Increasing Calories - What to expect & why you need patience...
Options
Replies
-
Thank you for this. I watched several of your videos and read many of the explanatory posts this past week and decided to gradually up my cals to my BMR, which is 1622. I have been at 1200 for about the last month and lost 16 pounds, but I don't want to make my body used to 1200 calories since I still have 45 pounds to go! I upped my calories to 1400 this week. I plan on staying here for a week or two and then going to 1450, 1500, 1550 and so on. In reading your posts, this does make sense, and obviously it works for people. I am hoping I will be another success story!
Upping to your BMR is a step.. but you are here... you've read the info.. you know the science (if not read the stickies)
Jump to your TDEE cut level.. by upping gradually you are just delaying the process...
Your body will thank you!
0 -
OK I joined the group! I am so nervous but I haven't seen the scale move in over a month! I was doing a very low calorie diet and the weight stopped coming off. I joined MFP and upped my calories to 1200...nothing!
I am a sponge right now..reading all your posts and am willing to try this! I will open my diary to public...if anyone has any suggestions..I NEED HELP~!
thank you in advance! I am hoping this works..I am STARVING!! LOL
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter0 -
Bump0
-
Hi everyone,
I'm a recent EM2WL convert and am on Day 10 of eating at 2100 (that being TDEE - 15%) after following WW, i.e. restricted calories and too much exercise (especially cardio!).
I am absolutely loving this new approach and am excited about the benefits to be gained. I initially gained 0.8kg which has dropped off this morning.
Instead of doing a full metabolism reset - I've decided to start with TDEE - 15% and stick with that for 6 weeks and track my progress. The reason I've decided not to do a metabolism reset is because just before starting this I had a month "off" WW and ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. WIthout tracking, that is.
My question is - is it okay that I'm starting with TDEE - 15% and not doing a full reset? If it is okay, how will I know (let's say... in 4 to 6 weeks' time) if I should go up to TDEE and maintain for 8 weeks before cutting?
Any advice would be hugely appreciated
RR0 -
If you have not been on a very low cal diet for a long time you can try and go ahead with your cut. if nothing changes within a few weeks time you can increase your cals to a 10% cut and if that still doesn't get the scale budging I would do a reset.Hi everyone,
I'm a recent EM2WL convert and am on Day 10 of eating at 2100 (that being TDEE - 15%) after following WW, i.e. restricted calories and too much exercise (especially cardio!).
I am absolutely loving this new approach and am excited about the benefits to be gained. I initially gained 0.8kg which has dropped off this morning.
Instead of doing a full metabolism reset - I've decided to start with TDEE - 15% and stick with that for 6 weeks and track my progress. The reason I've decided not to do a metabolism reset is because just before starting this I had a month "off" WW and ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. WIthout tracking, that is.
My question is - is it okay that I'm starting with TDEE - 15% and not doing a full reset? If it is okay, how will I know (let's say... in 4 to 6 weeks' time) if I should go up to TDEE and maintain for 8 weeks before cutting?
Any advice would be hugely appreciated
RR0 -
Hi and welcome!OK I joined the group! I am so nervous but I haven't seen the scale move in over a month! I was doing a very low calorie diet and the weight stopped coming off. I joined MFP and upped my calories to 1200...nothing!
I am a sponge right now..reading all your posts and am willing to try this! I will open my diary to public...if anyone has any suggestions..I NEED HELP~!
thank you in advance! I am hoping this works..I am STARVING!! LOL
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
It;s normal to be nervous in the beginning.
You might want to read to all the stickies so you know what to expect. If you have been on low cals for a long time you should consider doing a full metabolism reset, which means eating at your TDEE for 6-8 weeks before doing a cut.
You can run your numbers here:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
If you have any more questions please feel free to ask
And now go and enjoy some food 0 -
Hi and welcome!OK I joined the group! I am so nervous but I haven't seen the scale move in over a month! I was doing a very low calorie diet and the weight stopped coming off. I joined MFP and upped my calories to 1200...nothing!
