Weight gain in eating BMR. Help?

littleali
littleali Posts: 179 Member
edited November 12 in Health and Weight Loss
Okay, to cut a long story short - for a period of 5-6 months when my EDnos was at its peak, I was eating about 600 calories a day, since Novemberish I've been eating 1000-1200 daily. Since Decemberish I've been stuck at 132-136lbs. To break the plateau I followed the advice of people on the board and for the past week have been eating about 1300-1400ish for my net. I stepped on the scale this morning and weighed in at 139lbs. I understand there will always be an initial weight gain when upping calories but for somebody with an eating disordered mind this is completely devastating and unacceptable. I also don't understand as apparently I'm still eating below my BMR, so why am I gaining weight?

When can I expect this weight to go back down and should I go back to eating 1200?

Replies

  • EroseT23
    EroseT23 Posts: 74 Member
    Here, this should help answer some of your questions:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/3047-700-calories-a-day-and-not-losing

    I wish you all the best. Be patient and good luck.
  • littleali
    littleali Posts: 179 Member
    I've read that article but it doesn't really seem relevant to my issue!

    PLEASE help guys?
  • hush7hush
    hush7hush Posts: 2,273 Member
    I wish I had some advice for you, but I'm struggling with the same thing.

    The only thing I can really suggest is to eat at your bmr for a while, but up the exercise. that might help.

    Sorry I don't have better advice. ]:
  • lucylou9701
    lucylou9701 Posts: 194
    wish i could help aswell but I am having the same issue :(
  • Songbirdy
    Songbirdy Posts: 41 Member
    Is there any way possible for you to access some professionals about this? Like a Nutritionist or someone with accredited training?

    At this point... all information from here should be suspect.
  • Loseweight1980
    Loseweight1980 Posts: 94
    From a medical standpoint, your body has been in starvation mode, and is now trying to get all the nutritents it had been missing previously. Keep at it, and your body will realize that you are feeding it properly and will allow you to lose weight in a healthy fashion. Also make sure you aren't aiming for a weight that is too low. Proud of you for realizing there was a problem and working on it. Hang in there!
  • Tourney3p0
    Tourney3p0 Posts: 290 Member
    The link that was posted above should explain it pretty well. There is an initial weight gain because you've been starving your body.

    When you undereat, your body thinks there is only limited food available. Your metabolism slows down. This means it goes into an energy conservation mode and burns fewer calories to sustain you while food is unavailable. It takes awhile to coax your body out of this mode. These extra calories that were previously unavailable are stored for later because your body is reluctant to assume the famine is over.

    Give it another couple of weeks. Assuming calories are properly being counted, the weight will come off. I think you'll find that you'll feel better at that point as well.
  • skadoosh33
    skadoosh33 Posts: 353 Member
    You must eat more calories with the correct macro ratio. I wouldn't suggest eating under your BMR. You body will hold on to all the nutrients that it can get and will excrete less, storing them as fat for later use. It will also pull from your lean muscle mass to look for nutrients that it can convert to energy. Your muscles will atrophy and will get weaker. This is not the way you want to lose weight. You want to maintain the muscle you have because that is what helps you burn calories and raise your BMR.
  • inside_lap
    inside_lap Posts: 728 Member
    If you have been diagnosed with EDnos I hope your being seen at a good clinic with its own multidisciplinary team (most likely consisting of medical docs, therapists, and nutritionists). Trust them enough to ask them the hard questions. Good luck in your journey to better health.
  • inside_lap
    inside_lap Posts: 728 Member
    If you have been diagnosed with EDnos I hope your being seen at a good clinic with its own multidisciplinary team (most likely consisting of medical docs, therapists, and nutritionists). Trust them enough to ask them the hard questions. Trust that they have your health and happiness in mind. Good luck in your journey to better health.
  • inside_lap
    inside_lap Posts: 728 Member
    If you have been diagnosed with EDnos I hope your being seen at a good clinic with its own multidisciplinary team (most likely consisting of medical docs, therapists, and nutritionists). Trust them enough to ask them the hard questions. Trust that they have your health and happiness in mind. Good luck in your journey to better health.
  • KareninCanada
    KareninCanada Posts: 962 Member
    From a medical standpoint, your body has been in starvation mode, and is now trying to get all the nutritents it had been missing previously. Keep at it, and your body will realize that you are feeding it properly and will allow you to lose weight in a healthy fashion. Also make sure you aren't aiming for a weight that is too low. Proud of you for realizing there was a problem and working on it. Hang in there!


    ditto!!!
  • inside_lap
    inside_lap Posts: 728 Member
    Sorry, phone issues. Didn't mean to post 50 billion times :/.
  • capnwo85
    capnwo85 Posts: 1,103 Member
    From a medical standpoint, your body has been in starvation mode, and is now trying to get all the nutritents it had been missing previously. Keep at it, and your body will realize that you are feeding it properly and will allow you to lose weight in a healthy fashion. Also make sure you aren't aiming for a weight that is too low. Proud of you for realizing there was a problem and working on it. Hang in there!

    highlander_connor.jpg
  • jcr85
    jcr85 Posts: 229
    Eat more and train harder.
  • littleali
    littleali Posts: 179 Member
    Thank you for the responses guys!
    I'm just frustrated. I don't have access to nutritionists/doctors etc to ask about this, no.

