been here b4, went lowr went higher, about to try stupid.

Debbiedebbiey
Debbiedebbiey Posts: 824 Member
Did a reset last year. Gained 10 lbs. I did 2100 ish cals for 8 wks. Then cut to 1800, lost nothing, cut to 1600,nothing, . 1500 lost about 3 lbs, . No inches, no clothes fitting looser, . I feel better on 1600 but results not there, well other than 3lbs. I'm 5'3 167 lbs, workout 3Times wk. Sometimes 2, Cardio 30 min..dumbbells in the 15-35 lb range 3xs. Just ordered cathe cardio supersets & pyramid upper & lower. Hopefully that'll be here this weekend, I want to get to 135, I don't want to cut to bmr but maybe I should then lose 20 pounds THEN start lifting.....I'm only asking about bmr bc eating tdee and everything else didn't work. Maybe it just doesn't work for . Me, . But my legs & feet are starting to hurt & I can't stand it anymore ! I've been advised by another mpf to keep cutting cals until I start losing bc I'm obviously eating too much ( that's when I dropped to 1500) how do I know whether to raise or lower. I weigh EVERYTHING ( which I didn't during my reset so I could've been eating slightly above 2100ish) I know I have to eat more with my cathe dvds. Though...ANY suggestions appreciated. Thanks! I just don't get how so many people have lost 20lbs since Jan & I've tried so hard !!! Desperate!!

Replies

  • Debbiedebbiey
    Debbiedebbiey Posts: 824 Member
    And I've had a bodybugg I wore everyday for 9months, tdee ave 2400, now I have a fitbit ave tdee 2000.
  • denise8986
    denise8986 Posts: 42 Member
    I'm in the same dang boat! I don't eat the best, but then I have seen ppl on here eat like me and still lose and I know I should exercise more, but I can't..i'm going low impact aerobics, dancing to fast music and walking. I have lost 11 pounds since Jan 8th., but I keep losing and gaining the same pound or two now.
  • Debbiedebbiey
    Debbiedebbiey Posts: 824 Member
    I feel like the only thing I haven't tried is 1200, but it goes against all I've learned, but I had a dietician tell me 1000 cals a few years ago at 172, but I'd give anything to have your loss of 11lbs, I've switched my macros around nothing helps, carbs seem to bloat me. Hopefully someone will have an idea, oh did I mention beach trip is 5 wks away, but more reason than that is the foot pain. I think my body is just tired of hauling it around, I have managed though I will say , even though my weight went up my cholesterol came down & Dr took me off meds :smile:
  • norcal_yogi
    norcal_yogi Posts: 675 Member
    about to get slammed for this...but i'd lower to what MFP gives you for losing 1lb. a week plus maybe half your exercise cals....

    then see what happens.

    keep us posted! X
  • natini
    natini Posts: 347 Member
    See the current post "I need help". Heybales put a link to his spreadsheet. His spreadsheet helped me determine what I should be eating at. I was overestimating my activity level before using his spreadsheet. Also, it sounds like you have been changing calories and exercise frequently. You need to stick to any changes you make for several weeks before changing and adjusting. I would suggest looking long term. Don't cut so low that it is not sustainable just for a vacation. Hope this helps. Good luck.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    about to get slammed for this...but i'd lower to what MFP gives you for losing 1lb. a week plus maybe half your exercise cals....

    then see what happens.

    keep us posted! X

    I was going to say something similar. I LOVE the TDEE - cut method for maintaining or for the last few lbs... but putting in the effort without noticeable results is disheartening. Also, I found that I would take more rest days and stuff when how much I could eat wasn't directly tied to how much I burned. I like to eat... so I connected the two and found success that way.

    What does MFP give you as a goal if you say you want to lose 1 lb/week? How about set to sedentary with a goal of 1/2 lb per week? Most people are not at all sedentary. In fact, as a stay-at-home mom, I burn at the "Very Active" factor on MFP's choices before exercise. If you set to either sedentary with 1/2 lb loss or lightly active with 1 lb loss, then add back in your exercise calories (how are you calculating these? - that's not an awful lot of exercise) you should see losses.

