Middle of Stage 1 - Would like to add some New Rules friends

SweatpantsRebellion

I'd love to have some MFP friends who are also doing New rules! To tell you a bit about myself, I go by the EM2WL philosophy (Eat more to weigh less). In other words, I choose to follow the book's recommendations of eating at a small deficit from my TDEE. In fact, for the first half of stage 1 I decided to eat at TDEE so that I'd have plenty of fuel to kickstart the strength training and hopefully some muscle gain. I admit that I went over TDEE quite a few days and ended up gaining a bit for the first half of stage 1. I've now gone to cut, which is a 200 calorie deficit from TDEE and hope to stick with cut so that I can end stage 1 without the 6 pounds of excess weight I've managed to add in the last month!

Anyways, while I'm open to friends from all walks of life I won't be very supportive of low-cal living while working out and I definitely want friends who will support the fact that I eat to fuel my workouts!

If you decide you want me as a friend, I'll do my best to support your efforts. Please send a note so I know you came from the NROL4W group and I'll add you!

Shamrock9377

I would like to thank you for introducing me to EM2WL thinking. It is because of you and I started reading up on their program and I know it's going to work for me.

I was very tired of the 1200 calorie eating plan. Granted, it worked, for a while. But it is not something I could live with the rest of my life.

I've taken a break from true programs for the last 7 months. Yes, I've gained back some of the weight I lost but for the first time, not all of it and then some. I'm ready now to embrace the EM2WL philosophy and eat right and exercise regularly again. I've had 2 total knee replacements in the past year, so I will be starting out slow, but I figure by summer, I should be able to start more involved ways of exercise. I have to gradually build up my strength as I tried earlier this year to do too much too soon and paid for it in the end.

My plan is to eat at 1800 calories. Try to stay with the 40/30/30 on macros. I find that the hardest thing to do. For these first 2-4 weeks, I'm going to walk or use a recumbent bike 5-6 days a week. Only 30 minutes a day. I'm going to do bursts starting out with whatever I can "burst" at. Then, do some rest time. Then burst again, etc. I'm going to do that with both the bike and walking. I need to build up my stamina in my hips, upper legs and back. After the initial 2-4 weeks, I'm going to introduce some weight machines. I feel that as out of shape as I am, I need the help of the machines so I have help controlling the weight. I'm also going to do some Tai Chi for balance and coordination. I've totally lost all this having two bad knees. I am also going to try the elliptical at about 4-6 weeks from now. Just 5 minutes at first as I'm betting that's about all I will be able to manage. I hope that by the end of summer, I will be able to graduate to the free weight room, or maybe earlier, just depends.

I love the fact I can stand and walk without pain now. I'm amazed that yesterday, while preparing food for dinner, I stood up in the kitchen all morning making stuff. That's a first in a long time! I used to take everything out to the kitchen table and sit there to mix things and chop things. I do find though, that I have to make a conscious effort to NOT sit down all the time. It's a habit that I'm slowly breaking.

Good luck with your plan and keep me posted as I will do with my progress. We should meet sometime, we don't live that far from each other and my hubby works at BNSF in Galesburg. Maybe someday!!

SweatpantsRebellion

This made my day! My brother works for BNSF. Gotta love it. Everyone in this area has someone that works for BNSF, right? Hurray for being able to move with less pain - that's so incredibly awesome! I forgot how close we are to one another. I'd love to meet some of my MFP pals for real someday - that would be so amazing! I appreciate the support that you've provided.

This post really gave me goosebumps. I felt such a feeling of freedom when I realized I could fuel my body properly and even more so when I threw away my weight watcher's stuff that I'd held onto for years (in case I rejoined, which I did 3 times in the past 5 or 6 years or so). That was a HUGE step for me. I do trust this process. Like anything else, it's not all roses and sunshine. Right now I've been stuck for a bit and that's frustrating. But despite that I KNOW that lowcal is not the answer!