Calories not working

[Curlyfifteen]

Hello, before kids I ate very little and was borderline underweight. Now I have kids I still eat very little yet cannot shift this extra stone. Is it possible that you body just holds onto fat after kids, are my hormones off? Or am I just delusional about what I'm eating?

For context I'm 5"3 and 58kg and before kids I was anywhere from 47-52kg depending on how stressed I was or not lol. It may not seem like much but I feel terribly uncomfortable in my own skin all the time.

Agree with PP, what does “eat very little” mean?

Keto

Well you've chronically under fed and under fueled your body for years.

To get it back under control you will need to work out your maintenance calories and focus on that for a few months to reset, then drop by 100 calories every 6 weeks or so ( unless your comfortably loosing the weight then you can stick to the same calories)

No, that's not a thing. If you eat more food than you need, you'll gain weight, and if you eat less, you'll lose it.

Between 800-1200 a day

@Curlyfifteen
what did you eat and how are you measuring/weighing your food?
Is your scale accurate?
unless your immobile you’d loose on 800-1200 cal.

Have u been weighing out ur food?

Use something like my fitness pal to track what you eat.

People imprisoned in auschwitz ate 1300 calories a day so if you were eating 800 a day you would be skeletal and/or dead.

No but I'll do it for the next few days to see how far off my assumptions are. I've always been very good at knowing portion sizes and calories but no harm double checking.

Labels can legally be off by 10% (usually lower vs higher) and some online platforms have more mistakes than others. Use chronometer or nutricheck for accuracy the free mfp one is inaccurate.,

Ok so measured for two days and in the 800's both days using scales etc. Even assuming error add on say 300 - thats still only 1100 so I just don't see why I am sitting at 58kg since I had my babies when before I was around 50kg. I honestly don't think I'm eating more than pre-kids AND I am still breastfeeding a few times a day to my 2yo.

I guess what I am really asking is has anyone else had this happen? Can hormones just make you hold onto weight?

What is a day roughly? How active are you?
I have been poorly recently and eating so little.
Initally I lost loads but then it’s slowed to nothing despite not changing my diet. I really am not moving around much though

That does seem exceptional. Are you sedentary? Seems like your BMR needs a shake up? And Is that same for whole week, and includes everything, drinks, biscuits? I'm around 1200 through the week and steadily dropping but I eat what I want weekends, even a dominoes lol, seems to help me lose weight as my BMR doesn't stabilise I guess?

Im currently eating 800 a day and losing 2lbs a week so seems strange you're not losing

However I'm only doing this for up to 12 weeks as I dont think its healthy to do any longer. If you ate this amount daily for years maybe its damaged your metabolism? I dont know if you can get your metabolic rate checked but worth looking into

I try to do 30mins youtube exercise 2-3 times a week (dumbells etc) at home plus aerobics class 60mins on sundays.

My steps are usually between 6-12k depending on what day it is as i walk 90% of the places i need to go to.

i would love to do more but between kids and home and my small biz its hard to fit more in.

so you are tiny and breastfeeding....no you should NOT be dieting to loose weight yet and much of what you are weighting is water weight.

your body weight is not stable.
worry about weight loss once the little one is weaned.
weight loss attempts while pregnant or breast feeding will draw calcium from your teeth and bones. this is NOT the time to be on a fasting level diet.
step away from the scales

why are you eating 800 cals a day!!!!

Thats all I needed, been like this for a long time. But weight has been going up…

Where did you read that fact?

My body held on to weight until I stopped breastfeeding after I stopped it was easy to loose it. I would recommend not even thinking about calories until you stop and focus instead on nourishing your body with plenty of nutrients, healthy fats, protein and limit sugar.

https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/the-camps/ss-concentration-camp-system/meals/#:~:text=Typically%2C%20this%20reduced%20the%20prisoners,typically%20averaged%20at%201300%20calories.

OP I've just reread your first post and do think its worth looking into some treatment for how you see yourself. From the sounds of it, you've been undereating for years, was almost underweight. You are now a healthy weight but want to get back to your previous, almost underweight state and are still undereating? It honestly sounds like an eating disorder. You are currently breastfeeding and really need to concentrate on getting enough nutrients to sustain healthy milk production and keeping yourself strong enough to survive the early years