Eat More 2 Weigh Less

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Kind of hitting the "Doubt" stage of EMTWL

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  • HeidiHoMom
    HeidiHoMom Posts: 1,393 Member
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    oh and in regards to seeing more success stories....


    This is one forum in the MFP world but on the main boards there are TONS of people eating more and losing who are not a part of this group or who aren't posting here about it. There is a thread in the success stories section of the main forum called something like "pics of people who are eating and losing" and it's got hundreds of posts of people who used one of the online calculators and have lost weight. Some of them have lost over a hundred pounds! I'll see if I can find a link to it.
  • sugarplumj
    sugarplumj Posts: 107 Member
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    oh and in regards to seeing more success stories....


    This is one forum in the MFP world but on the main boards there are TONS of people eating more and losing who are not a part of this group or who aren't posting here about it. There is a thread in the success stories section of the main forum called something like "pics of people who are eating and losing" and it's got hundreds of posts of people who used one of the online calculators and have lost weight. Some of them have lost over a hundred pounds! I'll see if I can find a link to it.

    Thanks!
  • sugarplumj
    sugarplumj Posts: 107 Member
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    I would think moderate exercise level personally.

    Don't we all walk for 30 minutes everyday? I do pottering around on my lunch break but I don't consider it when inputting exercise on scooby, as someone could that many steps on their daily commute etc which they probably wouldn't count either? x

    She is talking about walking for exercise as opposed to just puttering around. I walk much more than 30 minutes in a day but when I go for a 30 minute walk it is purposeful exercise with my heart rate up and breaking a sweat.

    I agree with Heidi on this as well....For MeganKate - If you don't include your 30-45 min walking each day into your activity level you may actually be eating less than you are supposed to b/c most people make the mistake of under-estimating their activity rather than over-estimating it...Just a thought... :)

    Since having my fitbit I can see that it is important to count the walking. I burned over 2800 calories the other day. Without the fitbit I thought I was burning WAY less than that.

    Agreed--I mean walking as in really hoofing it around the park (mine is 3.5 miles in circumference). Like, where you can keep a convo going, but hardly. I heard something once that said in terms of pace, if you CAN'T successfully sing your favorite song, you are going fast enough.
  • littlepinkhearts
    littlepinkhearts Posts: 1,055 Member
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    A few things jumped out at me,
    I am bracing myself for the standard "sounds like you need a full reset" feedback, and I have to be honest and say that I reject that line of thinking. I am getting married in mid-October, and I know this is for life, etc. etc., but I do want to feel slim(mer) in my wedding frock. I do not want to gain another 6 pounds, then do the cut and see that yes, I am losing rapidly, but only all the new pounds I just gained doing the reset.

    What YOU want and what your BODY needs, are two completely different things. Just because you want to lose weight and look a certain way in a certain time frame, doesnt mean your body understands, nor CARES about your deadline. If you honestly want to make this work, you need to change your line of thinking. No matter how much we want to lose weight and look a certain way in a time frame, It just doesnt happen that way. If you re-read the stickies, Kiki touches on this on one.. Just because its bikini season, doesnt mean your body is in a rush to fit into one!:)

    If you are looking for a quick fix for your wedding, then this is unfortunately not the place to get it.
    I am eating at TDEE with a 15% cut, and have been there since mid May. LIke I said, my measurements are stagnant, and the scale is creeping creeping up. A bit of a contradiction I realize, but there you have it. I have noticed more belly fat/bloat, too, which just isn't really going away.

    My natural inclination is to cut a bit more. Currently eating 2145 cals a day, with moderate exercise level on Scooby.

    Everyone's natural inclination is to cut. Thats why we get into so much trouble down the line.. Thats why you are in this boat to begin with.. VLC for a very long time. If you are serious about whating to change your life and stop the dieting cycle, you need to let it go and trust the process.
    Obviously, I haven't sworn off this group entirely as I am asking for feedback. When I look at those who have had tremendous success, most of them are eating around 1800-2000 cals a day.

    Yes, many are eating that amount.. but do you know what they weigh? What their stats are?? No. You need to stop comparing yourself to other peoples numbers.. Would it help you to know that I eat 2800 cals a day?? No. It means nothing to you. Again, you need to stop comparing your numbers to others. They are not you.
    So, here it goes, I am opening up the forum for feedback! Everyone is so knowledgeable here, so I would love to hear what you have to say (except for the full reset stuff--haha!)

    Are you eating at the right activity level? Looks like you are selling yourself short. 7 days a week and an hour or more a day puts you in the strenuous level.. Is that where you are getting your numbers from?? If not, then this could be the reason why you are stagnant, still not eating enough..

