Activity level advice please :)

amahna88

Hello I am just wondering if someone can give me advice on what my activity level is. I lift weights 3x a week for 40 minutes per session (heavy lifting). I do 10 minutes of HIIT on the treadmill after my lifting seasons, and I run 3 miles one day a week. Aside from that, I walk some throughout the day, but I'm mostly sedentary from 9-3.

Also...I've been eating about 2000 calories a day for the past month without any changes. Does that mean I need to up them more? Or do a cut?

MandaLeigh123

what are your stats? gender, age, weight, height? what do you do after 3pm? kids or pets that have you busy in the afternoons? 3pm- bedtime is a long chunk of time

amahna88

MandaLeigh123 wrote: »

what are your stats? gender, age, weight, height? what do you do after 3pm? kids or pets that have you busy in the afternoons? 3pm- bedtime is a long chunk of time

Haha! No kids or pets. I meant that from 9-3 I'm sedentary, and after 3 is when I workout and do normal life stuff - cooking, cleaning, etc, but nothing strenuous (other than the workout). And I'm female, 27, 5'7", 168lbs.

MandaLeigh123

Everyone's normal life stuff is pretty different, and that's why I asked about kids. People burn a lot more calories than they realize depending on what kind of normal life stuff you are doing. Me for example, at home my normal life stuff is legit sitting at a desk studying for school for hours on end. Other people are cooking, cleaning, gardening, walking the dog, laundry with a lot more movement.
So I put you in the moderate activity level 3-5 hours a week, because with exercise alone you are over 3 hours. You also said you walk some during the day. Then also just take a good look at your weekends. Most people who come to EM2WL are underestimating their activity level. I know I was. I put myself in the moderate level, when I am actually in the highest level possible.
So your TDEE moderate: 2582
-20% is 2052
So you should not go any lower than that. Maybe you are being to aggressive with a -20% cut. When you don't have much to lose, sometimes a smaller cut is better. Especially when you are weight training as well. Your body needs the fuel to repair.
-10% is 2324
Do you also take pictures and take your measurements to *kitten* your body changing? The scale is an easy way to see a difference, but not always the best way. It doesn't not account for muscle development and it often mis-leads with showing shifts in water weight.

Just as an example, I'm 5'7' 145-148lbs, and I am very active with a a TDEE of 2850-2950 so my cuts anywhere from 2400-2600. I don't want to lose muscle mass! If I cut more, my body will start eating its own muscle for fuel. Unfortunately, the body doesn't know to go for the fat first. I've been working my butt off to get gains strength training, and I don't want to sacrifice them just to see the number on the scale go down.

Did you come from a background of low calorie dieting? If you did, you might need to do a full metabolism reset of 8-12 weeks at your TDEE to repair your metabolism. Could be why you aren't seeing any changes. If you started with EM2WL, and are not coming from a low cal diet, then maybe try upping your calories. Other things to look at are portion sizes and if you are measuring accurately, all that jazz I'm only 2 months in to this, but hopefully this can help you. I've got a pretty busy few weeks coming up and won't be able to get back to you again, but maybe some other folks can help.