Should I up my cals?

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taiyola
taiyola Posts: 964 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Firstly, please read before just saying 'yes'... I've been in recovery from an eating disorder for around a year now. For the past few years I've aimed my daily cals to be less than 1000. I'm a lot better now, but am worried to eat lots of cals as I'm not used to it and scared weight will pile on!

I joined here 15th Feb and weighed 143. I am now 144.6, but have dropped a couple of inches. I dropped those inches within the first week of joining.

I have my goals set to sedentary as I only work part-time, so I just add any exercise cals etc. I did a thing online which said my body burns 1740 a day naturally. It's a rough guess, I know, everyone's different. I have my NET goal on here set for 1040 based on that though.

I aim to exercise (walking my dog mainly) 6 days a week for around an hour. I always go over. I recently have made an aim for myself to jog for 5-10 minutes, 2-3 times a week as I am mega unfit. I do a bit of strength training (sit-ups, push-ups, squats, lunges) once or twice a week (when I remember really) I have made some changes to what I am eating, swapping sugar for sweetener, avoiding junk a bit more, and drinking 3L a day. I still have cheat days, but I am usually around my net cals within 100 either way. On work days I can eat around 1500-2000 cals and still be within my net cals.

As I haven't lost or dropped inches in 3ish weeks - should I up my cals a little? I'm quite scared to up them dramatically, so maybe 1100 for a couple of weeks, then 1200? Will my body just store it all as it's not used to it? Have I killed my metabolism from starving my body for so long, and therefore just focus on exercising more?

Replies

  • taiyola
    taiyola Posts: 964 Member
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    :frown: Nobody ever replies to meeee
  • namrettik
    namrettik Posts: 127
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    As your body is getting used to having plentiful food intake again, initially, you may gain some weight. That's okay. It's a step to healthiness for you.

    From what I've read here and elsewhere, your net caloric intake should never drop below 1200 (I struggle with this part sometimes, but I'm trying harder now than I have been over the past couple months). Additionally, eat all (or at least most) of your exercise calories back. This helps your body know that food is not scarce and it's okay to burn away fat stores.

    Your metabolism may very well be out of whack, but with time and patience, I think your body can repair it.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Try adding 100 cal to your total and stick with that for 3-4 weeks, if that seems okay add another 100 for 3-4 weeks. Keep doing this every time you get stuck. the extra 100 cals should not be much of a shock and the above give your body time to get use to extra calories slowly. Good luck.
  • Kat120285
    Kat120285 Posts: 1,599 Member
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    You definitely need to up them but I would recommend doing it gradually. Your body will probably want to hang onto everything that comes for the exact reason you ended your post with. A little over a year ago, I had no appetite, it came out of nowhere and so I barely ate. I was averaging 600 calories a day, not to mention still somehow working out. I was 108 pounds. When I started P90X and started actually eating again, I gained weight, and it was not just muscle. I'm now safely getting back down the the weight range my body is happiest but I'm doing it in a much less dratic way. My goal starts out at 1250 for the day as my BMR is 1248, once I add exercise it goes up to about 1880 or 2000, my net ends at 1250 each day. Last week I weighed in at 121-120 and at the beginning of this week I weighed in at 117.8. You do have to do what's right for you and your body but I would be prepared for some weight gain at first because your body will have to take some time to realize that you're not going to starve it anymore. Hope this helps some!
  • amberpaigee
    amberpaigee Posts: 74
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    Aww! I will reply even though I am no expert! I would suggest upping your exercise like you said! The things you have been trying to incorporate sound like lovely starting points!! I'm dubious on the value of increasing calories in order to help weight loss :noway: so not sure what to suggest apart from saying it personally doesn't work for me! :smile:

    Or maybe you could set your activity levels to very active and not log your work calories that you've burnt and see what happens? :smile:

    Good luck poppet! :flowerforyou:
  • taiyola
    taiyola Posts: 964 Member
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    :smile: Okay, I will up by 100 and see what happens this week. Hopefully because I'm exercising more than I have in about 10 years my metabolism may go up slightly. Also trying to eat regularly. I was around 14-20lb lighter when I was ill, so I'm trying to make sure I stick with this and am not tempted to go back! Thanks for your advice
  • Atlantique
    Atlantique Posts: 2,484 Member
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    I'd raise them a little, yes. Probably 100-150 a day and see how that goes for a few weeks. Then reassess.
  • bayles1
    bayles1 Posts: 408 Member
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    Hey,

    Im no expert and wouldnt dream of commenting.I do wish you the best of luck though and offer my hope that you are able to find the correct answers and help to keep you moving forward and continuing the great work that you are doing.
    Best Wishes....:smile::smile:
  • taiyola
    taiyola Posts: 964 Member
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    Aww! I will reply even though I am no expert! I would suggest upping your exercise like you said! I'm dubious on the value of increasing calories in order to help weight loss :noway:

    Or maybe you could set your activity levels to very active and not log your work calories that you've burnt and see what happens? :smile:

    Good luck poppet! :flowerforyou:

    Haha, me too. But I don't know if that's fear or not, because food has always been the enemy! I'm quite comfortable at my 1040, but not seeing any results. Catch 22!
  • taiyola
    taiyola Posts: 964 Member
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    Thankyou :flowerforyou: It took me 6 months to be able to get up to 1000 comfortably, and I don't mind eating more on work days where I'm constantly moving... just moving my net cals scares me a bittt. I'm willing to give it a go though.
  • Gishwy
    Gishwy Posts: 1
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    Hey, I have the same problem as far as hitting a plateau. I haven't lost anything in at least 2 wks. I couldn't figure out why b/c I was only eating about 500 calories a day and exercising for at least 30 min a day on the elliptical. I wasn't trying to restrict myself to that low amount a day, I just didn't want to eat too much since I have a lot of weight to lose. I wanted to eat less to lose a little quicker. I did a litle research on the internet and realized I wasn't eating enough calories for my body to burn. I should be eating about 1200 calories a day based on my height and weight. If you don't take in enough calories for your body to burn, it will stay at the same weight until you increase your calories, so I definitely recomment increasing your calories to jump start your weight loss again. I know it's hard to make sense of it b/c you would think eating less means more weight loss, but that totally isn't true. I hope that helped!

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