    Have you taken a diet break? This means eating AT TDEE or above. not below your cut.

    Have you looked at your sodium intake? are you staying below your daily levels?
    Are your macros 40/30/30 and are you hitting them?

    Since you will refuse to hear that a Reset is needed, then I will tell you this. If you want a quick fix for your wedding, you are looking in the wrong spot. If you are looking to change your life in the long run, then you need to commit to eating more, giving your body a chance to heal and forgive you for the low cal diets in the past, and you need to understand there is no time line on this way of life. You cannot rush the process. I would hate to see you go back to your low cal way of life, just to get a few more pounds off for your wedding, only to see you gain those back and more when its all over with.

    I hope this helps you out. Getting past the first stage of this way of life is hard. Many of us questioned it for a while in the beginning. But if it didn't work, then no one would be in here.

    Good luck to you.

    Thank you soooo much Raynn. The above post is exactly why I keep coming back to this board. Every Tuesday another Reset week gone for me and I start gearing up for a cut. But then I read stuff like this and it quiets that really loud voice in me that says, "you don't have the TIME for this, you need to get this fat off you and get moving on". So another week of Reset for me I guess....week 5 begins today. Thanks again!!! You are awesome!!!! :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:
  • norcal_yogi
    norcal_yogi Posts: 675 Member
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    I can tell you how I use EMTWL.
    I am 41 (almost 42) and I currently weight 129Lbs (4lbs up due to eating crap the past month) I am 5' 3 1/2".

    I was a 1200 calorie girl and always watched that scale like a hawk. I thought my life would be complete if I could just get it to 120. I exercize 5 days a week. Being of MFP I started seeing posts about eating more and got curious so I asked for advice and got lots and lots of very helpful advise. I entered my numbers into the scooby site but was not willing to up my calories to over 2000 because I already had my body to the way I wanted it for the most part and wasn't willing to go through a weight gain. Also being an old woman like I am :-) I decided not to commit to the crazy heavy lifting and doing the cuts, resets ect. I decided to do something that I could stick to for the rest of my life so this is what I have done.

    I did increase my calories to 1700-1800 and ate very clean and often through out the day. I also made sure I got great strength straining in to increase my muscle. I believe that when you strength train, you should exhaust your muscle and thats where the benefit comes in. I have been very happy with the results so far. I did not gain even a pound and my body felt the strongest that it ever has. My energy level is very high and I no longer have to worry about starving my body.

    I think that when we don't eat enough, our body suffers as well as our mind and spirit. So I agree with the theory about eating more, however I am not quite sure that doing the exact oppisite is the magic key either.

    I think that we need to simply use food to fuel our body with what it needs which means eating often to keep our body running at its highest as well as eating enough calories and eating real and clean to also fuel our body, minds and spirits. We need to do cardio for our heart and blood, spirit and strength training to make our bodies strong and our bones strong so that we can stay healthy well into old age.

    This is just my story. I may not be for everyone but it works for me. I hope it helps! :-)

    yep, WORD! ^ just what i am planning on doing.
  • HeidiHoMom
    HeidiHoMom Posts: 1,393 Member
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    Okay I found a couple threads, still not the one I was looking for but these are the same thing:

    FYI there are peopole in that thread still not eating enough but there are a lot who are eating an adequate amount.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/531086-before-and-after-pics-no-starvation

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/534457-before-and-after-pics-no-starvation
  • sugarplumj
    sugarplumj Posts: 107 Member
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    I can tell you how I use EMTWL.
    I am 41 (almost 42) and I currently weight 129Lbs (4lbs up due to eating crap the past month) I am 5' 3 1/2".

    I was a 1200 calorie girl and always watched that scale like a hawk. I thought my life would be complete if I could just get it to 120. I exercize 5 days a week. Being of MFP I started seeing posts about eating more and got curious so I asked for advice and got lots and lots of very helpful advise. I entered my numbers into the scooby site but was not willing to up my calories to over 2000 because I already had my body to the way I wanted it for the most part and wasn't willing to go through a weight gain. Also being an old woman like I am :-) I decided not to commit to the crazy heavy lifting and doing the cuts, resets ect. I decided to do something that I could stick to for the rest of my life so this is what I have done.

    I did increase my calories to 1700-1800 and ate very clean and often through out the day. I also made sure I got great strength straining in to increase my muscle. I believe that when you strength train, you should exhaust your muscle and thats where the benefit comes in. I have been very happy with the results so far. I did not gain even a pound and my body felt the strongest that it ever has. My energy level is very high and I no longer have to worry about starving my body.

