EM2WL Troubleshooting - I need help!

grkathena82

Hi All,

I need some help! I did a 12 week reset and gained 10 pounds in the process. I started my 15% cut 4 weeks ago and still have not lost any weight. I seem to be maintaining, give or take a pound or so, even though I'm at 15%.

Here are my stats:

Age: 30
Current Weight: 153
Height: 5'2
BMR (according to Scooby): 1464
TDEE (according to Scooby): 2013
15% cut: 1711

I also started doing NROL4W 4 weeks ago and have noticed that my arms and legs are much more firm. My clothes fit about the same. I do NROL4W three days a week and walk for 20 minutes twice a week. I'm limited in the cardio area because of pelvic girdle pain that's from my last pregnancy over a year and a half ago, so I can't overexert myself by running.

I have my macros set to the recommended 40% cards, 30% protein and fat, but I tend to use up the carbs really fast and am leftover in the protein department most of the time. I also don't eat junk. I was also on WW previously for a long time. The only days that tend to be "off" calorie wise is when I eat out because I find it hard to log in those items, or when I'm sick...like now!

Any ideas as to why I'm not losing weight yet? I really want to stick with this, but am discouraged that I'm not seeing results yet. I'm trying to be patient!

Thanks in advance!

Athena

heybales

I don't get BMR of 1464 unless you were doing Katch BMR and I don't know your BF%.

I get Mifflin BMR of 1367 which is more accurate than Harris.

You selected Lightly Active which sounds right for just lifting and little cardio, which is fine, leave it at that. Perhaps add another 20 min walk after each lifting day to aid in repair.

I get TDEE then of 1880, round to 1900 since you are probably more than 3 hrs of exercise a week.

1900 TDEE with goal weight of 120 perhaps, means you have a little time for doing a deficit of 15%.

That would mean daily goal of 1615.

As to why no weight loss, you are lifting weights and asking your body to improve from that workout. Exercise is for body improvement after all, and that may or may not include weight loss.

Diet is for weight loss, hopefully just fat loss.

You need to additionally get your bodyfat% down so you know where the progress is being made, and do that by many measurements, so you can see the fat is coming off.

bradthemedic

I've been eating -15% and exercising heavily for 6 months and I haven't lost anything- but my clothes fit differently and my strength and endurance are up by immeasurable amounts. You may need to tweak your intake or macros to hit the burn you need to lose.

Play with it and make it your own. What works for some may not work for others (as I have experienced)

Greenrun99

I would try the new calculation heybales gave you at 1615.. Also I know its hard but try to get that protein in and cut back a bit on the carbs, cant see your diary but I am assuming you may be over on carbs as you mentioned you can get that no problem, try with that protein number as well.
Lastly when your doing NROL4W (not sure about this), during your break try to keep it very minimal, when lifting weights you want to have a steady sweat when doing it.. so long breaks are not the best as you want to be working... If your not there, you may need to increase weight or lower break times

grkathena82

Thanks for your responses! I think I will try eating at 1615 for a while and see what happens. I definitely am not looking for quick fixes.

Heybale - What calculation did you use to get my new BMR and TDEE? I always seem to get conflicting answers from various calculators online. Also, my bodyfat is 30.1%. When I started my cut a month ago it was 30.8%. This is all according to a digital body fat monitor...so I'm not exactly sure how accurate it is.

Greenrun - My rest between sets is always 60 seconds as the book suggests. I'm definitely trying to get all the protein in, but it seems like that's all I eat!

Brad - Thanks for the encouragement! I'm not so concerned with the number on the scale as I am with overall health and losing inches. I suppose I am on the right track!

heybales

Thanks for your responses! I think I will try eating at 1615 for a while and see what happens. I definitely am not looking for quick fixes.

Heybale - What calculation did you use to get my new BMR and TDEE? I always seem to get conflicting answers from various calculators online. Also, my bodyfat is 30.1%. When I started my cut a month ago it was 30.8%. This is all according to a digital body fat monitor...so I'm not exactly sure how accurate it is.

Greenrun - My rest between sets is always 60 seconds as the book suggests. I'm definitely trying to get all the protein in, but it seems like that's all I eat!

Brad - Thanks for the encouragement! I'm not so concerned with the number on the scale as I am with overall health and losing inches. I suppose I am on the right track!

There are only 3 BMR calcs. Oldest Harris-Benedict which is considered least accurate, many sites still use it. Mifflin-St Jeor which is newer and considered 5% more accurate, especially when overweight, and Katch-McArdle which uses weight and bodyfat% and considered most accurate though underestimates when carry lots of fat over healthy ratio.

I used the Mifflin BMR calc, which is what MFP uses, and Scooby has an option for.
TDEE was standard Harris table, with Lightly Active 1.375 multiplier which is what you used.

Good news, your BMR with BF% is actually 1418, which means you have more LBM than expected for someone your age, weight, height. You'll wanna keep that as long as possible.

So new TDEE 1950, not much different.
New deficit daily goal of - 1658.

Yep, not much different really in the end.

But you should remeasure BF% estimate every 5lbs lost and redo that.

I actually used a spreadsheet to make it easier, you can too to log your stats. Link is in this post. You'll find a BF% estimate calculator in there too using measurements, which you'll want anyway definitely. Perhaps the avg of that method and what the scale says.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/750920-spreadsheet-for-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

grkathena82

Thanks so much for all this info and the link to the spreadsheet! I really appreciate it!