    Does anybody have any guesses about how long before this weight comes back off? Any personal experiences?
  • douglasmobbs
    douglasmobbs Posts: 563 Member
    When you up your calories you probably up your sodium as well so the amount of water being retaining has probably gone up. If you accurately track your calories in and calories out and the former is less than the latter you will not be putting on fat.

    Whenever you change your diet either by food type, more calories or fewer calories you should not take too much notice of the scales for the first 2-4 weeks.

    I know its the other way round but when I changed what I eat by reducing calories and eating healthier the scales said I lost 13Lb in the first week and 11Lb in the second. From tracking what I ate and how much I exercise I clearly knew that this was not fat loss, and quite rightly so my weight loss evened out some time in the 3rd week.
  • majaminceva
    majaminceva Posts: 10
    Try to change something in your food. For example try to be on protein diet, without entering carbs, but not longer than 1 or 2 weeks. And stay on 1200 calories.
  • HonkyTonks
    HonkyTonks Posts: 1,193 Member
    You are going to get a lot of information on these forums but I think you really need to read this.

    3lbs is NOT a significant amount of weight. If I weigh myself regularly I notice fluctuations of 4lbs or more. This is FLUID and NOT FAT. You are not going to gain FAT eating at your BMR (which by the way, is not your maintenance calories). You need to stick with eating a reasonable amount of food and add some strength training in as well.
  • littlemili
    littlemili Posts: 625 Member
    I am in recovery for anorexia so I think I can help. I was maintaining my weight on under 600 net calories per day and gained when I upped it to 1000 net calories. Then I started LOSING weight at 2000 net calories. I need about 2500 to maintain. Like you I was mortified when I thought I would never be able to eat above 1000 calories without gaining weight. Turns out my body was basically just so confused about what I was doing to it that normal rules stopped being relevant. I would recommend the following...

    1. Stop trying to lose weight. You have an eating disorder. Recovery and weight loss are incompatible.
    2. Eat at maintenance calories. Use this site to figure out what they really are because MFP is way off: http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
    3. Don't weigh yourself for a month. You WILL gain weight initially because your body probably has a lot of repair work to do from your starvation diet. It will stabilise within 6-8 weeks max (probably a lot sooner) and it will drop off again quickly.
    4. Get therapy and see a dietitian (NOT a nutritionist).

    Good luck. I expect you won't follow through on my recommendations but it's what I did and I went from being severly underweight and sick, and like you I was gaining weight on a starvation diet, to eating loads of food and losing weight which has been a huge help in recovering from my eating disorder.
  • Libby81
    Libby81 Posts: 734 Member
    Personally if you have been diagnosed with an eating disorder you need to seek professional help. Yes these forums are good for general advice but there is so much conflicting information and so many people who beleive they have the answer that it could do you more harm than good. My advice go back to your doctor or see a nutritionist / dietician
  • CnocNaCu
    CnocNaCu Posts: 536 Member
    I am in recovery for anorexia so I think I can help. I was maintaining my weight on under 600 net calories per day and gained when I upped it to 1000 net calories. Then I started LOSING weight at 2000 net calories. I need about 2500 to maintain. Like you I was mortified when I thought I would never be able to eat above 1000 calories without gaining weight. Turns out my body was basically just so confused about what I was doing to it that normal rules stopped being relevant. I would recommend the following...

    1. Stop trying to lose weight. You have an eating disorder. Recovery and weight loss are incompatible.
    2. Eat at maintenance calories. Use this site to figure out what they really are because MFP is way off: http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
    3. Don't weigh yourself for a month. You WILL gain weight initially because your body probably has a lot of repair work to do from your starvation diet. It will stabilise within 6-8 weeks max (probably a lot sooner) and it will drop off again quickly.
    4. Get therapy and see a dietitian (NOT a nutritionist).

    Good luck. I expect you won't follow through on my recommendations but it's what I did and I went from being severly underweight and sick, and like you I was gaining weight on a starvation diet, to eating loads of food and losing weight which has been a huge help in recovering from my eating disorder.

