"roadmap" only when you are plateauing?

I'm interested to hear any replies. I'm about to give it a try after hitting the wall after 6 months of 1200 and am scared of gaining if I do this. I cant grasp the concept of eating more to weigh less

what is the 'roadmap' method?

I'd give it a couple more weeks if it were me.

1400 calories doesn't seem too high for someone who's active, 180 lbs and 5'6". Maybe too low but if you're gaining, I guess not. Eat good nourishing food and try not to worry about it too much.

Find your BMR and your TDEE. Eat in between there somewhere.

When you eat below your BMR for prolonged periods of time, you are placing a small amount of stress on your body. You won't even feel it, but it is there. As you maintain eating under BMR, the stress continues to add (cortisol hormone). Over time, this builds up to the point that your body stays in the fight or flight mode. In that mode, most of your organs are ran slower than normal in order to ensure energy to other systems that are needed for immediate survival. Our bodies are NOT meant to be in this mode for prolonged periods of time. It is a mode we are supposed to be in for maybe an hour as we run away from a hungry and very angry bear for example.

When your organs are ran slower than normal, they use up significantly less energy. So, suddenly that 500 or 1000 calorie deficit you had going for you is gone, as your organs are now using 500 to 1000 less than they once were. There was a study about eating very little/not at all for prolonged periods to lose weight... I had noticed that the subject's daily energy expenditure fell by 60% beyond what was expect. If that was me, that'd mean 1100 calories less being burnt a day! Meaning I'd be able to drop my calories as low as 500 a day and NOT lose weight if I experienced similar to that subject.

So, how do you avoid this? Simple. Don't eat under BMR. Additionally, allow yourself a cheat day once every 2 weeks. On this day, eat TDEE + your normal deficit. So if your normal deficit is 250, on that cheat day, eat TDEE + 250. What this does is help lower cortisol levels as they slowly rise up, preventing them from getting too high and causing that situation.

So, if you are currently eating UNDER your BMR, then eating more to weight less will work for you. If you are NOT eating under your BMR, eating more to weigh less won't work for you.

If you've plateaued, meaning 6 weeks or more of no weight loss, and have been eating under BMR the whole time, then you will need one or two weeks of eating at TDEE and a few days of a small surplus like TDEE + 250, in order to bring your hormones back into line.

Overall, it is a solution to a problem. But is it the problem you are having? Many people that argue against eating more to weight less were not having that problem and so when they tried, they had problems.

Any change in diet patterns and exercise patterns will result in weight fluctuations and even weight gain at times. This is definitely true if you've been eating under BMR for a prolonged period. The body will not simply see a single day of above BMR eating and immediately believe the trouble is all over. It takes time.

thanks for the replies!
I have been pretty good w/ my food choices (homemade everything usually) and cut out a lot of breads, sugars, fast foods etc.
I wasn't sure if you would only follow the "roadmap" method when you had hit a plateau or whatnot.

Will try again and may everyone reach their goals, either to gain or lose, beautifully!
Thanks again!

Another way to set your calorie level is estimite how many calories you'd have to eat to maintain your goal weight and eat that amount.

Good luck. You seem like you're doing everything right.