Please help. Maintaining net 1200 cal diet with daily cardio and gaining weight! (Successful before)

lauedw
lauedw Posts: 3 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,

I am at a real loss here and could really use some guidance!

I am a 5.7' 152lb female. I started my weight loss journey in Feb 2016. I was at 175 pounds and by following the 1200 cal a day limit (eating back calories I work off to net 1200) I went down to 140 lbs by September 2016. I am a triathlete and spend a lot of time swimming biking and running and have completely overhauled my lifestyle to be overall more active and eating better foods and healthy portions.

I went back to university in September 2016 and gradually crept up to 142-145lbs. This was fine. Then I was in an accident and was couch ridden for over a month and its been a very long recovery. I gained weight (not unexpected). I have mostly recovered from my accident and getting back to my old levels of exercise ability. At the start of July I weighed 150lbs and wanted to go back down to 140 before school started so I aggressively went back on the 1200 cal a day diet and hit the gym daily. Currently I walk a minimum of 10000 steps daily and swim, bike, or run daily (sometimes more than one of these sports) for at least 1.5hrs at a good pace. I wear a garmin vivoactive HR and track ALL my calories and I do not count calories for steps back into the net calorie equation (unless I specifically go on a power walk for exercise). I have mostly cut all all processed sugars. I am a strict vegetarian and cannot eat eggs.

Instead of losing weight I have gained weight. I am so frustrated! I am literally doing everything I did before that worked for losing 2lbs a week and nothing is working this time around. What can I do? Any advice or guidance is appreciated. I have now calculated in a 20% reduction off the top of the 1200 cal at the start of the day to account for "over estimating food" and only allowing exercise calories to count for half. I hope this works but it seems rather extreme and I am pretty hungry all the time (which I can deal with but this was not an issue last year when I was steadily losing 2lbs a week).

Thanks!

Replies

  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    How are you measuring your intake? You're already at a healthy weight, so you have to be as accurate as possible with your logging.
  • lauedw
    lauedw Posts: 3 Member
    I go by what the packaging on the food says and measure from there using measure cups ect. I don't use a food scale (moving between cities so no access or real ability to have one at this point). If there is no info I overestimate (i.e. a scone is counted as 400 cal, icecream scoop from a shop at 600, that sort of thing).
  • lauedw
    lauedw Posts: 3 Member
    I have also cut out all alcohol.
  • vdpal
    vdpal Posts: 64 Member
    I am basically having the same problem except I think I weigh more. I'm 5'4 and weigh between 142-146. I want to weigh 128-130, but I'm weight training 30 min a day and cardio-ing 30 min 4-5 days a week and watching my calorie intake and gaining weight!! I guess I'm underestimating calorie intake
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    I would suggest getting a food scale as soon as you can. Measuring cups aren't as accurate since they go by volume rather than weight and that volume is often overstated.
  • katnadreau
    katnadreau Posts: 149 Member
    Also packages are often off in how many calories they really are. The other day I had to quick add roughly 30 calories because my pre packaged item weighed more than what the serving size said it was on the box. That was on only 3 items (pre sliced bread was one of those things) When measuring my Pb2 a serving size is 12 grams, or "2 tablespoons". 12 grams was closer to 1 1/2 tablespoons, if not less. We can pack a freaking ton of food into measuring cups and spoons without realizing it. A scale is a definite must.
  • HarlemNY17
    HarlemNY17 Posts: 135 Member
    lauedw wrote: »
    I go by what the packaging on the food says and measure from there using measure cups ect. I don't use a food scale (moving between cities so no access or real ability to have one at this point). If there is no info I overestimate (i.e. a scone is counted as 400 cal, icecream scoop from a shop at 600, that sort of thing).

    Food scales are most accurate. Food packagings are not always accurate .
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