Hi. I am in Berkshire, aged 51with four grown-up sons and new here. I discovered the thread for EM2WL yesterday and then ipoarm today. But I am totally confused. Where do I find the original posting and info on the road map idea? It is all so new to me - lots of numbers and words I don't understand. So where do I start and where is the spreadsheet and what are macros? Sorry to sound dense but I'm in desperate need of some guidance and UK support ...

Thanks for the link Jazz but the text is scrambled. I found a post that starts "I posted the original road map in March". That's what I can't find. I'm wanting to know who is helloitsdan, his background and the basics. I have to say that, when I read the stuff on the em2wl posts it made startlingly good sense. I just had not clicked that I was routinely eating less than my BMR of 1400. Completely nuts as one of life's fidgeters. As a child, I never stopped - I never used the bus and I walked or cycled to all my activities (which were one or two, sometimes three, a day). I ate all the time and was skinny. I first dieted before my wedding to get down to 8st 4lb from a very healthy 8st 12lbs (no idea why, just what everyone did). Well, by the end of my honeymoon I was 9st 4lb and that was 27 years agog and I have been on and off a diet ever since. Always taking cals below my BMR and my energy plummets and I feel horrible. I had had a really good think for myself and realised that I needed to focus on exercise and not cutting cals as I wanted to get back to my natural way of being constantly on the go and never hungry, and em2wl seemed like the answer. Then up comes ipoarm ... What is the difference? Also, there is a lot of talk about lifting weights (some very technical stuff that I don't understand) but I like to swim, play badminton, walk and Bellydance. I also want to do a hula hoop class for the sheer fun of it! This is all cardio stuff so will it matter? Presumably as long as my cals are below my TDEE and above my BMR (how quickly I have learnt those terms!), I will lose the exess (now a menopausal 11st 4lbs!!) I so need people to do this with as years of obsessing about starving myself has taken its toll and the thought of eating more panicky me but so does the thought of spending another day with a hunger headache and no energy. Sorry to ramble, just getting stuff off my chest. Anyone out there in the same menopausal boat that can befriend me?

Tanks Jazz. I've calculated my BMR at 1401 and TDEE at 2172 so the difference is 771. I've set my MFP to 1846 following Scooby. EM2WL states that, if I do more than the difference in exercise I must eat back the cals to stay above my BMR. But, I did an hour of swimming (567 cals) which was less than the 771 difference but took my net cals down to 1269 - below my BMR. Should I have upped my cals that day. I am feeling heaps better for eating more - so much more energy and no headache - but I'm still confused and don't know quite where to get the details. How ar others getting on?

I'm doing IPOARM (well, roughly, I don't pay too much attention to the macros) and it works very well for me. I was quite moderate on MFP before and would set my goal to either 1/2lb or 1lb, so I'm not actually eating any more on IPOARM! However, I find it easier and simpler to have the same calories every day, and I feel it's more accurate for me.

I think I've been doing it for about six months, I think, apart from a brief flirtation with 5:2 (turns out we weren't suited). I've been slowly but steadily losing weight through that time. Before that, I also lost weight fairly steadily on the MFP system, so I think it's just a matter of preference. Basically, I'm aiming to eat less than I burn, but not an awful lot less, because I find a smaller deficit easier to stick to.