Update - Starting to cut & need some guidance

Cinbad3178

Hey EM2WL peeps -

I wasn't sure where to put this, but I wanted to be accountable so that I can get all the support I can throughout this journey.

So I basically "started" my Metabolic Reset (& by started, I mean I actually ate at TDEE - probably a bit more - instead of just trying to figure it out & "guesstimating") at the beginning of November 2012 right after we returned from our honeymoon. Nothing like people telling you you've already "let yourself go" as soon as you got married! Lol!!

Anyway, I recently started cutting last Wednesday.

I went from 150lbs to 162lbs from the 5th of November to the 23rd of January. I believe this was probably quite a bit compared to others (and I'm sure some of it was necessary), but I'm slowly starting my cut. I've since dropped my calories from 2200 to 2100 and this week I started at 2000. Because of my "lb gain," the Scooby site says my BMR is now at 1508 instead of the 1456 it once was when I started. It also says that my TDEE is now at 2002 so I suppose I'm still eating at TDEE, right?

This is where I'm confused - how it the world is one supposed to know their "True TDEE" if they are gaining & losing lbs? Doesn't it change, as well?

So I'm not sure what to do, hence why I need all the support I can get! I have been averaging about 1-3 hrs / week of exercise if I'm really honest with myself & all of you. Some weeks I was able to get more exercise in, but think I should keep the monitoring at the "light level" for accuracy purposes. A typical workout schedule consists of 3x's/week of heavy weightlifting (at about 45 mins each) with one circuit or cardio added on.

With that being said, what's a good workout style for cutting? Should I add circuit training/weight-lifting (only) and maybe a few more recovery level walks or cardio days to the week so that I hit 5x's per week or what? I want to make sure this Reset was worth it!

Also, how am I really supposed to find what calorie # I'm supposed to be in order to truly cut 10% or 15%? Along with the weight, I've gained quite a few inches all over and am very squishy and roly-poly (for lack of better terminology). I can't believe I thought I was fatter before...I'd love to have that body again! LOL!! I'd really like to get back into at least ONE pair of my jeans and be able to feel comfortable in my sister's bridesmaid's dress in May.

Any advice, suggestions, etc are totally welcome & appreciated!! :-)

beautifulswan1

I don't have any advice, but I'd love to see the responses to this question as I am nearing the end of my reset and have gained about the same amout of weight as you.

dmcw19

Me too!

heybales

Very true your BMR and TDEE would increase as weight goes up. But not that much.

Also depends on how you increased in weight.

All at once in a couple weeks but then down to nothing, metabolism was slow to respond and you packed on some fat, as well as glucose stores being topped off finally.

Slowly the whole time about the same amount past the first couple of weeks, metabolism went up but you are eating in excess weekly, slowly packing on some fat.

If the latter and you can look at last 3 weeks of total weight gain, then you can take how much you ate over those 21 days on avg, minus the total gain * 3500 / 21, equals your real TDEE for the workouts you were doing then.

Now, if you were doing lifting and only gained like a lb, this confuses things because the gain could have been LBM. If it was muscle you'd never be able to weigh it as 3 wks is too short eating at TDEE to get much of anything. But since LBM includes glucose and water stores, hard to know.

Now, if it was the former, initial weight gain likely glucose and water replenished, and then it stopped.
Did it stop because metabolism is fully burning, or it just reached another lower than possible balance point? Gotta raise it to see if you gain. If 250 more calories daily adds on 1 lb in 2 weeks, you confirmed it.
If not, your metabolism still had room to go up.

But usually 5 lbs of weight doesn't change TDEE much at all.