New to the group and have lots of questions...

AuntieKT

So, I joined the EMTWL group fairly recently. I have been looking over the sticky posts and have been trying to educate myself with just about all of the posts in this group, but I still have some questions. I think that I have a good grasp on BMR and TDEE (can you really trust those calculators online?) but I am really scared about doing the metabolism reset. Since March first I have lost around 60 pounds doing the eat a lot less and exercise way more diet. I have been eating 1200 calories a day or less the whole time and have been exercising like a dog. I know I know, you guys hate that and I am trying to work on it. I know that everything on here says that those calories are way too low and I need to eat more, but I have just been doing this for so long that I am afraid. I am afraid of eating all that food. I am afraid of how much weight I'm going to gain. I'm afraid that it will make me fall off the wagon and go back to my bad eating habits. To keep myself from getting to OCD about my whole weight loss journey, I have been only weighing myself once a month. Tomorrow is my weigh in day and I am considering doing the metabolism reset. Can I trust the numbers on this calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
I have read that we should only cut 15% from our TDEE, but this calculator figures out your numbers for up to 25%... I still have around 34 pounds to lose. Could I up my cut to 25%? Would it be more accurate to put down "desk job" as my activity level and just eat back my actual exercise calories? Lastly, how long should I do the Metabolism Reset for? I am not the kind of person that likes to just do the bare minimum to get something done, but I know that eating this many calories is going to drive me nuts and I don't want to do it for any longer than I have to.

Looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say.

-Katie

MrsKosal

The Scooby calcs have done so many people great justice. If you are 100% accurate with the numbers you give it, then you are right. It's basic math. So if you put in the amount of hours you truely workout along with the right measurements, etc. than you should be A-OK!

We were all scared when we did this and some still are! I did a full 8 week reset and yes, I did gain weight, but now I am cutting this week at a 10% cut and feeling great and ready to live my life and lose the healthy way.

My calcs were right. You may gain initially and then it should stop and you'll be maintaining at that weight. That's when you know your numbers are right that you've been eating enough to maintain and your metabolism is getting repaired. If you eat OVER the amount scooby gives you then of course you'd gain again. So just stick with it. We are all very supportive on here! GOOD LUCK!

Greenrun99

Hey,
I wouldn't calculate yourself as desk job type person, since you said you exercise like a dog what I would do is be honest with your exercise level and eat that amount it tells you.. don't add exercise calories or anything like that, just get used to eating more and eating the same amount even on days you rest.
If you lost most of your weight eating 1200 calories and not eating back your exercise calories, depending on how much you exercised you probably were netting around 500 calories a day.. so I would probably expect with your calorie increase, to see a weight increase as your body gets used to eating. We are all pretty supportive here and have open food diaries if you ever want to take a look at what some of us do.

AuntieKT

Hey,
I wouldn't calculate yourself as desk job type person, since you said you exercise like a dog what I would do is be honest with your exercise level and eat that amount it tells you.. don't add exercise calories or anything like that, just get used to eating more and eating the same amount even on days you rest.
If you lost most of your weight eating 1200 calories and not eating back your exercise calories, depending on how much you exercised you probably were netting around 500 calories a day.. so I would probably expect with your calorie increase, to see a weight increase as your body gets used to eating. We are all pretty supportive here and have open food diaries if you ever want to take a look at what some of us do.

I exercised a ton for the first several months of my weight loss, but this last month have tried to do a more reasonable amount. What I meant when I said I was going to put myself down as "desk job amount of activity" is that I would put that to get my basic TDEE before working out, and then any calories that I exercise off above that, I would just eat back so I would be back at TDEE. Does that make sense?

Thanks everyone for the replies!

AuntieKT

Bump! Looking for a little more info. Thanks to everyone who responded so far!

twinmomtwice4

In the beginning, I wanted to go with a 25% cut but was strongly discouraged from doing that. I went with a 20% cut and I'm still at that deficit right now. Perfectly happy here too!!

A 20% cut is really the highest you want to go. If your deficit is more than 500 calories a day, it will eventually work against you. Trust me on that!!