    The simplest way that worked for me was roughly BMR + 100 calories + exercise calories. Then all your deficit comes from your NEAT (non-exercise calories burned... cleaning, cooking, showering, driving, walking to the car, going upstairs at home etc.)
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Did a reset last year. Gained 10 lbs. I did 2100 ish cals for 8 wks. Then cut to 1800, lost nothing, cut to 1600,nothing, . 1500 lost about 3 lbs, . No inches, no clothes fitting looser, . I feel better on 1600 but results not there, well other than 3lbs. I'm 5'3 167 lbs, workout 3Times wk. Sometimes 2, Cardio 30 min..dumbbells in the 15-35 lb range 3xs. Just ordered cathe cardio supersets & pyramid upper & lower. Hopefully that'll be here this weekend, I want to get to 135, I don't want to cut to bmr but maybe I should then lose 20 pounds THEN start lifting.....I'm only asking about bmr bc eating tdee and everything else didn't work. Maybe it just doesn't work for . Me, . But my legs & feet are starting to hurt & I can't stand it anymore ! I've been advised by another mpf to keep cutting cals until I start losing bc I'm obviously eating too much ( that's when I dropped to 1500) how do I know whether to raise or lower. I weigh EVERYTHING ( which I didn't during my reset so I could've been eating slightly above 2100ish) I know I have to eat more with my cathe dvds. Though...ANY suggestions appreciated. Thanks! I just don't get how so many people have lost 20lbs since Jan & I've tried so hard !!! Desperate!!

    How long between cuts did you hold the line?

    Because if you ate higher and had no more gain or loss, and lowered, and lost nothing, and lowered, and lost nothing - over decent amount of time - to me just sounds like metabolism is very willing to move on down and remove your deficit. Must be one stressed system or messed up metabolism.

    Sounds like the wrong direction if body is still in enough stress to mess with hormones and you got no deficit.
    Perhaps you never ate at TDEE or near it?

    And if you gained any of that 10 lbs quickly, again water weight - you must have been eating at some deficit prior to that. And if rest of that was fat really, you really had a rough metabolism there to move up so slowly that it allowed you to keep gaining weight.

    This is all predicated on actually being at a level for 4 wks minimum, and being good with the intake side of the equation. Ever weigh all your food for a couple weeks to see how accurate your logging is? Shoot, just the messed about "about 2 servings" inaccuracies can increase deficit by 200 cal since it's anywhere from 1.6 to 1.9 actual servings, not 2. If you always played on safe side and added even more deficit by overestimating food, perhaps you were never eating as high as you think.

    Or conversely, eye-balling sizes, and you were eating way over. But I'd think if it was that direction, and you cut for decent amount of time, you'd still see loss, you just wouldn't know what the true calorie level was.
    So I doubt you were eating too high. Unless you were more accurate before the cut, and got sloppy during the cut.

    And how fast was the 3 lb loss? 3 wks showing a lb a week? or faster showing water weight?
    That would imply the higher 1600 level should have been some loss, it just would have taken longer.

    I think this all adds up to you haven't waited long enough for any of those levels, your metabolism just lowered to meet them, because system was still too stressed out, because the level is way too low for real TDEE, that you never actually reached.

    Going off a lot of logic there of course, all hinging on how much time did you spend at each level.

    Because 10 lb gain in 8 weeks, if it was slow and steady the whole time, implying it was all fat, would mean 625 extra calories each and every day to cause that to be fat.
    That would mean your real TDEE was 1475 for the level of activity during that 8 weeks.