I am a sponge right now..reading all your posts and am willing to try this! I will open my diary to public...if anyone has any suggestions..I NEED HELP~!
thank you in advance! I am hoping this works..I am STARVING!! LOL
Created by MyFitnessPal.com - Free Calorie Counter
It;s normal to be nervous in the beginning.
You might want to read to all the stickies so you know what to expect. If you have been on low cals for a long time you should consider doing a full metabolism reset, which means eating at your TDEE for 6-8 weeks before doing a cut.
You can run your numbers here:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/
If you have any more questions please feel free to ask
And now go and enjoy some food
thank you!0 -
Thanks so much for the advice. That sounds like a great plan and I'm gonna do it!
Thanks again
If you have not been on a very low cal diet for a long time you can try and go ahead with your cut. if nothing changes within a few weeks time you can increase your cals to a 10% cut and if that still doesn't get the scale budging I would do a reset.Hi everyone,
I'm a recent EM2WL convert and am on Day 10 of eating at 2100 (that being TDEE - 15%) after following WW, i.e. restricted calories and too much exercise (especially cardio!).
I am absolutely loving this new approach and am excited about the benefits to be gained. I initially gained 0.8kg which has dropped off this morning.
Instead of doing a full metabolism reset - I've decided to start with TDEE - 15% and stick with that for 6 weeks and track my progress. The reason I've decided not to do a metabolism reset is because just before starting this I had a month "off" WW and ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. WIthout tracking, that is.
My question is - is it okay that I'm starting with TDEE - 15% and not doing a full reset? If it is okay, how will I know (let's say... in 4 to 6 weeks' time) if I should go up to TDEE and maintain for 8 weeks before cutting?
Any advice would be hugely appreciated
RR0 -
Thanks for the reply.
I've been counting cals since the beginning of February this year and I think I have a pretty good idea of portions and how many calories certain foods contain etc. So I've decided to take two weeks off counting calories, and just eat whenever I feel the need to, and stopping when I'm full. But I'll try and hit around TDEE every day. I am going to continue exercising regulary, I'm doing the 30 day shred at the moment, and in the holidays when I have more time I'll try and run 5+ days a week. I will try planning my exercise a week abead, that sounds like a good idea.
I'm still just confused about how many calories I should be eating to lose weight healthily, what my activity level is and if I should be counting and eating back calories burned from playing violin. (See my first post for more info) Could anyone help with that?0 -
Thanks for this post. Really helps keep me confident.0
-
The last time I posted here I was having problems. After initial success upping my calories and taking a month to reset and then with a 15% cut I later was gaining. I stopped the gain but just couldn't lose. I didn't give up. I made a few adjustments that probably stopped the gain. Just recently I have finally lost a pound. I do not really know why. I wish I did.
I was maintaining or slowly losing at 2200 plus exercise calories and with the cut at first. Then I upped my exercise which meant I upped my exercise calories. That is when I started to gain. After 3 weeks of slowly gaining, I lowered my calories very slightly and tried to not eat all my exercise calories and was able to stabilize my weight. I have been extremely busy so my exercise went down and recently started a part-time job. I have started to get back to an exercise routine again slowly. The first week of work I kept my calories down and went down to my low weight. Then back up to the weight I was maintaining at. This last week I have been eating not only my base calories but most of my exercise calories. I was hungry. I even went over a few days. My job is active so I have been much more active on top of more exercise.The day before I lost I had a cold so no exercise and moderate calories. So the week I ate moderately and exercised I came down to my low but didn't have a net loss and went up again. The week I ate more and exercised I maintained until I had a day when I ate moderately and couldn't exercise and I lose a net pound or 3+ pounds from my high of the week.
I feel that taking exercise calories out of the equation will help. I think that upping my calorie goal to account for my typical upped activity level and typical exercise level but not eating back calories might work better as suggested on one of the threads on this group would help. Not sure what the best calorie goal should be though. I keep track of my calories, exercise and weight daily so I will see if I can figure out what to do to keep a loss going.
