Need help starting

Bookrunner

Hello! I'm brand spanking new to EM2WL. I just purchased my starter kit and unfortunately the payment went through but the kit has not been made available. I'm a little frustrated by this as I have a rare day off work and an empty house and it was going to be my focus. I've been reading up on it and was hoping the starter kit would answer all of my questions, but perhaps someone on here could help. My first query is about my starting point. I have not attempted to lose any weight in nearly a year and have had quite a sedentary lifestyle for the past six months since my beloved dog died, and I finished writing my second novel. I also sit at a desk all day at work. So I don't think I need a reset. My weight is at an all time high and I have not put it into starvation mode in a very long time. So...
1. can I simply tap into the scooby site and work out my stats?
2. I also have a fitbit zip- do I use that to inform my answers?

I have to confess that although the science of this programme makes perfect sense, I'm struggling to get my head around how much recording and mathematics I'll have to do on a daily basis. I'm really bad at math and lean more towards wide-brush thinking rather than small details. I accept that I may have to change my style.

Finally, I have started walking more in the past week and have been to the gym twice, so I've taken some steps but am really not far from square one.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Bookrunner

Jennbecca33

Hi Brookrunner, and welcome to the group! I'm sorry about you not receiving your starter kit yet...I'll send a note over to the team members and they will get it working for you as soon as possible!

Yes, you can just use the Scooby site to calculate your TDEE and your 15% deficit calorie level. If you are beginning to increase your activity level, be sure to choose the correct level on Scooby. If you're sedentary most of the day but adding some walking and gym time, you'll be at lightly active or maybe moderate activity, depending on how long you are spending at the gym.

You'll want to increase your calories slowly up to your 15% deficit number. Increasing slowly will help give your body time to adjust to the increased calorie level and it will also help minimize gains that sometimes people experience when increasing calories too quickly.

You can use your fitbit zip. I'm not sure the accuracy of it as far as giving a true TDEE. If you manually correct the calories for any non-step exercise like cycling or weight lifting, I think it can give you a good idea of your TDEE. You could take a few weeks of data and average them to get your average TDEE. Subtract 15% and then set that manually in MFP as your calorie goal. Eat the same amount every day!

There really is not much recording or math to it. It's simple! Once you figure out your TDEE and subtract the 15%, you just eat that same amount everyday, even on days you don't exercise, as the calories are averaged out for you through the week. You will need to log your foods in MFP, but that gets much easier after a week or so of logging after you have most of your foods entered in. Let us know if you have any other questions! Welcome!

mymodernbabylon

Hi and welcome! If you haven't written a journal in the EM2WL site yet, I'd suggest doing it. It's a great way to get a lot of support from those of us on there (plus venting is always nice). The Scooby site works well as does the worksheet that Heybales has put together: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/user/heybales/profile/heybales?target=&redirected=true (see the left side of the profile).

As the TDEE calculators are only based on averages, you sometimes need to play around with your true numbers - if you are losing quickly, eat more; losing too slowly, eat a bit less.

And feel free to friend those of us on here - we're all quite lovely people.

Bookrunner

Hello again, and thank you for the prompt responses.

So, if I've got this right, the Scoobie tool has just figured out the entire thing for me? I just fed in my numbers and clicked on 15% calorie reduction and the recommendations below are what I follow?

So in effect, I'm eating less, but not by much? Of do I have this muddled?

I've also just gone into MFP and changed my goals so it says that my weight loss will now be .8 lbs/wk based on 3x30 minute workouts a week. Does this sound about right? I should also mention that I'm pescitarian.

Thanks again for the support.

Jennbecca33

Yes, that's right. Scooby will give you a good estimate. Of course give it several weeks of trial and error to find out whether to adjust up or down a bit. Even more time since you've been on low calorie for awhile. The body takes time to adjust to the increased calories, so you might not see any progress (meaning a downward trend) for a bit. We suggest to stay at the 15% deficit for 6 weeks and then assess whether to adjust calorie level.

A 15% deficit is eating less than you burn, but not by a huge deficit, which is what EM2WL is all about. Eating at a smaller deficit, so that you can eat more, but still lose fat. It will allow you to steadily lose without being hungry/binging and is much more sustainable than a large calorie deficit. The .8 loss is probably about right - I'd say .5 - .8 or somewhere around there on average, although it's not linear. Some weeks you lose, some weeks you will not lose. It really adds up quick when you are not gaining it right back because you restrict too much/binge and gain it right back. I had to google pescitarian. So you eat fish but not other animal sources? That is fine, just be sure to get your protein sources from your fish, nuts, cheese etc. if you eat those. Also, protein shakes/bars are good to incorporate, as protein is really important to keep lean muscle mass. We suggest macros of 40c/30p/30f.

mymodernbabylon

Fish are great sources of protein (I have tuna fish with mayo about 2x a week). I also love cottage cheese and high protein greek yogurts. My fav protein powder is by myprotein as it's reasonably priced with a good protein source.

Bookrunner

Great stuff, although I have been on a high calorie eating plan! I haven't focused on my weight in over a year and am like a turkey fattened up for Christmas. I have done nothing but solidly gain weight for the past year and am up 35 pounds from a year ago. I'm ready to reverse that but want to do it in a way I can believe in.

Nayners21

Bookrunner wrote: »

Great stuff, although I have been on a high calorie eating plan! I haven't focused on my weight in over a year and am like a turkey fattened up for Christmas. I have done nothing but solidly gain weight for the past year and am up 35 pounds from a year ago. I'm ready to reverse that but want to do it in a way I can believe in.

Good luck with your journey! Im on week 5 and it is the hardest mental journey I have ever been on! Stick with it! Even when you feel like you are getting nowhere!

heybales

Bookrunner wrote: »

Hello again, and thank you for the prompt responses.

So, if I've got this right, the Scoobie tool has just figured out the entire thing for me? I just fed in my numbers and clicked on 15% calorie reduction and the recommendations below are what I follow?

So in effect, I'm eating less, but not by much? Of do I have this muddled?

I've also just gone into MFP and changed my goals so it says that my weight loss will now be .8 lbs/wk based on 3x30 minute workouts a week. Does this sound about right? I should also mention that I'm pescitarian.

Thanks again for the support.

That displayed weight loss amount is not calculated based on your exercise goals.
On MFP exercise doesn't count for anything until actually done and logged.
Those exercise goals are merely for use in the Exercise Diary - if you've never noticed them, most don't.

That 0.8 lbs is based on MFP's estimate of your non-exercise TDEE minus your manually entered eating goal.

That also isn't correct, because you based your eating goal off an average TDEE that included expected exercise.

Also don't look at your end of day encouragement of "in 5 weeks .... " because that is also based on bogus figures now.

If you want your expected weekly weight loss amount, take your TDEE estimate x 0.15 deficit x 7 days / 3500 = lbs per week.

I'd also strongly suggest since you'll need to unsync Fitbit from MFP for this to work right, you still watch that Fitbit TDEE (that's what it tells you daily, your literal TDEE so you don't have to guess from 5 levels).
You should get an emailed report weekly. Take the total weekly calories burned / 7 = average daily TDEE.
Confirm you picked a good level on scooby, or just redo the math.
TDEE x 0.85 = eating goal.

As mentioned, you do have to let Fitbit know about non-step based workouts it'll underestimate, like lifting, biking, elliptical, swimming, rowing. That's when you manually log them on Fitbit's site.