Newbie here, a little nervous and a few questions!
av0cad0
Posts: 20 Member
Okay! I've always seen posts about EM2WL and I know quite a few people that do it. Since starting mfp, I've been netting pretty much 1,200 daily. I was previously using another calorie counting website, and it was the same situation, always netting 1,200 and rarely 1,300. Eating a lot (unless it was crap...) was pretty difficult for me so even hitting the 1,200 mark was a challenge. Even though I'd be doing good for a few days, I'd always end up feeling super fatigued and tired & end up binging. It wasn't fun.
I do pretty tough workouts 4-5 times a week, not always for an hour & not always for 30 minutes but always intense! If it's ever under 30 minutes it's usually a tough HIIT workout but I almost always do weights or pilates beforehand. After every workout, I cool down with about 10 minutes of yoga. I ride my bike a lot since no car, so I'd say I'm fairly active.
I just started to realize that my exhaustion may be from eating really low cal. Before a workout even begins my stomach is growling! & during it I've been feeling tired & have to pause. I have no illnesses or conditions that would contribute to it, I'm a pretty healthy 18 year old girl.
I don't weigh a whole lot, I'm 5'4 & 122 (bordering 121) pounds.
The last time I got my bf% checked was a few months ago at the gym (again, super low-cal / binge cycling) and it was around 23%.
I'm not sure I want to necessarily lose anymore weight but I do want to lose the rest of the body fat I have for sure. I do also want to gain muscle too, but that's another reason I'm not sure this low cal thing is working .. too much of a deficit perhaps?
Anyways, I'm nervous about beginning EM2WL because I keep hearing about people & other women gaining a lot of fat & inches from doing it! However, whatever will work long term and give me better workouts with more energy seems too good to pass up. I can't eat below 1,500 for the rest of my life. I'm just afraid to gain the inches & stuff I guess.
I calculated my info with the Scooby Workshop calculator (Harris Benedict formula using 3-5 hrs moderate):
BMR: 1,401
TDEE: 2,172 (yikes!!!!!)
for 15% calorie reduction: 1,846
for 20% calorie reduction: 1,737
I keep hearing about a metabolism reset for 8 weeks .. this is where I hear you gain the most .. I'm assuming for 8 weeks straight I eat my TDEE and then what? Begin lowering my cals to the 15% or 20% & that is where I'll begin seeing bf% loss?
I'm not scale obsessed either. I usually check the scale every wednesday morning but I know that weight fluctuates throughout the day. Honestly, my highest weight ever was about 135 but even then I looked about the same, at least in my eyes .. I am 'clothing' obsessed though & if my jeans fit tighter or my tummy feels softer, I will feel a bit disappointed!
Is it really that bad in the beginning? I'm willing to be patient & give it time. Also, eating at 1,846 if I exercise & burn 300 will I still need to eat back those calories to over 2,000 or not eat them back anymore?
I don't care if I'm 135 pounds again, as long as 135lb of muscle!
Anyone have any advice? (p.s SORRY FOR THE NOVEL!)
I do pretty tough workouts 4-5 times a week, not always for an hour & not always for 30 minutes but always intense! If it's ever under 30 minutes it's usually a tough HIIT workout but I almost always do weights or pilates beforehand. After every workout, I cool down with about 10 minutes of yoga. I ride my bike a lot since no car, so I'd say I'm fairly active.
I just started to realize that my exhaustion may be from eating really low cal. Before a workout even begins my stomach is growling! & during it I've been feeling tired & have to pause. I have no illnesses or conditions that would contribute to it, I'm a pretty healthy 18 year old girl.
I don't weigh a whole lot, I'm 5'4 & 122 (bordering 121) pounds.
The last time I got my bf% checked was a few months ago at the gym (again, super low-cal / binge cycling) and it was around 23%.
I'm not sure I want to necessarily lose anymore weight but I do want to lose the rest of the body fat I have for sure. I do also want to gain muscle too, but that's another reason I'm not sure this low cal thing is working .. too much of a deficit perhaps?
Anyways, I'm nervous about beginning EM2WL because I keep hearing about people & other women gaining a lot of fat & inches from doing it! However, whatever will work long term and give me better workouts with more energy seems too good to pass up. I can't eat below 1,500 for the rest of my life. I'm just afraid to gain the inches & stuff I guess.
