Entering my 6th week...when does it start to come off?

heybales

I'm sorry, there were a lot of questions in that reply, and I'm not sure if they were real or rhetorical. I am under 5 foot (I'm 4'11) but I do exercise. I have a HRM and burn about 250-300 per day, 5-6x a week.

According to the spreadsheet, my TDEE is 1986, and suggests I eat 1518. Are you saying I should add 250 for 2 weeks and eat 1768?

Even the spreadsheet is a best estimate at TDEE, a starting point. Hopefully better than choosing 1 of 5 levels and working from there.

Yep, some questions of the unknown no one could know until you test.

So I'd suggest start eating half way to TDEE, like 1700. For 2 weeks.

Still below maintenance, should cause NO weight gain. But if body is still stressed, may be what it needs.

If you gain instant water weight, and then nothing, just restored some glucose, and metabolism raised to that point if no further weight gain. In which case raise it to estimated TDEE for another 2 weeks. Again if instant water weight gain, that's fine. worrisome there would still be anything to top off though. But if no more for 2 wks, that may be TDEE. Now raise 250 more for 2 wks. Should be 1 lb gained total. If still instant water weight gain, I'll bet you don't gain anything else.
And all that instant water weight gain was going to happen eventually too, when you went to maintenance.

If you gain no water weight, great. Keep testing, then go up to TDEE as above.

All this time eating even closer to TDEE will allow body to unstress, just in case you got too much going on for stress on the body.

So it doesn't sound like you did a reset, just jumped into the deficit. May not work best, or it'll take longer for body to feel good enough to give you the deficit.

amandacepstein

Hi there,

Here's my experience, maybe it will help?

I too was netting below my BMR (1430) for a year because I wasn't eating back my exercise calories from my 4-5X/week workouts.

As a result, I was hungry all the time, my weight plateaued, and I felt a sense of desperation that I was going to have to starve myself EVEN MORE to lose the 15 pounds I would like to lose.

I started my reset a little over 4 weeks ago at 158 pounds. I weighed in yesterday at 160.2. Yes, I "gained" 2 pounds but this could be anything - more muscle (I lift heavy), water retention, etc. Here's the thing - I have been eating between 2100 and 2400 calories a day and that's ALL I have "gained" on the scale. But more importantly, I've gained the peace of mind that comes from being able to enjoy dinners out with my husband, the comfort of actually being FULL, and the flexibility to add some nutritious and tasty foods back into my diet that I previously avoided because they were "too many calories". Nuts, coconut, full fat yogurt when I can get it - all back on the table and I'm a happy happy lady!

So ... my weight has remained basically the same for the past three weeks and though I might be okay to cut, I'm going to hold off a little bit longer. I'm still not convinced I have found "true maintenance" but it's looking like it.

I have to tell myself every day to be patient and let the process work, so I know how hard it can be!

PrettyPaleo - what an awesome testimonial. I think that should go up there with the NSV post! Even if I never lost another pound, the things you describe - NORMAL LIVING - would be worth it for me, plus I think the lifting will eventually result in a more pleasing shape - just speaking for myself. Thank you for sharing that!!