    So I'll bet some of that 10 lbs was instant water weight, showing you were way under-eating.
    How steady or fast was that 10 lb gain?
    Did you eat at TDEE for your level of exercise?
    How long did you stay at 1800?
    How long at 1600?
    How long at 1500?
    How long to lose that 3 lbs?
  • Debbiedebbiey
    Debbiedebbiey Posts: 824 Member
    Well, I'll try to make this short when I got my bodybugg in late April, I was eating1400-1700, burning,1800-2500 per my TDEE. That was through end of May, before my that i was on topomax for 6 wks, lost 10 pounds eating 2000 cal eating junk food (this was before I found mfp, I used to eat crappy but never VLC,,anything I wanted ( great drug for nerve pain but it had given me kidney stones prior so he took me off around June) June I started EMTWL, ate fat2 fit TDEE, slowly gained those 10 lbs back. So in August I started my 20%cut (so going off meds plus not weighing peanut butter which I ate a ton of to get to tdee everyday-i was measuring w a tablespoon-rounded tbspn-couldve been an extra 600 cals a day- now I weigh on a scale) ate at 1800 as my sept/Oct/Nov/Dec. Jan I decided to bring her down a bit more, 1700something as one calculator said, still trough all this no losses, my thyroid is fine BTW, Feb I ate between 1700 to 1750, eat,train,progress said obviously 1700 is your maintenance as you have not lost any weight. So drop to 1500, I felt that WAS low so I went to 1610, this month and have lost a solid stinking 2lbs,(some days 3,then back to 2) sort of depressing. I read IPOARM said ( to someone else) give it 2 wks adjust from there, I'm giving it much longer. Honestly it's not the beach that's coming up (I dealt with a 10 lb gain at the pool last June,July,Aug and lived through it) but it's the pain in my feet when I first get up. I plan to lift 3xs a week when Cathe dvds get here, but cardio is a mental must have. Yes I have started to lose this month but it's the lost a pound gain it back the next day crap that makes me want to try eating bmr. 1450, but not sure if that would support the Cathe I'm going to be doing. I've not been lifting heavy per many on here, but 15-20 for curls, ( dumbbells) 35s for deads, ohp 15, flies 15, rows25s..that type of thing. I started out in physical therapy at 3 lbs for a bad neck injury so there's a fine line between pushing myself & screwing myself & rushing to doc for trigger point injections, so don't know if I'll ever "lift heavy" but considering how far I've come, Something outta be working ! Bless your heart if your still reading, I just need some sense talked into me before I do what my doc said & drop to 1200 ! (Though he doesn't know I'm lifting but I want to change this darn body !)
  • Debbiedebbiey
    Debbiedebbiey Posts: 824 Member
    My fitbit tdee is 2000 average for the past month and 95% of my days I get my 10,000 steps in or more.
  • skbarton
    skbarton Posts: 141 Member
    and lived through it) but it's the pain in my feet when I first get up.

    Looking at the foot pain and leaving the calories to others - Do you only have the pain when you get up in the morning and perhaps after sitting with your feet up for a while? Makes you hobble across the room 'cause it hurts so bad to stand and put weight on them?

    I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV, but I had horrible pain first thing in the morning that made getting out of bed and starting my day a torture. I'm pretty sure I had plantar fasciaitis (sp). You might want to talk to your doc about it. Before getting up, I would take a few minutes to flex my feet at the ankle up and down to loosen up the muscles that run from the ankle down the bottom of the foot.
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    May, before my that i was on topomax for 6 wks, lost 10 pounds eating 2000 cal eating junk food (this was before I found mfp, I used to eat crappy but never VLC,,anything I wanted ( great drug for nerve pain but it had given me kidney stones prior so he took me off around June) June I started EMTWL, ate fat2 fit TDEE, slowly gained those 10 lbs back. So in August I started my 20%cut (so going off meds plus not weighing peanut butter which I ate a ton of to get to tdee everyday-i was measuring w a tablespoon-rounded tbspn-couldve been an extra 600 cals a day- now I weigh on a scale) ate at 1800 as my sept/Oct/Nov/Dec.

    Going to cut this up a bit.. I have to side more with Heybales.. sounds like you lost water weight when you started a new workout.. you were eating 2k calories of junk and lost weight.. then you gained that back when switching calories up.. but you only gave it 2 months before cutting.. I probably would say thats not enough time.. especially since you cut calories a few times and seen no change at all...

    I would NOT stop lifting weights until you hit a lower weight.. that is not the right thing to do if your already lifting weights.

    If you decide to increase your calories, look at your diary raise your protein level to your body weight.. meet that number daily at the expense of your carbs.. get rid of Shakeology, Lean Cusines, Low fat foods, boxed meals, and just try to buy fresh items that you cook for dinner.

