CUT Progress After RESET-Tell us your ups/downs!

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  • StephieWillcox
    StephieWillcox Posts: 627 Member
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    I just wanted to post & say that I have had a good 2013 so far!

    I only measure/weigh once a month, so I took my stats on Saturday, and over the past month I lost

    Weight: no change
    Waist: -1 inch
    Bra line: - 2 inches
    Chest: -1.5 inches
    Hips: -1.5 inches
    Thigh: -1.25 inches
    Bicep: -0.25 inches

    Wrist, neck & calf all no change. Pretty happy right now :)

    ETA: I eat ~1800 cals a day which is a 20% cut from TDEE
  • lilbuzzinbee
    lilbuzzinbee Posts: 3 Member
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    TELL US YOUR UPS AND DOWNS...

    Last night I had yet another meltdown. I know I've been seeing my tummy expand and sure enough I measured and went up an inch in my waist and hips. My last measurement was one week ago!

    I started out not doing a TDEE reset out of fear. I went immediately to a 20% cut. After about a month with no change, I upped my cals to my TDEE. I did that for only a couple of weeks and then I cut about 10%. I've been tracking consistently since December when I first found this forum. I've been lifting 3X week with NROLFW and walking & biking on off days. I'm not pushing the cardio as per recommended in the book for recovery.

    I'm gaining muscle for sure. I can feel it. But how much longer do I have to go gaining inches before I know something is not working properly? Am I not sufficiently reset? I don't want to keep eating more in the hope that that's the problem. What if it isn't? How much bigger do I have to get in my quest to get smaller? I've gained about 8 pounds since upping my cals and lifting. I'm less worried about the number weight than I am my inches. I've gone up a size and had to buy new jeans. (Major downer.)

    I'm in this for the long haul. I don't expect miracles overnight. I'll be proud to reach my goal in 20 months! But I need to know I'm on the right track.

    Do I have to eat steamed chicken and veggies everyday for every meal? Do I have to give up drinking entirely? I don't drink much but I've been convinced by other forums that I can eat responsibly and not have to cut out all forms of fun like chocolate and wine. I've been living my life, paying attention to my macros (currently 40/30/30). I don't know what the culprit is. I didn't lose fat when I cut 20%. I haven't lost fat at TDEE or 10% below.

    Upon reading some other posts, maybe my macros are the culprit? I'll try eating 35% protein instead of 30. The bodybuilding.com site recommends 35/25/40 for endomorphs which I am sure I am.

    Hell, I don't even know what to ask for anymore. But I need help.

    How much longer do I go with no forward progress before I know I need to eat less or more or differently?
    Should I not worry about recovery and push cardio everyday?
    I would just have to eat more anyway so what difference does that make?

    Struggling and unhappy. :(

    Bee
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    TELL US YOUR UPS AND DOWNS...

    Last night I had yet another meltdown. I know I've been seeing my tummy expand and sure enough I measured and went up an inch in my waist and hips. My last measurement was one week ago!

    I started out not doing a TDEE reset out of fear. I went immediately to a 20% cut. After about a month with no change, I upped my cals to my TDEE. I did that for only a couple of weeks and then I cut about 10%. I've been tracking consistently since December when I first found this forum. I've been lifting 3X week with NROLFW and walking & biking on off days. I'm not pushing the cardio as per recommended in the book for recovery.

    I'm gaining muscle for sure. I can feel it. But how much longer do I have to go gaining inches before I know something is not working properly? Am I not sufficiently reset? I don't want to keep eating more in the hope that that's the problem. What if it isn't? How much bigger do I have to get in my quest to get smaller? I've gained about 8 pounds since upping my cals and lifting. I'm less worried about the number weight than I am my inches. I've gone up a size and had to buy new jeans. (Major downer.)

    I'm in this for the long haul. I don't expect miracles overnight. I'll be proud to reach my goal in 20 months! But I need to know I'm on the right track.

    Do I have to eat steamed chicken and veggies everyday for every meal? Do I have to give up drinking entirely? I don't drink much but I've been convinced by other forums that I can eat responsibly and not have to cut out all forms of fun like chocolate and wine. I've been living my life, paying attention to my macros (currently 40/30/30). I don't know what the culprit is. I didn't lose fat when I cut 20%. I haven't lost fat at TDEE or 10% below.