    This is the best and most competent post in the whole thread!
    :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
  • littleali
    littleali Posts: 179 Member
    I am in recovery for anorexia so I think I can help. I was maintaining my weight on under 600 net calories per day and gained when I upped it to 1000 net calories. Then I started LOSING weight at 2000 net calories. I need about 2500 to maintain. Like you I was mortified when I thought I would never be able to eat above 1000 calories without gaining weight. Turns out my body was basically just so confused about what I was doing to it that normal rules stopped being relevant. I would recommend the following...

    1. Stop trying to lose weight. You have an eating disorder. Recovery and weight loss are incompatible.
    2. Eat at maintenance calories. Use this site to figure out what they really are because MFP is way off: http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
    3. Don't weigh yourself for a month. You WILL gain weight initially because your body probably has a lot of repair work to do from your starvation diet. It will stabilise within 6-8 weeks max (probably a lot sooner) and it will drop off again quickly.
    4. Get therapy and see a dietitian (NOT a nutritionist).

    Good luck. I expect you won't follow through on my recommendations but it's what I did and I went from being severly underweight and sick, and like you I was gaining weight on a starvation diet, to eating loads of food and losing weight which has been a huge help in recovering from my eating disorder.

    Thank you so much for this, and all of you for your input.
    I think I'm going to increase 200 calories a week, slowly and gradually to maintenance level so I'm not feeling as uncomfortable as I am now (the bloating that has come with upping 300-400 calories a day has been making me feel awful) and I'm going to try as hard as I can to steer clear of the scale.

    I'm in therapy at the moment and she is supportive of my recovery but trying to not freak out over a 3lb gain is hard ut I shall persevere!

    Thank you all!
  • littlemili
    littlemili Posts: 625 Member
    I am in recovery for anorexia so I think I can help. I was maintaining my weight on under 600 net calories per day and gained when I upped it to 1000 net calories. Then I started LOSING weight at 2000 net calories. I need about 2500 to maintain. Like you I was mortified when I thought I would never be able to eat above 1000 calories without gaining weight. Turns out my body was basically just so confused about what I was doing to it that normal rules stopped being relevant. I would recommend the following...

    1. Stop trying to lose weight. You have an eating disorder. Recovery and weight loss are incompatible.
    2. Eat at maintenance calories. Use this site to figure out what they really are because MFP is way off: http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
    3. Don't weigh yourself for a month. You WILL gain weight initially because your body probably has a lot of repair work to do from your starvation diet. It will stabilise within 6-8 weeks max (probably a lot sooner) and it will drop off again quickly.
    4. Get therapy and see a dietitian (NOT a nutritionist).

    Good luck. I expect you won't follow through on my recommendations but it's what I did and I went from being severly underweight and sick, and like you I was gaining weight on a starvation diet, to eating loads of food and losing weight which has been a huge help in recovering from my eating disorder.

    Thank you so much for this, and all of you for your input.
    I think I'm going to increase 200 calories a week, slowly and gradually to maintenance level so I'm not feeling as uncomfortable as I am now (the bloating that has come with upping 300-400 calories a day has been making me feel awful) and I'm going to try as hard as I can to steer clear of the scale.

    I'm in therapy at the moment and she is supportive of my recovery but trying to not freak out over a 3lb gain is hard ut I shall persevere!

    Thank you all!
    If it makes you feel any better I gained 13lb in 3 weeks :) remember weight is always controllable and reversible so long as your body is healthy and functioning normally. So get yours working properly again and then think about where you would be most happy with your weight. Mental health > number on scale.
  • graysmom2005
    graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
    Thank you for the responses guys!
    I'm just frustrated. I don't have access to nutritionists/doctors etc to ask about this, no.

    Does anybody have any guesses about how long before this weight comes back off? Any personal experiences?
    Run, don't walk, and get a tape measure. Same thing happened to me and at first I gained, but I was losing inches. Then the weight caught up. Your body is just so happy it's getting food it's hanging on until it can trust you again. Plus the extra food in your body will create a tiny gain. It will come off!
  • love4fitnesslove4food_wechange
    love4fitnesslove4food_wechange Posts: 6,897 Member
    Thank you for the responses guys!
    I'm just frustrated. I don't have access to nutritionists/doctors etc to ask about this, no.

    Does anybody have any guesses about how long before this weight comes back off? Any personal experiences?

    there is no "right" answer--if you consistently eat BELOW your BMR you will only train your body to maintain on less than what you should. Ideally you'd raise your calories to an APPROPRIATE level, higher than what it is now, and allow your metabolism to recover. You'll gain on less than your BMR and you'll gain on more-the thing with gaining on more than your BMR is that you have a greater chance of normalizing your metabolic rate and when you reduce your calories again you can resume losing.

    Best of luck to you--hang in there. Going back to 1200 calories will not likely result in weight loss if you're currently gaining on a bit more than that. So, it's not worth it.
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