Reassurance and Motivation

Nayners21

This is my 3rd complete week of EM2WL. I am eating 1828 calories (a 15% cut) Yesterday I just started feeling like this is not working for me. I feel bigger, even though my pants still fit fine. I can feel and see my face getting bigger. Upper body I feel it the most. My bras feel tighter. I am having second thoughts about continuing eating at this amount. I must admit, I have not been strict on counting macronutrients so I am not sure if that is it. I have not set foot on the scale is 3 weeks and I have no plans on doing so anytime soon, feeling the way I am feeling.

Words of encouragement much needed.

Firefly0606

I'm new to this too after what seemed to be a long time of watching & reading, and then re-watching and re-reading youtube clips and forums. I am expecting to gain. You have to gain as your body adjusts especially after however long you have been eating at a large deficit.

Patience is a major factor, remember you are eating more not to gorge yourself, but to repair the damage done to your metabolism by not fuelling your body properly. It's almost like you have to get bigger first to be able to set your body up to get smaller.

I found the success stories on the EM2WL helpful and encouraging. Read them. Plenty of people have tread this path before us and it has worked, because they aren't dieting. They have nurtured their bodies, gotten stronger by building muscle, and the fat has responded accordingly...for life. Everything I have ever done in the past has been more like starve my body, ignore my muscles, and sure - weight came off but then came back. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

I have learned to trust the process (still very new!) I am not doing this to just lose weight. It is more than that and the lose weight part I now trust to comes at the end of the 'order of service' - once I fuel my body with good quality and enough food, once I build up some muscle, once I allow my body to adjust - to retain the fluid it needs to repair. If you are the same....then keep going!!! So what if you get bigger at first? 3 weeks is not really a very long time when you are changing the way you eat and exercise for the rest of your life.

Make sure you get educated about how this all works and trust that it will.

Nayners21

Firefly0606 wrote: »

I'm new to this too after what seemed to be a long time of watching & reading, and then re-watching and re-reading youtube clips and forums. I am expecting to gain. You have to gain as your body adjusts especially after however long you have been eating at a large deficit.

Patience is a major factor, remember you are eating more not to gorge yourself, but to repair the damage done to your metabolism by not fuelling your body properly. It's almost like you have to get bigger first to be able to set your body up to get smaller.

I found the success stories on the EM2WL helpful and encouraging. Read them. Plenty of people have tread this path before us and it has worked, because they aren't dieting. They have nurtured their bodies, gotten stronger by building muscle, and the fat has responded accordingly...for life. Everything I have ever done in the past has been more like starve my body, ignore my muscles, and sure - weight came off but then came back. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

I have learned to trust the process (still very new!) I am not doing this to just lose weight. It is more than that and the lose weight part I now trust to comes at the end of the 'order of service' - once I fuel my body with good quality and enough food, once I build up some muscle, once I allow my body to adjust - to retain the fluid it needs to repair. If you are the same....then keep going!!! So what if you get bigger at first? 3 weeks is not really a very long time when you are changing the way you eat and exercise for the rest of your life.

Make sure you get educated about how this all works and trust that it will.

THank you! I will read up in those success stories. I find that watching youtube videos helps as well. I will just have to be patient.

leanne0627

I'm having quite a bit of success with it after years of vlcd that never worked for me. I am not being strict with my macros or even my calories though I'm honestly just eating whenever I'm hungry trying to include as much fruits and veggies as possible. I am tired of "diets"and want to shift my focus to being healthy instead. You know one thing I've noticed is "normal people" eat more than 1700 or 1800 calories a day and don't gain weight right? My 11 yr old daughter must eat 3000 a day and she's so tiny! Yet all us "chubbies" are scared to eat 1700...less than what the govt recommends even. Unless someone had some serious thyroid or health issues that much shouldn't cause much gain except some water weight. Remember you'd had to eat 3500calories just to gain a pound. Sometimes feeling bigger is just in our heads too. Have you measured yourself and seen it go up? I also know at a certian TOM I have days where I bloat and feel huge. So anyways my advice, hang In there! Your body needs fuel. Focus on liftin or learning a new exercise routine or being able to run longer...anything but the dang evil scale!!!!! You said you felt your workouts were going better right? Focus on that! The rest will come.

Nayners21

Thanks Leanne0627! I have been reading more success stories and more info just reassuring myself that this is the way I want to go. I have to stick with it.

Jennbecca33

Hi Nayners and welcome to the group! I posted on your wall but also wanted to post here. You are doing so great! What you are experiencing is completely normal and expected so do not give up. It's normal to have some initial gains and puffiness when increasing calories, but most of it is probably just water. Give your body several weeks to adjust at your new calorie level, preferably 9 to 12 weeks. If you are gaining initially, your weight will stabilize and you should see some results from your small deficit after your body gets used to the increased calories. If you haven't seen any progress after 9 to 12 weeks, post back and we can help rework your numbers for you. Stay with it...I eat anywhere from 1800 to 2000 calories for my small deficit to lose fat. I can maintain at around 2300 calories. This is so great for me as I used to have to eat very low calorie to maintain, so it's worth it!

Nayners21

Jennbecca33 wrote: »

Hi Nayners and welcome to the group! I posted on your wall but also wanted to post here. You are doing so great! What you are experiencing is completely normal and expected so do not give up. It's normal to have some initial gains and puffiness when increasing calories, but most of it is probably just water. Give your body several weeks to adjust at your new calorie level, preferably 9 to 12 weeks. If you are gaining initially, your weight will stabilize and you should see some results from your small deficit after your body gets used to the increased calories. If you haven't seen any progress after 9 to 12 weeks, post back and we can help rework your numbers for you. Stay with it...I eat anywhere from 1800 to 2000 calories for my small deficit to lose fat. I can maintain at around 2300 calories. This is so great for me as I used to have to eat very low calorie to maintain, so it's worth it!

THANK you very much! I am sticking with it. Mainly because I have given up too soon on everything else to see if it works. Plus I feel so much better energy wise eating at this amount of calories. Its only been three weeks, so I know its not enough time yet for my body to adjust. I am sticking with it, and thank you to everyone for your help!