Help me to understand please

MBL512
MBL512 Posts: 32 Member
edited August 2015 in Health and Weight Loss
I will start off by saying that I understand my weight is on the lower side of normal. (I am 5-4 and am now up to 111 lbs, but as of a week ago I was 106) My goal is to maintain where I currently am. I have recently significantly increased my calories from where they had been. I had been eating 600-1000, but have been eating closer to 1600-2000 per day. I am gaining very rapidly on this calorie intake and am concerned that this trend may not level off. I am not weighing or measuring my foods any more, and I would prefer not to start again. I am fairly certain I am within 5-10% of accuracy with what I am logging. Do you suggest I decrease my intake again by just a very small amount or just ride it out for another couple of weeks? I am confused by what my body is doing.
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Replies

  • shadowofender
    shadowofender Posts: 786 Member
    Definitely ride it out. Whenever you increase calories by such an amount it takes time for your body to adjust. Give it another couple of weeks before reassessing.
  • Spice1973
    Spice1973 Posts: 83 Member
    I agree....ride it out.
  • MBL512
    MBL512 Posts: 32 Member
    shadowofender wrote: »
    Definitely ride it out. Whenever you increase calories by such an amount it takes time for your body to adjust. Give it another couple of weeks before reassessing.

    I think I shocked my poor body with such a rapid increase! Will be riding it out. :)
    Spice1973 wrote: »
    I agree....ride it out.

    Will do. I am tired of my weight bouncing all over the place and am worried that it would just keep going upward. I am barely tolerating it where it is. LOL
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    edited August 2015
    What is there to understand? You are underweight now.
  • MBL512
    MBL512 Posts: 32 Member
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    What is there to understand? You are underweight now.

    I am not technically underweight at this time. I know I am on the low end of normal though. What I was not understanding was why such a rapid gain in a short period of time when the calories in do not add up to such a gain. I was only wondering if the general consensus was that I just hold steady where I am in regards to intake or cut back to closer to my BMR in order to maintain. I have been underweight in the past, and that is not my goal.
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    MBL512 wrote: »
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    What is there to understand? You are underweight now.

    I am not technically underweight at this time. I know I am on the low end of normal though. What I was not understanding was why such a rapid gain in a short period of time when the calories in do not add up to such a gain. I was only wondering if the general consensus was that I just hold steady where I am in regards to intake or cut back to closer to my BMR in order to maintain. I have been underweight in the past, and that is not my goal.

    It's water weight. Give it a couple of days and it will go down again.
  • MBL512
    MBL512 Posts: 32 Member
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    MBL512 wrote: »
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    What is there to understand? You are underweight now.

    I am not technically underweight at this time. I know I am on the low end of normal though. What I was not understanding was why such a rapid gain in a short period of time when the calories in do not add up to such a gain. I was only wondering if the general consensus was that I just hold steady where I am in regards to intake or cut back to closer to my BMR in order to maintain. I have been underweight in the past, and that is not my goal.

    It's water weight. Give it a couple of days and it will go down again.

    Thank you.

    Trust me, I am seriously holding out hope that this is the case for part of this gain. :smile:

    I have been significantly underweight at my own doing and I no longer want that. I just don't want to go in the other direction so quickly that it pushes me to start under-eating again. Not sure if this makes sense or not?

  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    MBL512 wrote: »
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    MBL512 wrote: »
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    What is there to understand? You are underweight now.

    I am not technically underweight at this time. I know I am on the low end of normal though. What I was not understanding was why such a rapid gain in a short period of time when the calories in do not add up to such a gain. I was only wondering if the general consensus was that I just hold steady where I am in regards to intake or cut back to closer to my BMR in order to maintain. I have been underweight in the past, and that is not my goal.

    It's water weight. Give it a couple of days and it will go down again.

    Thank you.

    Trust me, I am seriously holding out hope that this is the case for part of this gain. :smile:

    I have been significantly underweight at my own doing and I no longer want that. I just don't want to go in the other direction so quickly that it pushes me to start under-eating again. Not sure if this makes sense or not?

    It makes perfect sense, but be careful that you eat enough calories. Too little is just about as bad as too many.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    106 was underweight for your height, so you're better off now. The increase in food led to an increase in glycogen stores, which increased water weight. Unless you ate 17,500 calories over TDEE, it's nothing to worry about. I'd worry more about the damage you may have done to your body eating so little.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Great job recognizing you needed to eat more! Give it a week and it will stable off, as it's water retention.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,053 Member
    MBL512 wrote: »
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    MBL512 wrote: »
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    What is there to understand? You are underweight now.

