Had RMR tested

jvezzsb01

Hi All,
I'm newish to the group. I have been on MFP for over a year and lost weight. I was eating some of my exercise calories back but not all and mainly just walking, which I really enjoy. This led to weight loss but no real change in composition. Picked up weights along the way with the small Dumbbells and eventually started in on Strong Curves (4 days a week)and began doing heavier weights.
Have been struggling to lose any weight and all the calculators put me as eating in a deficit.
This morning I went to a place to have my RMR tested via a mouthpiece that you breathe into. There was no mask on my face just me holding the piece with a clip on my nose. My RMR came out to 1152 which is -16% below the normal. Not going to lie completely frustrated that their calorie suggestions have me eating 1000-1152 for weight loss and maintenance at 1152-1497.

I have only started to make sure I increase my calories to hit 1600-1800 most days these last few weeks. I feel as if I'm going to break with so much conflicting information and I feel completely defeated.

I am 39, 5'1" and female.

I'm just wondering if perhaps the year of MFP eating guidelines could have ruined my metabolism that much or if my metabolism is just that slow then perhaps I need to adjust my calorie intake again and slightly lower it.

Thanks so much for your help and advice.

jerilynconn

What was your average calorie intake the last year? It definitely could have caused your body to respond to less calories. Therefore you were no longer in a deficit, but rather at what your body saw as maintenance.

RMR doesn't take any activity into account. You have to eat that plus your daily movements plus your exercise.

Slowly work up your calories to find your tdee.

Raynn1

Keep in mind those things are not 100% accurate either, especially ones that you just breathe into. However, if its showing you 16% lower in RMR than you should be, its a good sign your metabolism is damaged from undereating. Unfortunately MFP does not follow the recommended calorie intakes that our TDEE calulators do. In fact, they dont account for any real facts with RMR or TDEE, Personally I think they draw numbers out of a hat:)


Have you checked your TDEE against our calculator to see what your number is?
http://eatmore2weighless.com/weight-loss-calculator/

This will tell you what your body needs just to maintain its current weight. Your TDEE - 15% cut is what you should have been eating when you lost your weight, as to not damage your metabolism. If what you were eating on your dieting plan is well below that number, then its a good sign again that you are/were eating in too big of a deficit and could have done some metabolic damage. If so, I would take a look at our Metabolism reset guide and maybe consider doing a reset to get your metabolism back burning where it should be.
http://eatmore2weighless.com/the-metabolism-reset-guide/

Hope this helps a bit. Please let me know if you need any more help with it
Kelly
EM2WL Ambassador and Moderator

jvezzsb01

Thank you, everyone. I am trying to get an average number of calories for the last year but I am still trying to navigate the reports. It seems as if they give the daily but not an overall average.

Raynn1- I checked my my TDEE against the calculator on the Eat More site and it is different. I was just thinking that my metabolism is so slow and that is why I have been spinning my wheels. Whatever MFP would give me I stayed within that range typically 1250-1600 depending on the amount of cardio. I never added in weightlifting to my MFP calculations and I tried to never consume all of my cardio calories(except for special occasions that could not be avoided but I prepped for). My Eat More calories came out to:

BMR:1361
Maint: 2109
15% cut:1793(!)

The EM2WL cut was what would be a luxury day for me with some splurges when I was steadily losing and lifting. I mentioned on the board that I had a pregnancy and miscarriage(January through March this year) and at that time I packed on at least 8-10 eating at slightly less than what should have been my maintenance (1760 in MFP calculations) because I felt so horrible and tired.

This week I have been hitting 1700-1800 calories and walking, I like my strolls in the morning and evening and log between 5-7 miles a day with some fresh air and quiet, and I lift 4 times a week with the Strong Curves program.

I just felt so torn with cutting calories again to lose and with trying to up my calories slowly. It took so long for me to lose the 27 pounds that to have them creep on feels like I am just losing the fight.

Raynn1

@jvezzsb01 I understand where you are coming from with the gains. Its not easy to change your way of living and realize that for most of us, it means a gain in the scale, something we worked so hard to lose in the first place. But the problem is, we didnt lose the weight the "right" way.. we lost precious muscle, and thats what causes the metabolism to lower and makes it harder for us to lose weight the lower we get.

The MFP numbers are wildly inaccurate. They are very basic, very limited and I have yet to meet someone who has had an accurate number given to them, unfortunately. It acts like a diet program in that sense. And that unfortunately puts a lot of people like yourself in a starvation mode "diet"

Basically you are saying you were eating well below your 15% cut, and never ate back exercise cals, and never accounted for weight lifting. So your body is most likely in need of a reset. When you eat well below the range you are supposed to, and for a long period of time like you did, your body has no idea what to do when you eat more than that number, but store it in case you drop calories again. Thats what causes the weight gains.. It becomes a feast or famine game for your body, so it stores the extra cals causing the scale to go up. But with enough time and patience to allow the body to "heal" at maintenance, your metabolism learns to burn the correct amount of fuel it needs.

