I’m afraid of gaining weight, after tracking calories

[deborahl5255]

I have had bouts of tracking my calories, and it would become obsessive.

I binged for months, felt stomach
pain/discomfort, and then lost 47 pounds.

I’m 5’0 F, and my daily calorie limit is 1365 cal. For the past few weeks, I’ve been going above that limit.

I’m afraid of v* if I’m bingeing, or v* when I’m restricting. I’m afraid I’ll gain all of my weight back.

I always had stomach discomfort. Nothing has been detected, but my hunger cues are not consistent. I lose my appetite until I’m starving.

I track, because I have no idea what I’m feeling. I don’t know how little or how much I’m eating.

How can I stop spiraling, build a healthy tracking routine, and decide what my calorie limit should be?

I go to therapy, so that is a start! I have to rebuild my relationship with food.

Thank you.

 

[inthepottershands]

@deborahl5255 hopefully therapy will help with mental part of it. as for routine, i'd recommend having some rotation of staple meals going on, and do meal prep to have those meals on hand. develop routine of eating around certain time windows and just repeat. log what u planning on eating early in the day, leaving some wiggle room for snacks.

keep healthier snack options around, and more calorie dense (and more desirable) ones out of the house, if that's possible. i often find myself not wanting to snack when all that's available is popcorn, some dark chocolate and oat cookies. ice cream, milk chocolate and pastries don't sit untouched for long so i avoid getting them to begin with.

also i don't know how sedentary u are, but TDEE of 1365 calories would have to be of a very sedentary person, even 5'0. if u monitor weight changes over time, u can see the trends and it is unlikely u will have any actual fat gain. and if u do gain few pounds, u already know how to lose it so there's no reason to live in fear. eat healthy to maintain and fuel, do enjoyable exercise and focus on mental wellbeing. obsession over calories and fear of weight gain, these things don't end well