XavierNusum wrote: »

Welcome!!

It sounds, in my poorly educated opinion, that you have stalled your metabolism and a reset is in order. Now, hopefully you didn't try to jump from 1200 to 2212 all at once. You should be increasing daily intake by about 250 cals each week until you get up to TDEE. If you jumped 1000 cals/day all at once, no wonder you feel bloated.

As far as training, cardio is not bad, but you want to find balance between resistance and cardio. Building muscle mass is important to improving your metabolism and burning more fat while at rest. My suggestion, and that's all it is, would be to have 3 resistance workouts a week and 3 cardio sessions since you're used to working out 6 days/wk anyway. That way you give yourself time to recover from lifting in between sessions and you still benefit from the heart healthy cardio.

I think activity trackers are great tool for focus. I have the Polar Loop and love everything about it. It tracks steps, sets my activity goals automatically so I can't slack and has the EKG chest strap HR sensor for workouts. Which ever one you go with will be a good tool if used properly.

Good luck to you! Keep us posted on your progress.

All of what he said. If you end up at the end of the day with extra calories try adding a tablespoon of nut butter or coconut oil to meals. That will eat up lots of calories without filling you up to much.

I have to Charge HR and I love it. Keeps me motivated and helps me get a better understanding of what I should be eating and how much I am burning.

Sounds like 1.5 hrs run/walk combo, lifting of unknown minutes, and walking that should be counted as 1/2 the time since just walking.

What's daily activity though, since the TDEE chart only speaks of exercise, and so far it appears Lightly Active unless that walking is for hours?

Still kids in the house with increased workout after work for cooking/cleaning/clothes?
Or they are well trained, and only need encouragement to do their chores?
Or you live on a farm and are busy 9 hrs daily with chores yourself?

See how daily activity could easily trump exercise time?

I have a Fitbit One and I love it! I had a HRM prior to getting the Fitbit. I agree with @XavierNusum in that you need to find your TDEE. I totally ruined my metabolism by doing a low carb diet ( at a clinic and paid a fortune) for about 8 mos, then moved on to another year and a half of (what ultimately turned out to be) a very low calorie diet. I only lost 20 lbs in almost 2 yrs! I was angry all the time, exhausted all the time, my hair was thinning and I wasn't seeing any difference at all. It took me a year of reset (trying, quitting/giving up/losing patience) before it finally "clicked" with me. I can not stress to you enough how important it is to trust this process! You will be amazed at how things will start working for you once you eat at your cut number of 1880!!! Feel free to PM if you have more questions! Good luck!!!

First of all, welcome! So glad you have found us!

It sounds like you are exactly right, your metabolism has slowed down to match the consistent, decreased intake. It has adapted. In order to get it running back up where it should be, it sounds like you would definitely benefit from a metabolism reset (as suggested above^^). Have you read our Metabolism Reset Guide? You might find it to be very helpful in guiding you through the process step by step:

http://eatmore2weighless.com/the-metabolism-reset-guide/

It sounds like you would fall into the Moderately Active category, but getting a FitBit will help to confirm that number as you gradually start to increase your calories and get closer and closer to your TDEE. It takes some of the guess work out of the equation.

Definitely stay active and keep up your walking, but don't over-do it. You really will want to add in some more strength training to try to build some muscle mass (which you will be able to do once you are actually eating at your TDEE level). Muscle becomes more and more important, especially as we age and it is vital to keep your metabolism chugging along. The older we get, the harder we have to fight to keep it!

As far as feeling overly stuffed and bloated, that is completely normal at this stage of the game. Those feeling will decrease as your body becomes accustomed to the increased volume of food. Just take the increases slowly and increase as you feel ready. If you are trying to get in some extra calories, try some nuts or nut butters. My favorite go-to is almonds, pecans, dried cranberries (or other dried fruit) and some small dark chocolate chunks. It is delicious and really packs a calorie punch!

Again, welcome and make sure you take a look at that Metabolism Reset Guide, if you haven't already. Feel free to send me a friend request if you would like a shoulder to lean on along the way. You can also hop onto our EatMore2WeighLess Forums. Lots of people over there going through the exact same thing that you are who will love to support you and share their experiences...

Welcome! I'm glad you found the group! I had to increase my calories by around 1600/day cal when I joined the group... I was only eating 1200 a day but my TDEE was around 2850. It was difficult at first increase calories but one way that made it much easier for me is making sure to eat every couple of hours, never skip a meal never skip a snack and also if you're very far below your calories eat high calorie, high protein shakes.
I had one shake that was almost 900 cal. Able to get a lot more calories in that way without feeling stufffed. My protein shake had soy protein isolate powder, almond milk, almond butter, flax meal, Chia seeds, banana and frozen berries.
I agree with everything said above!