Newbie at EMTWL..Need positive Reinforcement

shocktastic · May 2014

Hi there, how else to say it but I am scared..I have lived on 1200 calories for over 1.5 years now and at one point (the beginning lost a lot of weight) the 9 months just keep gaining..No matter what I do weightlifitng and cardio it just keeps coming on...Unless I drop down to 900 calories then it will slowly start coming off again maybe 1-2 lbs in a month....But who can live like that and substain? NOT ME! So I did what I have been wanting to do for 2 years and finally got my RMR testing done..Her's what I found out:

In a comotose state my body burns 1435 calories

My metabolism is a Negative 3 (not quite sure how bad that is..but she said "sluggish & time to reset"

I weightlift 4x a week at a least 250 calories being burned each time

I do cardio 3x-4x a week for an hour burning approx. 350 calories each time

I am exhausted and crabby!! I am STARVING my body! So the facility I went to put me on a plan and I am a bit freaked out..

Here is my mapped out plan:
For 2 weeks I need to eat 1400 calories (No cardio)
the next 2 weeks eat 1800 calories (I get heart palpitations thinking about it) I can add 2 days of cardio but for only 30 minutes
After that drop to 1600 calories and do 3x cardio @ 30 minutes...

(Weightlifting the entire time since they felt I mat be emotionally scarred if they took that way ..lol)

I already gained weight I am on my 2nd week of 1400 calories...Tell me this is normal... tell me not to be scared, please? In my head I just keep thinking of what Laurie (the therapist doing the test) told me "Relax nothing else has worked right? So why not try this and trust me?" Well How do I trust someone I don't know..what if I blow up like a balloon? What if I get carried away?

On the upside my patience has been better and I am not exhausted this eating thing could get addicting..that's not good!

I don't want to be scared to eat ... I want this to work!! Any positive feedback is appreciated!!

AnitraSoto · May 2014

What you are experiencing is totally normal, and I think most of us went through that fear when we first started upping our calories... What you need to remember is that what you were doing did not work, and is not a sustainable way of life :noway: . The more you decrease your intake, the slower your metabolism will go to compensate - it is a vicious cycle.

What you have been told is correct, you need to eat more in order to get your metabolism back up and running where it should be. Just the fact that your BMR was found to be 1,425, yet you were gaining while eating 1,200 or less is proof of that.

It is scary, but as long as you go into the process with your eyes fully open and knowing what to expect, it is fully possible to accomplish. Personally, I know I was eating 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day and one or more hours of cardio each day and was unable to budge the scale. It took about 6 months, but I was able to successfully increase my calories from 1,200 to 2,150 and even drop those last 10 pounds. The process is just as much mental as it is physical. Have you gone over to the eatmore2weighless.com main website? There is tons of great information over there, as well as an active forum with people going through the same feelings you are experiencing right now. There is also a Starter Kit which is highly recommended, and the best place to start!

Please feel free to send me a friend request if you need a shoulder to lean on, or come over to the forums over there and there are many who will be willing to share their experiences :-)

aylajane · May 2014

7 months ago I started seeing a trainer, and was eating an average of 1200 calories a day at best - and gaining. Over these months, he has insisted I up my calories each month until I am now averaging 1800 calories. All the while lifting progressive and heavy and exercising 6 days a week. In those 7 months, I have lost about 33 pounds total. I had two months I only lost a pound or two but lost at least one pants size. I have some very strong muscles now! 2 weeks ago, he added another 100 calories a day (bringing me to the current 1800) and I have lost 4 pounds in those two weeks.

Think of it this way - you can make a deficit several ways.... You can burn 1400 calories a day and eat 900, or you can burn 2500 and eat 2000. WHich would you prefer?! I love that I can basically eat all day long (getting a ton of protein to support all this new muscle) and still lose weight.

