Caloric intake advice
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gdfrew
Posts: 45 Member
So over the last couple of months I have been having light headedness and dizzy spells while standing up from sitting down. I didn't particularly understand why myself. I went to the doctors and she had suggested I up my calories a bit. I had told her I was around 1800 while successfully losing weight I'm 33 year old male 6ft 1 and 68.5kg (182cm and 151lbs) im nearing almost underweight in fact, although I'm sure it dips down to 62kgs in the margins. I was planning to get to maybe 65.5kg. I still have quite reasonable size belly and chest fat that I don't like. I'm in the gym 2-3 a week trying to add some muscle weight on to me because ideally I'd like to be back in the 70kg range with some decent muscle mass. My question is how can I increase my calorie intake without adding on fat. The doc had suggested back up to 2500. I thought that was a bit much of an increase myself but I'm no doctor. Unfortunately because I don't have a job my neat exercise levels aren't brilliant. I do try to walk everyday about 5 miles+ which I'm sure should be enough to compensate for the sitting down I do.
I appreciate that medical advice isn't something that people should be trying to do. So I'm kindly asking just for the energy advice here.
I appreciate that medical advice isn't something that people should be trying to do. So I'm kindly asking just for the energy advice here.
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Replies
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Do you consume much in the way of B12? One of the signs of deficiency is dizziness. My mum recently had this issue.
Beef, liver, and chicken.
Fish and shellfish such as trout, salmon, tuna fish, and clams.
Fortified breakfast cereal.
Low-fat milk, yogurt, and cheese.
Eggs.1 -
Hmm. I do have crohn's disease and vitamin b12 and calcium is something that isn't absorbed all that well in my system. So I supplement. I've also had b12 injections before. I eat a rediculous amount of chicken. Eat plenty of eggs and usually weetabix for cereal. I'm surprised this wasn't picked up on the appointment. My weigh in at the gym recently said I had very slightly low blood pressure as well but i didn't take much from it.
Maybe I need to make another appointment?1 -
Been checked for vertigo?1
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"My question is how can I increase my calorie intake without adding on fat. "
The rate at which you have recently been losing weight on 1800 would be a huge clue towards estimating how many more calories you would need to maintain weight. If that rate has been just over 0.5kg a week your Doctor's estimate is going to be reasonable.
If you want a theoretical answer then the range of calories you could add without fat gain would be in the small range from maintenance up a rate of gain slighly less the the rate at which you successfully gain muscle.
e.g. If you could add 1kg of muscle a month gaining weight at a rate of under 1kg a month would have you getting leaner while getting heavier. But that could be extraordinarily difficult to achieve in real life.
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Thanks sijomial. If you're agreeing with what the doc says. I know you know your stuff. I'll add on some calories to what I've been having recently.4
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I am 5'4'', I weigh 112 and eat 1800 maintenance. Definitely eat more and hit weights.6
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So over the last couple of months I have been having light headedness and dizzy spells while standing up from sitting down. I didn't particularly understand why myself. I went to the doctors and she had suggested I up my calories a bit. I had told her I was around 1800 while successfully losing weight I'm 33 year old male 6ft 1 and 68.5kg (182cm and 151lbs) im nearing almost underweight in fact, although I'm sure it dips down to 62kgs in the margins. I was planning to get to maybe 65.5kg. I still have quite reasonable size belly and chest fat that I don't like. I'm in the gym 2-3 a week trying to add some muscle weight on to me because ideally I'd like to be back in the 70kg range with some decent muscle mass. My question is how can I increase my calorie intake without adding on fat. The doc had suggested back up to 2500. I thought that was a bit much of an increase myself but I'm no doctor. Unfortunately because I don't have a job my neat exercise levels aren't brilliant. I do try to walk everyday about 5 miles+ which I'm sure should be enough to compensate for the sitting down I do.
I appreciate that medical advice isn't something that people should be trying to do. So I'm kindly asking just for the energy advice here.
Presumably your doctor first ruled out low blood pressure and other conditions or deficiencies that could cause your dizziness, leaving under-eating.