Yes frustrating but I would rather be frustrated eating more calories than frustrated eating less.0 -
The last time I posted here I was having problems. After initial success upping my calories and taking a month to reset and then with a 15% cut I later was gaining. I stopped the gain but just couldn't lose. I didn't give up. I made a few adjustments that probably stopped the gain. Just recently I have finally lost a pound. I do not really know why. I wish I did.
I was maintaining or slowly losing at 2200 plus exercise calories and with the cut at first. Then I upped my exercise which meant I upped my exercise calories. That is when I started to gain. After 3 weeks of slowly gaining, I lowered my calories very slightly and tried to not eat all my exercise calories and was able to stabilize my weight. I have been extremely busy so my exercise went down and recently started a part-time job. I have started to get back to an exercise routine again slowly. The first week of work I kept my calories down and went down to my low weight. Then back up to the weight I was maintaining at. This last week I have been eating not only my base calories but most of my exercise calories. I was hungry. I even went over a few days. My job is active so I have been much more active on top of more exercise.The day before I lost I had a cold so no exercise and moderate calories. So the week I ate moderately and exercised I came down to my low but didn't have a net loss and went up again. The week I ate more and exercised I maintained until I had a day when I ate moderately and couldn't exercise and I lose a net pound or 3+ pounds from my high of the week.
I feel that taking exercise calories out of the equation will help. I think that upping my calorie goal to account for my typical upped activity level and typical exercise level but not eating back calories might work better as suggested on one of the threads on this group would help. Not sure what the best calorie goal should be though. I keep track of my calories, exercise and weight daily so I will see if I can figure out what to do to keep a loss going.
Yes frustrating but I would rather be frustrated eating more calories than frustrated eating less.
Exercise cals should already be included in your TDEE numbers, so you are correct, you should NOT be eating them back.
Glad you got things all figured out, and you're so right, taking the time to figure out your body AND be able to still eat more is SO worth it, rather than giving up, going back to low cals, and still not know what's going on with your body. That's what this whole process is about. :drinker:
Kiki0 -
I understand that some people will gain a pound or two. I have gained 8. That's right, 8. I am so discouraged and about to go back to my 1200 calories a day. I feel like a pig and clearly my body thinks I am a pig too because it's gained 8 pounds. I've been doing this for a few weeks now. I don't think an 8 pound gain could be normal. Now my last 10 pounds I needed to lose has turned into 18 pounds,
I gained 30-40 :noway:
and guess what baby, I kept.it.moving
There was no way in the world I was turning back to 1200. There is no magic # of how much you gain, everyone is different, and several people gain WAY more than 8lbs. (I gain that just w/TOM)...don't underestimate how water weight looks on the scale. If you let the scale rule you, it will take you to places that you don't wanna go. You have to remember that *eventually*, you will reach a goal and *have* to eat at maintenance. If you have not already reset, your body will do the exact.same.thing that it's doing now, and you will pack those lbs right back on. You have to look beyond the fact that it's summertime right now, and we all want to be at our smallest. You have to think ahead to the holidays, and the comfort food of the cooler weather. Will you have a place in your diet for those? Is it really worth forcing your body to live off of less than it needs to survive, just to be where you want to be right now? :huh:
I would pray that the answer is no, but..... :ohwell:
Kiki0 -
I've been reading all of these threads in this group for weeks now, ever since I started eating at cut ~4 weeks ago, but haven't ever posted before.
Numbers
age- 24
Weight- 207
Height- 5'7''
BMR- 1734
TDEE- 2688
-20% of TDEE- 2150
Gain since start of cut- 4 pounds
I was eating 1200 calories according to MFP for 2 months. Before that I was at 1400 for 2 months. Before that, 1600 for 2 months. And before that, not counting calories per se, but restricting myself in many ways. Each time I lowered calories because I hit a plateau. Then there weren't anymore calories to take away! lol
I exercise ~5 days a week, ~45 mins at a time, using HIIT and strength training and running.
My weight was at 211 in December, my all time high. I got down to 200 on 1200 calories in April, but then couldn't get below that plateau even though I was eating 1200 and exercising like a crazy person.
