More than Just Pounds

I didn't track the past few months and because of that I fell to undereating again.  My scale weight was staying the same, so I thought all was well since I was maintaining but what was really happening is my metabolism was slowing down to accommodate what I was giving it.  I also struggled with debilitating fatigue!  Is it any wonder why!?  My body was trying to make me quit moving so much to conserve energy since I was barely giving it enough to survive each day.

I decided a few weeks ago to track and lose weight at 1500 calories (a very low deficit for me in the past).  I stuck to it all week and the scale didn't budge - and I realized I was actually eating about the same I had been doing when I wasn't tracking and then it occurred to me... I have been undereating for months.

So, here I go again repairing my metabolism by increasing my calories.  I'm up to 2000 calories a day and it was VERY hard to eat enough each day and I had to succumb to junk food several times to just make it happen because I had no appetite.  After a week, I FINALLY regained strength and the fatigue is fading thankfully.  I just can't go without tracking anymore because I have a great tendency to undereat.  I can't fathom eating more than 2000 calories a day right now and I need to eat at least 2100 and I'm working towards that.  

Of course, I have put on a few pounds as the glycogen stores, water and extra weight of the increased food is settling out.  Once I have repaired my metabolism and my weight stabilizes for a while, I'm going to do a deficit to try and lose the last of my weight.  I have noticed whenever I have switched to maintenance in the past, I gain 3-6 pounds initially before it settles and maintains.

I came across a great explanation online from a commenter that put the maintenance initial gains into words better than I could:

Why you gain weight when you switch to maintenance or up your calories

The reason most people think they have to eat so little to maintain their weight is because our bodies naturally store glycogen and water in our muscles. This is the body's ready energy. When you eat at a caloric deficit, the glycogen stores (and the water molecules they must bind to in the cells) are shed first. That's why you get a big loss the first week of any diet. You just depleted your glycogen stores and now the body has no choice but to resort to fat in a continued caloric deficit. 

So you keep up your deficit and your body is burning both glucose from the food you're eating and fat from your body (and some lean mass because you're in a deficit and that will just happen anyway) and you finally get to a weight you like. So you increase your calories to stop losing...

Or, you just decide to ditch the caloric deficit for a weekend of eating without discretion...

Or Christmas rolls around or you go on vacation and you eat to satisfaction and maybe a touch more...

... and you find you almost instantly put on 5 lbs.

All that has happened is your body has restored its glycogen stores and the water that glycogen must be stored with. In fact, trained endurance athletes will deliberately store extra glycogen by carb-loading before major events in order to have more energy for sustained effort. The body will, under perfect conditions, store this energy for use. It's part of being human.

So suppose you want to maintain your weight at 150 lbs. You diet down to 150 and then think, "Awesome! I will diligently increase my calories to maintenance." So you were eating 1600 calories/day to lose and you increase to 1900 calories daily... and after 1 week you've put on 1.5 lbs... so you cut back down to 1700 and your weight stays the same but now you're at 151.5... but you want to be 150lbs, so now you're just pissed off. So you go back down to 1500 calories for a week and you get back down to 150lbs. Then you increase by only 100 calories/day for a week and your weight stays the same... so you do it again... and you stay the same. You think, "Yay! I'm maintaining!"... And any time you eat over 1800 calories daily you start to gain again.

Why?

Because your body just wants 5 lbs of glycogen stores. The solution? Cut down to 5 lbs under your target weight and then eat at maintenance. Your body will rebound up to a healthy non-glycogen-depleted state and you'll be able to maintain relatively effortlessly and eat more food.

Okay, sorry... that was long-winded. I just cringe at the number of people who think they have to eat so little to maintain.