Advice needed - it's not working anymore!

kgilbert75

I know that there are a million posts like this and I've read the stickies but I just need a little personal advice on what I might be doing wrong. I started EMTWL about three months ago and immediately lost 5 pounds. In August I was 138 pounds (8 pounds from my goal!) and now I'm up to 143 and the scale isn't moving. I've been at 143 since the middle of August. I eat pretty clean (veggies, lean proteins, hardly any processed foods).

My numbers are:

Female - 36 years old
143 pounds, 5'2"

Current daily calories = 1770 (TDEE 2082 - 15%) according to Fat to Fit Radio. My BMR is 1322. I don't eat back exercise calories unless I am below my BMR.

I have my activity level set to Moderate. I do cardio 4-5 days/week for 45-60 minutes. I do a kettlebell DVD 3 days/week. I have a Polar F7 to track accurate calories burned.

Any suggestions?

timvet

Have you taken any measurements to see if you are changing that way?

abirkel

Have you taken pictures? Measurements?

Maybe you've gained muscle and need to up your calories more? (They say to recalculate every 5 lbs).

What do you workouts look like? How much cardio are you doing?

Maybe bump up your calories by 100 for 4 weeks and see if that changes? Try eating back your exercise calories?

Greenrun99

can't see your diary so don't know exactly what your eating or what your macro's are, but usually those last 10 lbs are probably going to be the hardest.. I would say do a cut value of 10%, eat above your BMR, reduce cardio times, increase weight lifting and strength training.. Do some googling for more intense kettleball exercises (full body movements and so forth)..
If your macro's and numbers look like 200+ carbs and 50 protein.. you need to get that protein to 120 at the expense of your carb intake... Just some suggestions

norcal_yogi

can you open your diary and we could take a peek at your eating patterns?

holleysings

I know that there are a million posts like this and I've read the stickies but I just need a little personal advice on what I might be doing wrong. I started EMTWL about three months ago and immediately lost 5 pounds. In August I was 138 pounds (8 pounds from my goal!) and now I'm up to 143 and the scale isn't moving. I've been at 143 since the middle of August. I eat pretty clean (veggies, lean proteins, hardly any processed foods).

My numbers are:

Female - 36 years old
143 pounds, 5'2"

Current daily calories = 1770 (TDEE 2082 - 15%) according to Fat to Fit Radio. My BMR is 1322. I don't eat back exercise calories unless I am below my BMR.

I have my activity level set to Moderate. I do cardio 4-5 days/week for 45-60 minutes. I do a kettlebell DVD 3 days/week. I have a Polar F7 to track accurate calories burned.

Any suggestions?

Have you taken a diet break in the last 6-8 weeks? If the answer is no, you probably need to eat at maintenance for 2 weeks then try your cut again.

kgilbert75

My measurements are mostly the same as they have been for the past 4 weeks, except that my waist has gone up 1/2".

I've opened my food diary so you can see how I eat.

For cardio I do 45 minutes on the stairstep and 15 minutes on the treadmill. I usually do walk/run intervals on the treadmill. I also do a cycling class 1x/week. Kettlebell is really the only weigh training that I get - we are currently doing JM's Shred it with Weights.

kgilbert75

I know that there are a million posts like this and I've read the stickies but I just need a little personal advice on what I might be doing wrong. I started EMTWL about three months ago and immediately lost 5 pounds. In August I was 138 pounds (8 pounds from my goal!) and now I'm up to 143 and the scale isn't moving. I've been at 143 since the middle of August. I eat pretty clean (veggies, lean proteins, hardly any processed foods).

My numbers are:

Female - 36 years old
143 pounds, 5'2"

Current daily calories = 1770 (TDEE 2082 - 15%) according to Fat to Fit Radio. My BMR is 1322. I don't eat back exercise calories unless I am below my BMR.