    Upon reading some other posts, maybe my macros are the culprit? I'll try eating 35% protein instead of 30. The bodybuilding.com site recommends 35/25/40 for endomorphs which I am sure I am.

    Hell, I don't even know what to ask for anymore. But I need help.

    How much longer do I go with no forward progress before I know I need to eat less or more or differently?
    Should I not worry about recovery and push cardio everyday?
    I would just have to eat more anyway so what difference does that make?

    Struggling and unhappy. :(

    Bee

    If you are still slowly and steadily gaining weight after decent period of time, even if some of it is muscle because of lifting well - you are eating in surplus.

    What has been the slow and steady weight gain over 3 wks?
    What has been the avg eating level over that 3 wks?
    The activity type or intensity level has not been new over that 3 wks?

    Avg daily eaten minus (total gained / 21 x 3500) = better TDEE estimate.
  • CASSIEWESTSUNRISE
    CASSIEWESTSUNRISE Posts: 155 Member
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    You all are doing great congrats:heart:
  • norcal_yogi
    norcal_yogi Posts: 675 Member
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    [/quote]
    Avg daily eaten minus (total gained / 21 x 3500) = better TDEE estimate.
    [/quote]

    i likely did this wrong, but i got around 900!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Avg daily eaten minus (total gained / 21 x 3500) = better TDEE estimate.
    [/quote]

    i likely did this wrong, but i got around 900!
    [/quote]

    Well, that was for her 3 week, or 21 day time span. And that is what is gained slowly, not counting initial water weight gain.
  • kitka82
    kitka82 Posts: 350 Member
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    Dang. I started a 15% cut on Saturday after resetting for 8 weeks. I'm already over my calories by a total of 400 for the week LOL. To be honest I was going to subtract 100 calories from each day for the rest of the week... but I'm going dancing on Saturday night, so I'd much rather throw in an extra jog or something in addition to my regular workout schedule...

    I'm hungry, y'all. But I can already feel the bloat going away, and I can button my shirts up now. :)
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Dang. I started a 15% cut on Saturday after resetting for 8 weeks. I'm already over my calories by a total of 400 for the week LOL. To be honest I was going to subtract 100 calories from each day for the rest of the week... but I'm going dancing on Saturday night, so I'd much rather throw in an extra jog or something in addition to my regular workout schedule...

    I'm hungry, y'all. But I can already feel the bloat going away, and I can button my shirts up now. :)

    Great news. And ya, your body got used to having extra calories for using for repair from good workouts. Gone now, hello hunger.

    At least you know your range of still keeping some amount of deficit.

    If Sat is not a Friday lifting recovery day, you can go hit a strong cardio session with interval speed ups in the afternoon, along with making breakfast and lunch prior smaller. That way you have a lot of glucose stores to refill, so extra carbs will go there first.
  • Kim55555
    Kim55555 Posts: 987 Member
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    Thank you! I guess I just have to continue having patience with myself. I am so tempted just to start eating my TDEE again if eating at a cut is not causing weight loss ( I miss 2500)

    Hi. jyska and others are spot on! When people get to a certain level of leanness the scale becomes obsolete. You need to change your mindset about the scale! You say eating at a cut is not causing weight loss! I think there is where you are getting confused! Weight loss could mean fat, muscle, water loss. What you really want is fat loss and when you are at the level of leanness you are now I doubt the scale will move down at all as you lift weights.

    I think the problem can be is you feel like your flying Lind at times and your not sure you are progressing. To know you are on the right track take regularl photos, measurements tc and remember your measurements will not always go own, that doesn't mean your not making progress! It just takes a while as the body recomposes. You say your abs are now more visible and your arms have more definition. That mean you have lost fat. You ar on track & stick to the same amount of calories you are eating. I would seriously look at throwing the scale in the bin because you should not be basing your success on the scale!!!

