Reading and Reading and confused...

jvezzsb01

Hi All,
Firstly, thank you to everyone who has helped, posted, and replied to all the messages on the board. This is a treasure trove of information. I have been enjoying and absorbing the links, posts and the website.

I had posted before about my backstory on the intro page and then had posted a question about RMR after having mine tested.

Now, I am back

Basically, I am working up to my TDEE. The calculator on your site has me at 2100 and change to maintain(5'1" and 140-142 lbs) for moderate activity. I have been eating at a deficit for over a year and had stopped losing and was pregnant(couldn't work up to maintenance because of nausea), miscarried and still could not lose the extra 8-10 pounds I had put on almost within two months of being pregnant. Popped out of my jeans and had no baby and was very low because of it all.

This month we had RMR tested and that was another low point. Joined the EM2WL group and have been doing my Strong Curves program and re-incorporating my morning and after dinner walks. I live in California and its always easy for me to get outside for a nice stroll. I had no idea my walks were long(45 minutes to a little over and hour). I enjoy my walks; the morning walks are refreshing and quiet before everyone is awake and get me ready for the day with children to care for and all the tasks around the house and the after dinner walks are restorative as well. My mph varies from 2.5-3.5 mph, and so i don't consider them major cardio. I do sweat because our neighborhood is full of inclines and declines but again, I wear sandals when walking in the evening and sneakers in the morning.

Are these ok to keep up with strength training 3-4 times a week? I finally hit 100 pounds on my hip thrusts(still dying though) and 50 pounds on my barbell bench press(!) which was huge for me.
Will my strolls interfere with my strength training and body sculpting and fat loss goals? I am still working up to TDEE, and so I have MAJOR fear of gaining again. I am still hovering in the 1800 calorie range.
I bought a fitbit Zip and just wear it all day and haven't entered in any exercise or anything and have been getting 18k-21k steps a day. So it had my calories burned higher than the calculator on the website. I don't enter in weight lifting into my fitbit or MFP. Which would you use as the TDEE to strive for?


If you have stayed with me this long and can understand my questions, thank you!

jerilynconn

Wow- lots of steps!

At em2wl they say weights to transform, cardio for fun. If your walks are important to you, keep them.

What tdee does your Fitbit give you? Go off of that, but you may need to adjust up or down depending. You can monitor your weight and other measurements to help figure out if that is right for you.

If you go slow you can minimize weight gain but please keep in mind that its just a number. When you eat more you can build muscle. Muscle weighs the same as fat but per pound it takes up less space. Focus on non-scale victories. You may gain, and thats ok. Nothing is irreversible.

I am sorry for your loss. I put on weight with my loss as well. Be kind to your body and yourself.

empressichel

That is a lot of steps, but most definitely keep your walks if you love them. They will be good for reducing stress and sound like its a good time just to be with yourself.
However, the calculators only work if we are honest about our activity levels! You are above moderate!
The Fitbit will be a good estimate, but remember it underestimates weight lifting too.
Try to gradually get up to the TDEE number on your Fitbit. These numbers are all just guides, but your activity level is high, so be honest with yourself and eat for your activity.
Ichel
EM2WL ambassador and moderator

Raynn1

While your walks may not seem like standard "exercise", it moves your body beyond the moderate level and your body still burns more calories in a day with the walks in. Over time, it no longer becomes "exercise", it just becomes your NEAT (Your normal everyday movements) Over time your walks may not have the same caloric burn over when you first began them, but your body still burns calories when in movement.

Your Fitbit will likely give you a better estimate of your TDEE over the calculators. The only thing it wont do is calculate your weight lifting burns. As @empressichel said, your tdee will only be accurate if you are honest with your activity.

Kelly
EM2WL Ambassador and Moderator

jvezzsb01

Thanks so much! I guess I figured I could only put strenuous if I was working out 5-6 days a week lifting or running or hiking or some other intense training. I thought that is what strenuous meant. I kept thinking I was a stretch at moderate and only put moderate because of the weightlifitng(which I love now!!).

One of my biggest concerns was the walking interfering with my strength building because of all the reading about steady state cardio tearing down the muscle I want to build and it making people softer and having a hard time because of storing fat. That was my other concern. I figured I would back off of my walks if I had to. If it doesn't ruin my efforts with the weights than yay. If it does then I'll have to find something else to relax.

jerilynconn

Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems like people really into bodybuilding would avoid too much walking. Many people who lift have active jobs that they must do anyways. If you can eat enough for the walking and lifting (and, if building muscle, more)

However, my favorite way of relaxing is watching a show with popcorn and a Moscow mule every night so what do I know?

