Did I make a mistake my lowering my cals?

amylynna1
amylynna1 Posts: 152 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
Since I started boot camp, a very muscle intensive workout program, I decided I need to up my calories to support my body after the tough workouts. I upped my calories to 1800 and was doing fairly well, stayed the same and then had a two pound loss.



I then stalled and then even one week gained. I got nervous and lowered my calories to 1500. Workouts were the same. I an now in 1 week up, 4 pounds????



Did i make a mistake about lowering my calories? Anyway I have a BFM and it says on a normal day I burn between 2500-3000 calories a day. So I was eating 1000-1550 less then that a day. You would think I would have a loss but instead its the opposite.



Any suggestions?



ON a side note I am ALOT stronger now but I want the scale to go down now!.

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    I would not eat less than 500 cals below what your BFM says, based on the amount you have to lose. This would be about a 20% reduction from TDEE of 2500 cals, it is recommended to eat between 80 adn 90% of TDEE to lose weight.
  • cgrout78
    cgrout78 Posts: 1,628 Member
    i would up them to about 2000 calories at least.
  • PinkCoconut
    PinkCoconut Posts: 655 Member
    I dropped down in calories for about a month and noticed immediately that I stopped losing weight. The moment I upped my calories a bit, the weight started coming off more. Your body knows what's best so I would go back to what you were eating before.
  • ALH1981
    ALH1981 Posts: 538 Member
    i get stuck in this... i would also say that the more i work out the heavier the scale is independent of what i'm eating... I don't know if its water retention, muscle repair or the old 'muscle mass' debate but i KNOW it happens to me...

    Take a few days off the gym and see what happens... its quite strange...
  • squishycow7
    squishycow7 Posts: 820 Member
    upping my calories has worked for me about 3 times now! counterintuitive, but it worked...

    try it out for a few weeks to a month - as long as you're not over your maintenance you will not gain! it can't hurt to try!
  • Awkward30
    Awkward30 Posts: 1,927 Member
    So, on that time scale, you shouldn't see negative effects from "starving" yourself. That said, I wouldn't eat any less than I had to. I use a bodybugg (essentially same thing) and subtract 500 from what I burn and eat that. And if I'm hungry, I eat into the deficit. You have to listen to your body, and it will tell you what it needs.

    That said, I don't know if you are on birth control, but I absolutely could not lose weight on the pill. I would drop a couple pounds every month when I went on the placebo and then put one back on when I went back on hormones. Tried for 4 months, lost ~5 pounds. And I was always starving. Doing the same thing now, not hungry and losing weight steadily :)
  • Gordie580
    Gordie580 Posts: 154 Member
    your doing a serious workout, your body is going ot retain more water to help with the muscle being built. So the scale is going to show that now if you measure inches that is where you wil lsee the most effect. don't be discouaged, but I would stay close to the cal you where at before
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    I have a BMF and it says I burn between 2500 and 3000 calories, too. I try to always eat within 500 calories of whatever I burn. Your deficit is HUGE.

    I would definitely up my calories. :-)
  • cpiton
    cpiton Posts: 380 Member
    Amy I'm glad you asked this because I've been dealing with the same issue. I just cannot seem to figure out how many cals I should be eating. I eat more, lose, then gain, cut calories, lose, then gain or plateau for three weeks. I lift as heavy as I can 3x week, cardio 30-60 min daily (more on weekends). I love the strength gains I've gotten, but I need to drop a lot of body fat so I can see more of that hard earned muscle! Thanks for all the helpful responses :flowerforyou:
  • amylynna1
    amylynna1 Posts: 152 Member
    Thank you everyone for your answers. I encourage others to reply. I even received an email from a member who has the exact same problem as me. Please others respond I would love to hear from you!
  • pg1girl
    pg1girl Posts: 268 Member
    Hey Amy I am struggling too. I am eating 1200 calories plus my exercise calories everyday. I keep fluctuating between 131 and 135 and can't seem to break free of the 130s. It is driving me mental!
  • cpiton
    cpiton Posts: 380 Member
    I talked to my doctor about this today and she said when raising your calories, try doing it slowly to give your body time to adjust. So if you're supposed to eat at 1800 but you're eating at 1200, only raise your calories by 100 weekly or so until you're eating at 1800. She said sometimes it takes the body time to adjust.
    I went ahead and raised mine again by about 70 calories. Going to see how that goes for a while. Also, I'm going to eat my allotted daily calories and not eat my exercise calories right now unless I desperately need them--like I'm starving after a loooong workout. I'll keep you posted on my page. :smile:
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
    I talked to my doctor about this today and she said when raising your calories, try doing it slowly to give your body time to adjust. So if you're supposed to eat at 1800 but you're eating at 1200, only raise your calories by 100 weekly or so until you're eating at 1800. She said sometimes it takes the body time to adjust.
    I went ahead and raised mine again by about 70 calories. Going to see how that goes for a while. Also, I'm going to eat my allotted daily calories and not eat my exercise calories right now unless I desperately need them--like I'm starving after a loooong workout. I'll keep you posted on my page. :smile:

    This! I raised from 1200 to 1400 and stayed there for three weeks - the first week I gain, the second week lost about a 1/2 lb and then went up to 1500, been losing about 0.8 lbs a week. Did you give your increase time or are you saying that you gained in week one? If you gained in week one just stay at 1800 and give it a few more weeks. Anytime you make a change give it a few weeks
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