Stuck! Any tips?

booluviemomma

Hi! I've been at this weight loss thing 66 days now, so I'm still getting the hang of things! I discovered em2wl about 3 weeks in. I never did a reset because I really didn't do low calorie much at all. The lowest I tried was 1600 and, at 5'8" and 240, I felt like crap and went back to around 1800. I soon discovered this group and the ever fabulous spreadsheet, and found a balance. I'd been shedding pounds and inches between my cut and JM 30ds. Of course I realize that initial water weight was probably most of my weight loss so far, but inches don't lie! I'm down nearly a pant size! I am happy with my progress so far. I've lost inches, feel firmer, and I feel better over all. I just seems to have stalled the last few weeks. I don't kind slow but I do want to keep it moving!
Here are my stats:
SW: 243
CW: 225
GW: 145-165? I'll know when I get there!
BMR: 1730 (spreadsheet) 1860 (scooby)
TDEE: 2752/2800

I've been eating at the spreadsheet recommended cut -25.4, 2052 calories for nearly a month. I weighed in at 225 June 10th, dipped down to 223 then 220 the following week. But then shot back up nearly to 230 withing days and have settled back to 225. So over the last month I bounced around but basically stuck at 225. My measurements haven't changed over the last few weeks either.
I do jm 30ds 4-5 days per week, swim 2-4 days (with the kids so not too many laps though!), and chase after 4 kids and run my home. I'm fairly active.

So any tips? Am I doing ok? Should I just be patient and keep on trucking? Or should I change something? Eat at TDEE for a couple weeks? Or just take a smaller cut?

Thanks in advance! I hate doubting myself!

heybales

So your TDEE in sheet is honest look at weekly activity, about say 3-5 hrs of exercise (I notice BMR multiplier is 1.59, so above the Moderately active level by a bit)?
Just use averages - 30DS is 4.5 x minutes high cardio, swimming 3 x min low or med or even high cardio if more intense than walking 4mph flat.
Just be honest.

Did you enter in that daily activity that is much more active than sedentary 40 hr desk job which is default daily activity?

And weight loss is not linear at all, you can go a couple weeks with no weight loss, only inches, and then get a whoosh effect and drop several pounds. Happens all the time.

If honest, and updating the BF% in that cell from the BF calculator average, then it should be good.

If exercise seems intense, might benefit from an exercise break one week, eating correct TDEG for that week, and then following week eat correct TDEE when you go back to your workouts.
Then after those 2 weeks of exercise and then diet break, go back to TDEG.

Exercise break week, plan on walking during your normal workout time, so use the activity calculator for that amount of walking.
Just remember to change it back when the exercise starts back up again.

When you get big fluctuations like that, sounds like glucose stores at various levels of being filled, which usually only happens when deficit is too great, in this case because your TDEE may not be honest and is really higher. That in itself will cause the fat edema, until you eat enough or at least enough carbs.

booluviemomma

So your TDEE in sheet is honest look at weekly activity, about say 3-5 hrs of exercise (I notice BMR multiplier is 1.59, so above the Moderately active level by a bit)?
Just use averages - 30DS is 4.5 x minutes high cardio, swimming 3 x min low or med or even high cardio if more intense than walking 4mph flat.
Just be honest.

Did you enter in that daily activity that is much more active than sedentary 40 hr desk job which is default daily activity?

And weight loss is not linear at all, you can go a couple weeks with no weight loss, only inches, and then get a whoosh effect and drop several pounds. Happens all the time.

If honest, and updating the BF% in that cell from the BF calculator average, then it should be good.

If exercise seems intense, might benefit from an exercise break one week, eating correct TDEG for that week, and then following week eat correct TDEE when you go back to your workouts.
Then after those 2 weeks of exercise and then diet break, go back to TDEG.


Exercise break week, plan on walking during your normal workout time, so use the activity calculator for that amount of walking.
Just remember to change it back when the exercise starts back up again.

When you get big fluctuations like that, sounds like glucose stores at various levels of being filled, which usually only happens when deficit is too great, in this case because your TDEE may not be honest and is really higher. That in itself will cause the fat edema, until you eat enough or at least enough carbs.

Thanks, Haybales! You are phenomenal, as usual! I really appreciate your taking the time to give such a detailed and thought out response. I'll give those two weeks a try. I'm just hoping I can get my TDEE figured out! I have a hard time figuring out how much time I spend moving, being a stay at home mom. I know I am up and down a lot, caring for my kids and running my home. But I also spend a lot of time on my tush, reading to them and teaching. It's kid of frustrating not knowing how to track it all! I guess time and some tweaking here and there will tell eventually!