Questions from a Newbie

berthabunny

So, I posted yesterday about eating 1200-1400 and exercising somewhere around 15 hours a week for the past 4-5 months. I decided to try this since low-cal was not working.
I upped my caloric intake to 1500, but I ended up being sooo hungry! It was kind of nice to actually feel really hungry again I ended up eating more like 1700, and lost 1.2 pounds! I know I drank a lot yesterday, but still think some of it must have been water weight. Seeing 148.8 on the scale was wonderful!
So, from those of you who did lose weight quickly with EM2WL, what can I expect in the next few weeks? Most of the stickies say that is unlikely to happen, so I would love to hear from some people who lost a bit immediately and know what happens next. If I am likely to gain it right back, I would prefer to know ahead of time so that I do not freak out when it happens.
Thanks a ton!

ladyace2078

The very premise of EM2WL is that it isn't a 'quick' solution. I would set your mindset to be 'if you don't lose anything for another month, that's okay' and see where you are a month from now. Also, 15 hours a week? You work out more than 2 hours everyday? What are your stats? My guess is you need to eat even more than 1700 cal.

KarenJanine

I agree with Ladyace that you could probably eat more. I get around 10 hrs of exercise per week which gives me a TDEE of 2800 so I can lose on 2500 cals.

If your weight is currently 148.8 I assume you probably don't have much to lose so you shouldn't take more than a 15% cut from your TDEE.

When I first increased my cals I also get really hungry. It's just the body's response to being fuelled correctly. It balances out as your body adjusts to eating more.

Try not to focus on the day to day fluctuations of the scale. When I started EM2WL (last June) I decided not to weigh myself for a month. This broke my scale habit and now I rarely weigh at all and judge progress on strength goals and how my clothes fit.

berthabunny

Thanks for the response. I understand it is not a 'quick' solution, preferably a permanent one, which is why I was surprised when I lost weight over night. I am going to stick to it anyways, unless I gain more than 5-6 pounds (is that reasonable?), whereas I might lower a small amount.
I did get higher TDEE's, but I didn't think I should increase so much at one time, I'll see what happens increasing gradually.
I think I need to see the scale, even if it is going up, but I will not go back down to 1300-1400, especially on days I work out.
Thank you