How to find the right balance of calories?

whiffin18
whiffin18 Posts: 8
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey guys, heres the facts.

My height is 5ft 8in and my weight is 9st and my ideal weight is 8st 5lbs. i attend the gym 3-4 times a week where i burn around 300-450 cals each visit doing cardio. I also work 5 hrs a da y (apart from a saturday/sunday) which involve walking around at a medium pace. I was eating around 900 calories day and was told I was undereating and to up my calorie count which i did. I started eating 1200 a day but found I went from 8st 8lbs to 9st so do not think I was undereating.

I do eat carbs regularly which involves 60g of pasta each day and do have 1/2 slices of bread each day.

Any advice would be greatly appriceated. Maybe eating the wrong things, cardio maybe not the best thing to do in the gym?

Thankyou in advance!

C

Replies

  • CariS001
    CariS001 Posts: 169 Member
    1200 is likely still far too low. It will take a few weeks for your body to stabilize, as it would be chronically malnourished and underfed at 900 cal/day. Depending on how long you did that VLCD, the time to stabilize will vary. You need that time to repair your metabolism.

    You are already almost underweight in terms of BMI. 9 st = 126lbs. At 5ft 8, that's extremely low. Thus, you are working against a body that will be struggling to hold on to more fat.

    That being said, I know we all have weights that we feel more comfortable at, and bone structure plays a big part. If you are set on weight loss, I would give your body some time to adjust to eating at maintenance (TDEE, not BMR), then move to a very moderate deficit of 10% (check out http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/ to calculate your TDEE, BMR and deficit).

    Based on my initial estimates, your BMR is 1400 and you should NOT eat below your BMR (damages your metabolism). Your TDEE is likely 2000, possibly more.
  • whiffin18
    whiffin18 Posts: 8
    Thankyou for your reply!
  • whiffin18
    whiffin18 Posts: 8
    Thankyou for your reply!
  • gypsy_spirit
    gypsy_spirit Posts: 2,107 Member
    900 calories a day at 22 years old? You are definitely under-eating. Read the links below. It sounds like you are very close to your goal weight. If you are still unhappy with your body - strength training will really make big changes.

    Picking up a barbell is the best - but you can also do body weight strength training with little to no equipment. A good place to start is NerdFitness.com.

    As far as upping your calories, do it gradually. Know that you will gain a little - not because you are eating too much, but because the jump in calories is causing some retention of water. It will stabilize in a couple of weeks.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819925-the-basics-don-t-complicate-it

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