You asked for it!! ;-)
Cinbad3178
Posts: 28 Member
Hey fellow EM2WLers! First of all I want to thank all of you for being so supportive this morning. It was a BIG breakdown today. Worse one so far (even through my reset - imagine that!) So anyway, I have said all this before in my previous posts but I will give you all a short breakdown on when I start & what has happened since then.
Okay, so I got married in October 2012 and we went on our honeymoon two weeks after the wedding. I was 150 lbs at the time, but was having a hard time maintaining that weight and knew it had been creeping up (along with my measurements) for quite a long time (maybe a year or so!) I decided to do my research and try this EM2WL out. I thought I read all the "fine print" but like I told Kiki & Lucia, I did not get the memo that I was supposed to recalculate and adjust my TDEE with every 5lbs gained or lost. Technically, i was in "bulk mode" and not reset. Needless to say, I need to let all of you know that I jumped right into this way of eating (perhaps a bad move?) instead of slowly increasing calories and ballooned up to 163lbs. I did the Reset for 3 months and was told I'd know I was done when my weight stabilized and I felt mentally ready. I thought my weight had stabilized at 163lbs but then went to the doc and it was 169, etc, etc. So I'm not sure if my mom's scale was off or the docs was off, but I went by my mom's scale and it said 163 for a good two weeks.
During the reset, I picked weight-lifting back up and was doing one leg day (45 mins), one upper body/shoulder concentration (45 mins) and one upper body/back concentration (45 min). Sometimes I would go for a walk or do a P90X cardio DVD but that wasn't as consistent. Thinking my TDEE was 2300, I continued eating at that number for nearly all 3 months.For the amount of exercise I was doing (more along the light lines), I realize now I was probably eating quite a bit more than I should have.
Fast forward to today. I started my cut on February 3rd and took measurements & pictures. Not posting the pics just yet., but here are the measurements I got when I ended my reset:
Neck: 14"
Chest: 38.5" around with sports bra
Wasit: 30.5" smallest part around waist (I have a little beauty mark showing the right place! lol)
Waist: 35" at belly button
Hips: 44" around (Did not do hips from & back as I didn't see Kiki's post about measuring until after I did so)
R Thigh: 27" (6" from top of thigh)
L Thigh: 27.5" (6" from top of thigh)
R Calf: 16.5 (4" from knee)
L Calf: 17" (4" from knee)
R Bicep: 13" with hand on hip
L Bicep: 13.5" with hands on hip
I'm going to wait until it's been 30 days to day my measurements again. On February 3rd, I started the Full Throttle workout plan from the EM2WL website. The past 2.5 weeks have been very similar with exercising so I'll just showcase the amount of time I did this past week.
Mon: 75 mins (45 mins Legs, 30 min brisk walk)
Tues: Off (had to give a speech that night so didn't have time)
Wed: 45 mins Push (Normally one of my rest days, but since I tool Tues off...)
Thurs: 30 mins Tabata (from YouTube Fitness Blender HIIT)
Frid: 50 mins Pull
Sat: 60 mins (45 mins Arms & Abs, 15 mins Skimble Cardio - jj, mountain climbers, lunges, etc. intervals)
Right now I am averaging around 1800-1900 calories give or take the day. I ate at 2000 one day this past week becaise I was a tad hungrier than usual.
So basically, I am not sure what my TDEE truly is...what my BMR truly is...and what my activity level is. I have been considering this moderate, but I also have a desk job and sit nearly 8 hours. I try to get up every hour, but sometimes I can't.
After my "meltdown" (LOL), I took Kiki's advice and purcahsed a bathroom scale so I can weight myself every day (or every other) and see how my body weight fluctates from day-to-day. I think it will give me a piece of mind. When I hopped on this afternoon, it read 168.4 so now I'm not sure if I really gained weight, because I was using my mom's scale (and it read 163lbs). I'm not really worried about the scale #, though, just the inches and how my clothes fit. Right now, none of my jeans fit (even the new ones I bought during my reset) and I have been wearing leggings, tights, or workout pants all the time. Very disheartening because I know I am working hard!
Sorry this was sooooo long, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible. Thank you all in advance for analyzing this!
Cindy
Okay, so I got married in October 2012 and we went on our honeymoon two weeks after the wedding. I was 150 lbs at the time, but was having a hard time maintaining that weight and knew it had been creeping up (along with my measurements) for quite a long time (maybe a year or so!) I decided to do my research and try this EM2WL out. I thought I read all the "fine print" but like I told Kiki & Lucia, I did not get the memo that I was supposed to recalculate and adjust my TDEE with every 5lbs gained or lost. Technically, i was in "bulk mode" and not reset. Needless to say, I need to let all of you know that I jumped right into this way of eating (perhaps a bad move?) instead of slowly increasing calories and ballooned up to 163lbs. I did the Reset for 3 months and was told I'd know I was done when my weight stabilized and I felt mentally ready. I thought my weight had stabilized at 163lbs but then went to the doc and it was 169, etc, etc. So I'm not sure if my mom's scale was off or the docs was off, but I went by my mom's scale and it said 163 for a good two weeks.