    Currently you are eating 1400 calories or so daily, are you seeing any changes? Currently all the lifting, and workouts you do are just being cancelled out because your not feeding your body.. your not gaining muscles, you are just hurting yourself by limiting your body.
  • Debbiedebbiey
    Debbiedebbiey Posts: 824 Member
    I lost the 10 lbs bc of the topomax- everyone loses weight on it. And of course gains it right back when they go off of it. The shakeology, I'm on my 3rd or 4th day of. I took it this time last year & it helped with inflammation in my neck, I've had to go back to pain meds more lately bc of the lifting and a)they constipated me. & b) make me feel crappy, so I'm back to shakeology to see if that helps.also kills i mean KILLS my cravings for sweets(WICKed sweet tooth, so it's worth it to me...please don't judge). ..my doctor has said he think s I'm not losing bc of the muscle relaxers suppressing my metabolism. IdK.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    when I got my bodybugg in late April, I was eating1400-1700, burning,1800-2500 per my TDEE. That was through end of May, before my that i was on topomax for 6 wks, lost 10 pounds eating 2000 cal eating junk food (this was before I found mfp, I used to eat crappy but never VLC,,anything I wanted ( great drug for nerve pain but it had given me kidney stones prior so he took me off around June)
    June I started EMTWL, ate fat2 fit TDEE, slowly gained those 10 lbs back.
    So in August I started my 20%cut (so going off meds plus not weighing peanut butter which I ate a ton of to get to tdee everyday-i was measuring w a tablespoon-rounded tbspn-couldve been an extra 600 cals a day- now I weigh on a scale)
    ate at 1800 as my sept/Oct/Nov/Dec.
    Jan I decided to bring her down a bit more, 1700something as one calculator said, still trough all this no losses, my thyroid is fine BTW,
    Feb I ate between 1700 to 1750, eat,train,progress said obviously 1700 is your maintenance as you have not lost any weight.
    So drop to 1500, I felt that WAS low so I went to 1610, this month and have lost a solid stinking 2lbs,(some days 3,then back to 2) sort of depressing.
    Yes I have started to lose this month but it's the lost a pound gain it back the next day crap that makes me want to try eating bmr. 1450, but not sure if that would support the Cathe I'm going to be doing.
    I've not been lifting heavy per many on here, but 15-20 for curls, ( dumbbells) 35s for deads, ohp 15, flies 15, rows25s..that type of thing.

    Little difficult to make it through the post finding answers, so formatting it above, hope I got the answers right, and laid out like this gives you something to think about.

    And it is interesting - no where do you comment, that I see, about inches lost. You seem to be living or dying by the scale, which is understandable because of feet load, but that will be additional stress focusing only on that.

    You also don't mention what your exercises were until the end here as to starting something else. Doing those same weight lifting stuff for the whole time? That's fine with injury, hopefully will help it, but true, no need to knock yourself out of commission.

    So first, Bodybugg is not going to be accurate for some types of exercise, and it can be inflated for the other daily stuff too if it's basis for BMR using Harris is inflated 200-400 over better Katch BMR.
    Do you know your Katch and Harris BMR? Shown in spreadsheet, TDEE Deficit and MFP Tweak tabs.

    How steady or fast was that 10 lb gain?
    slowly over 8 wks - so my math in my other post is correct. if it was slow and steady the whole time, implying it was all fat, would mean 625 extra calories each and every day to cause that to be fat.
    That would mean your real TDEE was 1475 for the level of activity during that 8 weeks.
    If that is the case, you have either lost a whole lot of muscle mass, or have one severely depressed metabolism. Or you did actually keep gaining water weight back as large part of that.

    Did you eat at TDEE for your level of exercise?
    Sounds like ate at fat2fit level which you don't say what it was. which is potentially inflated because it also uses Harris BMR instead of better Katch BMR, right or wrong or unknown. Probably over-ate due to bad food intake logging. And why fat2fit when you had BodyBugg TDEE unknown.

    How long did you stay at 1800?
    4 months, probably over-eating again for no scale used. No loss whatever the true intake was.

    How long at 1700 something?
    1 month, which if 1800 or true level was TDEE, then 100 cal deficit would be 0.85 lb lost if really a deficit. 100 daily deficit easily lost or reduced in food intake inaccuracies. Exercise change and improvements could also wipe that out.

    How long at 1500?
    Not much time, back to 1610.

    How long to lose that 2 or 3 lbs?
    1 month, which would imply a deficit of 290 calories if that was really just fat loss. So 1610 + 290 = 1900 TDEE.
    But if that was really the case of TDEE at 1900, when you ate at 1700 for a month, you would have lost 1.7 lbs that month.
    So that was not fat loss, though some could have been, but water weight.

    So the difficulty of strictly using weight as measuring means of having a deficit is that change of workouts can cause body improvement and weight gain, which can be offset by fat loss. And eating at TDEE can cause that too of course.
    And if body stressed lowered metabolism can cause problems also.

    What is your Harris and Katch BMR?
    Or if unknown then need age, height, current weight, and BF% from multiple calcs?

    Has current exercise been mainly cardio? What type and intensity, time and frequency?

