Sport Help!!!

[bphammy]

I've recently lost somewhere around 60 lbs over about 5 or 6 months. But the thing is I know I haven't been doing it the “right” way. I've been taking in a little less than 1,000 calories a day, some days maybe a little more, but still not that much.

Right now, I am 194lbs, 6'1” and 20 years old. My BMI is around 25 and I'm at 24% body fat. I guess I've also read that my body automatically burns 1300 calories a day.

I did some research, and I found out that I have to be taking in at least 2,300 to 3,700 calories a day just for maintenance. I am pretty active, I have school, I'm on my feet all day. I work anywhere from 5-8 hours a day and after I hit the fitness center. I do 35 minutes of cardio where I burn about 450 calories, and then right after I do some weight training for 30 minutes, and because of my schedule I get around 4.5 hours of sleep 5 days of the week and normal the other two.

I've been counting my calories, reading labels and writing down what I eat, and even though I know that technically I am starving myself, I still only put in a little less than 1,000 calories a day. I know that I'll be burning a lot because after adding in the workouts and everything my calorie change for the day would be in the negatives.

I even eat around 7 or 8 times a day, but I still don't get over 1,000 calories. If I DO go over, I feel extremely guilty. For example, the other day I hit 2,080 calories and I hit the gym twice because I felt so guilty.

I guess I'm just really nervous about gaining that weight back, because I know that people lose a bunch of weight all the time and gain it back very quickly. I weigh myself everyday (even though I know that your weight can fluctuate 4-5 lbs) and I'm never satisfied. Even after doing all my research (a lot) I still can't change my habits. I never really feel hungry either, I guess my body has just become accustomed to it.

I just want to hit my target healthy weight of 185lbs and then stop losing weight. After I hit 185lbs, I plan to get my body fat down to about 17% and then just put on muscle afterwards. (And I know that you NEED to eat especially protein to gain muscle, and that starving your body will deteriorate your muscles). I've really done my research which is ironic considering.

So my question is:

How could I, with my lifestyle now, HEALTHILY increase my daily caloric intake to my 2,300 – 3,700 level, without gaining back the weight or feeling guilty about it?

 

[LadyLeeLee]

Good Lord. Under 1000 cals, and you're 6'1 ???? You're not "technically" starving yourself.... you ARE starving youself. Starving your body doesn't help you. It'll make gaining weight back much easier due to the fact that you'll be losing muscle, and the fact that your body will be in starvation mode, and will want to store away as much fat as possible because you're not giving it the nutrients it needs to live. That 1300 cals your body burns automatically each day is what it would burn if you litterally layed in bed all day and didn't move. You burn off much more than that via your daily activities, let alone any workouts you do.

To increase your daily calories, you can try to add a few hundred each day, until you're up to your goal caloric intake. Make sure you know how many calories you need to maintain, and then subtract 500 from that for fat loss. This should be your daily intake, and it'll be much higher than 1000 cals to say the least.

Not feel guilty about it? You feel guilty if you don't starve yourself? How about thinking about the fact that you'll be treating your body with respect, and setting it up to become the healthiest it can be. If you serisouly have issues with eating higher amounts of calories, you may want to see a doctor about your emotional/mental body issues. Feeling guilty about nourishing yourself is not a healthy state of mind.

 

[Dallen]

Let's go over some quick facts. You eat 1000 calories a day right? Let's assume you're guessing right, though I'm thinking you're probably eating more than that, but let's assume it's true.

If you choose to eat healthier, then it would mean you're eating 2300K calories a day, right? You would gain some weight back on at first, only because you're now consuming more calories and your body is using that to rebuild much needed items.

Some days I eat over 3K calories, and other days I eat 2K calories. It all balances itself out over time, so don't stress if one day you ate too much and the other you don't. It's all about the total you're eating, not per day, per meal. If overall you eat healthy and in plenty amount required by your body, then you'll be fine.

The idea here is to not worry about weight, but rather looking in the mirror and seeing what you'd like to see. Of course, this isn't easy, but I think if you really see how ridiculous and unrealistic it is to be eating 1000 calories a day, and burning nearly 500+ calories in a session is. You can't possibly keep that up your entire life. So yeah, I think it's best to sit back, throw away the scale, and just worry about how hungry you are and simply working out for YOURSELF, not for keeping the WEIGHT off. Don't fuss over weight otherwise you're going to fight a battle you're never going to win.

 

[bphammy]

Thanks for the advice guys, I read that if I do start eating right again, I'm going to start gaining a lot of weight back, is there anyway to avoid this? Can I drop down another 10 or 15 lbs then start eating right?

 

[Mel Def]

GRADUALLY increase your calories. You will still see a bit of water gain and retention but it will even out as your metabolism adjusts. Eat the right foods, lots of veggies and single ingredient foods- stay way from processed stuff.

You won't gain it all back if you do it slowly and wisely and you will increase your metabolism. You are not doing yourself any good with super low for too long though. Good luck!