Saturday, September 25, 2021

Crying with relief and rethinking my maintenance calories

Back in Feb I started a weight loss journey at 88kg. I got down to 74kg in June, but then got very stressed and fell off the wagon. I was no longer counting calories, and eating whatever I fancied (takeaways, snacks, ready meals, restaurant meals), but with a bit more restraint than before because I realised back in Feb how much I was underestimating the calories I consumed. I was blown away when I started to check the back of packets lol.

I finally got the strength to start again 2 days ago, and weighed myself - 75.2kg! I was convinced I had reached at least 78kg again because I felt so heavy and bloated. Started on the same diet I used last time (800-1000 cal a day, with lots of vitamins and allowing myself to have a glass of diet soda everyday so I don't get miserable) and this morning I was 74.4kg! So excited, I didn't do the damage I thought I did. I was so demoralised and angry with myself that I've have to start back at a higher weight and lose again (going from 78kg to 74kg was harder and took longer than 88kg to 78kg, for some reason). But I'm not back at square one! I cried when I saw the scale.

It also has made me wonder if my maintenance calories are higher than I thought. I'm 5'2", 26F. Online calculator said my maintenance calories were 1400 back in Feb (sedentary lifestyle).

I wasn't able to exercise properly from March 2019 to a few weeks ago, when my gym finally lifted restrictions and let us have classes properly again. So I've just been back exercising for a few weeks, before that I was just eating whatever I wanted and no exercise except for dog walking. I lost the weight Feb-June with a restricted calorie intake and walking my dogs everyday.

The online calculator says my maintenance is now 1700 with 'light exercise' (2 sessions a week). I don't think this really can be increasing my maintenance by that much? How is 2 1hr sessions a week going to increase it that much. When I was younger I used to go for 45 min runs, eat a mars bar and realise I'd just cancelled out my run. So I don't really trust the calculator. But then if my maintenance wasn't higher than I actually thought, I would have gained more weight! I'm so confused and wish our bodies came with an inbuilt, accurate calorie intake/output counter, because I get so frustrated with 'estimating' and then waiting to see if my efforts actually had any effect.

submitted by /u/territibbo
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