I'm very new to this group

empresssue

I've been researching this group & method a lot before I finally decided to take the plunge. I've been plateaued for about 4 months using the MFP & eating back my exercise calories method.

My current stats:
Female
Age 46
CW: 187
Exercise: spin for 45 minutes 5 days per week; cardio circuit (1 minute cardio, followed by 1 minute weight training) 40 minutes 2 days per week; simply free weight lifting 45 minutes 1-2 days per week; TRX 45 minutes 2 days per week. Sometimes I have a rest day, sometimes I don't.

According to Scooby, at a level of 5-6 hours per week strenuous exercise:
BMR 1561
TDEE 2693
-15% 2289.

Am I under or overestimating my activity level? Additionally, do I need to do the reset 1st & eat at my TDEE? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!!!

heybales

Since you were doing MFP correctly, meaning eating back exercise calories, what has been your gross eating level on average for last 4 months (not NET, but gross)?
You may not be as bad off as you think on eating level.
How good at logging your food, meaning you weigh all foods except liquids which are measured? Or you used a scale for at least 2 weeks to see how bad only measuring is, and have correct amounts now? Eat out a lot and estimate calories?

Regarding exercise routine on fat/weight loss.

You might be aware that exercise if done right tears the body down.
It's the rest for recovery and repair that makes it stronger, if diet supports it.

Where is your rest for recovery and repair?

If you have no chance for recovery and repair, exercise not only provides little of the improvement it could otherwise, it mainly turns into just one big stress on the body, merely an extra calorie burn. Now if really short and just want to be able to eat more - understandable, but better ways to go about it.
That stress along with diet deficit and life, you will be fighting your body for fat/weight loss - and you will likely lose as you've shown for 4 months, and not weight, I mean lose the fight.

You might have started with the concept that exercise was for fat/weight loss.

Diet is for weight loss, done right only fat loss, done wrong muscle mass loss.
Exercise is for heart health and body improvements, done right it supports only fat loss, done wrong helps muscle mass loss.

During a deficit exercise should actually be backed off because of the fact your body cannot recover as well as if you were eating at maintenance, and an unrecovered body is just under more stress. So there should be less deficit.

Now, I'm sure at this point many of those workouts are not as intense as they could be. I'm sure they feel like it, but since you have nothing to compare to with a properly rested body, feeling is not objective opinion.
Now perhaps some of those are done at recovery level purposely, easy exercise (I make some spin bike sessions that, keeping HR low). But considering what you have piled together, I'm guessing you try to push as hard as you can on everything. Maybe I'm assuming wrong, sorry if so.

I'm sure you've heard of intervals - push hard for brief period, go easy for brief period. As you probably know, it's the hard part that causes the improvements. It's the easy part that allows pushing so hard on the hard part.
What do you think happens to the ability to push as hard, if say the easy period was half the time?
What do you think happens to the ability to push as hard, if say the easy effort wasn't as easy, but barely below the hard effort?
What kind of improvement do you think happens to the hard effort in those cases, compared to the easy effort really being easy?

Think about your weekly routine in that context too. Especially while eating at a deficit.

So you can either keep that exercise level, of course eat more, and hope the level of stress isn't too great, and realize you can't get as much out of your workouts as you could otherwise, and hope for the best, it'll take longer, which may be fine for you.

Or change up your weekly routine and really get some benefit from your exercise.
You'll need to decide why you are doing the exercise of course, and what is the focus you want out of it.
If weight loss, then reread the fact above and rethink your goals.
Another truth to keep in mind, again even more so eating at a deficit - jack-of-all-trades master of none. Though you can tweak things to get the best you can if really 2 goals.

Might use the spreadsheet on my profile page first to start with best estimates of everything, and see about that exercise level now based on type and time of activity, and what it would result in if some changes were done. Also track progress of inches and bodyfat along with weight.

It would also include your daily life, because you may not be sedentary desk job outside of exercise. If more than that, your TDEE could be even higher than the 1.68 multiplier I see based on 7.7 hours a week of exercise. (5 x 45 & 2 x 40 high cardio, 1.5 x 45 lifting, 2 x 45 medium cardio)

And yes, on simple TDEE table, 7.7 hrs is well above 5-6 hrs.

Need for reset will depend on what gross eating level has been, compared to best estimated TDEE level and say 10-20% deficit based on amount to lose.
Great job on loss so far.

empresssue

OK, lots to consider in your reply, which I truly appreciate.

1. Weighing & measuring: I did start out doing that & feel comfortable with my portions, but I suspect it wouldn't hurt for me to double check myself on that.

2. Exercise: I was really trying to jump start myself when I plateaued, so I started exercising more. Now that I think about it, my losses were better when I wasn't pushing so hard. I exercise for 2 main reasons: stress & muscle preservation. That said, rest days would certainly do me good. And, by rest days, would doing something very light (like walking) be OK still?

3. I will have to check out my gross calories. It freaked me out when I reset my MFP weight & suddenly the allotted calories went down even more. Now I do understand that as weight decreases, I'll need fewer calories to maintain. It was just too hard to stay within the 1465 prescribed by MFP on my non-exercise days. That's another reason why I started really exercising every day & then started researching this group.

