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Intrigued...
danimalkeys
Posts: 982 Member
I started EMTWL yesterday after stumbling on some posts on the main MFP forums. Found the spreadsheet on Google docs, downloaded it, did all the measurements, etc and found my numbers. Tonight I found this sub group which I can already tell is going to be great.
A little background on me. I'm 50, male, 6'1 and about 230lbs. Last Feb I started a typical diet- portion control, lots of cardio (cardio for heart health/blood pressure reasons as much as weight loss, though I knew weight loss would help with all of that too). I was about 280bs when I started. By early August I was down to my goal weight of 225 and felt like a new person. People were noticing that I'd lost weight, I dropped a bunch of pant sizes, etc. From the cardio I felt much better. I remember carrying a bag of cat litter down the stairs and thought, 6 months ago, this weight was on me, no wonder I was having joint problems and huffing and puffing up and down the steps all the time. After Thanksgiving I had put back on 10-12lbs as I'd slacked off on the cardio and was eating more. I was able to get some of that off and back down to 230ish by getting the cardio going again, and finding the MFP app for my tablet and starting to track what I ate and what I exercised a little more diligently. I got to 230, and that's where I'm stuck. My lightest since January has been 227 but I cannot seem to break thru that barrier, and normally I'm going between 227 and 230. My new goal, when I got back on the wagon in Dec, is to be 200lbs. I haven't seen that since my 20's.
I've since rediscovered the weights (I'm a former competive lifter- the main reason for my weight gain was when I stopped lifting hard and heavy and kept eatling like I was, the lbs packed on. My competition weight was around 250lbs). Just to get things going again I'm doing the basic 5x5 plan and I'm having fun with it. It's a quick but thorough workout and I've done thousands upon thousands of reps of all the lifts the program uses so there is no learning curve.
The main reason I'm intrigued about this method of weight loss is like many others, I stopped losing doing what I have been doing. Cardio 30-45 minutes 5-6 days a week. Eating only 1700 calories a day. Yes, that is what MFP's calculator put me on when I joined back in December and I really haven't lost anything.
So here I am, I will be patient, I will be diligent with my workouts and I will strive to hit that calorie goal every day!
A little background on me. I'm 50, male, 6'1 and about 230lbs. Last Feb I started a typical diet- portion control, lots of cardio (cardio for heart health/blood pressure reasons as much as weight loss, though I knew weight loss would help with all of that too). I was about 280bs when I started. By early August I was down to my goal weight of 225 and felt like a new person. People were noticing that I'd lost weight, I dropped a bunch of pant sizes, etc. From the cardio I felt much better. I remember carrying a bag of cat litter down the stairs and thought, 6 months ago, this weight was on me, no wonder I was having joint problems and huffing and puffing up and down the steps all the time. After Thanksgiving I had put back on 10-12lbs as I'd slacked off on the cardio and was eating more. I was able to get some of that off and back down to 230ish by getting the cardio going again, and finding the MFP app for my tablet and starting to track what I ate and what I exercised a little more diligently. I got to 230, and that's where I'm stuck. My lightest since January has been 227 but I cannot seem to break thru that barrier, and normally I'm going between 227 and 230. My new goal, when I got back on the wagon in Dec, is to be 200lbs. I haven't seen that since my 20's.
I've since rediscovered the weights (I'm a former competive lifter- the main reason for my weight gain was when I stopped lifting hard and heavy and kept eatling like I was, the lbs packed on. My competition weight was around 250lbs). Just to get things going again I'm doing the basic 5x5 plan and I'm having fun with it. It's a quick but thorough workout and I've done thousands upon thousands of reps of all the lifts the program uses so there is no learning curve.
The main reason I'm intrigued about this method of weight loss is like many others, I stopped losing doing what I have been doing. Cardio 30-45 minutes 5-6 days a week. Eating only 1700 calories a day. Yes, that is what MFP's calculator put me on when I joined back in December and I really haven't lost anything.
So here I am, I will be patient, I will be diligent with my workouts and I will strive to hit that calorie goal every day!
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Replies
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I started EMTWL yesterday after stumbling on some posts on the main MFP forums. Found the spreadsheet on Google docs, downloaded it, did all the measurements, etc and found my numbers. Tonight I found this sub group which I can already tell is going to be great.
A little background on me. I'm 50, male, 6'1 and about 230lbs. Last Feb I started a typical diet- portion control, lots of cardio (cardio for heart health/blood pressure reasons as much as weight loss, though I knew weight loss would help with all of that too). I was about 280bs when I started. By early August I was down to my goal weight of 225 and felt like a new person. People were noticing that I'd lost weight, I dropped a bunch of pant sizes, etc. From the cardio I felt much better. I remember carrying a bag of cat litter down the stairs and thought, 6 months ago, this weight was on me, no wonder I was having joint problems and huffing and puffing up and down the steps all the time. After Thanksgiving I had put back on 10-12lbs as I'd slacked off on the cardio and was eating more. I was able to get some of that off and back down to 230ish by getting the cardio going again, and finding the MFP app for my tablet and starting to track what I ate and what I exercised a little more diligently. I got to 230, and that's where I'm stuck. My lightest since January has been 227 but I cannot seem to break thru that barrier, and normally I'm going between 227 and 230. My new goal, when I got back on the wagon in Dec, is to be 200lbs. I haven't seen that since my 20's.