    How often during those periods above did you change workouts?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    I lost the 10 lbs bc of the topomax- everyone loses weight on it. And of course gains it right back when they go off of it. The shakeology, I'm on my 3rd or 4th day of. I took it this time last year & it helped with inflammation in my neck, I've had to go back to pain meds more lately bc of the lifting and a)they constipated me. & b) make me feel crappy, so I'm back to shakeology to see if that helps.also kills i mean KILLS my cravings for sweets(WICKed sweet tooth, so it's worth it to me...please don't judge). ..my doctor has said he think s I'm not losing bc of the muscle relaxers suppressing my metabolism. IdK.

    Go look up the side effects of the med's you are on - that can indeed be the case, and must be worked around then.

    Still gives means of estimating things.

    For instance, at least you've come in from the high side, not trying to discover from the low side.
  • Debbiedebbiey
    Debbiedebbiey Posts: 824 Member
    Thanks for taking the time to help me with this. I have indeed measured, tape only, no calipers, lost nothing. No inches. I have certainly gained strength and do feel trimmer in the torso, but that's it, no loose clothes or anything,

    for past 9 wks I've done cardio, elliptical, dancing and jumping on a mini trampoline in the basement 5:45- 6:45am. Plus. 3xs wk weights-dumbbells, 15 lbs nice,20 lbs ugly on bicep curls & ohp. Goblet squats, plies, lunges, flies w/15s, rows w/30s, triceps kickbacks 15s, lat raises w/10s.from an article in oxygen before that elliptical & turbo jam.

    ....I fell off my elliptical & sprained my foot 3wks into this so not too much cardio for 3wks, . But pushed right back into it. Nothing horribly strenuous, I know but my hrm gave approx 200-300 per workout-i know it doesn't work for weights

    . I'm 63inches tall, . 167lbs, body fat 36%, 44yrs young. Like I said I've ordered Cathe Friedrich videos, to be delivered Friday, with intent of 3-4 hrs/week, one is lifting & the other is cardio supersets...tell me please how many calories in your opinion and HOW LONG to give it, . And, WHY some people on mfp say " I only lost 23lbs since Jan on 1200 cals" and "lost 11 lbs last month now I'm stalled", , could I be one of the (older-yikes) ladies who have a metabolism that's super low, but shouldn't my workouts be bringing that up if it is slow ? Last summer I did NROLFW and hiked in a local hilly metro park (my favorite next to dancing )

    Not sure what do you mean about been to the high side & not the low side, . I think your talking calories & haven't been VLCD. True.
  • Debbiedebbiey
    Debbiedebbiey Posts: 824 Member
    And I drink a boatload of water BtW :) does a person hold featherweight for a year ? I don't understand . I know when you start as new routine you store water but for how long ??? I can't imagine that's it bc of the water I take in. My pharmacist said she didn't think it would have THAT much of an effect on my metabolism. Thought it might make me lazy, but since I take it at bedtime shouldn't be much of a factor. Oh and macros ? I try not to do too far over 100 in carbs, they swell me. Love healthy fats, cool with protein, . can you figure something out that would work well ? Again, any help is SO appreciated !
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    As you get your new routine down, use the spreadsheet and be honest with your time. I understand her routines are lifting - but don't make them cardio, follow the rules.

    You shouldn't be doing a lot of cardio, eating low carb like that. The Paleo and Primal programs that recommend low carb also talk about killer-cardio and such, and not doing anything but walking.
    They know anything more intense with low carbs is bad while on a diet.

    Do you own research on your med's - not the pharmacist. Find the study that shows what % had the side effects.

    And lowered metabolism while you sleep, if it does it, for 1/3 of the day minimum - ya that could easily be 200 cal difference.

    If you eat protein and fat first in meal with carbs, do you still get same bad effect with them?

    So if that BF% estimate is decent, Katch BMR is 1417, Harris BMR is 1470, so you are right about expected BF% for your weight, that's pretty good actually, usually Harris is inflated, it's close enough though.

    Why do they lose great at 1200 calories and then plateau.

    Because they were eating probably 2500 to 3000 calorie previously.
    That's over a 1000 cal deficit, so you get 2 lbs of loss a week, until such time as the metabolism slows down.
    Either muscle is loss and it's no longer higher for totally expected reason.
    They lose weight so BMR goes down for that too, sadly good chunk muscle-mass.
    But even out side losing that, their metabolism slows down, so they keep losing, progressively less and less lost, until nothing is lost.
    Plateau. So eat less and exercise more, that creates a bigger deficit and perhaps works for a week or two, unless more muscle is burned in which case you can keep losing till it stops again.
    Now in sad state of having less muscle.