    I finally realised not to worry about the scale anymore. During the first 7 weeks of my 9 week reset i ate in surplus by arpund 2-300 calories. I puton 2cm on my chest, 1 cm on each arm and i lost 1.5 cm off the hips and lost 1cm off the waist. At the same time I put on 3 kg in scale weight. I look thinner & I'm leaner than I was at 58 and now I couldn't I've a f**** what scale weight number I end up with. I want to look defined. Also it's great to be a little heavier because then you can eat more. I'm 22 % as of feb 2nd and my next goal is to get to 20% that is the number I'm chasing!!

    Keep it going your doing great!!

    Me, I'm currently trying to average 2100 gross calories for my cut. This is around a 5 - 10 % deficit for me. I'll give this 8 weeks and see how I go. )
  • Kim55555
    Kim55555 Posts: 987 Member
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    Oh I just realised I replied to a post written back in October oh we'll. I'll go read through the other pages later to see how everyone has been doing since then. Well it's late I better get to bed! :)
  • kitka82
    kitka82 Posts: 350 Member
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    Dang. I started a 15% cut on Saturday after resetting for 8 weeks. I'm already over my calories by a total of 400 for the week LOL. To be honest I was going to subtract 100 calories from each day for the rest of the week... but I'm going dancing on Saturday night, so I'd much rather throw in an extra jog or something in addition to my regular workout schedule...

    I'm hungry, y'all. But I can already feel the bloat going away, and I can button my shirts up now. :)

    Great news. And ya, your body got used to having extra calories for using for repair from good workouts. Gone now, hello hunger.

    At least you know your range of still keeping some amount of deficit.

    If Sat is not a Friday lifting recovery day, you can go hit a strong cardio session with interval speed ups in the afternoon, along with making breakfast and lunch prior smaller. That way you have a lot of glucose stores to refill, so extra carbs will go there first.

    Yep, that's exactly what I did. A nice 2 mile jog in the afternoon, and ate smaller meals before my night out. Man I was starving after dancing. So I had another meal and called it a night.
  • kitka82
    kitka82 Posts: 350 Member
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    Week 1 cut progress: 5 out of 6 planned workouts done. Muffin top is decreasing. I can fit into shorts that didn't fit 2 weeks ago. I was not going to weigh myself for 4 weeks, but I snuck a peek at the scale and was pleasantly surprised. I asked hubby to hide the scale for me lol.

    I'm eating 1900 calories daily, around a 13% cut. Only 200 calories less than what I reset on.

    I have 2 races next month, and I'm scoping out 10k races for this summer. I have to remind myself that I'm training for life, not for a bikini. LOL.
  • SweetHarmony81
    SweetHarmony81 Posts: 123 Member
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    Week 1 cut progress: 5 out of 6 planned workouts done. Muffin top is decreasing. I can fit into shorts that didn't fit 2 weeks ago. I was not going to weigh myself for 4 weeks, but I snuck a peek at the scale and was pleasantly surprised. I asked hubby to hide the scale for me lol.

    I'm eating 1900 calories daily, around a 13% cut. Only 200 calories less than what I reset on.

    I have 2 races next month, and I'm scoping out 10k races for this summer. I have to remind myself that I'm training for life, not for a bikini. LOL.

    Nice to hear kitka!!
    Did you exercised the same during your reset and cut or did you increased a bit your exercise during cut?
  • kitka82
    kitka82 Posts: 350 Member
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    I started out exercising during my reset, but then I cut waaay back. Maybe a bit too much so lol. I should have kept lifting at least. But my body (especially my brain) was thankful for the rest.

    I exercise more now that I'm cutting. My basic schedule includes full body strength training 3x, yoga 1x, and running 2x. Sunday is an active rest day. I'm exercising around 3-4 hours a week.
  • kitka82
    kitka82 Posts: 350 Member
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    Week 1 cut progress: 5 out of 6 planned workouts done. Muffin top is decreasing. I can fit into shorts that didn't fit 2 weeks ago. I was not going to weigh myself for 4 weeks, but I snuck a peek at the scale and was pleasantly surprised. I asked hubby to hide the scale for me lol.

    I'm eating 1900 calories daily, around a 13% cut. Only 200 calories less than what I reset on.