I've since rediscovered the weights (I'm a former competive lifter- the main reason for my weight gain was when I stopped lifting hard and heavy and kept eatling like I was, the lbs packed on. My competition weight was around 250lbs). Just to get things going again I'm doing the basic 5x5 plan and I'm having fun with it. It's a quick but thorough workout and I've done thousands upon thousands of reps of all the lifts the program uses so there is no learning curve.
The main reason I'm intrigued about this method of weight loss is like many others, I stopped losing doing what I have been doing. Cardio 30-45 minutes 5-6 days a week. Eating only 1700 calories a day. Yes, that is what MFP's calculator put me on when I joined back in December and I really haven't lost anything.
So here I am, I will be patient, I will be diligent with my workouts and I will strive to hit that calorie goal every day!
Welcome, I joined here yesterday bumped the cal intake from 1500 to 2000 scary but willing to try. Given myself a year, plenty of time for trial and error.
Im also doing a 5x5 heavy lifting programme and loving it.
All the best to you0 -
Sounds like you got the exercising/lifting down... now just gotta nail those numbers/macros down to see the weight go down.. of course thats the hardest part of this whole process.. GL!0
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I started EMTWL yesterday after stumbling on some posts on the main MFP forums. Found the spreadsheet on Google docs, downloaded it, did all the measurements, etc and found my numbers. Tonight I found this sub group which I can already tell is going to be great.
A little background on me. I'm 50, male, 6'1 and about 230lbs. Last Feb I started a typical diet- portion control, lots of cardio (cardio for heart health/blood pressure reasons as much as weight loss, though I knew weight loss would help with all of that too). I was about 280bs when I started. By early August I was down to my goal weight of 225 and felt like a new person. People were noticing that I'd lost weight, I dropped a bunch of pant sizes, etc. From the cardio I felt much better. I remember carrying a bag of cat litter down the stairs and thought, 6 months ago, this weight was on me, no wonder I was having joint problems and huffing and puffing up and down the steps all the time. After Thanksgiving I had put back on 10-12lbs as I'd slacked off on the cardio and was eating more. I was able to get some of that off and back down to 230ish by getting the cardio going again, and finding the MFP app for my tablet and starting to track what I ate and what I exercised a little more diligently. I got to 230, and that's where I'm stuck. My lightest since January has been 227 but I cannot seem to break thru that barrier, and normally I'm going between 227 and 230. My new goal, when I got back on the wagon in Dec, is to be 200lbs. I haven't seen that since my 20's.
I've since rediscovered the weights (I'm a former competive lifter- the main reason for my weight gain was when I stopped lifting hard and heavy and kept eatling like I was, the lbs packed on. My competition weight was around 250lbs). Just to get things going again I'm doing the basic 5x5 plan and I'm having fun with it. It's a quick but thorough workout and I've done thousands upon thousands of reps of all the lifts the program uses so there is no learning curve.
The main reason I'm intrigued about this method of weight loss is like many others, I stopped losing doing what I have been doing. Cardio 30-45 minutes 5-6 days a week. Eating only 1700 calories a day. Yes, that is what MFP's calculator put me on when I joined back in December and I really haven't lost anything.
So here I am, I will be patient, I will be diligent with my workouts and I will strive to hit that calorie goal every day!
Since you and I are nearly the same weight I thought you might enjoy reading my brief EM2WL story here
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/861125-time-for-a-deficit-break
The story begins with the incorrect weights since I had a scale that was way off for years......My peak weight was 278 +/- and was at 272 when I began MFP in July 2012. Got down to 243 in October with eating well below my BMR and lots of cardio from cycling. Then I stalled for 90 days. That was when I began to research TDEE, BMR, etc. I increased my eating to reset my metabolism for about 3 weeks then started a cut. My stall has broken and as of today I have lost 5 pounds from 243 to 238. I have dropped a lot of my cardio and began lifting 3-4 times per week since December. Hope this helps.
Have you found your BMR and TDEE numbers yet? Visit the Scoobyworkshop URL and run the numbers with the Katch McArdle formula being the best if you know your BF%.
Welcome to the group.0 -
Gapwedge, I read your link, very cool. Is your birthday 1/24? That's when mine is. I just turned 50.
I figured out the numbers a couple days ago.
BF% 25.6
BMR 2047
TDEE 3346
TDEG 2663
I'm targeting 2700 calories per day. I know I'm not eating TDEE, but I'm putting 1000 more calories in me than I was. I want to give this a try for a few weeks and see what happens. I made a couple adjustments to my numbers last night, on activity levels. I think they are pretty accurate now. I sit at a desk all day and don't move around much while working, pretty sedentary, but I do cardio 5-6 days a week and lift 2-3 days.
I'm not going to cut out the cardio but I am going to shorten the workouts down to 20 mins and do higher intensity 3x a week and leave 2 of them at the 45 mins I've been doing.
