Reset People: Talk some sense into me, please.

listabit

I've been watching this thread and eating more for about 4 weeks. What that means is I slowly started raising my calories from 1800 to where I am now at about 2050. In the meantime, I bought a bodymedia link and have been wearing it for 7 full days now. Here are my stats:

CW: 190
Height: 5'7"
Age: 43
GW:165 (I want to get to 24% Body fat, really - last time I checked I was at 34% and I was a bit more fit then)

Scooby says this:

BMR= 1588
Moderate - maintain= 2462 cut 15%= 2093
Strenuous -maintain=2740 cut 15%=2329

My body media Link says that over that last 7 days (granted, it did include one extra weekend day activity with memorial day):
avg. burn = 2733
avg consume = 2086
avg deficit = 647
1:35 hr moderate activity per day avg
11359 avg steps per day
6:15 hr sleep (wow! I lay down for much longer - apparently I have VERY inefficient sleep patterns)

Since my 4oth birthday I have been on a pretty serious mission to trim my middle-aged mom body. Despite my weight, I'm pretty fit. I've trained with trainers for two of the past 3 years (recently stopped working with trainer due to shoulder injury and general frustration.) I'm quite strong from all the strength training. I walk a lot, and currently I'm in a spinning class. I do have a 40 hour a week desk job, but I stay active at home with my two boys (13 and 11) and two dogs.

However, I feel like I defy the laws of nature. I have so much trouble changing my body. When I am exercising like crazy - HIIT and serious strength training, I am able to lose fat. I have never had any dramatic transformations and sometimes it seems insane how much I seem to need to exercise to see little results. I like being strong, but I'd really like to get rid of fat and not have it kill me.

So, fast forward to now. I found this group. It seems to make sense that for the past 3 years while I've been exercising a like mad, I was only eating 1500 therefore not having dramatic transformations. My poor body. Even when I wasn't being strict with dieting, I doubt I was eating much more than 2000 calories. I would put fat and lbs back on rather quickly when not being vigilent, but I think we all can agree why that may have been happening.

So, I'm really trying to change my approach with this group. I'm eating more and not killing myself with exercise. I started NRLFW a couple weeks ago - I like it. It actually seems easy, but I'm ok with that - I'll build on it. I'm in the spinning class (30 min. over lunch) and I walk my dogs.

So friends, I think the obvious thing for me to do is to eat more. Since I've been slowly upping from 1800 to 2100ish, I've gained about a pound or two. It bounces around - it's not really any different from when I restricted myself to 1500-1800. I always seem to get stuck right at 189. I feel much better eating more! So that's all good.

The issue: I having a lot of trouble thinking about eating more. I know, everyone does. I kind of feel like I'm crazy, like my body just doesn't work.

I feel like the medical industry is of no help either: my doctor can't seem to help. She kind of marvels at me and my situation. She did put me on the lowest dose of thyroid meds (25mg) even though I my numbers were just barely at the low end of normal range - they didn't seem do anything. The dietician I went to started me at 1500 calories and told me to stop exercising except for 10,000 steps per day. That didn't last long for me - I really like exercising, and I was hungry. It seemed like a stupid one-size-fits-all approach.

Maybe I just need you all to tell me to just eat at maintainance. Should I go up all at once? Should I trust the bodymedia fit numbers? Am I crazy? I feel like it. And this feels really scary. How messed have I gotten about food and my body?

Any thoughts for me?

techmom29

Given the you have a long history of restricted calories and lots of exercise, I would suggest going right to tdee. I upped to cut 11 weeks ago and went to tdee this week. For me, I'd rather get the initial uncomfortableness over with once, rather that have that feeling and each step up in calories.

Anyway, it took a long time to do the damage to our metabolisms, we can't expect it to recover immediately. I just keep reminding myself that going for "microwave" results are what got me here, now it's time for a "slow cooker" method.

Zylayna

It's funny, I just posted a response in another thread that I think might help you too...here's the part of it I think applies to some of your questions...

"I wound up on medications so I could sleep (strong ones) and medication for depression, and countless other meds and vitamins for energy, fat loss, etc. My Dr. couldn't find anything wrong with me to explain my symptoms and she could not for the life of her figure out why I couldn't lose weight. So she sent me to a nutritionist/personal trainer/life coach. She got stumped too. And now I know why. Because NOBODY ever asked me what my NET calories were in a day!! All of them believed that the low cal, high exercise diet should work. "

Now, having said that...trust the Body Media Fit. I have one as well and I bought it so I could get the most accurate numbers possible. Use those numbers to determine your weekly tdee.

Also, it's a personal decision as to whether or not you jump to maintenance first for a reset, or if you want to try the deficit of tdee -15% first and see how it goes. However, my personal experience has taught me that if you are coming from a low cal diet into this plan, then a reset is highly recommended. Mainly because it'll make sure your maintenance level is where it needs to be right at the beginning which then allows you to lose weight after the reset at a reasonable deficit of 15%, maintain a normal life and have energy for the exercise you love to do! Without it you may find yourself just stalling at the deficit and having to lower your cals low again to lose weight (although we of course would then just tell you to up your cals, not lower anyways). Make sense?

secretlobster

It's up to you. A huge part of this reset is a mental reset as well as a physical one. I was netting 1000-1200 calories for a very active 140lb body for four years, I know that this is going to be a difficult change. There are times when I have to force myself to eat. It's easier if you spread your calories out and get most of them during the first half of the day. Also, high-calorie but nutrition-dense snacks are awesome (almonds, avocado, full-fat yogurt).

I can only tell you what I am doing - I tried eating my TDEE (about 2400 calories) and I just couldn't. I felt sick. So I'm gradually working my way up from netting ABOVE my BMR. If you net above your BMR... you are following the Eat More mentality with enough commitment that you will eventually see results from it.

LindaCWy

I have heard about metabolic reset so I decided to eat at maitenence for the next two weeks, so far I haven't gained anything, in fact I shed the couple of pounds I gained last week (somehow).

Thing is, the calculations I do, my TDEE is like 2300 and I am eating at MFP maitenece right now which is 1850. I find 1850 to be more than sufficient, but on the days I work out I have to eat those calories back too, which make it really difficult to not just eat a couple of cookies and be done with it. Eating so much is hard to achieve when its all good clean food, but at the end of the day is worth it.

I'm hoping these next two weeks will help me as I finish my current lifting program.

mommamuscles

I think the metabolism reset sounds great, with your history of low calorie dieting. However, you can definitely ease your way into it if that makes you more comfortable. You want to be able to stay consistent with your calories for at least 4-6 weeks when you get there, and thats hard to do if you're panicking, lol.

Another idea is just to take a diet break for 2 weeks where you eat at TDEE, and after that go down to TDEE -15%. I don't have a BFM, I just go off the scooby calculator. You may want to look back over your exercise for the last couple weeks, apart from daily activities. How many hours did you work out?

listabit

Thanks for all the responses! I appreciate other's perspectives and validation.

While using my BMF this past week, I haven't really done that much exercise. I walk with my dogs at a moderate pace, I did NRLFW 2x, I only did one spinning class, and I took one 3 mi hike. It seems I burn a lot of calories without a lot of long, intense exercise. I can't imagine what I was burning before I started to decrease the intensity of workouts.

I'm still trying to figure out what I will increase my calories to. I don't know why I don't just go eat a sandwich and be happy about it. The good news is I really like eating more. I can't imagine restricting to 1500 calories again. I'll either gradually work my way up to TDEE, or just take the plunge. I also like the idea of a diet break. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for the support. I agree that it is a mental reset as much as a physical one.