Need to eat MORE?

[Anonymous]

I’ve been in this boat, OP. When I under eat relative to my needs, my metabolism slows way, way down. I may still be exercising the same amount of time, but the same level of effort isn’t there and I move less throughout the day. I feel like my body is under stress and exhausted - it’s like even my brain is cutting back. I hold onto water because I crave carbs.

It can become a viscous cycle if you cut calories further to try to stop gaining.

Try eating what the tracker advises for a few weeks and see how you feel and how it impacts your workouts and weight gain. I’d recommend some nuts and avocado or full fat dairy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been in this boat, OP. When I under eat relative to my needs, my metabolism slows way, way down. I may still be exercising the same amount of time, but the same level of effort isn’t there and I move less throughout the day. I feel like my body is under stress and exhausted - it’s like even my brain is cutting back. I hold onto water because I crave carbs.

It can become a viscous cycle if you cut calories further to try to stop gaining.

Try eating what the tracker advises for a few weeks and see how you feel and how it impacts your workouts and weight gain. I’d recommend some nuts and avocado or full fat dairy.

OP here. Thanks - this is exactly what I’m going to do.

I recently picked up an old book on the Thrive Diet, and it’s fairly interesting. I’m not going to adopt a raw vegan diet, but a lot of what he preaches on nutritional stress and how what we eat makes a huge difference in how our body responds to stress really resonates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you weighing your food? I don't bother closely tracking, say, lettuce, but it is so easy to eat 4 TB of almond butter and assume it is 2 TB.

This is me. I actually was/am eating 4 Tbs almond butter every morning and on English muffin. I thought it was 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently started tracking macros (and nutrients). I’m not necessarily trying to lose weight, just generally tracking to make sure my diet is balanced and nutritious. I love the app I’m using, and find it very helpful… I realized pretty quickly that my diet was kind of out of whack, so the tracking is helping me to achieve better balance.

But the app is looking for substantially more caloric intake than I am currently getting. I work out every day, so that adds leeway, but even with my settings set for a weight loss calorie deficit, I’m still not really hungry enough to achieve the minimum calories the app wants.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips?

Don’t input the exercise into your app. It does affect your calorie needs that much. Don’t add food if you aren’t hungry. If you aren’t looking to gain or lose weight so why mess with that?

[Anonymous]

That meal plan you posted may not be low calorie depending on the amounts.

How many calories is it tracking in the app?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Undereating does NOT lead to weight gain. I would suspect that either what you posted as your general menu is offset by occasional 5000 calorie binges or you are not accounting for some higher calorie snacks. If you were eating as you describe 100% of the time you would be underweight. And yes, your metabolism adjusts on low calories to try to live of the little you eat, but not to the point that you start gaining. If that was true famines would be a non-issue.

What in OPs post leads you to believe they are engaging in 5000 calorie binges?

[Anonymous]

Often the apps and calculators overestimate the amount of calories you use during exercise. So I’d just be aware of that.

If you are vastly under eating per the calculators and you are gaining weight, it is likely worthwhile for you to see a nutritionist and have them help figure this out.

If you are over forty, you may also be experiencing new/different weight gain impacts from lower estrogen as part of peri menopause.

[Anonymous]

OP back again. I’ve been tracking macros and calories for about 2.5 weeks - eating more to satisfy the app and changing up what I eat to be even cleaner and to add more protein. I AM LOSING WEIGHT, but more importantly, my body feels tight and healthy in a way it didn’t before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP back again. I’ve been tracking macros and calories for about 2.5 weeks - eating more to satisfy the app and changing up what I eat to be even cleaner and to add more protein. I AM LOSING WEIGHT, but more importantly, my body feels tight and healthy in a way it didn’t before.

Woohoo, OP! So glad to hear it! These apps are really great for helping us find the pattern that works best for our bodies.