Increasing calorie intake!

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alebunny5798
alebunny5798 Posts: 3 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I have a question and I hope I can find an answer on here :(
So about a year ago I decided to really commit to weight loss because my entire life I was always the chunky girl that everyone made fun of. I was never happy with my body and I finally said enough is enough. At the beginning of the year I just made simple changes such as working out 5 times a week and being more mindful of my food choices. I started losing weight slowly and I felt proud.

4 months ago I decided to kick it up a notch and found myfitnesspal.. I started recording everything religiously and loved how it kept me accountable.. I started seeing results like never before and the weight just started melting off (I was actually not overweight to begin with.. I am 19 years old, 5'5, and weighed 132 lbs at the start of my journey)

Everyone I know kept telling me how I had gotten so skinny and scared to gain any weight at all, I started restricting my calories. It went from 1,500 calories to 1,400 calories and now I am at the point in which I just can't allow myself to reach 1,300.. it always has to be below that.
I work out 5-6 times a week and about 3 months ago I stopped getting my period.. I haven't weighed myself in months but I'd say I weigh around 113-111 lbs..

I'm so unhappy, food has taken over my life and I to get straight to the point, I know I have an eating disorder. People are worried, but I just don't feel like I am sick enough to be worried for..
I spend hours on myfitnesspal creating meal plans for the following week, and making sure I don't reach 1,300 because I feel like if I do I will gain weight

Maybe this isn't the best place to ask for help, but I really want to overcome this because it is ruining my health, my social life, and my own sanity.

How do I go about increasing calories? What would be a healthy amount for my age, height, and weight? Is 1,250ish calories really that low to begin with? And realistically, will I gain weight if I increase my calories? (That is my biggest fear.. and sometimes I don't even know why..) I just wish I could maintain my weight..

Thank you to all in advance..

Replies

  • courthatt
    courthatt Posts: 1 Member
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    Hey... So just based on your height alone, 1250 calories is pretty low! If you've never heard of "if it fits your macros" check out the website at IIFYM.com. There is a calculator that will allow you to input your info and will generate calorie and macronutrient requirements based on your goal. It is all about counting macronutrients (carbs, fats, protein) over counting calories per say. The macronutrients are what make up calories. Check out and look up "reverse dieting" in order to increase your calories. Because you got your calories so low, your metabolism is probably also low so you definitely don't just want to spike back up to 1800 calories or so. Then you would gain weight. But if you slowly increase your calories to what your maintenance calories should be you should be fine. I'm not sure the amounts to increase but probably no more than 100cals a week. You have to find what works best for your body, but I HIGHLY recommend researching IIFYM :)
    That's my best advice! I'm no expert but hope it helps some! :)
    Courtney
  • paradi3s
    paradi3s Posts: 343 Member
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    This is exactly how i feel! Once I reached 115 lbs and everyone kept telling me I was too skinny and that I needed to eat, I knew for sure that I needed to start maintaining. When I read up on maintaining weight, all I saw was that the people who did maintain start gaining a bit of weight, and the thought alone made me cry every night. But I said 'what the hell' and just started slowly increasing my cal intake because I know for sure I couldn't live on 1,300 calories a day forever. It took over a month but I'm now eating at maintenance level (still observing if I gain/lose), and so far, I didn't gain but I am still losing a bit!
  • errollmaclean
    errollmaclean Posts: 562 Member
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    My Fitness Pal has proven reliable so far. Why not gradually increase your calories to maintenance and trust it the same way you did while losing weight.

    I hope everything works out ok for you and you find help with your eating disorder.

    I also recommend IIFYM. It leads to a much healthier relationship with food.
  • Susieq_1994
    Susieq_1994 Posts: 5,361 Member
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    As everyone else said, and also this: If you feel you've developed an eating disorder, see a professional NOW, while it's in its infancy. It will be much easier to deal with and recover from it if you nip it in the bud early. While you're not worried, eating disorders have a habit of sneaking up on you... And they aren't something to play around with.

    All the best to you. :)
  • MissFitee
    MissFitee Posts: 106 Member
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    You could try increasing your intake slowly, maybe just 100 kcal more. For a week or a month depending on how you feel. Then another 100 and so on. Also try to remember that even if you do gain a little bit one month you can easily lose it again - you have before.

