Taking a leap of faith....happily

Bebe6740

Hello,

I have been blessed to find this EM2LW forum/group in a much needed time in my life. I am 31, 5'7, weighing in at 240lbs- the highest I have ever weighed!

I got married 3 months ago to a wonderful man who finds me attractive, sexy, intelligent...... sadly however, I don't see half of what he sees in me....I just see me as a fat woman...:(

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and take 100mcg starting 6 weeks ago. I finally have some much needed energy, and with that, some much wanted motivation.

Like many here, I have come to a place where my exhaustion, mental and physical exhaustion, have taken over my daily life.

I want to get health, be fit, and yes of course, look great in clothes (and out happy ).

I've done all the diets on the face of this earth, but never had 'success' as explained in the initial forum. I would lose weight, gain it, lose it, gain it, gain some more, then some more on top of that, then lose some, gain some, and again and again.

I'm tired of always thinking about 'food', what am i going to eat that, how can I eat that?, i want that, no I can't have that, shoot I had that now what?....You get the drill..... It's like if 'food' and my 'weight' controlled/s my every existence.

I've come to this forum and joined this group because I AM SO OVER ALL OF THAT! I am extremely motivated and WILL beat this once and for all! I will work at it for however long it takes, I am mentally determined!

Now having said that.....shooot am I scared! I stopped going to the gym for about 1 year now, so I used to be moderately active, now I sit at a desk all day. But, I have re-joined the gym and have already have gone 3times/week.

SO I guess my question goes out to you all, when calculating my tdee-15-20% am I to use moderatively active or lightly active? ( I will be lifting weights 3/4 times a week, with a couple of 30 minute cardio days).

My BMR seems to be 1866, and TDEE 2700....??

If that the case TDEE-15% would put me at 2350 calories a day, holy crap that is a LOT OF FOOD!!!!!

I trust the process, so I will do it with a great leap of faith, but I just wanted confirmation on the cut value I should be eating at?

THANK YOU TO ALL IN ADVANCE!!! I am sure you will see many more future posts from me!

Marilyn

heybales

3 x weekly at gym.
For 30 min each, or 2 hrs each?

Days is not a useful indicator, hours at least helps. Though 1 hr walking is not the same as 1 hr spin class as 1 hr lifting either.

What is daily life too, you are only talking gym. No kids to make rest of life a tad more active?

And you would be very realistic to take 20% deficit IF you have been eating up around maintenance for a while.
Not exercise included TDEE, but sedentary TDEE as you have been.
If eating up around that level, than 20% will work down to last 80 lbs to go. Then switch to 15% better.

For adjusting - you should always eat correctly for your level of activity.
10 lbs lost usually gives a decent enough change, but just look and see on the TDEE estimate by using 10 lbs lighter, you can check it out all the way to goal weight for that matter.
But more importantly, if you do more than planned in TDEE estimate - you eat more, if you do less, you eat less.
Life lesson there of course to help maintain weight.

mymodernbabylon

If you are lifting for 30-40 minutes x 3 per week and 30 min cardio x 3 per week, then I would put you between the light to moderate levels (because you may also be doing other things during your day). It's worth trying to see how it goes.

As Heybales said, 20% would make the most sense for you at this point until you get to the last 80 lb. And then as you get even closer you can switch to 10% and 5%.

When you lose 5 lbs or if you change your activity levels, go back and recalculate your numbers. And good luck!

Jennbecca33

Hi Marilyn, welcome to the group! You have found the right place and it sounds like you have a wonderful, supportive husband to encourage you along the way, which is so important! At 5'7, you are fairly tall - how much do you want to lose total? You probably don't want to lose too much more than 80 lbs total I would imagine - I would think 160 at 5'7 would look great. Like others have said, you could do a 20% deficit for a short while at the beginning to lose the first 10 lbs or so, but I would go to a 15% sooner rather than later. It looks like moderate activity level to me - weights 3-4x per week and cardio 30 min a couple times a week. You have to remember to also count your daily activity outside your formal workouts. This adds up to more than people realize, but certainly can be hard to judge how much it adds up to. Just my personal opinion here - I'd suggest starting out with taking your deficit from moderate activity level and see what your progress looks like after a few weeks. You can always adjust later and decrease your calories a bit if needed. Be sure to post back with questions and let us know how you're doing. Also, if you haven't seen already, the main website has great testimonials and all kinds of information to get you going!

http://eatmore2weighless.com/category/testimonials/transformations/

Bebe6740

Hello!!

Thank you all for the feedback! To be a little bit more detailed:

I work from home on the computer Monday- Friday for 8 hrs/day. Other than a couple of house chores- my life outside of the gym is sedentary. I don't have any children....yet? . Actually I introduced my husband to this site and he too will be EM2LW!!

At the gym I may lift for 30 minutes, with a 5 min warm up and a 10 min cool down on the treadmill - 3/4 times a week. I lift heavy and mostly do 2 reps at 10/12 reps. I target my major muscles. Also I will go an extra day or two with a 30 min cardio session.

Yes, 80 lbs sounds great, and I'd be happy at 167 lbs.

I used scoobys 'most accurate calorie calculator' with a moderate activity level and came up with 2277 calories (TDEE -20%). Does that sound like a good number for my activity level, or should I go down to lightly active?

I am determined to stick it out for life! I am so 'pumped' to change my life for good. Having my thyroid in check only makes me more hopeful.

Any additional feedback is greatly appreciated!

Marilyn

heybales

45 min x 3.5 days = 158 min.
30 min x 1.5 days = 60 min
220 min = 3:40 hrs.

Almost to the middle of Moderately Active, unless that cardio is all walking level type of calorie burn, in which case it counts half time.

With 80 lbs to go, 20% deficit (569) is about 1 lb weekly, which could be taken until 60 lbs left.
Then switch to 15%.

Just remember if you end up doing more than 80 min extra in some special week - need to log the extra workout and calories less the same 20-15%, and totally eat them back.

Bebe6740

Awesome!!! Thank you so much! Will keep you all up to date with my progress!