My Documented Progress

desjham1

Hi everyone!

I decided to start a new discussion to document my journey and hopefully give some inspiration to other people like me! I started a couple of weeks ago on the eat more 2 weigh less train. I am 22, 5'7", female, and started increasing my calorie intake at 150lbs. I got here from 170lbs with intense workouts and ~1200 calories a day. The weight absolutely melted off (I didn't track my food until recently when I realized how low this was. I see a nutritionist and we got me over the calorie counting, but after we made this discovery I have to track to make sure I am eating enough until I am used to eating the right amount and I can go back to hunger cues. I also recently added more healthy carbs to my life! I forgot how great toast and PB was at breakfast! It's been great so far).

My workout schedule consists of the following, plus 1/2 hour of the arc trainer every morning where I catch up on the news. My gym offered Les Mills classes that I take at 5:30am every day. It gets me to the gym and then I follow it up with my cardio and news:
Monday: BodyPump
Tuesday: BodyStep, CX Worx, nighttime personal training session where we practice lifting and form
Wednesday: Leg Day (Squats, deadlifts, leg presses, various conditioning exercises)
Thursday: BodyVive
Friday: Upper Body (OH Press, Barbell Row, Bench Press, various conditioning exercises)
Saturday: BodyAttack
Sunday: Rest Day

Over the past couple weeks I have increased my calorie intake. The first week was 1600 and I lost 1.4lbs that week down to 148.6 (previously on 1200 calories a day I was losing 2+ lbs a week, so that is why I knew I needed to start eating more since I am so close to my goal of 140-145. I somehow never plateaued.) In the middle of last week I increased to 1800 and lost 0.2lbs down to 148.4. I am thrilled that I haven't gained yet, but I know that means I need to keep going up. On Wednesday I will increase to 1900.

I calculated my TDEE on IIFYM with 6 days a week and got 2207. But really, what is a 'workout' considered? I workout for 75-90 minutes typically. It seems like my TDEE would obviously be higher than if my workout was only 45 minutes but that option isn't there.
I also calculated on scooby's workshop with 7-21 hours a week of strenuous exercise (7-21 seems like a large gap) and got a big difference of 2861. Dropping it go 5-6 hours puts me at 2597 which is still a lot more than IIFYM.

I really have no clue what my TDEE will be closer to because of my workout schedule, so here is my Documented journey so we can figure it out together! Please let me know if you have advice, especially on the TDEE numbers

retirehappy

Scooby's number is usually recommended. Since you are exercising a lot, it is probably closer then the other number anyway. If you have a heart rate monitor you could get a more personalized number.

So far it is looking like you are doing the right stuff, slowly upping and accepting the lower loses. Working yourself into maintenance mode. Congrats on your successes thus far

Thanks for posting I am doing a reset and am interested in how/what others are doing along the path.

heybales

Exactly - 1 hr walking is not the same as 1 hr running as 1 hr lifting.

Try this, your classes are high cardio. Lifting sounds like lifting.

And it's the daily activity out of exercise that is never discussed in those TDEE tables.

Just TDEE please, better than 5 level TDEE charts.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G7FgNzPq3v5WMjDtH0n93LXSMRY_hjmzNTMJb3aZSxM/edit?usp=sharing

And indeed - with all that high aerobic/anaerobic workouts burning tons of carbs - guess what you body is just itching to add to muscles that it can't being in that much of a deficit?
Carbs with attached water.

You will experience the truth that exercise does NOT cause weight loss, but rather water weight gain first.

oh, regarding iifym TDEE charts - I've only seen 2 people that ever compared that method with their actual weight loss and found it correct - all the others said it badly underestimated their TDEE based on their actual results.
I'd skip it.

desjham1

That spreadsheet is great, thank you! I used 190 minutes for lifting and 340 minutes for cardio. I have a desk job (although I work from home some days and find I am more active around the house during breaks) and a puppy (who sleeps a lot) so some nights I am not very active so I wasn't sure what to put as an activity level. Not checking any boxes, my TDEE is 2366. By checking the first activity box my TDEE is 2587 which sounds more reasonable based on what I got from Scooby originally.

So using a TDEE of 2587, a 10% cut is 2327 and a 15% cut is 2198. I will slowly be working my way up to all of these numbers and will keep you all updated! My TDEE is 800 more calories a day than where I am right now. Can't wait for those extra calories

heybales

So the sedentary in that sheet is the same MFP uses, and is based on much more recent research than the 1919 Harris study that is used in the normal TDEE chart used by Scooby and others.

So if your job or home life really doesn't have you that active after work, I wouldn't check that box for a full-time on your feet job.

I'd say work your way up to that 2366 for reset time.
Then at some point test out that TDEE by doing 2 week 250 test, eating about 2610 daily, and confirm you gain 1 lb slowly, which confirms prior level was TDEE.

desjham1

Very fair! It was the "If you have kids/pets keeping you more active nights/weekends, but still desk job" box that I was questioning on whether or not to check, so I just assumed to go up since a lot of other things I've read have said to do that since most underestimate. I will work my way up to the 2366 number and see what happens with the 2 week 250 test. Thank you so much! I'm SO excited for the upcoming weeks!

desjham1

This past week I had my calories around 1800 and added either rice or potatoes back to my lunches (before it was just chicken and veggies typically). My original plan was to increase faster, but I think I will take it slower since I am not really in a rush and my metabolism wasn't really "shot" to begin with since I was consistently losing the difference between my TDEE and intake but it was just too low to be healthy. My weigh ins are on Sunday so it makes more sense to make my decision to increase or not at the beginning of the week rather than the middle like I started with. The extra rice/potatoes puts me up to 4 starches a day (my typical limit) compared to the 1 I was having less than a month ago. I'm still having my bloated days and days where I just don't want to eat that much but I am getting my body used to it still. I think I will do 1800 for another week and see if it gets better.

I also cut out a session of cardio (30 minutes) from my weekend because I noticed just how tired I was at the end of the week and I couldn't give the session my all so now I have more time to rest for Monday morning when it all starts again! I've also changed my Personal Training sessions to every other week due to my work schedule changing. So my TDEE based on the sheet is about 2312 on weeks where I don't have that extra session. I've also noticed my deadlifts getting MUCH better these past couple of weeks!

Overall progress from 1200 calories a day:
Week 1: 1600 calories, -1.4lbs
Week 2: 1800 calories, -0.2lbs (not a full week, only a few days at 1800)
Week 3: 1800 calories, +0.4lbs (I blame this on adding an extra daily starch my body is getting used to and rebuilding the stores. Not really concerned.)

Let's see what this week brings!

retirehappy

Looks like your body is liking your new routine. You are making good decisions, we do need rest days. Thanks for the update.

heybales

Good call on routine. Who knows, when eating enough to aid recovery, may be able to make that a recovery cardio session again because it won't take as much out of ya.
Remember, not every session should be done as hard as possible, some should be recovery level, mainly cardio.