Since you're not happy with your aesthetics yet, do look into recomp (body recompostition), which is what sijomial was talking about above. We have a thread on that somewhere which someone will probably post.3 -
kshama2001 wrote: »So over the last couple of months I have been having light headedness and dizzy spells while standing up from sitting down. I didn't particularly understand why myself. I went to the doctors and she had suggested I up my calories a bit. I had told her I was around 1800 while successfully losing weight I'm 33 year old male 6ft 1 and 68.5kg (182cm and 151lbs) im nearing almost underweight in fact, although I'm sure it dips down to 62kgs in the margins. I was planning to get to maybe 65.5kg. I still have quite reasonable size belly and chest fat that I don't like. I'm in the gym 2-3 a week trying to add some muscle weight on to me because ideally I'd like to be back in the 70kg range with some decent muscle mass. My question is how can I increase my calorie intake without adding on fat. The doc had suggested back up to 2500. I thought that was a bit much of an increase myself but I'm no doctor. Unfortunately because I don't have a job my neat exercise levels aren't brilliant. I do try to walk everyday about 5 miles+ which I'm sure should be enough to compensate for the sitting down I do.
I appreciate that medical advice isn't something that people should be trying to do. So I'm kindly asking just for the energy advice here.
Presumably your doctor first ruled out low blood pressure and other conditions or deficiencies that could cause your dizziness, leaving under-eating.
Since you're not happy with your aesthetics yet, do look into recomp (body recompostition), which is what sijomial was talking about above. We have a thread on that somewhere which someone will probably post.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat
(It's in the Maintaining Weight stickies.)4 -
kshama2001 wrote: »So over the last couple of months I have been having light headedness and dizzy spells while standing up from sitting down. I didn't particularly understand why myself. I went to the doctors and she had suggested I up my calories a bit. I had told her I was around 1800 while successfully losing weight I'm 33 year old male 6ft 1 and 68.5kg (182cm and 151lbs) im nearing almost underweight in fact, although I'm sure it dips down to 62kgs in the margins. I was planning to get to maybe 65.5kg. I still have quite reasonable size belly and chest fat that I don't like. I'm in the gym 2-3 a week trying to add some muscle weight on to me because ideally I'd like to be back in the 70kg range with some decent muscle mass. My question is how can I increase my calorie intake without adding on fat. The doc had suggested back up to 2500. I thought that was a bit much of an increase myself but I'm no doctor. Unfortunately because I don't have a job my neat exercise levels aren't brilliant. I do try to walk everyday about 5 miles+ which I'm sure should be enough to compensate for the sitting down I do.
I appreciate that medical advice isn't something that people should be trying to do. So I'm kindly asking just for the energy advice here.
Presumably your doctor first ruled out low blood pressure and other conditions or deficiencies that could cause your dizziness, leaving under-eating.
Since you're not happy with your aesthetics yet, do look into recomp (body recompostition), which is what sijomial was talking about above. We have a thread on that somewhere which someone will probably post.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat
(It's in the Maintaining Weight stickies.)
Thanks!1 -
Sorry to bump this topic up. Since I was last here. I am loving the advice folks as always. Always listening. It seems I'm in a wierd place right now. My blood pressure is low when I'm sitting and it normalises when I stand up which according to the doctor is the reverse of what usually happens to everyone else. Also the doctor had a hard time with checking my heart rate she said I had an athletic heart rate obviously in reality it was a slow heart rate. So in awaiting a 24 hour ecg monitor. From my own experience and take it with a pinch of salt as the accuracy may not be 100% my smartwatch registers my heart rate in the 40s now and then. Also when I'm sleeping I've seen it in the 30s not a doctor but this sounds too slow to me.3
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Sorry to bump this topic up. Since I was last here. I am loving the advice folks as always. Always listening. It seems I'm in a wierd place right now. My blood pressure is low when I'm sitting and it normalises when I stand up which according to the doctor is the reverse of what usually happens to everyone else. Also the doctor had a hard time with checking my heart rate she said I had an athletic heart rate obviously in reality it was a slow heart rate. So in awaiting a 24 hour ecg monitor. From my own experience and take it with a pinch of salt as the accuracy may not be 100% my smartwatch registers my heart rate in the 40s now and then. Also when I'm sleeping I've seen it in the 30s not a doctor but this sounds too slow to me.