    I think that when we don't eat enough, our body suffers as well as our mind and spirit. So I agree with the theory about eating more, however I am not quite sure that doing the exact oppisite is the magic key either.

    I think that we need to simply use food to fuel our body with what it needs which means eating often to keep our body running at its highest as well as eating enough calories and eating real and clean to also fuel our body, minds and spirits. We need to do cardio for our heart and blood, spirit and strength training to make our bodies strong and our bones strong so that we can stay healthy well into old age.

    This is just my story. I may not be for everyone but it works for me. I hope it helps! :-)

    yep, WORD! ^ just what i am planning on doing.

    Fantastic stuff, thanks for sharing.
  • HeidiHoMom
    HeidiHoMom Posts: 1,393 Member
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    In particular check out EdDevenport and Gleechick!! Ed was morbidly obese, has lost hundreds of pounds, does not eat below 3000 calories per day.
  • sugarplumj
    sugarplumj Posts: 107 Member
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    Okay I found a couple threads, still not the one I was looking for but these are the same thing:

    FYI there are peopole in that thread still not eating enough but there are a lot who are eating an adequate amount.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/531086-before-and-after-pics-no-starvation

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/534457-before-and-after-pics-no-starvation

    Thanks, HHM!
  • HeidiHoMom
    HeidiHoMom Posts: 1,393 Member
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    And this girl:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/521997-on-my-way-to-being-a-trophy-wife-pics


    There are just so many stories out there, that aren't on this group and I think it's because this is more of a support group for when things seem tough or you need help or reassurance. A lot of people were eating this way LONG before this group was created so they don't feel the need to post here because they already have their heads wrapped around eating more and are off doing their thang :)
  • HeidiHoMom
    HeidiHoMom Posts: 1,393 Member
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    Okay I found a couple threads, still not the one I was looking for but these are the same thing:

    FYI there are peopole in that thread still not eating enough but there are a lot who are eating an adequate amount.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/531086-before-and-after-pics-no-starvation

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/534457-before-and-after-pics-no-starvation

    Thanks, HHM!

    No problem, I hope it helps to reassure you that you are on the right course! I am reading through all of those success stories and it is certainly motivating me again to continue and tells me that this is the right thing to do for myself.
  • TripleJ3
    TripleJ3 Posts: 945 Member
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    I took a 5 day diet break over July 4th holiday and tracked cals a little, and honestly I think I ate fewer cals per day than I do now. When I came back I felt pretty good, and somewhat slimmer. Now after one week eating 2145 cals a day I feel heavier again. Routine. Maybe I should just move to Cape Cod and live the life...

    Thanks, HeidiHoMom!


    Forgive me if someone already caught this and commented, but thats not a diet break. Have you read all the stickies? A diet break is when you eat at your full TDEE for a week or two every 4,6 or 8 weeks. You still track but you are actually eating more than your cut. Many people (including me) also use this week as a full rest week from their workouts.

    I am wrapping up my last week of an 8 week reset. When I first started EM2WL I jumped into a 15% cut for 3 weeks then had done my research and seen I definitely needed a reset. Right when summer was starting and before my vacation. I did it anyway because I didn't want to put it off. For me, there is always a reason why I would need to wait another few weeks. From what I have seen, many people did gain when they jumped into a cut then stabilized after they took the leap into a full TDEE. Some gained when they started TDEE but at too low of an activity level. Always start high since most of us seem to underestimate our calorie burn.

    I have't stepped on the scale but I do know I have gained more than I should because I had no problem eating my TDEE of just under 2700 and went over way too many times. I still fit into all my same clothes although many are a little tighter. Still all worth it to me and I have learned I actually really enjoy wearing dresses!

    Good luck to you with what you decide. The mental part was the hardest part for me but those 8 weeks flew by and I can't wait to cut on Sunday!
  • zukkiz
    zukkiz Posts: 362 Member
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    I wish I could tell you it's been hard for me, but it hasn't. For my reset I ate at 2300 and added 300 more for breastfeeding. I lost 5.5 pounds, so obviously my calories should have been higher.

    I am now eating 2145 plus the 300. I haven't weighed yet, because I've made a goal not to until August.
    My clothes are fitting better, my body is getting stronger, and I have a new swagger I didn't think was possible.

    I am 44, and I do NROLFW and I walk only once a week. I rest 3 days a week. I want to add more but life seems to get in the way.

    I highly recommend you add lifting and cut back on some cardio.

    You can do this. Don't let your doubts destroy your goals.

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