TerezaToledo

@jvezzsb01 I know exactly what you mean about loving your walks, specially the morning one. For me it helps me clear my mind and de-stress. Without them, I feel caged! Now back to them being detrimental to muscle building, I don't think so. Unless you were under eating. Actually, I think that they help loosen up and alleviate muscle soreness and tightness. If you were running or training for a marathon I'd say that you would definitely end up losing some muscle mass and would have to choose one or the other result (build muscle or build endurance). But like Kelly said, after a while the walks will be part of your active style and be considered NEAT. Your body will adapt and become more efficient, therefore burning less during them.

I did go through a phase where I was putting in a lot of steps from walking and from work in top of my lifting. Muscle wise, it was not detrimental because I was making sure I was eating at TDEE. The only caveat was that I would feel sore sometimes and my body would scream for breaks (which wasn't easy to get my mind around it back then).

This is an excellent read about how much cardio is too much: http://eatmore2weighless.com/how-much-cardio-is-too-much/

Tereza
Team EM2WL

jvezzsb01

Thank you Tereza this is so helpful! I'm still working up to TDEE and am loving the lifting and didn't want to work against myself. Fitbit has me averaging 2399 a day and the EM2WL has me around that at strenuous. I guess if I pick moderate then that throws it off so if I put strenuous activity(which to me sounds soooo not like me

jvezzsb01

My post was cut off...
The calculator comes in within 30 calories of my Fitbit when I enter strenuous activity.

You guys are great. Thank you so much for the advice, encouragement and information.

empressichel

jvezzsb01 wrote: »

My post was cut off...
The calculator comes in within 30 calories of my Fitbit when I enter strenuous activity.

You guys are great. Thank you so much for the advice, encouragement and information.

That just shows doesn't it, the fact they are so close.
I love that you were able to post here and get the help you needed.
So nice to have you in this group.
Ichel
EM2WL Ambassador and Moderator

heybales

If you want to see the better Fitbit estimate of calorie burn to include the lifting (which the Zip is giving you basically BMR level calorie burn during the workout - and you are burning more than sleeping, right?) - enter the workout on Fitbit under Weights.

That would be the entry if the lifting is 5-15 reps with sets, rests of 2-4 min between sets, and lifting heavy for you.
Just need to note the start and duration time when you do it for entering it.

Probably higher burn than you are seeing.

And you can backtrack a couple of days on Fitbit to log past workouts, so it shows up in weekly emailed report.

jvezzsb01

Thank you heybales! I'm still not managing eating up to TDEE, not only is it frightening to go up to Fitbit's 2400 I just don't end up with the time to squeeze the calories in unless it's Sunday or I'm at a family party. Still working at it.

TerezaToledo

@jvezzsb01 Take it slowly, one thing at a time. Once you master one, like its second nature, you move to another. This IS a journey for life. Keep going, don't get sidetracked, you are doing an amazing job!

Tereza
Team EM2WL

empressichel

jvezzsb01 wrote: »

Thank you heybales! I'm still not managing eating up to TDEE, not only is it frightening to go up to Fitbit's 2400 I just don't end up with the time to squeeze the calories in unless it's Sunday or I'm at a family party. Still working at it.

I used to have that problem too. I tried spacing my meals out into more snacks throughout the day because I just found lots of calories too hard to stomach in one sitting. Also trying high calorie dense foods like nuts, nut butters, avocados they will help with the calorie amount and are super good for you too!
Keep going slowly increasing as you are. You're doing great!
Ichel
EM2WL ambassador and moderator

jvezzsb01

Thank you Ichel, I'm getting closer to hitting my macros consistently. The nut butter is a huge help and piece of dark chocolate to go with it and some milk. I had one day last week that was the perfect 40/30/30 most other days I have been coming in within a percent or two of goal. Trying my best.

So happy to have found you all!

empressichel

jvezzsb01 wrote: »

Thank you Ichel, I'm getting closer to hitting my macros consistently. The nut butter is a huge help and piece of dark chocolate to go with it and some milk. I had one day last week that was the perfect 40/30/30 most other days I have been coming in within a percent or two of goal. Trying my best.

So happy to have found you all!

That is amazing macros! Isn't it great how you can look at you marcos and go hmmmm......think I need some dark chocolate to balance things out!
Never thought I would be saying that to myself 5 years ago! How about you?

Ichel

TerezaToledo

@jvezzsb01 Nut butter and dark chocolate, yum, by themselves or together, you just gave me so e ideas, lol! Excellent job on hitting those macros!

Tereza
Team EM2WL