Terrified

missemily1124

Well the title pretty much sums it up.

Over the last 2ish years I have lost almost 50 pounds eating low cal (1200-1400). I cannot seem to lose the last 5-10 pounds and it's driving me nuts. I want to give EM2WL a shot but I'm so scared.

Just wondering... how long does a reset usually take and what should I expect to gain? Will it mainly be water weight, or am I going backwards? Will my clothes start to get tight? How long should I let myself gain before I lower my calories again?

I'm so scared to start this, but I feel like this might actually work for me.

Plus, I love to eat as healthy/natural as possible, so will eating upwards of 1800-1900 calories be possible with eating crazy amounts of fruits and veggies?

Thanks for your imput. Ahhhhhh.

edited to add...
I work in retail and am on my feet for about 8 hours a day walking around, carrying stuff, etc. I don't do much in the way of structured exercise, however, Would you say Iightly or moderately active?

Gapwedge01

Well the title pretty much sums it up.

Over the last 2ish years I have lost almost 50 pounds eating low cal (1200-1400). I cannot seem to lose the last 5-10 pounds and it's driving me nuts. I want to give EM2WL a shot but I'm so scared.

Just wondering... how long does a reset usually take and what should I expect to gain? Will it mainly be water weight, or am I going backwards? Will my clothes start to get tight? How long should I let myself gain before I lower my calories again?

I'm so scared to start this, but I feel like this might actually work for me.

Plus, I love to eat as healthy/natural as possible, so will eating upwards of 1800-1900 calories be possible with eating crazy amounts of fruits and veggies?

Thanks for your imput. Ahhhhhh.

edited to add...
I work in retail and am on my feet for about 8 hours a day walking around, carrying stuff, etc. I don't do much in the way of structured exercise, however, Would you say Iightly or moderately active?

Welcome. First of all don't be terrified. Second, you are doing your body a favor by eating enough calories. Yes, you would more than likely need to do a full reset if you have been eating VLCD for that long. Read the stickies at the top. Learn what your BMR and TDEE numbers are. The reset suggests you should remain there for 8-12 weeks. You can gradually increase your calories, say 100-200 calories per week, until you reach your TDEE maintenance level. Yes, you will likely gain some along the way. It varies. And just guessing I would say Lightly Active unless you have incorporated some lifting into your weekly routine.
Remember that this is a process and not a get quick scheme and I would (just my opinion) weigh every week to monitor your weight. Some suggest not to during the reset phase, but I like to track my progress during a reset.
Others will also come along and offer suggestions. Those are just mine. Again welcome!!

heybales

Plus, I love to eat as healthy/natural as possible, so will eating upwards of 1800-1900 calories be possible with eating crazy amounts of fruits and veggies?

Ditto on Lightly Active if not rounded up actually.

And I'll bet you would have a hard time getting enough with just fruits and vegetables. You need some healthy fats too anyway, but especially now.

And for perspective, what's more scary, slightly gain back some water weight you initially lost and were going to regain anyway when you went to maintenance, or if you were stalled for over 3 weeks you are already eating at maintenance, and unless you do this would be facing future eating always needing to be at that level with any splurge being stored as fat?

berthabunny

You aren't the only one, and I am pretty sure almost everybody on here was scared at one point. I have gained upping my calories, although not that much, and I love eating more.
This week I think I found my TDEE, because I am feeling somewhat sluggish like I used to.
I am almost done with 4 weeks of building my calories, and have gained a total of 4 pounds, but 3 were in the first week and a half, the other one I think is water weight from eating too much sodium (I seem to do that every weekend, especially if I eat out, so keep that in mind if you do jump weight).
Follow Gap and Heybales' advice, I am sticking out through a six week reset.
You can do it

missemily1124

Also, I'm in my best friends wedding in June, and I'm scared if I do this I won't fit into the dress. I should be back to my original weight/less by June... right?

FitBlackChick

I'm working on upping my cals too. I discovered that for over 3 months I was netting well below my BMR of approximately 1400 calories. Initially I lost 5 pounds. Then I regained the weight, and have since been fluctuating up and down between 1 and 1.5 lbs on the scale. Does this mean my metabolism has been damaged, and can I expect that the scale will not show favorable numbers for the next several weeks while my metabolism repairs itself? :frown:

heybales

I'm working on upping my cals too. I discovered that for over 3 months I was netting well below my BMR of approximately 1400 calories. Initially I lost 5 pounds. Then I regained the weight, and have since been fluctuating up and down between 1 and 1.5 lbs on the scale. Does this mean my metabolism has been damaged, and can I expect that the scale will not show favorable numbers for the next several weeks while my metabolism repairs itself? :frown:

If no weight OR measurement loss (because if starting exercise too, your body is making improvements that are almost always weight gain, not loss, along with fat loss) for good 3 weeks, then not necessarily damaged, but at least it slowed down because of the stress on your body.

So in essence, if that is true no measurement or weight loss, and no gain or loss of weight. you are eating at maintenance right now?

Congrats, did you expect to hit eating maintenance so soon!?