As far as your fear about falling back into your old eating habits, I can totally understand how you feel. But keep in mind this lifestyle isn't about eating 2000 calories of junk. It's about eating foods that fuel your body! Whole grains, healthy fats, veggies, fruit, lean protein. Sure, you can have pizza if you want it and even enjoy a cheeseburger every now and then. It's all about meeting your calorie goals and your macros on a daily basis.

You can do this!

PLUMSGRL

OK so my BM core tells me my average TDEE for the past 28 day has been 2480 per day.
Scooby says 2265 (moderate) -2521 (strenuous).

I too came from a vlcd (1200) and was exercising 1-2 hours a day with one day off. It lasted about a year and lost almost all the weight I wanted. I gained about half of it back after an accident.

I read all the stickies, watched the vids, then dove head in to the reset...what I was doing wasn't realistic for me long term, so I thought I'd give it a year (that's right a year, same as the vlcd) to see how it works.

I just finished 9 weeks of reset and started my cut today by 300 cals(average 6-8 weeks but can go to12).
I ate real food (love ice cream and cake) and protein drinks during the reset.
I gained a total of 3.25 pounds during the reset (maybe I wasn't eating enough).
My exercise has been mostly walking my dog and did a round of 30DS during the reset.
I really watch my sodium intake. Don't normally drink or eat dairy (except the ice cream and greek yogurt). Drink a lot of water.
I went through all the stages JadeRabbit described, but was really stubborn and ate calorie dense foods to get the food in.
Starting NROLFW this week (yea! more food!!!). I'm eating so much I can't even think how I could possibly cheat (except for sodium).

BUT that's me, others have gained more (a lot more), eat differently, exercise differently, have a different mind set (it can REALLY play with your mind!)...

The biggest things I've learned on the reset have been:
patience, measure yourself, take pictures, ignore the evil scale (the devil scale is a liar).
If the number at TDEE seems to much then increase your calories by 50-100 each week, eat calories back only if you drop below NET BMR. Do exercise you like, but try to change it up occasionally (make it more difficult).
Set your diary up before you go to bed for the next day...start with proteins 30%(1gm per pound of lean body weight), add carbs 40%(yes eat bread, potatoes, pasta, they give you energy), fats30% usually fall into place (but you can always add olive or coconut oil).

What else you want to know?

geordiegirl27

Great post & valuable replies. It's a whole new learning curve and one I'm struggling to achieve. Im still struggling to eat anywhere near TDEE but I'm trying to keep above my BMR which is a big increase on what I've been doing! I am finding myself more hungry now which is a good start at least I feel I can eat something.

It's going to be an ongoing lesson but I'm Definately up for a healthy future which fuels me to do the running I love so much.

Thanks again to all of the support here and for sharing your struggles & successes :flowerforyou:

AuntieKT

Thanks everyone for all of the great replies! I know I could probably find it somewhere on these boards if I really dug around, but I was wondering if someone could just answer one last question instead... What is the minimum amount of time that I am supposed to do this reset for? I don't want to try and cheat it or anything. I just know that this is going to be really hard for me and I don't want to drag it out for longer than necessary.

rr85114

Hi AuntieKT

My understanding is that the minimum recommended reset length is 6 - 8 weeks, to allow sufficient time for your body to adjust to a consistent, regular intake of proper fuel.

I'm on my 4th week of reset and am absolutely loving it. This totally feels like the right thing for my body. Whilst I've gained about 1.4kg (say, 5ish pounds), I'm actually tightening up all over - my body is changing and I'm building lean muscle thanks to the extra fuel I've been giving my body.

Frankly, over the past few weeks, I've completely turned around mentally from being someone that was *terrified* - like TERRIFIED - of even a 0.1kg gain, to understanding that the scale is just one measure of how well we're doing - and it is often very very wrong, and influenced by a whole lot of other factors.

I can tell you for sure that when I was 3 kg lighter (my lightest ever weight), I wasn't anywhere near as happy with my body, and more importantly, what that body's capable of doing, as I am now.

The awesome thing I'm finding now is that my weight is starting to stabilise at the 79kg mark, which suggests to me that my metabolism is repairing itself, but I'm going for the full 8 weeks just to be sure.

I really hope you find success with this - it seems to me to be a really positive, realistic, and doable way of living life.

Good luck!