Has Anyone Gained Back the Weight they Lost or More?

jeem918
jeem918 Posts: 3
edited October 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I just read this and kind of freaked me out -

"If you lose weight on 1,200 calories a day, the minute you go up to 1,300 is the minute you start gaining weight."

from - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36716808/#.Tuw9K2Mt98M

A little background.

When I graduated high school 14 years ago, I weighed 170 lbs. I started taking anxiety medication in college. I was on it for five years. I gained 108 lbs on it. I came off of it and lost about 65 lbs. For the past 4 years I had been weighing 205-215 lbs. Six months ago my coworker introduced me to MFP and I've lost about 45 lbs since. I now weight around 165-168 lbs.

My daily routine consists of one cup of cereal with soy milk and a large coffee with three creams and splenda. I would have a granola bar or nutrigrain bar 2-3 hours later. I would have a chicken breast subway sandwich, no cheese and apples. Another granola/nutrigrain bar or a 100 calorie snack 2-3 hours later. For dinner, I would have a Marie Callender's or Healthy Choice frozen meal or something similar and another snack.

My daily calorie intake is about 1300 calories a day. There are days that I have a couple of beers or I eat out at least once a week, eating from 2,200 to 3,000 calories.

I have not exercised one day while on MFP. I switched my weight loss goals from 2 lbs a week to 1lb a week, this gave me an extra 400 calories that I can eat a day. My concern is, if I go to 1,600 calories a day or eventually to 2,000 calories a day, will I gain all the weight I've lost or more?

Since I haven't exercise, a lot of the weight I've lost is muscle, my metabolism is problem messed up as well. What repercussions can I expect due to losing weight by limiting my calories and not exercising? I'm guessing I should start exercising now.

Any tips, ideas, advice will be greatly appreciated.

I can google and read many articles on the subject but I wanted to get feedback from other people who have lost weight using MFP.

Has anyone gained back the weight they lost or even more?

TY

JE

Replies

  • withchaco
    withchaco Posts: 1,026 Member
    The linked article is highly misleading. It offers a few good points, but does not present them in a clear way. For example, it does not give you a good definition of "a very strict diet" despite the importance of the term.

    1200 calories is not that little for a morbidly obese 4' 11" female. It would be too little for a somewhat overweight 6' 2" dude, though. A lot of this depends on your age, height, sex, and of course muscle mass.... plus other factors.

    You're a male, right? How tall are you?
  • jeem918
    jeem918 Posts: 3
    Yes, male, I'm 5'10.
  • snailrunner
    snailrunner Posts: 215 Member
    My advice would be to stop snacking, eat real, unprocessed food and go low carb some days. You can still have your beers and meals out once a week (life should be enjoyable, after all!) but frozen meals are not nutritious enough for long term eating. My weight loss is most effective when I don't eat between meals and I make good food choices. If you want something else to read that will inspire you, have a look at this: http://www.zoeharcombe.com/the-knowledge/20-diet-myths-busted/ I lost 14lbs last year and gradually regained it when I started eating processed food again. If you understand what insulin does in your body, you will appreciate why snacking, particularly on carbs, is not a good idea.

    By the way, I haven't exercised for the last three weeks apart from walking when I need to get somewhere, and I've lost far more weight than when I was doing the 30 day shred!
  • withchaco
    withchaco Posts: 1,026 Member
    In that case, I doubt you would gain ALL of the weight back by switching to 2000 calories per day. Definitely increase your calories to 1600 per day, and make sure your macros are balanced. If I were you, I'd start by eating 1600 calories per day for 1-2 weeks, then doing daily exercise. When you start exercising regularly, make sure to eat 1600 calories PLUS whatever calories you burn through exercise. Then I would gradually increase my baseline calories to the general recommended maintenance calories for your weight/ height/ age.

    If you're actively trying to build muscle, though, you would need to eat quite a bit, MUCH more than 2000 calories per day. I'm 5' 1.5" female, and I eat 2150 calories on muscle training days. You'd need a lot more than that!
  • SergeantSunshine_reused
    SergeantSunshine_reused Posts: 5,382 Member
    I would highly suggest starting a strength training program ASAP.
    Fix your macros, lift heavy, and you can see some muscle gains since you are new to it or coming back into it.
    1600 and you should not gain nor at 200. I would start to fix the body composition soon tho :]
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