Eating at TDEE and Losing

zukkiz

So about a month ago, with some wonderful help from a post Mike put up, I realized I was eating under my TDEE. I thought I was at the right activity level, but I was set to light instead of moderate. So I upped my calories. Since then I have lost weight, about 1.5 pounds.

Does that seem right? Shouldn't I just be maintaining? I am even eating 300 above that level because of breastfeeding. So I take in 2600 calories a day. If I am losing from just lifting and one walk a week and at TDEE. What's going to happen when I add in HIIT with lifting at a cut?

The last couple of weeks I have been extra hungry and pretty darn tired.

I have to add that growing up I had a monster metabolism. I could eat anything in site, I was pretty darn thin. In the past I only had very minute plateaus. Is it possible I burn more than I think now. Have I woken up a monster. Don't get me wrong I do not want permission to eat more, not at all. I just want to do this right.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Raynn1

Was it just one week where you dropped in weight and then levelled off? or was this just after one week of eating at TDEE?

If you lost a little in the beginning of tdee, but levelled off, then you could try increasing by 100-200 cals and see if a gain happens. If so, then watch it for a week or two and see if that levels off.. if so, then that is your TDEE.

You could also try a Rest week.. eat your current TDEE but do NO exercise for a week. If you have a gain after that week, then it would be safe to say you are at tdee, because without the exercise, you would be actually eating above tdee. ..

Because you are BFing, you might find you need to add in more calories as there is no real way to gauge how much baby is taking from you in form of cals.. ..
I would probably increase by 100 or so and see what happens.

zukkiz

Thanks Raynn.

I lost a pound in the first week, then nothing last week, and another half pound this week. I am in a rest week right now. The only thing I did was some Crunch Pilates/Yoga this morning, which felt so good on my muscles. So maybe I will give it a rest, that's worth thinking about.

I was also thinking that breastfeeding little man was burning more than I thought. He nurses a lot for being 1. He eats regular food and nurses. He is like this little power eater I swear.

bradthemedic

Haha. Lucky for you he will be done soon. Hungry monsters we are!

zukkiz

Haha. Lucky for you he will be done soon. Hungry monsters we are!

LOL

Actually I nurse them til they are almost 2. So he still has more time.

jomatho

He probably gets his metabolism from you, lol. I agree with Raynn, I would give it one more week, but if you are still losing, try going up about 100, although a half a pound a week is 250 per day approximately, so you may need to do more. It would be nice to find your true TDEE currently before cutting. Of course, that will all change once you stop breastfeeding, but like you said, that will be a while.
I'd say that is a nice problem to have

zukkiz

True not a bad problem at all!