I feel better since I started eating more, but I'm still feeling so defeated. It's so hard to step on that scale and feel bad about myself again. Even at 200 pounds, I felt good about myself because I was making progress.
I know I didn't do a full reset, but gaining 4 pounds in 4 weeks seems like a lot, and that's with me eating at CUT not at TDEE. I'm too scared to do a total reset because I'm already so heavy
There was no way in the world I was turning back to 1200. There is no magic # of how much you gain, everyone is different, and several people gain WAY more than 8lbs. (I gain that just w/TOM)...don't underestimate how water weight looks on the scale. If you let the scale rule you, it will take you to places that you don't wanna go. You have to remember that *eventually*, you will reach a goal and *have* to eat at maintenance. If you have not already reset, your body will do the exact.same.thing that it's doing now, and you will pack those lbs right back on. You have to look beyond the fact that it's summertime right now, and we all want to be at our smallest. You have to think ahead to the holidays, and the comfort food of the cooler weather. Will you have a place in your diet for those? Is it really worth forcing your body to live off of less than it needs to survive, just to be where you want to be right now? :huh:
I would pray that the answer is no, but..... :ohwell:
Kiki
Kiki, your words here are motivating, for sure. I completely agree with the philosophy behind it all. Would you recommend I do a full reset?
Thanks a lot everyone 0 -
bump0
-
I've been reading all of these threads in this group for weeks now, ever since I started eating at cut ~4 weeks ago, but haven't ever posted before.
Numbers
age- 24
Weight- 207
Height- 5'7''
BMR- 1734
TDEE- 2688
-20% of TDEE- 2150
Gain since start of cut- 4 pounds
I was eating 1200 calories according to MFP for 2 months. Before that I was at 1400 for 2 months. Before that, 1600 for 2 months. And before that, not counting calories per se, but restricting myself in many ways. Each time I lowered calories because I hit a plateau. Then there weren't anymore calories to take away! lol
I exercise ~5 days a week, ~45 mins at a time, using HIIT and strength training and running.
My weight was at 211 in December, my all time high. I got down to 200 on 1200 calories in April, but then couldn't get below that plateau even though I was eating 1200 and exercising like a crazy person.
I feel better since I started eating more, but I'm still feeling so defeated. It's so hard to step on that scale and feel bad about myself again. Even at 200 pounds, I felt good about myself because I was making progress.
I know I didn't do a full reset, but gaining 4 pounds in 4 weeks seems like a lot, and that's with me eating at CUT not at TDEE. I'm too scared to do a total reset because I'm already so heavy
Kiki, your words here are motivating, for sure. I completely agree with the philosophy behind it all. Would you recommend I do a full reset?
Thanks a lot everyone
Don't be scared to a reset. I'm in the middle of one right now. I started mine at 197.6lbs and right now I'm 200.8lbs. And it's ok!!! I oscillate between 198-201 every day and it doesn't bother me because for the first time in my life, I have energy. And my nails don't look like crap anymore. I have always starved myself in order to lose weight and ALWAYS gained it back. I believe this reset is the only way to repair the damage I have done and tell my body that it's ok. I will feed it when it needs food and it doesn't need to hold onto the extra fat for those starving times are over. You can do it!0 -
Logically I understand all the theory and physiology behind EMTWL, and I totally agree and accept it. However, I must be getting lost somewhere in the technical aspect, because though I've been following the strategy for months now, I have not only lost a pound that I regained after several weeks on my Cut calories, but in the past two months have gained about 6 pounds.
Now I understand water weight and such, but the most it drops is about two pounds, and just goes back up again; water weight should - at some point - come off. And it's not.
So, my questions are several, because I wonder if I am miscalculating or mis-estimating something somewhere.