The weights are coming along fine with the 5x5. Today I'll do 290 on squats, 325 on deads and 105 on presses. This is all what used to be warmup weights for me but they feel heavy right now. That'll change in a couple months.
2 things that will be difficult for me. 1: being patient. 2: beer. I love my beer on the weekends and I drink the good stuff (beer snob, yes I am). So 4 beers is 800 calories. I'll drink anything from 4-6 beers on the weekend days. It's my one vice.
My last doc appt was in December, and he yelled at me because I'd put some weight back on and my BP was on the edge again, after being good. I attribute that to slacking on the cardio more than anything. Unfortunately my next visit is mid March and I know I'll be in the middle of this and will probably still be in the 230's, but I'm going to ask him to give me 6 months and then see where I am. He's threatening me with BP meds and I don't want to go there. I want diet and exercise to do all they can before I start relying on drugs every day.
Thanks for all the comments everyone. It's great to have so many people in the same boat as you are and help motivate what amounts to a lifestyle change.0 -
Gapwedge, I read your link, very cool. Is your birthday 1/24? That's when mine is. I just turned 50.
I figured out the numbers a couple days ago.
BF% 25.6
BMR 2047
TDEE 3346
TDEG 2663
I'm targeting 2700 calories per day. I know I'm not eating TDEE, but I'm putting 1000 more calories in me than I was. I want to give this a try for a few weeks and see what happens. I made a couple adjustments to my numbers last night, on activity levels. I think they are pretty accurate now. I sit at a desk all day and don't move around much while working, pretty sedentary, but I do cardio 5-6 days a week and lift 2-3 days.
I'm not going to cut out the cardio but I am going to shorten the workouts down to 20 mins and do higher intensity 3x a week and leave 2 of them at the 45 mins I've been doing.
The weights are coming along fine with the 5x5. Today I'll do 290 on squats, 325 on deads and 105 on presses. This is all what used to be warmup weights for me but they feel heavy right now. That'll change in a couple months.
2 things that will be difficult for me. 1: being patient. 2: beer. I love my beer on the weekends and I drink the good stuff (beer snob, yes I am). So 4 beers is 800 calories. I'll drink anything from 4-6 beers on the weekend days. It's my one vice.
My last doc appt was in December, and he yelled at me because I'd put some weight back on and my BP was on the edge again, after being good. I attribute that to slacking on the cardio more than anything. Unfortunately my next visit is mid March and I know I'll be in the middle of this and will probably still be in the 230's, but I'm going to ask him to give me 6 months and then see where I am. He's threatening me with BP meds and I don't want to go there. I want diet and exercise to do all they can before I start relying on drugs every day.
Thanks for all the comments everyone. It's great to have so many people in the same boat as you are and help motivate what amounts to a lifestyle change.
Yep. 1/24. 10 years older to the day. I should say I will be picking my cardio back up since my cycling season is just around the corner, but I will be keeping my lifting routine going year round now. In the past I did not lift during the summer months. You will probably experience a slight gain from the reset calories, but most of that will be water retention early on. Once you maintain for awhile and then begin to cut again you will lose the water retention. Sending you a friend request.0 -
I agree that nice amount of cardio is going to be good for BP.
Since it was already getting there or decent enough, I wouldn't be surprised if you can have it back by mid-March.
Doesn't take long to get back into cardio shape usually.
Are you increasing calorie's slowly since you have a 1000 cal gap between previous and current goal?
Doesn't sound like undereating for long so may not as risky, and at least for us men respond quicker too usually.
Like maybe up to BMR 2000 for a week, then half way to TDEG for week like 2350, then finally TDEG.
Curious how close the 2 BF calc's were for you? Seen many women with 15% spreads. And over time I've seen that narrow down with equal movement, other times with one end moving fast other slow.0 -
heybales, I had 1700 as my base caloric intake and also ate back my workout calories, so most days I was in the 2200 range. That's why I want to try 2700 right from the get go. I'm making some dietary changes. Less carbs more protein, but I'm a carnivore so that won't be hard.
Here's the BF% that the spreadsheet calculated:
25.73 U.S. Navy Circumference Method
25.55 Covert Bailey "Fit or Fat" book method
25.64 Avgerage body fat % of the two0 -
heybales, I had 1700 as my base caloric intake and also ate back my workout calories, so most days I was in the 2200 range. That's why I want to try 2700 right from the get go. I'm making some dietary changes. Less carbs more protein, but I'm a carnivore so that won't be hard.
Here's the BF% that the spreadsheet calculated:
25.73 U.S. Navy Circumference Method
25.55 Covert Bailey "Fit or Fat" book method
25.64 Avgerage body fat % of the two
Holy cow (which you'll eat no doubt), I've never seen the estimates that close either.
Considering they use mainly different measuring sites for the calc's, you are proportional at the least right now.
It'll be interesting if it comes off unequally for the sites measured, and it actually gets worse, by calculation anyway, not in reality.
Actually, what's likely to happen is one lowers faster than the other, so avg drops, just not as fast as it really is happening.0
This discussion has been closed.