Do you think I should do a reset?

Jen800

Hi!

I've been upping my calories slowly instead of all at once. I used to be eating 1000 calories a day, then went to 1100 before I found this group, then decided I needed to get up to around my real eating goal of 1500ish. I'm currently at 1300.

However, even though I know this is kindof silly, the mental aspect of seeing the scale not budge very much (I'm in a bit of a plateau, hovering around 129-131) and it's upsetting. I understand what I put my body through was terrible for it, but I just don't think I could cope with the mental part of eating at TDEE. I'm working on reforming my relationship with food once again, but I just don't know if I should do a reset or if it would be okay to just do the cut. I'm not in a true plateau, the weight has just stopped dropping off which I know is because I'm eating slightly more and actually feeding my body instead of letting it lose muscle.


So, in short, what are your opinions? Did you do the reset? Do you think the reset is necessary?


Sorry if this post sounds a little repetitive or annoying, I didn't mean it to be ! :flowerforyou:

amanda_gent

Hi
You're not being silly, repetitive or annoying. We're all here for the same reason and at some point we've all been where you are!

It would be helpful if we had some data to work with:

How tall are you
Age
Starting weight
Goal weight
How long have you been on a VLCD?

Being very general about it, though, I would say do not do a reset unless you truly know WHY you are doing it and are prepared to disregard the scale entirely. It's about healing your body and it's mostly a mental challenge. If you're so tied up in the numbers you won't make it.

Jen800

Thanks,

under 18
I'm 5'3
SW 160
GW 115
I started out in july, ate 700-800 cals for about 3 months or less, then continued upping until now.

I know that resets are supposed to remind your body what it's like to eat at TDEE, and to let it be okay with eating and not storing every bit of food as a precious gift because of the lack of food it was receiving beforehand. I also know it's about repairing your relationship with food.


I was just wondering if it was necessary really, because I feel as I up my calories slowly I become less and less afraid of food. However, is it more beneficial to just sit right at TDEE and then lower it, or slowly move up to your eating goal where you stay during your weight loss? Does it affect weight/fat loss any differently?

Thanks for your replies!

KarenJanine

I know that resets are supposed to remind your body what it's like to eat at TDEE, and to let it be okay with eating and not storing every bit of food as a precious gift because of the lack of food it was receiving beforehand. I also know it's about repairing your relationship with food.


I was just wondering if it was necessary really, because I feel as I up my calories slowly I become less and less afraid of food. However, is it more beneficial to just sit right at TDEE and then lower it, or slowly move up to your eating goal where you stay during your weight loss? Does it affect weight/fat loss any differently?

I didn't do a reset when I started EM2WL back in June, I just went straight into a 15% cut having been eating at 1200 cals for just a few weeks. I think a lot of it depends how long you've been eating a VLCD for. I'd only done it for a few weeks (this time around) and decided I wouldn't reset. However after a few months my weight loss stalled and wasn't budging, although I was losing inches, so I decided to go up to TDEE at that point. I think this was an important step for me as it's helped me re-learn what it feels like to be running on the correct amount of fuel and in hindsight I wish I'd done it from the outset. But you have to do what's right for you.

Remember it is also important to take a 'diet break' for a week or so every 2 or 3 months by eating at TDEE so your body 'remembers' that your cut value isindeed a cut and not your TDEE. This becomes increasingly important as you get near to your goal, as does decreasing your cut to just 5 or 10% once you only have just a few lbs left to lose.

amanda_gent

I was just wondering if it was necessary really, because I feel as I up my calories slowly I become less and less afraid of food. However, is it more beneficial to just sit right at TDEE and then lower it, or slowly move up to your eating goal where you stay during your weight loss? Does it affect weight/fat loss any differently?

I agree completely with what KarenJanine said.

However, if the last time you ate at TDEE for a good period of time is a far distant memory, you'd want to consider it an investment in the long-term.

Good luck!

heybales

I was just wondering if it was necessary really, because I feel as I up my calories slowly I become less and less afraid of food. However, is it more beneficial to just sit right at TDEE and then lower it, or slowly move up to your eating goal where you stay during your weight loss? Does it affect weight/fat loss any differently?

I agree completely with what KarenJanine said.

However, if the last time you ate at TDEE for a good period of time is a far distant memory, you'd want to consider it an investment in the long-term.

Good luck!

Remember - if your plateau was no weight or inches lost - you were already eating at TDEE.

Your body felt stressed enough you lost the deficit. Or you got real sloppy with logging food and exercise later compared to earlier and lost the deficit.

So as you raise calories, you may just end at what is the theory TDEE deficit level, and maintain. Your body is still to stressed and threatened to allow there to be a deficit.

So raise them on up slowly as you are doing to that 15% off what estimated TDEE could be.

Stay there 3 weeks, if no weight or inches lost, still too low.

Here's the difficult thing though, what if you do lose a little, and some inches drop.

Is that because your metabolism went up fully and that is max deficit, or is it still suppressed?
How would you know?

Unless - you spent time and expected TDEE and maintained. Actually, if you gained like 1 lb in 1 month, that would be better. That would indicate you not only found TDEE but went slightly over. And that lb could have been LBM and not fat if you are exercising decently.