This is my story and how I plan on recovering from chronic undereating:
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Update:
I’ve officially been almost 8 weeks on my diet break. That’s nearly two months! Wow it feels weird that time flies so quickly. So my weight has gone up ALOT. I’ve gained 8-9 lbs in those 8 weeks! I’m due to start my period and I’ve been eating takeaways and more carbs too so I hope it’s just water weight. I also have constipation/IBS so maybe my body doesnt know what to do with all that food. The scale is definitely giving me anxiety. I’m currently 160 lbs.
Is it normal to gain 1-2 lbs in maintenance?
The weird thing about this weight gain is that it happened very quickly and my measurements haven’t changed so doesn’t seem to be fat. Really trying not to freak out and let my body do its thing!
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The fast gain is the same water weight from the fast loss during first week of going into a diet.
It's usually only 1-3 lbs as that is about the max for muscle glycogen stores if you are an endurance cardio athlete.
More than that could be other water weight, especially if it really was fast gain and then nothing in the following weeks.
But your pic says you have still been gaining?
You do have to adjust eating level to reality of what is happening, in diet or in maintenance.
You say no measurements increasing - how many measurements you taking?
If true, then great, probably just increased food volume. But you do realize that has a max value, not like it'll keep increasing.
ETA:
The more energetic from prior update helps a lot too - that's the adaptation going away the body does when it attempts to reduce a deficit to not so extreme.3 -
The fast gain is the same water weight from the fast loss during first week of going into a diet.
It's usually only 1-3 lbs as that is about the max for muscle glycogen stores if you are an endurance cardio athlete.
More than that could be other water weight, especially if it really was fast gain and then nothing in the following weeks.
But your pic says you have still been gaining?
You do have to adjust eating level to reality of what is happening, in diet or in maintenance.
You say no measurements increasing - how many measurements you taking?
If true, then great, probably just increased food volume. But you do realize that has a max value, not like it'll keep increasing.
ETA:
The more energetic from prior update helps a lot too - that's the adaptation going away the body does when it attempts to reduce a deficit to not so extreme.
I just realised that my weight has dropped slightly from the above screen shot- that was on Wednesday 18th November. I’ve gone down to 160.7 lbs as of today. I guess I should just wait until after my period because right now I feel bloated and puffy (PMS) which doesn’t help with my brain telling me I’ve gained tonnes of weight.
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Hey everyone! I have another update:
So I’ve managed to reverse diet myself up to 2500 calories a day instead of 2250/2300 after I decided to see if that’s what my maintenance calories were. I did it slowly and haven’t gained any fat back which means I think I’ve finally found my maintenance range! This is good news but it also means I’ve been severely undereating for many years because I used to eat 1200-1700 calories before. For extended periods of time. No wonder my health suffered. I basically had really bad metabolic adaptations and females are more susceptible to this. The things that we do to our bodies just to lose a little weight 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Anyway, so I’ve slowly transitioned to stopping using the food scale and just eating intuitively (or am I?). I’m just eating the same foods but not measuring them but eyeballing them. What even is intuitive eating because I feel that even IE has too many rules as well. I’m basically eating NORMALLY. So 3 balanced meals a day and 2 snacks. I have WAY more energy and motivation. It just made me realise how much I was undereating and over exercising. For years. To make sure I don’t undereat (because I get full pretty quickly on healthier foods) I add extra butter to my foods. Some days I’m eating 2700 calories. Watching Natacha Oceane really helped me understand that I needed to eat more (especially with my past of restrictive eating).
So generally I feel full, satisfied, no desire to binge at all. I mean is this heaven?! For someone who has battled an ED, yo-yo dieting etc feeling satisfied and energetic is a new feeling.
Will I ever be in a deficit again? Hmm I would like to but I’m scared of getting tired again so that’s another issue. Not any time soon. Maybe around spring/summer time.
Also I just wanted to say Reverse dieting works!! Before in 2018 and 2019 when I used to eat more I gained fat very quickly but now my metabolism has adapted to more food so I don’t gain weight (which was my main concern).9 -
My daughter is your age.. and is crash dieting right now. And.. it is working.. but she hardly eats. takes vitamins and eats one small meal a day.. and prepackaged high protein snacks for her other two meals.
As a mom.. it breaks my heart to see my daughter get on the yo yo. She will lose her 25 pounds in two months.. but I know what's coming; the regain + more. She too is moody.. tired.. she is starving herself.
We older women on here may have some advice from going down the same path years ago.
I have two things..
1. how you lose your weight it is how you have to maintain your weight... so ask yourself.. can I do this forever and be happy?
2. Eat yourself skinny... that's what I do.. I eat six meals a day of healthy lean meats and lots of vegetables.. I'm eating all the time.. I can't help that I naturally love food and think about it.. that is never going to change.. but I can choose what I eat. You can eat a lot ..as long as it is the right foods.
Good luck to you.. looks like you're finding your path.
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I just love the thought of eating normally and hope that day comes for me! I will have to remain vigilant because I've learned that the weight can creep back up, but the thought of being somebody who is out with friends and something sounds good and I JUST EAT IT like anybody else, or I'm at a birthday party and they bring out cake and ice cream and I HAVE SOME without punishing myself for two days afterwards is sooooo attractive.
I'm a lot shorter and older and more sedentary. I couldn't even look at 2500 calories in a day! After four successive weeks of losing a bit each week, I moved from 1300-1350 per day up to 1400-1450 per day. So I don't have as much cushion as some people do for losing all obsession with quantity consumed, but there is still a more normal relationship with food up ahead for me and I look forward to it!8
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