understand how much it is to maintain. Need to know how long you've been doing this.

    That said, an 18 year old active female shouldn't be eating 1400 to maintain. You should be able to, barring any medical conditions, eat a lot more than that.

    Not to mention
    I work out 3 hours per week =/= Sedentary.
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
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    Go to Scooby's calculator. He's pretty close.

    Expect to put on a couple of pounds when you go to maintenance.

    It's not fat, it's glycogen and water weight, and a build up of the extra food. It's perfectly fine.

    I hope you find a way to maintain in peace! You're young, and you have your whole life ahead of you.

    Aim for moderation in everything you do.

    Ps when you do weight lifting you actually can't stop looking at yourself in the mirror! I hated my body all my life and now I love it.
  • mariposajar
    mariposajar Posts: 5
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    Trogalicious:
    I started counting since I was about 16, but didn't really know how to do it too well, and I was more inconsistent. I started being more consistent (or obsessive) since the beggining of this year, but at that moment I wanted to lose some weight. I started trying to maintain about a month ago.
    You're right, I think that, since I'm pretty young, I'll be able to handle more calories, so I'll try that.
    What I meant with the sedentary thing is that I basically just sit around all day except for when I workout, which is only one hour per day, 3 days per week.

    Thanks for taking the time to answer!
  • trogalicious
    trogalicious Posts: 4,584 Member
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    Trogalicious:
    I started counting since I was about 16, but didn't really know how to do it too well, and I was more inconsistent. I started being more consistent (or obsessive) since the beggining of this year, but at that moment I wanted to lose some weight. I started trying to maintain about a month ago.
    You're right, I think that, since I'm pretty young, I'll be able to handle more calories, so I'll try that.
    What I meant with the sedentary thing is that I basically just sit around all day except for when I workout, which is only one hour per day, 3 days per week.

    Thanks for taking the time to answer!
    Here's another approach.
    Block off 6 weeks. log EXACTLY what you eat for those six weeks, weigh at the beginning, weight at the end. If you've lost, you're eating under your TDEE. If you haven't lost, congrats.. you found your TDEE, if you've gained... then you're above TDEE.

    From there, look at how much you lost or gained and you have a rough estimate of how to shift your intake to balance it out.

    Online calculators are great, but they're just estimates. They give you decent ideas for starting points. From there, it's on you to fine tune it.

    :)
  • mariposajar
    mariposajar Posts: 5
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    Springfield19:
    Scooby's calculator says I should be eating 1800 calories! I think I'll try that number and see how it goes. I'll try to accept that initial weight gain, and try to stabilize it. Thanks a lot for your comment!! Hopefully, I'll soon be confmortable with myself and feel better in every way as you have been able to do.

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