3 months in - need your advice please

LisaGirlfriend

Advice, comments, suggestions very, very welcome!!! My food diary is open for all to view.

Some history on me: Weight issue my whole life but was maintaining between 145-150 for the past 3 years.

Have been on MFP for 3 years – was following South Beach principals (low carb) mainly, then started tracking 1200 cals a day for at least the past year.

3-4 major vacations in 15 months – have gained 10-15 1bs in the past 12 months (currently at 163 / 5’3”).

September - found EM2LW and increased from 1200 to 1600 cals instantly – maintained weight after 3 weeks (measurements are the same).

Walk 4-5 times a week (30-45 minutes), lift weights 2-3 times a week (quit the heavy cardio classes like spinning, zumba, etc) and usually pass 10,000 steps a day.

November 3rd – went on a 7 night caribbean cruise – ate whatever and didn’t count anything – probably 3000 + calories a day – stayed active.

Gained 3 1bs after the cruise – went back to counting and started eating 1800 cals a day (from 1600) – have not lost the 3 extra pounds.

Scooby’s calculator has my BMR at 1456, TDEE (based on moderate exercise) at 2258, and daily calories at 1919 to lose 15% body fat. I don’t do too well with carbs (although I love them) so have my macros set at 40% Protein/30% Fat/30% carbs. I'm usually over on carbs and under on protein. I bought a Fitbit and wear it consistently (along with HRM for heavy workouts) – TDEE is 2000-2200 per day consistently with the Fitbit.

Today – it’s been almost 3 months I’ve been doing EM2LW. I feel very heavy, bloated, soft everywhere, especially in my tummy, all my clothes are tight (uncomfortably so), and I just want the weight to come off – at least the 10-15 I’ve gained this past year.

One day I think I should increase my calories to 2000 a day – the next day I think I should decrease to 1500 a day. I’d appreciate any view points / suggestions.


Thanks in advance. Lisa

heybales

What's the difference between your most accurate Katch BMR based on bodyfat% and the inflated Harris BMR based on age, weight, height?

3 guesses which one the FitBit uses, and the first 2 don't count.

Don't know your BF%? You should, because you should also have your measurements to see changes.
Clothes may be reflecting one area of change only.

http://www.gymgoal.com/dtools.html

Bodyfat tool first, note results and go to the BMR tool, which the Scooby advanced calc has available too. If you leave the BF% off, you get Harris BMR, if you include BF%, you get Katch BMR.

Because if FitBit was decently correct, I'd say 2100 TDEE and 15% deficit makes 1785 for goal.

But if the BMR is inflated 200-400 with that worst BMR calc, then there's your problem.

LisaGirlfriend

Thanks heybales. I took my measurements back in September and I was at 36% BF. I will take them again tomorrow morning and see where I'm at, then recalculate.

Based on 36% BF, Katch BMR says 1394 and Harris BMR says 1456 - a 62 calorie difference... so really not too much. I will post again tomorrow to ensure my BF % is correct and run the numbers by you again.

Thanks for your help.
Lisa

LisaGirlfriend

So I just did all my measurements again - no change since September - and my BF % is 35.3%. My BMR for Harris is 1456. My BMR for Katch is 1404. My TDEE with the Fitbit seems to be quite accurate, so if I stick with the TDEE - 15% as you say heybales, then what I've been doing should be working right?? Eating 1800 a day (actually I've been eating a bit less than that but I'll up it I guess)... So when am I going to stop feeling like a FAT COW and start seeing results is the question??

heybales

So I just did all my measurements again - no change since September - and my BF % is 35.3%. My BMR for Harris is 1456. My BMR for Katch is 1404. My TDEE with the Fitbit seems to be quite accurate, so if I stick with the TDEE - 15% as you say heybales, then what I've been doing should be working right?? Eating 1800 a day (actually I've been eating a bit less than that but I'll up it I guess)... So when am I going to stop feeling like a FAT COW and start seeing results is the question??

That's great. That actually means you have a ratio of LBM : Fat the same as the healthy folks in the study that created the formula.

Sure don't want to lose that!

