Questions

jlhill7

I have been yo-yo dieting for approx 2 years. The last 6 months I was eating somewhere between 1200-2200 calories off and on. I decided to do a full reset and started eating around 2000 calories a day. (Based on my BM my TDEE is 2033) The first week went great I lost 2 lbs. My question is should I continue to do a full reset or should I do a 15% cut? I thought I would gain weight so I was pretty shocked to see a loss on the scale. I now know that eating more means weighing less :-) I know this is a long process and I have not yet started lifting. I do have my Cathe DVD's I just cannot seem to find the time to get to the fire department to work out. This weekend we are going to set up a workout area in my home though so should start to be easier?

heybales

So if losing - you can't be eating at maintenance. So not eating at TDEE.

Unless your weigh-ins were invalid, and had false gain on first one and false loss on second one, creating appearance of real loss besides water.

Morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels, not sore from last workout.

That is only valid weigh-in to minimize water weight changes.
Were your 2 weigh-ins that said 2 lb loss both valid?

If so, then your TDEE is actually higher, and you lost water weight, same water weight everyone loses going in to a diet.
Because it sounds like your prior eating level was higher and therefore not a diet, and you didn't create a 1000 cal day deficit from any TDEE.
So this was initial water weight loss, which still means you are under TDEE by some amount.
Can't really tell with water weight loss though.

Sounds like it's going to change anyway since workouts will be changing.

If you did lose water weight, that means just started a diet, so 6 months if mainly near the 2200 side of range, may not have suppressed anything that needs resetting.
Which is exactly how you do it in a diet - take a break often enough to reset hormones. But not so often you kill the deficit and don't lose anything of course.

AnitraSoto

I have been yo-yo dieting for approx 2 years. The last 6 months I was eating somewhere between 1200-2200 calories off and on. I decided to do a full reset and started eating around 2000 calories a day. (Based on my BM my TDEE is 2033) The first week went great I lost 2 lbs. My question is should I continue to do a full reset or should I do a 15% cut? I thought I would gain weight so I was pretty shocked to see a loss on the scale. I now know that eating more means weighing less :-) I know this is a long process and I have not yet started lifting. I do have my Cathe DVD's I just cannot seem to find the time to get to the fire department to work out. This weekend we are going to set up a workout area in my home though so should start to be easier?

EM2WL recommends 8 - 12 weeks for the re-set. This will really give your body a chance to get used to this eating level and know that the intake will be consistent. After the 8 - 12 weeks, *then* start your cut and your body will see it as a deficit and should respond positively.

If you lost weight your first week on reset, then my guess is that you are still eating below TDEE --- either you have underestimated your activity, or may be just be not logging accurately. I would try bumping your calories up another 100 a day and see what happens. Stay at that new level for another week or so and monitor your weight. If it remains stable, or you continue to lose, bump it up another 100 the following week. The bottom line is: you want to find your true TDEE and stay there consistently for a couple of months before taking your cut - that way your body will see the cut as a cut.