I have my activity level set to Moderate. I do cardio 4-5 days/week for 45-60 minutes. I do a kettlebell DVD 3 days/week. I have a Polar F7 to track accurate calories burned.

Any suggestions?

Have you taken a diet break in the last 6-8 weeks? If the answer is no, you probably need to eat at maintenance for 2 weeks then try your cut again.

No, I haven't taken a diet break (ever!).

holleysings

I would eat at TDEE for two weeks then! Your body may need a short break before it's ready to lose again. Give it a shot!

heybales

I know that there are a million posts like this and I've read the stickies but I just need a little personal advice on what I might be doing wrong. I started EMTWL about three months ago and immediately lost 5 pounds. In August I was 138 pounds (8 pounds from my goal!) and now I'm up to 143 and the scale isn't moving. I've been at 143 since the middle of August. I eat pretty clean (veggies, lean proteins, hardly any processed foods).

My numbers are:

Female - 36 years old
143 pounds, 5'2"

Current daily calories = 1770 (TDEE 2082 - 15%) according to Fat to Fit Radio. My BMR is 1322. I don't eat back exercise calories unless I am below my BMR.

I have my activity level set to Moderate. I do cardio 4-5 days/week for 45-60 minutes. I do a kettlebell DVD 3 days/week. I have a Polar F7 to track accurate calories burned.

Any suggestions?

So here's the problem of using fat2fit TDEE estimate compared to Scooby or other or like my spreadsheet.

Fat2fit gives you calculator to estimate bodyfat%, great.
It will then use that estimate to get better calc of BMR using LBM, Katch. And it tells you that best estimate BMR, great.
Why? for as good an accuracy as you can get, since so much is estimated.

But then the table for activity levels and daily goal is actually based on the least accurate inflated-when-overweight Harris BMR calc.
Not even the better BMR estimate from Mifflin that MFP uses.

Check it out. Sedentary is 1.2, Moderate 1.55. You can see which BMR they used.

So that means that likely you have been eating some amount more than required, I've seen many be about 150-250 different on BMR, which means the TDEE is off by 232-388, which means after deficit, still inflated by 197-330 cals.

That I think is rather major amount, 1 lb or more every 2 wks difference that could have been had.

So one point, you have been lowering your eating goal as weight went down, though you went up lately?

Did you do the bodyfat% estimate? It being within 5% can improve chance of accuracy on this greatly.

Were you honest on your activity level with type of exercise and other daily activity?

Now, that being said for general knowledge for others, your Harris BMR is 1398, Katch is 1322, so not the difference.
But, that activity level may need to be Moderate rounded up.

Using another TDEE calc based on time and type of activity for the following.
Sedentary outside exercise, deskjob, if not correct, let me know.
Kettleball lifting type workout, 45 min x 3 days = 135 min weekly.
Cardio faster than 4mph walking, 180-300 min weekly = 240 avg. (If you do a 5th workout, should eat extra 200 that day)
So that makes 6.25 hrs, but only a multiplier of 1.48. Which you could apply as weight is lost.

TDEE 1951.
15% cut 1731.

So pretty close. Except eating that extra 200 if you workout a 5th day which is where I think you are missing it.
So you got a range of 409 calories for planned exercise.

Since there is so much focus on cardio, there are many improvements your workout is asking your body to make that do NOT involve weight loss, but gain of LBM.

So measure many spots to see that fat is still probably being burned. Since you can't spot reduce, can't spot measure too where you want to see the loss.
calf, thigh, hip, belly, waist, chest, neck, bicep, forearm, wrist.

Keep at it.

Noor13

I agree, if you never did a diet break, eat at TDEE for 1 or 2 weeks, so your body knows, that there si plenty of food and does not think the Cut value is your TDEE!

kgilbert75

I agree, if you never did a diet break, eat at TDEE for 1 or 2 weeks, so your body knows, that there si plenty of food and does not think the Cut value is your TDEE!

Thanks! I think I will try the diet break and then get back on track