So indeed, you got the right idea. You really have ideal situation.
Fitbit is measuring your daily activity really accurately, and the lifting not so much, but it doesn't burn much anyway.

So the only thing I find interesting. You ate at 1600, and that must have been TDEE, because no gain/loss.
You gained 3 lbs and increased to 1800, and that must be current TDEE, because no gain/loss.

So you can see, if you dropped to 1500, you might have some loss until metabolism lowered, but how much for how long until the rebalance?

So I'd say you've have been suppressed metabolism for those times, and it just increased to your new eating level and balanced there.
Why balanced there? Your system still sees enough stress to not increase metabolism more to create a deficit.

Can you go higher and not gain? Is your system still feeling like the energy level is suppressed?

Or could it be the types of foods or macro ratio or eating style? Is the protein and fat in a meal/snack eaten before the carbs? Is each meal balanced, or some snacks/meals are very carb heavy?

Some constant stress is still probably messing with your hormones, making this more difficult. Getting good rest and recovery. Your exercise routine is great now, so keep that. Really push the weights heavy of course.
Sleep better than me, ect.

LisaGirlfriend

Wow… that’s a lot to digest, but I really appreciate you taking the time to work this out with me heybales! It’s funny you say that I have a ratio of LBM : Fat because I feel really healthy and I feel like I shouldn’t look like I do when I see myself in a mirror… it’s weird!

I gained the 3 1bs when I ate 3000+ calories on my cruise, but yes, maintained that 3 1b gain eating 1800 when I returned (for past 3 weeks). I’m going to continue to eat around 1800 a day (a little less on non-lifting days) and work on increasing protein and lowering carbs… this is hard for me. I will really focus my efforts on macros and paying better attention to this, plus keeping the sodium low. I’m very happy with my exercise routine and will ensure I lift 3x a week consistently and heavier. I also sleep really well right now (always at least 7-8 hours a night).

Thanks for your help. I’ll keep you posted on this. Also, can you send me your special spreadsheet? I can’t seem to open it in someone else’s link. I tried in Excel but it just comes up as unreadable text.

Lisa

heybales

Wow… that’s a lot to digest, but I really appreciate you taking the time to work this out with me heybales! It’s funny you say that I have a ratio of LBM : Fat because I feel really healthy and I feel like I shouldn’t look like I do when I see myself in a mirror… it’s weird!

I gained the 3 1bs when I ate 3000+ calories on my cruise, but yes, maintained that 3 1b gain eating 1800 when I returned (for past 3 weeks). I’m going to continue to eat around 1800 a day (a little less on non-lifting days) and work on increasing protein and lowering carbs… this is hard for me. I will really focus my efforts on macros and paying better attention to this, plus keeping the sodium low. I’m very happy with my exercise routine and will ensure I lift 3x a week consistently and heavier. I also sleep really well right now (always at least 7-8 hours a night).

Thanks for your help. I’ll keep you posted on this. Also, can you send me your special spreadsheet? I can’t seem to open it in someone else’s link. I tried in Excel but it just comes up as unreadable text.

Lisa

If the bodyfat% estimate was within 5% of accurate, it means you do have LBM under the layer of insulation then. ;-)

Keep in mind the daily eating goal is your weekly activity averaged out to a daily average level.
So you really need to eat the same amount daily whether a workout or not. Or, you need to eat even more on the workout days. Like if you think dropping 100 on non-workout days, then you should add 100 on workout days.
So the week is going to turn out the same no matter what.

For instance, 3 x lifting at 300 cal burn each, 900 cal weekly divided by 7 days is 129 added to a Sedentary level daily. And then you are taking 15% off.
So if you don't eat that daily, but only on workout days, you are actually cutting yourself out of 514 calories weekly, in addition to the 15% deficit you already have.
Now you are back to a steep deficit and not really feeding your workouts well.

Here's the link. If you don't have a Gmail account, you can only download as Excel. There is a link for converting to .xls from .xlsx if needed.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9-c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE

Topic with description.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/717858-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-and-deficit-calcs-macros-hrm

LisaGirlfriend

Thanks!! Got it. You rock!