Depending on which calculator I use:
- my BMR is 1391 - 1417
- using moderate activity level, my TDEE is 2196
- thus, my Cut Rate of TDEE - 15% is 1867
For at least 2-3 months, I have upped my calories to 1900, eating a bit more if my exercise dropped me beneath 1450. But at first I maintained, then after three weeks dropped one pound, regained that pound a couple weeks later, then suddenly gained about 6 pounds in the last two months. My sodium is typically under 2300 mg/day, my macros aren't quite where I want them, but I'm working on it. I try to make sure I get at least 8 glasses of water daily, more if I workout in the heat.
Questions (as I'm getting soooooo frustrated and depressed!!!):
- have I estimated my exercise level correctly? The levels base their criteria on the very ambiguous "days" of working out. But not all "days" are created equal in terms of workout.
---- Every day I get in about 25 minutes of dog walking, because the dog needs the exercise and the socializing.
---- Up until about three weeks ago, I was "working out" 5 days a week, getting in ~25 minutes of moderate weight training at an 'endurance' level of 100 reps of most weights. I also was averaging 20-25 minutes of cardio, moderate effort (200 calories). The weights were alternated so that upper body was one day, lower was the next, and cardio switched up between machines.
---- About three weeks ago, I decided to try to do the C25K program, because I never was a runner (overweight and questionably asthmatic as a chid). Three days a week, continuing with 5 days strength training.
---- Then a week later I took up the NROLWFW training program, and decided to drop my exercise down to three days heavy lifting (with 15 minutes elliptical to warm up) with two days of the C25K running alternating between (add to this that I don't know if that will work optimally for the running, but I don't want to train 6 days a week, so if anyone has any suggestions there...).
Am I still "Moderate"? I don't think I train *that* hard, and now instead of 5 days at 50 minutes, I'm doing 5 days at 25-30, and a fair bit is warm-up.
I did very low fat for nearly a year a couple years back and dropped (and kept off all but these new 6 pounds) about 25 lbs. That was about 1300-1400 calories a day. It gradually rose here and there over the few months before I started the EMTWL philosophy, just because I didn't bother much with counting calories. But I have been eating much higher for months, and cannot get this weight to move.
Kiki - and anyone else - heeeeelllp! Pleeeease... Before I drop into total depression (*something* has got to work in my life right now!).
Thanks! And apologies for the length of the post; when the dam breaks....
***Edited to note that I am not close to goal, so it isn't that sort of difficulty - I still have about 30 lbs to go, and that's to a fairly healthy, athletic weight for my size, not 'thin' at all (in fact, it's a good 20 lbs more than those charts suggest).0 -
you just changed my life
0 -
Hey everyone!
I posted on this thread a few months ago when I was researching diet breaks and metabolic damage and resets. I had slowly increased cals from 1200 to 1800 between February and June. (after eating at 1200 from probably 9 months)
I did a 2 week diet break the beginning of June and gained about 8 pounds. When I went back to a deficit, I choose 2k a day (I was then training for a triathlon and working out 6 days a week, at least an hour a day. This had been my training routine since February. I completed the race last Saturday! )
A few things to note: I am at a healthy BMI, weight and BF%. I still want to loose FAT and have a goal in mind. I haven't seen big changes in the scale, but I have lost body fat (I've done 3 body compositions)
Since February, I have lost maybe 6-7 pounds( take into consideration normal fluctuation, and this really isn't much.) Although, in just the month of June, my body fat % went from 25 to 23 percent.
I see many of my friends posting losses a lot. To me, it seems like I am never loosing. But I have and I am now eating to live. I used to be dizzy, grumpy, moody, hungry, angry... at 1200 calories. I didnt have enough energy to do my workouts and that was way more important. I have also learned quite a bit about cortisol and what it does to "people like me"... I am already a stressed person, and stressing MORE about my weight loss is only causing more cortisol spikes. Along with the spikes I cause from so much training, no wonder I cant seem to loose (much).
It may take me years to get to where I "want" to be, but if that means it will stay off and I can enjoy life while I am working on it, count me in!
ETA: Those 8 pounds from my diet break came off... and it was worth it! I am now in the process of taking my cals up some more, to hopefully compensate for my training.0 -
Thanks for the info0
