Anyone had this happen?..........

[Asha]

Hi!
I don't post much, but I lurk everyday and you ladies are so full of great advice and information. I'm wondering if anyone has ever had the whole issue of eating less, working out the same and gain weight? The whole starvation mode..... I believe this is what has happened to me this summer and am struggling to pull it all back together and get back on track. Long story short, I ate, on average, between 900-1200 calories per day, not including the couple of dates with my husband per month where I definitely ate more. Anyway, I rode my bike for 60 minutes 4-5 days per week, plus added 30-40 minutes of weight training about 3-4 days per week. My weight has definitely gone up--my clothes are tighter and I can see softness in my stomach, thighs and hips. I don't weigh so I don't know exactly. So, all I have seen to remedy this situation is eat more and kick my metabolism up. This is really hard to do with healthy, clean foods! I still have a hard time getting to 1200. I have looked back a few years and noticed that 2 years ago (pre-Cathe), I was eating about 1400 on average every day and I surely didn't have the muscle that I do now. I was also thinner!
Any advice or past experience with this? What did you do to get going again? I have days where I really get down about this because I feel like I have failed and all my hard work is for nothing. Please let me know if you have any ideas or advice...

Thanks Ladies!!
Julie

 

[Boybert]

Hi Julie! First, big ((((hugs)))) to you. You know, tweaking the whole eating/exercising thing to work for YOUR body can be such a difficult task, but keep at it and you WILL get there!

First off, your first calorie intake is way, way too low, as you already pointed out. Your body certainly goes into that "I'm not letting go of anything" mode b/c it goes into prepare for hibernation mode. Only thing is, I'm guessing you are not trying to hibernate

My suggestion to you is first up your calories to at least 1500 as a bare minimum (though I think 1800 will probably be a better baseline for your amount of activity) b/c you have to start somewhere.

Second, try to balance the amount of cardio to weight training a bit more. You could probably do with cutting back to 3-4 days cardio and varying it up with steady state, HIIT, interval, etc. Keep your body guessing is key. Rotate the type of lifting you do as well, being sure not to exclude heavy training.

Third, yeah, the clean eating thing isn't the easiest. Goodness knows I'm not squeaky clean all the time, but fact of the matter is the eating is roughly 80% of the whole equation.

Give yourself a little pep talk and a hug and get back to business HTH some!


“In the beginning there was nothing. God said, 'Let there be light!' And there was light. There was still nothing, but you could see it a whole lot better.” --Ellen Degeneres

 

[teddy16410]

Julie-
I feel your frustration. I know that I have the hardest time eating clean AND getting caloric intake up! Yes your body sounds like it is definitely hangin' on to those miniscule calories ... my body "appears" the same way when I workout w/ that much cardio and dont eat.
The easiest way for me to get my calories up is to make sure I am getting in healthy fats everyday sometimes natural peanut butter, sometimes avacados and sometimes just good old evoo.
Hang in there... it it so challenging at times to figure out the precise amount of calories/ ratios / exercise for your own body type. I was also able to lean down when I did a 3 week Circuit Breaker rotation that I made for myself. I really believe that Intervals/Circuits are a great shock to the body if you arent doing them regularly now.

 

[dorothyrd]

Julie, you have gotten good suggestions so far. Your intake is too low, and after a period of time, your body says, Hey, I think I need this fat to survive. One thing that can be effective is to add a couple a days a week at a higher caloric level, say 2000 calories, try to make it good food, you can use full fat options to get the calories up easily. Than on the other days, rule of thumb, don't go below 1200, 1500 is better. Since you have been doing the low calorie thing for awhile, if you leap right into a 1500 day, you will gain some water weight, which may make you unhappy. Add on gradually, look in your diet where you can add more, such as drink more milk, right there is an additional 90 calories per glass, and it certainly is good for you. Add olive oil to your salad dressing. I like to add a bit to FF Italian. Things such as that will add calories and health.

 

[Asha]

I just want to thank you all sooo much. I feel a lot better getting some suggestions. My husband has told me for a really long time that I don't eat enough, but he is a typical man and can eat fried foods everyday and never worry about a "balanced" diet. It helps me more coming from women on this board because we can understand each other better, having the same overall goal in mind.

You are all GEMS!!

Thank you bunches,
Julie