    I have 2 races next month, and I'm scoping out 10k races for this summer. I have to remind myself that I'm training for life, not for a bikini. LOL.

    Week 2 cut report: 5 out of 6 workouts done. The bloat is finally gone. :) I took a peek at the scale and it was up. Somebody slap my wrist!!! No more scale until my planned weigh in at Week 5. I spent the entire weekend painting my bedroom, including my ceiling fan. My hubby went out of town for the weekend and came back Sunday night. I spent all day Monday with him... burning calories. ;) I was super active last week. Hooray!

    Still eating 1900, though I went a bit over some days last week. I opened my diary this week to keep myself accountable. I've developed a late night snacking habit that needs to be nipped. Or at least, I need to make better choices.

    I have 2 more weeks until the Color Run, and 4 weeks until the Warrior Dash. I need another goal...
  • ninababie2
    ninababie2 Posts: 44 Member
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    Wow. So empowering seeing everyone's progress. I eat between 1200-1400 calories a day usually [for years pretty much] because I thought that's what I had to eat to lose/maintain weight. I ate 1500 calories yesterday and gained 2lbs! Can anybody comment on how much they gained before they began losing? Everybody says to expect gain but not many people seem to comment on how much! I'm also curious if I can just slowly add in more calories until I get to a 15% TDEE cut or if I have to go up to maintenance [which I'm terrified of]. I may post this on a couple feeds because I'm not sure how often people respond. Thanks!
  • kitka82
    kitka82 Posts: 350 Member
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    I posted a blog with my results from the 4 first weeks of cut. I haven't measured biceps, belly, and thighs yet. But I will post those soon because I am starting ChaLean Extreme this week. Overall, I am seeing a loss, even though I exceeded my calorie goal about 2 days each week.

    This week is my first diet break at 2400 calories... should be interesting :) Since I really want to start CLX, I'm going to up my calories. Next diet break, I'll probably just take a week off from working out.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/kitka82/view/week-5-results-tdee-528225
  • Maddalen101
    Maddalen101 Posts: 307 Member
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    Quick story: I started with MFP, got my calorie calculation to lose weight reasonably slowly - about a pound or less a week. I'm very sedentary because of my work, so had to just rely on food. I discovered 1800 ain't bad - you can eat a lot as long as you do it right. However, I thought I'd drop it to 1500, because I felt 1800 was too high. On 1500 I GAINED, and on 1800 I lost 20 lbs. Go figure. For the last month or so, I've been maintaining that loss, eating more than 1800, mostly because of stress eating. But not gaining!!! Clothes still fit. My body is now used to eating for my current weight, and so I"m back to 1800, and ready to lose the next 20. Eating more to weigh less really does work!
  • kitka82
    kitka82 Posts: 350 Member
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    I try to remember to post my progress here, but I post a lot more on my blog: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/kitka82 :)
  • SweatpantsRebellion
    SweatpantsRebellion Posts: 754 Member
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    Wow. So empowering seeing everyone's progress. I eat between 1200-1400 calories a day usually [for years pretty much] because I thought that's what I had to eat to lose/maintain weight. I ate 1500 calories yesterday and gained 2lbs! Can anybody comment on how much they gained before they began losing? Everybody says to expect gain but not many people seem to comment on how much! I'm also curious if I can just slowly add in more calories until I get to a 15% TDEE cut or if I have to go up to maintenance [which I'm terrified of]. I may post this on a couple feeds because I'm not sure how often people respond. Thanks!

    I realize this response is late in coming. I'm hoping someone has already answered your question. Gain is normal. As you move out of defecit, your body is replacing glycogen stores and water, so expect five pounds from that.

    Since you've been eating 1200-1400 for years, I'd recommend going all the way to maintenance. Whether you jump right up there or increase cals slowly to get there is really a personal preference. Some prefer to get it over with and just take the big jump. For others it's better to inch their way up. Choose the approach that is most likely to be successful for you! It's likely you may need a full reset after eating at that level for years. In that case, you'd want to stick with eating full TDEE for a good 4-8 weeks or even longer. How do know when your body is reset? You'll want to check out the reset thread if you haven't already done so. There's a lot of good info. there!