4. So, how do I account for any weight-lifting/TRX type of activity? Is it the full 45 minutes? I'm a little confused by how to calculate it based on what you said below: It would also include your daily life, because you may not be sedentary desk job outside of exercise. If more than that, your TDEE could be even higher than the 1.68 multiplier I see based on 7.7 hours a week of exercise. (5 x 45 & 2 x 40 high cardio, 1.5 x 45 lifting, 2 x 45 medium cardio).

5. I don't mind taking my time losing weight because I know deprivation isn't good for me, but I would like to see some more progress.

heybales

1 - good idea, especially stuff you might not have weighed back when you did it, but hoped you are guessing right. Some are better at that then others, I'm terrible.

2 - Walking is great for recovery, gets the blood flowing to muscles trying to repair, but doesn't put another load on them that needs repair. Nor does it tire them out so much that a good workout the next day is impacted.
And your experience is exactly what many see, exercise more, less positive benefit, especially in weight loss.
What basically happens when undereating for level of activity, studies have shown your body just slows other parts of your day down, your Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT). So you may add 500 calories of exercise to a day, but because of that stress and not enough food, your body slows rest of your day down by say 300 calories because your BMR can only be suppressed so much. So in reality, you only increased your TDEE by 200 calories with the execrise, not 500. And your body still doesn't have enough energy from food to make improvements from the exercise, it caused that effect to have enough for basic functions of life. But even there, you've likely heard of ones suffering hair loss, skin problems, nail growth slows or stops, so some stuff is effected, but those aren't needed for life.

3 - So your lower goal still may have been because you left 2 lb goal loss selected. If you had moved to 1 lb recommended at some point, would have been much better. So this method will give a more balanced approach, as to eating same amount daily. Better planning, perhaps better control. Some are motivated more by reward of more food, some are motivated more by meeting already planned goals - that just depends on you. Of course this method is the latter motivator.

4 - In the spreadsheet, lifting with sets and rests has it's own line for calorie burn, because you don't burn as much. TRX is body weight stuff, but usually more constant, but not as intense as spin cardio. HR may shoot up, but that's because of the effort, not because of the calorie burn. I did lifting as 1.5 x 45 because you said 1-2 days so that is average, TRX you said 2 x 40 min. But that exercise all counts, just as MFP has an entry for strength training. It may not seem high calorie compared to cardio, but that is true.
Were you logging both those things and eating those calories back?

5 - So slow progress because of purposeful choices is much better on the body, compared to slow progress because of poor choices and you forced the body in to that state.
Guess which one allows improvement from exercise? If body is stressed over being underfed for what you ask of it - it's not about to expend energy making improvements that will require yet more energy on constant basis.

empresssue

Again, I appreciate the info & time.

1. I'll dig out the trusty food scale.

2. I did have issues with hair loss until I started eating more. I checked out my average gross calories & see it's about 2200 average per day & when I started doing that, I got more energy & the hair loss stopped. I will definitely work in rest days.

3. I still had my goal set for 1 lb loss. I'm about 25 lbs from where I'd like to be ideally, so I do understand I need to do a lesser deficit now.

4. I'll go hunt down the spreadsheet & see if I can't make some better sense of things.

5. Slow & purposeful while taking care of myself is what I'd prefer:)

empresssue

PS-I just did the spreadsheet & taking into account some of my regular activity+decreasing some of my workouts, it actually shows a TDEG of 2300 calories. I'll have to really start working on that without going over sodium. After the subzero temps dissapate a bit around here, I'm off to the store for more fruits & veggies. I don't add salt to anything, so that helps. How long do I give this? Thanks again!

heybales

PS-I just did the spreadsheet & taking into account some of my regular activity+decreasing some of my workouts, it actually shows a TDEG of 2300 calories. I'll have to really start working on that without going over sodium. After the subzero temps dissapate a bit around here, I'm off to the store for more fruits & veggies. I don't add salt to anything, so that helps. How long do I give this? Thanks again!

So only 100 more than what you were grossing before on probably your big days. And from the results you got, sounds like that may have been a tad less than desired.

If there is really any more increase to do, like to figure out where to put the extra calories, only add 100-200 daily for a week or two at a time, even though it sounds like you've been at this level before, so you may know full well where to stick them.
Still may want to increase slowly.

With that big exercise routine you've been doing, but perhaps only 100 below a more reasonable level, you may want to just keep adding 100 weekly until you spend a couple weeks at estimated TDEE, allow hormones to be reset, show body it's going to get what it needs for what you are asking from it, and after that unstressing, then go back to TDEG.
After all, you spent 4 months with no loss, what's 2 more weeks eating at maintenance to set the path for better loss later? Well ok, some weeks getting up to TDEE too. You should be really able to see the difference in whatever work outs you keep doing, not only because of doing smarter routine, but eating more.
Just don't learn to love the improvement too much, may hate backing down again.