There are a bunch of articles posted in our resources, which discuss the body's response to the low calorie diets and under eating. I would recommend reading through some of them to understand what undereating does, and how it affects our metabolism.
http://eatmore2weighless.com/faqs/resources/

A little further down the page there are some videos from BioLayne which talks about metabolic damage. They are very informative.

Believe me, I understand. I gained back about 35 pounds when I began to truly eat more and work my way up to my TDEE. But The way I look at it, I lost the weight the first time by basically starving myself. SO this time, Im eating more than DOUBLE what my "diet" calories were, so when the times comes for my cut to truly begin, The weight will go, and I will be eating far more than I ever did on a diet. Think of it as an investment in your future health and well being. Would you rather spin your wheels trying not to gain back at 27 pounds, only to resort back to diets and fad and starving yourself, or would you rather invest in yourself, your time and energy now spent to really work on healing your broken metabolism, work on weight gains in the gym and truly seeing your body transform into something that will carry you forward in your goals, and to never have to worry about "dieting" ever again.


Kelly
EM2WL Ambassador and Moderator

TerezaToledo

Kelly just nailed it! The thought of the possibility of seeing the scale go up after losing weight can be scary after doing all you did to make it go down. But the thing is we ended up here because something about what we were doing didn't feel right. Either we couln't keep eating such a low calorie number, we stopped losing weight, we gained weight even when barely eating or something else.
The old ways will only work so much and trust me, after a few tries, they just won't work anymore and the spinning wheels game keeps on going.

This is why we recommend increasing the calories slowly to minimize side effects and to get our minds used to the idea of eating more and that's ok to do so. When I was losing weight the first time I came accross EM2WL I started adding calories because I just couldn't eat the 1600 calories, I needed more or I would end up bingeing. Knowing that it was ok to eat more helped me feel better about the it and in the end, my body responded much better to eating more than to eating less.

Check this article in why we need to be patient while eating more http://eatmore2weighless.com/upping-cals-what-to-expect/

Tereza
Team EM2WL

empressichel

Totally get where you are coming from. All of us here at EM2WL have our own personal experience of this so we know exactly how you feel.
As the other ladies have explained, the calorie deficit that you did to lose the weight, looks like it was too low, especially with all the walking you do, and now weights too.
This will have made your BMR/TDEE lower than it would naturally be. But the good news is, you can change it!
When I started here 4 years ago, I could gain weight eating 800-900 calories a day. My metabolism was seriously not happy with me!
And I know, the last thing you want to do is see the scale go up, but if you increase your calories slowly, you will minimize any weight gain. Plus if you are lifting weights while you eat more, you will maximize the body re composition.
Have you tried any of our free workouts over on the site?
http://eatmore2weighless.com/category/workouts/
We are here to help and support you.
Ichel
EM2WL Ambassador and Moderator

jvezzsb01

Thank you all so much! I can't tell you how much this has helped. I'm still trying to get used to things being snug, I gave away my old clothes so I wouldn't be tempted to ease back into the larger waistline.
I am going to stay the course and gradually uptick those calories. I'm seriously scared. I'm hoping not to gain back all of the weight, is that the general experience? I can't afford a whole new wardrobe again.
I'm staying with the lifting. I have been doing the lower body workout from strong Curves with the addition of upper body rows and bench presses and overhead dumbbell work. Do you all recommend I stop with the hip thrusts, squats and Romanian deadlift stuff while increasing calories?
Do I have to cut out my neighborhood strolls? My walks are not fast paced. I just enjoy stretching my legs and having some quiet early in the morning and sometimes at night after dinner. Will those walks stop the recomp and suppress my metabolism?

TerezaToledo

@jvezzsb01 I don't think you should cut on your workouts, specially on the strength training,unless you start feeling worn out or stressed out. Make sure you have rest days and good sleep. Don't try to compensate the calories you are increasing by working out more, though. If you increase it slowly, stick with lifting and some cardio (specially walking, which is great for stress relief, mild walls are amazing for your body and mind!) and work your macros, I don't think you will regain the weight you lost. You may see the scale go up a little, specially because the body will try to replenish the glycogen and water to repair me build muscle. But that does not mean you will gain fat. It will be temporary. Be prepared for the mind games that will follow.

Tereza
Team EM2WL