As some of you might know, I am in the midst of bettering my relationship with food and exercise. I am still learning and still growing, but I have to admit: this is a lot harder than I first thought it was going to be. After years and years of conditioning my brain to believe that less food and more exercise is the right way to go, it is hard to unlearn all of the "nutri-bollocks" that I have came across over the years that I have spent on social media and just by talking to friends and family, who all seem to have an opinion on nutrition and exercise.
We always hear Kelli and Daniel talking about how they eat at least 3000 calories a day and only work out a few times a week (and not every day or several times a day like competing athletes do for example, who would obviously need the calories for the crazy amount of exercise they do) - yet both of them are at a healthy bodyweight and even pretty lean with visible muscles and tone to their body.
I used to have an eating disorder all throughout my teenage years, so my body is kind of "used to" running on very low calories (talking about less than 1000 calories daily) but these days I have probably reached a daily calorie intake ranging somewhere from 1200 - 1700, depending on my hunger levels. I am worried that I eat too little, considering that I'm working out again, and that my metabolism will adapt and lower its maintenance calories? Otherwise, I'm afraid that I will start eating too much and gain weight/ fat and lose all of the progress that I have attained throughout the past year.
Now, why do I tell you guys all of this? I have read a lot on metabolic adaption and reverse dieting and all of the fun stuff surrounding this topic and I guess I just wanted to hear how you guys go about it. Do you eat intuitively even if that means that you might be "undereating"? How do you even know how many calories you truly need in a day? All of these calorie calculators online seem to differ in their recommendations and I want to start treating my body the right way and eat enough to fuel me for the day and for my workouts. I guess I just want to know how much food is truly too much food and how little food is too little?
I am excited to hear about your guys opinion and experience on this topic! Let's have a discussion!
How much (little) is "too much (little)"?
Good morning everyone!
As some of you might know, I am in the midst of bettering my relationship with food and exercise. I am still learning and still growing, but I have to admit: this is a lot harder than I first thought it was going to be. After years and years of conditioning my brain to believe that less food and more exercise is the right way to go, it is hard to unlearn all of the "nutri-bollocks" that I have came across over the years that I have spent on social media and just by talking to friends and family, who all seem to have an opinion on nutrition and exercise.
We always hear Kelli and Daniel talking about how they eat at least 3000 calories a day and only work out a few times a week (and not every day or several times a day like competing athletes do for example, who would obviously need the calories for the crazy amount of exercise they do) - yet both of them are at a healthy bodyweight and even pretty lean with visible muscles and tone to their body.
I used to have an eating disorder all throughout my teenage years, so my body is kind of "used to" running on very low calories (talking about less than 1000 calories daily) but these days I have probably reached a daily calorie intake ranging somewhere from 1200 - 1700, depending on my hunger levels. I am worried that I eat too little, considering that I'm working out again, and that my metabolism will adapt and lower its maintenance calories? Otherwise, I'm afraid that I will start eating too much and gain weight/ fat and lose all of the progress that I have attained throughout the past year.
Now, why do I tell you guys all of this? I have read a lot on metabolic adaption and reverse dieting and all of the fun stuff surrounding this topic and I guess I just wanted to hear how you guys go about it. Do you eat intuitively even if that means that you might be "undereating"? How do you even know how many calories you truly need in a day? All of these calorie calculators online seem to differ in their recommendations and I want to start treating my body the right way and eat enough to fuel me for the day and for my workouts. I guess I just want to know how much food is truly too much food and how little food is too little?
I am excited to hear about your guys opinion and experience on this topic! Let's have a discussion!
Lots of Love
Irem