Most un-athletic people's resting heart rate is not that low, but you should wait for full results. Some people are outliers. Someone who does regular cardio, even at a definitely sub-elite level, can commonly see resting rates in the 40s. (At outpatient surgery centers, I've multiple times set off the tachycardia alarm, even before any anesthesia or other drugs, when it was set to alarm if heart rate dropped below 50.) Even mild cardio like walking can reduce resting rate; and being underweight can affect heart rate (though not always in a good way, unfortunately).
It's pretty common to see things that say "normal resting rates are 60-100 but elite athletes can have RHR in the 40s", but from knowing quite a few regular recreational athletes with resting rates that drop into the 40s, with their doctors happy with that, I think the common way of putting in print it is more worrisome than it needs to be.
I'm not saying you have zero problem, because I'm not a medical professional, and haven't examined you even if I were. I'm saying there's enough room in the possibilities that you don't need to panic before getting a full expert-mediated picture.
Sending wishes for good outcomes of the tests!1 -
Thanks for your support. I am not in full panic mode yet don't worry. I'm still doing some form of resistance training It may or may not be a good idea I dont know. I'm definitely not athletic level I know this. I do find myself good at walking as slow state cardio. Can keep up around the 4.2-4.5 mph walking for a long time without being breathless. I am in the healthy bmi range according to the NHS website. The doctor did say I was in the lower levels of that however nearing underweight as I mentioned above. I understand my aesthetics problem a little more now at least anyway, more or less in the last 2-3 weeks. So despite my problems it's a good learning curve. Which is a lack of lean muscle. So I've upped my calorie intake a good bit to maintainence levels. Let's hope they send me an appointment for the ecg sooner rather than later, I don't want to put my life on hold too much. But I know my limits I'm good at using common sense, so if I need to stop i will2
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When you’ve got the medical advice / all clear (and not before!) then you can experiment a bit with weight training and blood pressure. My OH has low blood pressure so he copes fine with benching but has to get up slowly after (for instance). He’s fine with back squats but can go dizzy with heavy deadlifts, and he doesn’t do hyperextensions now as he really suffers when he tries to stand up. He also finds he feels great with hard cardio (like rowing) but he can feel bad after when his heart rate drops. So he has a glass of v cold water (trick the doctor told us) and some sugar which can help. He sometimes also needs extra salt. So if your symptoms are “just” low blood pressure / heart rate, you will be able to successfully train, but be prepared for a bit of experimentation. Good luck!1
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I have been suffering serious hunger and this was due to not eating enough protein (not a meat/chicken/seafood eater)
I bought liquid iron (plant based - Floradix) and started to increase my protein with more fish, cashew butter, protein drinks and it seems to have helped a lot.
I was one of those whose eating did not start until midday, now sometimes I had to have my breakfast between 8 and 9 and then have lunch a couple of hours later
I was also working out extra. I have incorporated Premier Protein into my diet@30 grams and 1 grams of sugar
My doctor told me that my body was crying out for something and he was right1 -
Thanks for your support. I am not in full panic mode yet don't worry. I'm still doing some form of resistance training It may or may not be a good idea I dont know. I'm definitely not athletic level I know this. I do find myself good at walking as slow state cardio. Can keep up around the 4.2-4.5 mph walking for a long time without being breathless. I am in the healthy bmi range according to the NHS website. The doctor did say I was in the lower levels of that however nearing underweight as I mentioned above. I understand my aesthetics problem a little more now at least anyway, more or less in the last 2-3 weeks. So despite my problems it's a good learning curve. Which is a lack of lean muscle. So I've upped my calorie intake a good bit to maintainence levels. Let's hope they send me an appointment for the ecg sooner rather than later, I don't want to put my life on hold too much. But I know my limits I'm good at using common sense, so if I need to stop i will
If you really mean 4.2-4.5 miles per hour as you typed it (not km per hour), that is quite brisk walking, and being able to keep it up for an extended period (depending on how extended a period) is a sign of reasonable cardiovascular fitness.
If you're imagining that the only route to decent CV health is doing lots of crazy-intense stuff, think again. Mixing in some intensity will give more well-rounded CV fitness, but high-volume relatively low intensity steady state cardio is a great foundation, possibly an essential foundation. Do enough of it, and it has a high probability of reducing your resting heart rate.1
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