    I am not technically underweight at this time. I know I am on the low end of normal though. What I was not understanding was why such a rapid gain in a short period of time when the calories in do not add up to such a gain. I was only wondering if the general consensus was that I just hold steady where I am in regards to intake or cut back to closer to my BMR in order to maintain. I have been underweight in the past, and that is not my goal.

    It's water weight. Give it a couple of days and it will go down again.

    Thank you.

    Trust me, I am seriously holding out hope that this is the case for part of this gain. :smile:

    I have been significantly underweight at my own doing and I no longer want that. I just don't want to go in the other direction so quickly that it pushes me to start under-eating again. Not sure if this makes sense or not?

    Were you in treatment for this? If so, maybe check in with your team.

  • MBL512
    MBL512 Posts: 32 Member


    malibu927 wrote: »
    106 was underweight for your height, so you're better off now. The increase in food led to an increase in glycogen stores, which increased water weight. Unless you ate 17,500 calories over TDEE, it's nothing to worry about. I'd worry more about the damage you may have done to your body eating so little.
    The damage is why I was wanting to increase to a healthy low weight. My BMI has been extremely low multiple times (low 13's) and I caused a lot of physical problems over the years. I ran the numbers and 5 lbs of true gain made no sense, but then again nothing with my body makes sense these days. I have trashed my metabolism over the years. Each time I see a rapid gain, I tend to run the opposite direction and start losing. I am determined to not do so this time.

    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Great job recognizing you needed to eat more! Give it a week and it will stable off, as it's water retention.

    Thank you!!!!! :smiley:


  • MBL512
    MBL512 Posts: 32 Member
    atypicalsmith wrote: »

    It makes perfect sense, but be careful that you eat enough calories. Too little is just about as bad as too many.

    Thank you. Finding that middle ground is so difficult.
    kshama2001 wrote: »

    Were you in treatment for this? If so, maybe check in with your team.
    Yes, I have been in treatment multiple times over the years. I am wanting to do this more for myself right now. My treatment team scares me just a bit. LOL
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    MBL512 wrote: »
    atypicalsmith wrote: »

    It makes perfect sense, but be careful that you eat enough calories. Too little is just about as bad as too many.

    Thank you. Finding that middle ground is so difficult.
    kshama2001 wrote: »

    Were you in treatment for this? If so, maybe check in with your team.
    Yes, I have been in treatment multiple times over the years. I am wanting to do this more for myself right now. My treatment team scares me just a bit. LOL

    MBL do you know what your TDEE is?

  • MBL512
    MBL512 Posts: 32 Member
    christinev297 wrote: »

    MBL do you know what your TDEE is?

    It has been very inconsistent and unreliable due to the frequent and significant changes in my weight over the last few years. It is roughly 1500- give or take a bit. 4-5 months ago, I was losing weight eating over 4000 cal/day while doing little to no physical activity. Then, more recently, it seemed that I would maintain on 600 cal/day. It's been super crazy and makes zero sense. I just need to leave things alone, gain the weight that I am meant to, and call it a day.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Well then I agree with the others, stick it out and try and find your maintenance calories.

    Good luck, you'll get there xx
  • MBL512
    MBL512 Posts: 32 Member
    christinev297 wrote: »
    Well then I agree with the others, stick it out and try and find your maintenance calories.

    Good luck, you'll get there xx

    Thanks! One day at a time I suppose. :smile:
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
    My understanding is that going from diet to maintain you gain back water weight etc that was lost by eating in a deficit.

    Just like how at the start of most weightloss you have massive losses from water weight, when you stop you gain that back. I guess to get to a normal level.

  • MBL512
    MBL512 Posts: 32 Member
    Merkavar wrote: »
    My understanding is that going from diet to maintain you gain back water weight etc that was lost by eating in a deficit.

    Just like how at the start of most weightloss you have massive losses from water weight, when you stop you gain that back. I guess to get to a normal level.

    I do understand the water/sodium/glycogen thing, but I always seem to forget it when I see the number on the scale changing. Thank you for the gentle reminder!

    I decided to NOT weigh myself for a few weeks. I do not want to derail my positive thinking by seeing a number in front of me.
  • tchaubela
    tchaubela Posts: 24 Member
    I'm also 5'4" and for me around 1300-1500 calories a day seems to maintain that weight. But I'm also pretty inactive. You could always just keep going and if you gain too much back just trim the calories a little.

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