If you are following the advice of letting your system let go of stress by eating at expected maintenance, TDEE, then you should see nothing on the scale move.
Now at first when you eat more than you have been, you should gain weight. If you eat more than current TDEE, you gain fat.
You can minimize this by upping calories slowly, hoping your metabolism speeds on up.

FitBlackChick

I'm working on upping my cals too. I discovered that for over 3 months I was netting well below my BMR of approximately 1400 calories. Initially I lost 5 pounds. Then I regained the weight, and have since been fluctuating up and down between 1 and 1.5 lbs on the scale. Does this mean my metabolism has been damaged, and can I expect that the scale will not show favorable numbers for the next several weeks while my metabolism repairs itself? :frown:

If no weight OR measurement loss (because if starting exercise too, your body is making improvements that are almost always weight gain, not loss, along with fat loss) for good 3 weeks, then not necessarily damaged, but at least it slowed down because of the stress on your body.

So in essence, if that is true no measurement or weight loss, and no gain or loss of weight. you are eating at maintenance right now?

Congrats, did you expect to hit eating maintenance so soon!?

If you are following the advice of letting your system let go of stress by eating at expected maintenance, TDEE, then you should see nothing on the scale move.
Now at first when you eat more than you have been, you should gain weight. If you eat more than current TDEE, you gain fat.
You can minimize this by upping calories slowly, hoping your metabolism speeds on up.

I'm confused... According to my calculations my TDEE is 2012, and my BMR is (as mentioned earlier) about 1400. At first I was eating about 1300 cals a day, and exercising several days a week on top of that. Now I've upped my calories so that I'm netting at 1600 cals a day (

FitBlackChick

I'm working on upping my cals too. I discovered that for over 3 months I was netting well below my BMR of approximately 1400 calories. Initially I lost 5 pounds. Then I regained the weight, and have since been fluctuating up and down between 1 and 1.5 lbs on the scale. Does this mean my metabolism has been damaged, and can I expect that the scale will not show favorable numbers for the next several weeks while my metabolism repairs itself? :frown:

If no weight OR measurement loss (because if starting exercise too, your body is making improvements that are almost always weight gain, not loss, along with fat loss) for good 3 weeks, then not necessarily damaged, but at least it slowed down because of the stress on your body.

So in essence, if that is true no measurement or weight loss, and no gain or loss of weight. you are eating at maintenance right now?

Congrats, did you expect to hit eating maintenance so soon!?

If you are following the advice of letting your system let go of stress by eating at expected maintenance, TDEE, then you should see nothing on the scale move.
Now at first when you eat more than you have been, you should gain weight. If you eat more than current TDEE, you gain fat.
You can minimize this by upping calories slowly, hoping your metabolism speeds on up.

So just to clarify... according to my calculations my TDEE is 2012 and my BMR is approx. 1400. For the first couple months of my weightloss journey I was eating 1300 cals a day (in accordance with the goals MFP set for me), and I was exercising but not eating back my exercise calories. As I mentioned I lost 5 pounds in the first month, but gained it back in the second. Now (2.5 months later) I have recorded only a 1lb weight loss in total. Is this because my body's metabolism has slowed down severely? Also, after some research I have decided to up my cals to 1600. This is based on a "lightly active" activity level. I chose this activity level because I stay home most of the time sitting at my desk; I hardly ever go out atm.I do however exercise twice a day, 6 days a week (about 35 mins per workout). Do you think my chosen activity level is okay?

heybales

I'm confused... According to my calculations my TDEE is 2012, and my BMR is (as mentioned earlier) about 1400. At first I was eating about 1300 cals a day, and exercising several days a week on top of that. Now I've upped my calories so that I'm netting at 1600 cals a day (

Your estimated TDEE is 2012, if your metabolism was normal right now. If that was really true, you'd have a 1 lb a week loss, 2000 - about 1400 = 600 daily deficit, slightly over 3500 weekly, or 1 lb of fat weekly.

TDEE is literally your maintenance, how much you eat without losing or gaining weight for that level of activity.

Isn't that what you were doing at 1400? Maintaining. Therefore, that is your real TDEE right now. Obviously for further weight loss there ain't much more room to go down more, without losing more muscle mass.

Just emphasizing where you are at.

So if 1400 is maintenance, guess what will happen initially if you eat more? You will gain weight, until your metabolism decides to speed up. No way around it, except make your workouts good strong lifting sessions so those extra calories can be used to build muscle.

Just preparing you. Keep reminding yourself, how much further into the ground could you push your metabolism and still have success with weight loss? Not likely much at all.

So keep up the good choice here, and be honest so you aren't shooting your body in the metabolism.

So a good 6 hrs of workouts?
Like walking 3 - 4 mph, or something more intense?
If walking, ya that's about half time for that, so 3 hrs is Lightly Active.
If more than walking, that ain't 1-3 hrs of exercise, that's 6 hrs.
That's Very Active rounded down to nearest 100, then take deficit.

Now, if you are slowly increasing your calories, know that at some point your TDEE already includes exercise, so you won't be eating those back as extra. Just the daily goal, every day.