New to lifting. Increasing calories. Freaking out.

Stinkygorgonzola
Stinkygorgonzola Posts: 5 Member
edited December 20 in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
I’m 46 YO female and maintained weight of 144 for 10 years with yoga / daily walks / healthy eating except pizza and wine sometimes. Suddenly in a few months I gained 15 pounds and after 18 months of trying HARD I cannot lose it. I cut calories to about 1400, trained for and ran a half marathon and didn’t lose an ounce. I can see you nodding your heads. In my early 30s I did BFL and had great results, so I decided to do Strong ( NROLFW) Also went to the doc, nothing wrong, she put me on hormone replacement therapy and I like how that’s going. So Im ready to roll...BUT on Strong program on rest days im supposed to eat 1665 and on lifting days are 1930. These numbers are FREAKING me out. Would love some reassurance from anyone who increased calories and lost weight. I have read the science and it makes sense but in practice I can’t get my head around it. <whimper> Helps.

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    My first question would be - how are you tracking calories? Do you use a food scale to insure you are actually eating the amount of calories you think you are?

    Second question - Do you eat back exercise calories? Many times exercise calories are overinflated, causing issues.

    You do not say how tall you are, how much you currently weigh, and what your weight goal is, so it is impossible to tell you if you will lose or gain on that amount of calories.
  • Stinkygorgonzola
    Stinkygorgonzola Posts: 5 Member
    edited April 2019
    Thanks. I’m 5’6”, 158, goal is 140 but I’d really love to just lower my BMI and lose inches. I could happily throw out the scale. I do use a food scale and am super careful with portions. My macros are 40/30/30. I use MFP to track. I do eat back excercise calories (I was doing an hour of cardio every day) because I know my resting metabolic rate is about 1400 - so I net 1400 a day.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    If you are not losing on 1400 per day, adding more calories is not a good idea.

    Your food diary is private. If you are willing to make it public for awhile, people can help you check for logging errors.

    If you are not losing on 1400 calories, it is 99.99985987234% likely it a food logging issue.

    Check out these threads.

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10697068/how-i-stopped-kidding-myself/p1

  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
    I just have to say I'm a big BFL fan and used it again successfully in my 40's to lose weight and gain strength. I did use this sight in conjunction however to track my calories/macros to ensure I was eating enough.
  • Stinkygorgonzola
    Stinkygorgonzola Posts: 5 Member
    I feel like New Rules For Lifting is really similar. I didn’t track calories the first time on BFL and it worked great. I really hit those free days hard too. Would you say in your experience that 1400 on BFL is crazy? Need more calories?
  • mom23mangos
    mom23mangos Posts: 3,069 Member
    edited April 2019
    Stinkygorgonzola wrote: »
    I feel like New Rules For Lifting is really similar. I didn’t track calories the first time on BFL and it worked great. I really hit those free days hard too. Would you say in your experience that 1400 on BFL is crazy? Need more calories?

    With your weight that's probably fine. I did 1200 on BFR and hit those free days really hard too, so my weekly average was probably more like 1400-1600.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    i mean i'm 5'3", 160lbs and maintain on avg 2800cal a day - i use a TDEE methodology so my activity is factored in and i don't eat calories back until I exceed an hour and a half of cardio type workouts
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