New to this group and have a question

bubbleskiwi
bubbleskiwi Posts: 148 Member
I've been reading about 'Eat more 2 Weigh less' all day and I'm more than ready to jump in and do this right. it just makes perfect sense to fuel your body the right way. I don't care if it takes double the time to lose the weight, if its done right.

my question is this: I gave birth to a healthy baby only 3 months ago, so for the past year I haven't been dieting or restricting my calorie intake much. I tried weight watchers for a month and have been on mfp for only 10 days. In the past 3 months I have only lost 2 or 3 pounds. I have binge eating issues. but I'm assuming it will diminish if I up my calories.

I have reset my MFP To 1681 cals per day (20% less than my TDEE), is this ok or should I first start with a metabolism reset? I feel that since I haven't really dieted in a year, that its ok to skip the reset part...

thank you so much for reading this!

Replies

  • konerusp
    konerusp Posts: 247 Member
    From my personal experience-I strongly suggest that you start with a reset.
    Basically your body loses track of what its maintenance is being on low cal for a while,so eating at a reset your signalling your body that it will be constantly fed this much and it is ok to let go of fat.If you just do Tdee-20 your body might still be thinking it has a deficit and might not let go of fat as good as it does at TDEE. Good luck.Just trust the process and enjoy the ride.
  • LoveLiveLift
    LoveLiveLift Posts: 459 Member
    I would recommend that you start with a reset, as well. Make sure you read the stickies about what to expect during a reset and find some others on here that are resetting. :) I didn't do a reset until I was further into the EM2WL program, but I wish I would have done one at the beginning. Good luck!
  • Greenrun99
    Greenrun99 Posts: 2,065 Member
    Hey,
    Hate to disagree with people, but I don't think you need a reset.. you have only been on weight watchers a month, and outside of that you have been eating above your TDEE it sounds like during your pregnancy (congrats).. I think you can jump into your cut right away, but move more to clean eating and cut out some of the bad habits and bad food that you have been eating during that time period.. I would suggest not buying it at all instead of using will power to avoid it in the house.. that works way better for me. Also start getting back into the grove of exercising.

    Oh and don't forget to account for breast feeding calories if your doing that.. or not.. I don't know.. that just feels strange typing it being a guy.. I have no idea ask one of the woman here, think its 200+ calories or something.
  • braves1girl
    braves1girl Posts: 189 Member
    ^^^I agree with this. I don't think you need a reset because you haven't been eating at a VLCD for long at all. But I do think that a 20% cut is too much. I would/have started with a 15%, which is what is recommended on this site.

    That's just my 2 cents worth...I'm certainly no pro at this! Good luck!:flowerforyou:
  • alcon79
    alcon79 Posts: 193 Member
    I would also agree that you don't need a reset if you weren't eating really low cal before. I lost weight on MFP eating around 1500 and then found EM2WL and upped my cals incrementally over 2 months to my 10% cut, which is 1900ish. If you start with the 20% cut, I'd suggest in 2-3 weeks you lower your cut to 15%, which is really what's recommended, and that way you increase in phases. Good luck!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Ditto for no total reset.
    Perhaps a week off eating at supposed TDEE for level of activity.
    Then take 15% deficit.

    But, TDEE is really only that much with 50 lbs to lose?

    Be honest there. I'll mention the vast majority using FitBit's or BodyMediaFit's discover that on sedentary non-exercise days of a desk job, they actually are at Lightly Active level or inbetween.
  • bubbleskiwi
    bubbleskiwi Posts: 148 Member
    Maybe I didn't calculate properly? I thought I did.
    I'm only 5'1, 32 years old, 178lbs. I set activity level to light.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Maybe I didn't calculate properly? I thought I did.
    I'm only 5'1, 32 years old, 178lbs. I set activity level to light.

    So what is you normal activity going to be, and your planned exercise activity?

    You daily energy burn is a combo of both.

    Lightly Active is what most desk bound folks find their previously selected Sedentary level really is.

    So if you selected Lightly, sure it's not Moderate?

    So only 3hrs of exercise a week is planned, and otherwise you will be a real bump on a log, 40 hr desk job, nothing on the weekends above that 3 hrs of exercise in a week?
  • bubbleskiwi
    bubbleskiwi Posts: 148 Member
    I'm actually on maternity leave and find myself always running around, cooking, cleaning, running after my 2 year old and taking care of my 3 month old. I rarely sit actually. I'm also doing 20 mins of cardio '30 day shred' a day. I guess it is moderate..I will recalculate with moderate as my activity level.

    thanks