    On the other hand the best thing to do would be to quit MFP, quit tracking and quit the scales/measuring... before your health starts to really take a hit.
  • livrerie
    livrerie Posts: 26
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    Numbers shouldn't be shared but... I really understand your situation so I'll try my best. If you really want to stay on a controlled low calorie diet that is still healthy, I'd recommend about 1500 calories. 1200 calories is low all by itself and used sort of as the minimum for "healthy" extreme dieting. Increase your calories slowly, like Miss Fitee said, you could try 100 every day. If the amount seems scary to you, you can try 50 or 25, just make sure you are upping your intake daily.

    The metabolism is a wonderful thing! It is so adaptable to new situations you'd be surprised! Technically, it takes an extra 3500 calories a week to gain a meagre 1 kilogram. That's 500 extra calories a day. On the first days you might notice you "gain" weight, but it's actually composed mostly of water as your body adapts to it's new situation. If you've been restricting for a long time the metabolism speeds up as a response. Whilst I was in recovery I needed to eat roughly 3800 calories a day and I was still underweight and struggling to gain it back.

    Breaking obsessions is hard work, but the longer you put it off the harder it will get and the journey will get longer and more tedious. Have you tried speaking to someone? An eating disorder is living hell and the earlier you put a stop to it the better. Your obsession with food is becomes so extreme you lose sight of everything else that is beautiful in your life. Friends, family, education, work, pets, they all fade into the background.

    I'm sorry I mentioned numbers, but I think it's the only way I could help you on this particular site. Sorry this response is so long as well. Please if you start feeling your need for control is actually making you lose control speak to someone, anyone, and don't hesitate to send me a message if you ever need to. No one should be alone. xxx
  • danygore
    danygore Posts: 4 Member
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    Hi please add me I'm going through something really similar, except I'm not loosing any weight and the idea of eating less is flirting with me. I want to loose weight but by being healthy.
  • HAS415
    HAS415 Posts: 48 Member
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    Same here. I started my weight lost journey in April 2013 at 5' 10" 278 lbs. I lost 136 lbs but my trainer thought I was too low at 142 lbs and has brought me back up (much slower than he would like) to 158 lbs. He says I developed an eating disorder and I know he's right. I still fight him every step of the way because I'm so afraid I will yo yo again as I have 4 other times. Please add me too since we're going through something really similar! Best of luck to you!
  • LadyTalulah
    LadyTalulah Posts: 174 Member
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    I went through the same thing about a year ago. I started off on the chubby side so I wanted to lose weight. It becomes addictive the feeling that you know you're losing. It ended in an eating disorder for me too.
    I don't want to scare you but after months (yes, not even years) of restricting calories too much, I collapsed in the street (more than once). I started getting panic attacks and generalized anxiety, I could never think clearly and couldn't concentrate. Paranoia set in (not only about food, about everything) and suicidal thoughts were recurrent.
    Your brain uses 30% of the calories you consume. It's no wonder that all of this can happen when you start to cut calories drastically. This is what made me put my foot down. I didn't want to be skinny if it meant I would lose my sanity along the way. I wanted to be happy and healthy.

    You need a shift in your way of thinking. What saved me and what I definetely reccomend is weight lifting. You no longer strive to be skinny but strive to be healthy and strong. I would really recommend doing your reseach about weight lifting and checking out websites like nerdfitness(dot)com. Change your goals, change your way of thinking and remember that you have to take baby steps to get where you want to be. Take it one day at a time (:
  • alebunny5798
    alebunny5798 Posts: 3 Member
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    Thank you to everyone who replied back to my post!!! You all don't know how much it means to me, to know that I am not the only one who has gone through this. And to know there are others who have successfully gotten out of this terrible situations gives me hope. These past few days I have been been trying to add a little bit over 50 calories a day but I end up chickening out and going back below 1300, but today I said enough is enough, and am really going to try and stay above!! Thank you all once again.. :smile: <3
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    Susieq_1994 wrote: »
    As everyone else said, and also this: If you feel you've developed an eating disorder, see a professional NOW, while it's in its infancy. It will be much easier to deal with and recover from it if you nip it in the bud early. While you're not worried, eating disorders have a habit of sneaking up on you... And they aren't something to play around with.

    All the best to you. :)
    Susieq_1994 wrote: »
    As everyone else said, and also this: If you feel you've developed an eating disorder, see a professional NOW, while it's in its infancy. It will be much easier to deal with and recover from it if you nip it in the bud early. While you're not worried, eating disorders have a habit of sneaking up on you... And they aren't something to play around with.

    All the best to you. :)
    ^^^This

  • khaleesikhaleesi
    khaleesikhaleesi Posts: 213 Member
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    I'd recommend some therapy-- trust me, you might not see yourself as "that bad", but it messes with your mind for years and years and years if left untreated. I'm still not 100% better, but I'm getting there!

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