So the first task you have is to get your body back to burning more. The problem is that you have trained your body to be very efficient and be able to live on 1200 calories. So if you eat 1400, it thinks "hey, thats 200 more than I am used to - I better sock that away in case I need it one day", and you gain weight! So you need to get your body to understand that this food is going to keep coming, no worries about a shortage. Eventually it will understand ('reset') that it has more available to it and stop trying to hang onto every extra calorie and allow it to be used (giving you more energy!). I keep losing weight when he ups my calories because I have so much more energy I have a hard time sitting still! Every time he ups my calories by 100, I swear I start burning 200 more just because I can!

You need to progressively move more. Keep lifting!! It is totally worth the change in body shape. It will take awhile for your body to "get it", so you just have to be patient and keep your eye on the end goal. And they were right - what you are doing already wasnt working, so unless you want to continue down that path, give up some control and trust them and the process. Tell yourself you will follow it 100% for at least 2 months before making any judgements about whether it is working. Unless you think you can do better on your own in 2 months, its worth 2 months of your life to try it.

ETA: I am paying my trainer a lot of money. SO even when I freak out because he wants me to eat more, I do it - because I am paying him to know better than me! It would be stupid to pay all this money and not do what he says... Trust the person with the degree - you asked them for their professional advice, how silly to not follow it?

heybales · May 2014

Just a correction - you had an RMR test, not BMR test, unless they converted it for you to BMR on the paperwork.

Those are not your comatose calories, those are your awake resting calories. BMR is 150-250 lower.

You can convert RMR to related BMR. Need weight in KG.
Just do this on normal calculator that can handle doing the math in correct order and it'll spit out the matching BMR to use in your estimating TDEE.
Then again, let me recommend NOT using that BMR figure. Do you really want to base your eating goals on a suppressed RMR that should be higher? Or is it actually low compared to say Mifflin BMR?

(21.6*(CW-(CW-(RMR-500)/22))+370)

Also, just to emphasis what Anitra said, you spent 1.5 years doing to this to yourself - don't imagine 4 weeks is going to be anywhere near a recovery.
I'd suggest moving up slower and that whole time can be counted as some recovery time. 100 calories extra daily for a week or two at a time.

Also, you'll need to get more accurate on your food logging.
If RMR was 1435, and you really ate 1200 honest calories, you'd lose 1 lb every 2 weeks doing nothing but sitting awake all day.
I'm trusting the RMR is not off that much, which means your food logging is probably off by a hefty amount. You logging binges and bad days and bad meals, or skipping them because you feel bad about them?
Because even a suppressed TDEE which you are dealing with is higher than 1435, so you must have been eating at whatever that higher amount is - which you don't know right now.
Or is it actually your goal was 1200, but if you actually add up what you ate in total (not NET, gross) that includes bad days and binges, what would be the average eaten then?

And as far as any weight changes, only weigh in on valid days, probably just once weekly to minimize fear factor.
And always do the math.
If you really ate 100 calories over your current TDEE where you maintained (which is higher than 1200), it would take 35 days with NO change to metabolism to gain 1 mere pound. And with weight lifting, not even fat.
Reread that.

So a fats 2 lb gain isn't fat but water weight.

Now, the reason I encourage you to look at the food aspect, because if food logging is that inaccurate now and it scales the same as you eat more, you will start gaining fat easily.
Because I'm betting your accuracy is probably off by easily 500 right now, has to be minimum, from 1200 (if that is actual figure eaten in GROSS).
But when you make your way up to the 1800-2000's, then you could have 750 extra being eaten by bad accuracy. That would start piling on real fat.

shocktastic · May 2014

Thank you I appreciate your support!!

shocktastic · May 2014

Thank you..that is a lot of info to process…I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

jaeone · May 2014

Hi and Welcome!

I know eating more goes against all we have been told, but you really can eat normal and have the body you want. And keep in mind going from 1400 to 1800 is really just a matter of adding 1oz of almonds to Chobani greek yogurt for a snack and 1/2 cup of grapes!! It really isn't hard to get those extra calories in!!

You can add me for support also!! And please check EM2WL.com!

Keep us updated on your progress!

Eat More 2 Weigh Less

Newbie at EMTWL..Need positive Reinforcement

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