Eating too much?

Hi,

I'm a 17 year old high school student (female) who is around 5'9". My average calorie intake is about 700kcal/day, and I burn probably 200kcal (never actually calculated, sorry).

Just very recently I reached my initial weight goal (122lb), so as a treat I ate a normal amount for an average person (1400 kcal) yesterday... but my parents and I went out and I ate about 2600 kcals today. Then I realized that my weight can easily fluctuate, and maybe that magic 122lb was because of the fluctuation dip, not because I actually weigh 122lb. So I lowered my goal.

My question is, will yesterday (1400kcal is about twice the amount what I usually eat) and today (waaaaay over) increase my weight dramatically, do you think? I noticed that when I ate an insane amount for two days, I gained 5lb two days later, then I had to struggle about a week to get back to the original weight.

Oh, and I know I will receive posts saying "you're not eating enough"; it just so happens that this amount of calories works out for me. I'm just a little worried, because I'm never good with the post-binging problem. I'm not very active at the moment because it's still cold outside, and I generally don't have time to go to a gym.

Anyway, thanks in advance!

It depends on WHAT you are eating, 1400 cals of chocolate is different than 1400 cals of veggies.

Wow... You must be psychic or something...

You're not eating enough...

Chrisrai - good point. Yesterday was okay, I guess. I ate three maple-cookies (they're from Canada, so I don't know the exact nutrients, but they're 80kcal a piece) but today... oh god. I learned that Chinatown is not the place a dieter should go. I didn't eat chocolate or anything, but pretty much custard pies and red-bean buns. Otherwise, it was a meal.

For more details, I'll list the stuff I ate for the past two days:

Yesterday:

• three maple cookies - 80kcal/piece
• 4 glasses of whole milk (I'm allergic to skim)
• rice (about 100kcal?)
• Japanese stew (seaweed, soy beans, okra, carrots, radish, no clue about calories... I'm estimating around 350)
• Light-n-fit yogurt (40kcal)
• a bowl of Raisin Bran Crunch cereal (48g, about 200kcal)
• spinach salad with celeries, no dressing
• miso soup

Today:

• Souffle Cheesecake (200kcal)
• werther's original hard candy (20kcal)
• 1 spring roll
• about 1/3 of this chinese chow mein bowl
• 2 custard pies (about 1.5in in diameter)
• 2 red bean buns, fried
• 1 pork bun
• 2 meat crepes (it's like a spring roll, about .25in x 3in x 1.25in)
• 1 rice roll (about 2in x 2in x 2in, with pork filling)
• 3 custard rolls (1in in diameter, about 1in in height)
• 1 steamed shrimp dumpling
• rice (about 100kcal?)
• Japanese stew (seaweed, soy beans, okra, carrots, radish, again no clue about calories... I'm estimating around 250)
• 2 pan-fried water chesnut cakes (about 3in x 3 in x .5in)
• 1 and a half fried bun with sesami seed (about 3in in diamter, spherical)

I can't remember anything else, but I think that's it.

Of course you're going to gain weight like crazy when you start eating like a normal person after starving yourself.

If you're okay with that, fine. You can starve yourself to stay thin and then binge and gain weight drastically, then starve yourself again, binge, starve, over and over again for the rest of your life, or you can eat more calories all of the time. It's up to you. :)

ETA: Here's a good link. You aren't 185 lbs but this article still applies to you.

Living With Obesity at 700 Calories Per Day

im 5'8 and eat anywere from 2500-3500 cals a day...i was very very sick at 116 and now im at 121 and have remained there for 2months.

parre - how does that article apply to me? I'm slightly confused for the following reasons:

• I have been losing weight. I lost 60lb in 2 years.
• I don't have a diet on fat, carbs and protein. My diet mainly consists of vegetables, protein, and fruits. I rarely eat fat that doesn't come from protein (IE: milk)

To clarify your post: two days of binging will make me gain weight drastically. Is this correct? Because that's what I'm asking about.

My question isn't "am I eating healthy". My question is "will the past two days make me gain weight drastically".

Again, thanks!

hurricane, you will know in a few days if the last 2 days caused a weight gain.

It is typical to have some rebound weight gain when you reach goal, and then start to eat a more normal number of calories.

I am not going to scold you about the number of calories you are eating, but I am concerned about you rewarding your success with food.

try to stay clear of that.  you can reward yourself in so many other ways -- buy something new, take in a movie with a friend . . .

by rewarding yourself with food, you are planning to binge, and that is not good.

I definitely advise against going any lower in weight.  122 for your height is only a BMI of 18, and that is below the 19-25 healthy range.  Even though you feel fine now, you are inviting health problems by being so low in weight.  By so severely limiting your calorie intake, you are not only depriving yourself of energy, but also vital nutrition.  Your body is the only one you are going to get - please take care of it.  You already eat healthy; you just need to eat more of that same healthy food.

Oops, I guess I ended up scolding after all. 

Yes, two days of 'binging' will make you gain weight drastically.