I calculated my info with the Scooby Workshop calculator (Harris Benedict formula using 3-5 hrs moderate):
BMR: 1,401
TDEE: 2,172 (yikes!!!!!)
for 15% calorie reduction: 1,846
for 20% calorie reduction: 1,737
I keep hearing about a metabolism reset for 8 weeks .. this is where I hear you gain the most .. I'm assuming for 8 weeks straight I eat my TDEE and then what? Begin lowering my cals to the 15% or 20% & that is where I'll begin seeing bf% loss?
I'm not scale obsessed either. I usually check the scale every wednesday morning but I know that weight fluctuates throughout the day. Honestly, my highest weight ever was about 135 but even then I looked about the same, at least in my eyes .. I am 'clothing' obsessed though & if my jeans fit tighter or my tummy feels softer, I will feel a bit disappointed!
Is it really that bad in the beginning? I'm willing to be patient & give it time. Also, eating at 1,846 if I exercise & burn 300 will I still need to eat back those calories to over 2,000 or not eat them back anymore?
I don't care if I'm 135 pounds again, as long as 135lb of muscle!
Anyone have any advice? (p.s SORRY FOR THE NOVEL!)
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Replies
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I'm not really sure what you're going for. That body fat percentage falls into the "fitness" category by the charts. Continuing to lose body fat doesn't sound like it would be healthy for you. It seems to me like you should switch to maintenance, and start lifting heavy if you want to reshape your body.0
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Ditto's to above.
Eat at maintenance, full TDEE, all exercise calories if you want to eat them the day you got them, or spread them out.
I will mention, if you been eating far below that TDEE for awhile, you probably already screwed up your metabolism since already at decent weight.
Which means you are in prime spot for gaining weight, and starting a life-long cycle of yo-yo dieting that will make it harder for your body.
You have the chance to stop that right now.
Just get some good heavy for you weight lifting in there, enjoy the cardio, eat at maintenance, you'll find fat will still burn off and weight likely will stay the same as body makes improvements it never had the energy to do so with until now.0 -
As your weight is not very high I would not recommend taking a deficit of more than 15%. So supposing you do do the reset, once complete you should start at a 15% cut.
I would also suggest that you fit somewhere between the moderate activity level you used and the next one up as you say you bike everywhere and are pretty active.0 -
Thanks everyone. Your answers helped a lot, I appreciate it.
I'll do a reset and eat at maintenance for 8 weeks, should I do cardio (& eat back calories) or just lift? 0 -
What do you mean by 'lose the rest of your bodyfat'? Women need to maintain some bodyfat for basic body/brain fuctions. 23% is actually really good. Also your weight is in the healthy range for BMI, so it's not clear what your goals are?
I recommend eating at TDEE and work on fitness goals. Perhaps you want to be strong and be able to do push-ups or pull-ups? Then you'll need to start a weight lifting program. I highly recommend NROLFA or NROLFW. Maybe you want to train for a 5K or half-marathon? You'll need to do cardio.0 -
Thanks everyone. Your answers helped a lot, I appreciate it. I'll do a reset and eat at maintenance for 8 weeks, should I do cardio (& eat back calories) or just lift?
Do what you would normally do. That way you are only changing one variable when you start the diet, eating less.
If you find your TDEE on different routine, that isn't the same TDEE on the one you intend to keep, so now 2 variables, change in TDEE and eating less.
But again, why losing weight, don't you just want to lose fat? Just eat at TDEE.0 -
Ditto's to above.
Eat at maintenance, full TDEE, all exercise calories if you want to eat them the day you got them, or spread them out.
I will mention, if you been eating far below that TDEE for awhile, you probably already screwed up your metabolism since already at decent weight.
Which means you are in prime spot for gaining weight, and starting a life-long cycle of yo-yo dieting that will make it harder for your body.
You have the chance to stop that right now.
Just get some good heavy for you weight lifting in there, enjoy the cardio, eat at maintenance, you'll find fat will still burn off and weight likely will stay the same as body makes improvements it never had the energy to do so with until now.
dtto! When you raise your calories I vote for NOT eating exercise calories back- just set your diary manually to a stagnant amount. Calculate your TDEE- if you're doing a reset, set your diary to that amount (2000 for example). This will build your exercise calories into the week- meaning you'll be "eating them back" over the entire week, spreading them out. My body prefers a predectable calorie amount daily, so that's what I do. I hate yo-yo calorie amounts, that's when my hunger is crazy. Good luck! You sound like you're in a place mentally were I was a year or so ago, eating way too litte knowing it's not healthy or sustainable for the rest of your life. Increase your calories, don't freak if you gain a few pounds at first- it'll come back off naturally the longer you're more consistent with the higher calories and your body has time to adjust.0
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