 |
|
| Moderated by: Moderator Team | ||
| Author | Post | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
liquidmelancholy New Member
|
Mine is quite a complicated story.. I would say my normal weight (e.g. before I ever went on a proper diet at all) was always around 9 stone (I'm 5"6.) During a year of unemployment (and going through another one now!) I gained a little over a stone to 10 stone 2. This was through not too eating bad food as such, just more than usual and not doing any exercise. I remembered the time I was studying for my final uni exams and would be so busy and stressed I'd work through days without stopping to eat lunch. Before I knew it I'd gone from 9 stone to 8 stone 4! So I thought I'd try the "2 meals a day" approach again, this time deliberately, to hopefully go from 10 stone 2 to at least 9 stone again. Well I did, and I ended up getting down to 8 stone 10. However I did this by not only skipping lunch, but only eating 800 calories a day. Unfortunately I stuck to this diet for 2 and a half years. Then when I met my boyfriend and started eating "normally" at the weekends, I found I obviously was no longer able to stick to 800 calories a day and losing weight each day became harder. I had to leave my job in October last year, and at that time I was about 8 stone 12. I am now at the grand total of 9 stone 8! In this time I realised my stupid diet was just not good and wasn't working anymore anyway. I tried increasing my calories slowly, starting from 1000 calories a day and my new exercise routine was 30 minutes of yogalates and a min 5 minute spurt on my exercise bike 4 times a week, to hopefully boost my metabolism back into working again. It would work for a couple of days, then I'd gain for the next few days. I kept increasing my calories and stuck to the exercise routine. I started eating up to 1800 calories, but I'd still gain. So this week in desperation I've tried a range of calories to see what will work - and I've already gained 2 pounds!! I tried 1300 calories on Monday and I gained, 1800 on Tuesday and I gained, yesterday I ate 2000 calories and I gained. I haven't been doing exercise as have had a very nasty cold which has really knocked me out. So I have absolutely no idea what calories to eat anymore, so that I can lose. I'm 9 stone 8 now, I just cannot keep going on like this and reach 10 stone..and what if it even doesn't stop there?! Have I completely ruined my body for life now? I know it was incredibly stupid to stick to an 800 calorie diet for 2 and a half years. Advice and help please :( |
|||||||
|
Nir Senior Administrator 
|
Well let's start by looking at someone else who happens to be the same stats as you (female, 5'6", 9st8 and let's say 25 years old) but who has not restricted. She would need about 1650 calories to maintain her weight (she would eat 1800 or 2000 only if she wanted to gain weight, or if she was doing lots of exercise and needed to fuel that) So my guess is that you will be aiming in the 1200-1500 range and you will realise that weight loss will come but it will not come at a fast rate and that is how it should be Yes, you have likely slowed down your metabolism with this rather low intake for such a long time. (You might have even damaged your organs, but I would not be sure how). Your metabolism will increase given enough time not restricted. Another consideration is that you are unlikely to have given your body optimal nutrition (all the nutrients it optimally wants to receive) on that restricted intake. Getting freaked out about daily weight fluctuations is not a happy experience. Some people prefer not to weight themselves every day. I prefer to weigh myself every day but I deal with the fluctuations by charting them with software (I use http://www.physicsdiet.com) that produces a smoothed curve to make sense of the ups and the downs. Your BMI is 21.6. Objectively it is not an emergency, so eat an appropriate amount and give it time. |
|||||||