Quick background- I have struggled on and off with weight loss since I was a kid. I did weight watchers at the end of high school and then gained weight crazy fast in college- got up to 250lbs (I’m just under 5’10”, female). Then I did a 30 day juice cleanse and a year of a super clean vegan diet and got down to 195. Kept that weight off, never fluctuating more than 5lbs or so, for 10 years eating a balanced omnivore diet, playing tennis, walking a decent amount and hiking occasionally.
Suddenly over the holidays last year my body shot up to 212lbs in just a few months. Usually I’ll put on a bit over that time and then lose it in Jan but none of my usual stuff was working. I was so shocked that I got a bunch of hormone tests and blood work done but it all came back healthy and normal. I ate in a calorie deficit, between 1350- 1500 cals a day, exercised, even tried a month of intermittent fasting. But I freaking GAINED weight!! I was up to 220lbs when I finally got my RMR calculated and the associate told me I needed at least 1700 cals to function even if I literally don’t move. I was beyond nervous to eat more because that felt insane considering my body was piling on weight at 1400 cals a day.
But I upped my daily amount to 1800 and voila. I am down 11lbs in a little over 2 months of eating that way plus a couple “cheat meals” here and there. It’s been a slow process but still moving in the right direction and I feel like this amount of cals is way more doable/easily sustainable.
I know everyone has different opinions in this community and it’s all way more confusing and complex than it should be…but I’m SO sick of reading the thousands of comments about metabolic damage being a myth and how you can and should eat way below your BMR. I am literally living proof that too few calories can not only stall your weight loss but make you GAIN weight. Things like hormones and stress DO play a role as well. For the record and those who tend to question OPs about this all over this community- I have a food scale and measure literally everything (sauces, oils, etc), I almost never drink alcohol and hate soda, and I don’t include estimated exercise cals in my count for the day.
So if you’re in the position I was in, so stressed and confused and being told by strangers that you’re wrong about your body- you’re not.
TL;DR- gained weight at a more restrictive deficit eating under my BMR, lost weight adding 300-400 cals per day
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