I realize that you have been losing weight and that you aren't eating total crap. The article still applies to you because you're eating very low calories. When you're eating low calories, it really doesn't matter what you eat since you aren't getting proper nutrition no matter what. Sorry, it really doesn't make much of a difference if you eat 700 cals in chocolate or 700 cals in broccoli.

If you aren't interested in being able to maintain your weight eating at least twice as much as you are now, that's fine. It's your body.

If you are interested, you have to gain some weight first. If you don't want to just jump to the proper amount of calories like the article says (it will take six weeks or so to fix your metabolism) you could try something like adding 100 calories a week to your diet. You'll gain weight either way, but the first way will fix things much faster. Good luck to you.

Edit: Also, yeah, I agree, that weight is a bit low.

manewell - that wasn't scolding at all! Thanks for the advice. I think I'll take your advice and not treat myself with food for reaching my goal. That was rather counterproductive, if I think about it.

Parre - I might be being over-sensitive, but I am sensing some hostility in your posts. I don't know why. If I'm wrong, then I am so sorry for my wrong judgment.

That being said, there is a reason why I'm on a 700kcal diet. First of all, my body cells aren't going to accomodate a weight gain that fast - I used to be around 180lb, and I got stretch marks, indicating that my cells couldn't grow fast enough to accomodate my increased weight. I was in a healthy range of weight, but I got sick often, my TTOM went away completely, I couldn't sleep, e.t.c. e.t.c. Right around then, my daily calorie intake was about 2000kcal. So my physician said to cut down my calorie intake drastically - thus making me lose weight. Now I'm having regular TTOM, regular sleep cycles, and I don't get sick as much.

Why does it seem that whenever I try to convince someone they should be eating more than 700 calories a day (good grief this shouldn't be that hard, it's ridiculously unhealthy) that the discussion gets to a certain point and then I hear, "Oh by the way my doctor told me to slash my calories almost to starvation level."

For future reference you may want to mention that in your first post, it will save you and everyone else a lot of time. Nobody is going to argue with your doctor.

Sorry if I seem hostile, I had a friend who ate like you and she died. Good luck again.

Hi,

Actually contrary to what you've been told, you will NOT gain weight dramatically from a day of binging like you did. There are a few reasons for this which I will explain. I will also put forward a theory as to why the scale says you're heavier even if your amount of body mass is stable.

To gain or lose one pound takes 3500 Calories plain and simple. However, it sounds like your maintenance level is around 1400...1200 should be the lower limit even for a someone with a very slow metabolism. At 700 calories, you are at a catabolism and weight loss level. When you ate 3,000 calories or so with your parents, you took in an excess of about 1,600 calories. However, eating large amounts of food like that will temporarily increase your metabolism, so that your body burns more calories in adaptive thermogenesis (heat) and other biochemical mechanisms. So, I would say that you probably took in an excess of about 1,400 calories, which is a bit less than half of a pound.

But why did your weight go up so much? The answer is salt. Salt is pretty much the only way to have such dramatic weight fluctuations. When you ate that much more than normal, you took in a lot more salt than usual just from eating more total food, and I suspect you probably had pretty salty foods that day. Salt sucks up water.

Hope this was helpful.

Sorry, but 122 lb is really skinny for a 5'9 girl.  If you 'lower your goal' any further, you're only going to ruin your health.  Plus, if you get too skinny, you'll lose your curves, your period, etc. (if you haven't already).  2600 cal is actually NORMAL for a teen of your dimensions.  I know that I eat that much for maintenance, and I'm only 5'6.

Thanks everyone for your response! iriechic14, thanks extra for the very detailed response. It made a lot of sense and it put my mind to rest.

I took a week off from dieting... I had fun time eating whatever I wanted.

Back to regular eating tomorrow!

Good luck to everyone too!

~HurricaneReno

Your doctor told you to cut your calories, he or she didn't mean cut them to STARVATION level. You need to up your calories or exercise. Assuming that you don't exercise and you don't eat enough nutrition, I'm guessing that you don't have much muscle on you. Yes, if you eat more calories than what you normally eat you WILL gain weight. But your calories that you are burning are now burning off your muscle and hurting your organs immensly, and you aren't healthy. NO DOCTOR will ever tell you to starve yourself.

You NEED fat in your diet. It is VERY important! If you don't have it, some very important vitamins will not be absorbed by your body. You will eventually end up with sickness, disease, and who knows what else. Also, yo-yo dieting is not good for you either. That's what it is called when you go from starving to "regular eating" back to starving and so forth.

The whole thing of it is you really don't need to starve yourself to lose weight. Starving is usually about "control."

I see now -- at 5'9" you pretty much HAVE to starve to maintain a weight of 122. I don't imagine that's a healthy range for that height, but then I'm not sure what the ranges are. If you're not at a proper minium weight your body will usually fight you to keep some weight on it's skeleton. Girl, you are SO gonna do damage to your body that you will regret later. It is VITAL that you eat properly at your age.