Look for some new friends!

MandaLeigh123 · March 2015

Hey all! I am new to Eat More 2 Weigh Less. I have been on a big calorie deficit the last six months, but started upping my calories a few weeks ago. Not by a lot, but by some. I don't know if I want to lose more weight or not yet, I got to my original goal of 145lbs. Now I am in a phase of trying to figure out if I can/should lose more, but more focused on strength training and keeping up with my exercise!

I am looking for friends who actively use their MFP tracking every day, and who are willing to interact with thoughts and motivation. I only have about 35 MFP friends, but a lot of them have grown quiet now that I am close to/at goal and they still have a way to go.
Anyone interested in a new MFP friend?

I have an open diary, usually do cardio 5-6x/week and try to strength train/life 3x/week. I have joint hyper-mobility syndrome, which I am working to get under control. Been vegetarian for 21 years and eat vegetarian food when eating out, and mostly vegan at home (not for health reasons).

33yo nursing student

Farmgirlfit85 · March 2015

Feel feel free to add me. I'm still new too, but always appreciate the friends!

FRJM · March 2015

FR sent - you can never have too many motivating friends!

Neonbeige · March 2015

So, the info on your profile is not up to date? ;-) I wasn´t sure if I should add or not...

Anyway, feel free to add me :-) I would like to know where overseas you have been - I am from germany, not really known for their healthy food, I guess :-D Although Sauerkraut is pretty healthy and full of vitamin C and minerals, harhar

SarenaWM · March 2015

Yay, I'm new to this too.

MandaLeigh123 · March 2015

Hi everyone! Thanks for reaching out to me. I will update my profile. I had awhile when a ton of random people where adding me and then lurking. I try to clear out my friends list if people aren't interactive. That's why I have friends on here!

So I lived in Tokyo for three years, working as a teacher in an international school. Tokyo really pulls in people from all over the world, so I had friends from a lot of different countries. I'm now back in school as nursing student.
I'm slowly upping my calories and try to get in 1700-2000 a day, but I think I might actually need more... I'm actually struggling to eat more bc my body has gotten used to eating smaller amounts. I can't believe I would have ever said that! After eating 1200-1500 for so long, even 1700 and I feel stuffed. So I am working on being able to consistently get in more calories.

33yo, 5'7' cw: 144lbs sw in Aug 2014:172 weight lost from severe calorie deficit from working out and eating low, low calories.

Currently, I workout a lot 5-6x/week/30-60 minutes of moderate-intense cardio plus strength training 3-4x/week, 15-45minutes. It helps with my stress and anxiety and sleep.
I have one day of nursing clinical's where I am on my feet in a hospital helping patients and running around 7 hours. Plus walks to the bus stop and from bus stop to school....
On my days off from school, besides the workouts, I am mostly sitting at a desk studying all day.

mymodernbabylon · March 2015

You are at a very healthy weight. Well done. BUT yup - you probably should be doing a total reset considering you were eating so little while working out so hard. I'm amazed you are able to keep doing what you are doing w/o feeling lack of strength.

Some things to think about - as you up your calories there will be a little 'bump' in your weight due to water weight. It will go away. Do not freak out. I'm older, shorter & almost the same weight as you and less active and I'm eating 2100 calories to LOSE WEIGHT (10% deficit, was less for the past few weeks due to being injured). You definitely should be eating more than me. My TDEE when I'm active is around 2350 calories and I'm guessing with your workouts and active job day, you would be at a much higher level.

I'm going to suggest you take a diet break for now, slowly up your calories and test out your TDEE. See how high you can get! It's worth it. You'll see your energy go up, your strength go up, your cardio improve. READ, READ, READ everything on here and I'd check out the website as well (lots of us on there in the forums).

And feel free to friend me.

MandaLeigh123 · March 2015

Thanks for the added info. I've been adding calories over the past month and haven't seen the weight bump up yet- my weight actually has been going down with the increased calories after plateauing for two months on lower calories. I am hoping to increase more, but for me to do it, I need to go slowly with it. I don't want the same mistake I did when I cut out a bunch of calories, by adding 1000 calories a day right off the bat. That seems to be the same thing I did initially but in the opposite direction.

Need to figure out how to make them healthy calories! And like I said, it's been a bit of struggle to even eat 1700-2000, I end up feeling stuffed and bloated. But I'll get there

I'm actually not in the process of dieting anymore, I am trying to increase my calories, so will get there eventually.

I'm definitely reading as much as I can! I think I will also finally reach out out to my mother-in-law and ask her advice. She's a dietitian with a PhD in nutrition, so I'm sure she can help. Just didn't want to go there with her at first

Really appreciate you taking the time to respond!

mymodernbabylon · March 2015

Here's the thing - they DON'T have to be only healthy calories (whatever those are). You can eat things like nuts, peanut butter, chocolate, hamburgers, etc. They aren't bad. No foods are bad. Get out of the diet mindset, add full fat EVERYTHING. Don't restrict from your diet unless you have to for medical reasons. Have a glass of wine. It's okay.

mymodernbabylon · March 2015

(Feel free to check out my diary - I was so happy when I was able to up my calories to 2100 - and had no problem reaching it)

MandaLeigh123 · March 2015

Thanks for the input :-) I am working hard to make sure most of calories have nutritional value. I do eat all of the things you mentioned except hamburgers bc vegetarian. I dont drink alcohol. And I really don't feel comfortable stuffing my face with whatever foods I can get my hands on. Not limiting anything that I ate didn't work out for me because I was overweight before I started watching my calories. The things I try to avoid now are things like 3000 cal plates of food from cheesecake factory for 1 meal, bags with 14 servings of Doritos in them, entire pints of ice cream....

I will check out your diary. Have a nice day!

mymodernbabylon · March 2015

Oh, I agree. I do limit myself with these sorts of items. But I still eat them. So I might go to the cheesecake factory (if I lived in the US) for desert one day and share a piece with a friend (which I'm sure would still be a huge caloric intake, but worth it for one meal). It's all about eating things you enjoy but keeping an eye on portion.