During the reset, I picked weight-lifting back up and was doing one leg day (45 mins), one upper body/shoulder concentration (45 mins) and one upper body/back concentration (45 min). Sometimes I would go for a walk or do a P90X cardio DVD but that wasn't as consistent. Thinking my TDEE was 2300, I continued eating at that number for nearly all 3 months.For the amount of exercise I was doing (more along the light lines), I realize now I was probably eating quite a bit more than I should have.
Fast forward to today. I started my cut on February 3rd and took measurements & pictures. Not posting the pics just yet., but here are the measurements I got when I ended my reset:
Neck: 14"
Chest: 38.5" around with sports bra
Wasit: 30.5" smallest part around waist (I have a little beauty mark showing the right place! lol)
Waist: 35" at belly button
Hips: 44" around (Did not do hips from & back as I didn't see Kiki's post about measuring until after I did so)
R Thigh: 27" (6" from top of thigh)
L Thigh: 27.5" (6" from top of thigh)
R Calf: 16.5 (4" from knee)
L Calf: 17" (4" from knee)
R Bicep: 13" with hand on hip
L Bicep: 13.5" with hands on hip
I'm going to wait until it's been 30 days to day my measurements again. On February 3rd, I started the Full Throttle workout plan from the EM2WL website. The past 2.5 weeks have been very similar with exercising so I'll just showcase the amount of time I did this past week.
Mon: 75 mins (45 mins Legs, 30 min brisk walk)
Tues: Off (had to give a speech that night so didn't have time)
Wed: 45 mins Push (Normally one of my rest days, but since I tool Tues off...)
Thurs: 30 mins Tabata (from YouTube Fitness Blender HIIT)
Frid: 50 mins Pull
Sat: 60 mins (45 mins Arms & Abs, 15 mins Skimble Cardio - jj, mountain climbers, lunges, etc. intervals)
Right now I am averaging around 1800-1900 calories give or take the day. I ate at 2000 one day this past week becaise I was a tad hungrier than usual.
So basically, I am not sure what my TDEE truly is...what my BMR truly is...and what my activity level is. I have been considering this moderate, but I also have a desk job and sit nearly 8 hours. I try to get up every hour, but sometimes I can't.
After my "meltdown" (LOL), I took Kiki's advice and purcahsed a bathroom scale so I can weight myself every day (or every other) and see how my body weight fluctates from day-to-day. I think it will give me a piece of mind. When I hopped on this afternoon, it read 168.4 so now I'm not sure if I really gained weight, because I was using my mom's scale (and it read 163lbs). I'm not really worried about the scale #, though, just the inches and how my clothes fit. Right now, none of my jeans fit (even the new ones I bought during my reset) and I have been wearing leggings, tights, or workout pants all the time. Very disheartening because I know I am working hard!
Sorry this was sooooo long, but I wanted to be as detailed as possible. Thank you all in advance for analyzing this!
Cindy
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Wow! That's still a lot of workout! I'm no expert and I'm sure you will get a lot of varied opinions. I know it sounds crazy, because you still feel like you are gaining, but my gut reaction is that you aren't eating enough to support that workout schedule. But I don't know how tall you are . . .sorry. Your TDEE number, did you get that from the Scooby website? And do you ever give yourself a rest day that you aren't running to lectures and stuff? You sound like one busy lady! hang in there, I know a lot of great people from this site will weigh in and give you awesome advice.0
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So basically, I am not sure what my TDEE truly is...what my BMR truly is...and what my activity level is. I have been considering this moderate, but I also have a desk job and sit nearly 8 hours. I try to get up every hour, but sometimes I can't.
Cindy
Well, I'm not an expert by any means, but I'm chiming in to share my experience (which, I am over-the-top-OCD-like-expert in
). I've felt pretty unsure of my TDEE for months. Most of 2012 I was eating at, what I thought, was my correct TDEE (according to Scooby's Calculator). My weight never stabilized, though, it was all over the place all the time. And I had some mixed feedback with my BF%, so my confusion grew deeper. Tried using a BodyMedia fit, but, due to some wild reasons (I'll spare the details) it didn't solve the TDEE puzzle either...in fact, I ended up accidentally bulking (gained 4lbs in 6 weeks). The good news of the BMF experience was that I gained muscle during that time, and lost fat. So...long story longer, I'm still playing with my numbers and observing everything...I weigh in daily (first thing every morning, before I've had anything to eat/drink, & w/ no clothes) and track it with notes (day of my lady cycle, physical activity day before, excess sodium recently, etc.) and I have noticed trends that help. This can be tough, mentally, like heavy lifting for the mind, :laugh: but it has helped me see the big picture.
This proces seems to be more complicated for some than others...especially when a person is already in a healthy weight range and just trying to tweek (I have no research to prove this, just observations from other friends). So, long story waaaaay longer, we're kinda in the same boat, when it comes to TDEE. My only recommendation, is to keep doing what you are doing for a couple more weeks, take you measurements (the day after a rest day), and reassess. Hang in there, girl!!
Also, one side note, maybe try changing your workout routine geared more toward cutting? I just started doing EM2WL's full throttle and was under the impression it was geared more towards muscle growth (I could be wrong here...:blushing:), and was planning to trying their "Burn" plan when April rolls around and I start a cut phase.0 -
Im right there/here with you C.
I have been at this almost a year now, and I am still the same size/weight I was when I began. I have had some major composition changes, things that other people have noticed, even though measurements and scale say otherwise, so I do know there are other things happening we cant see.
I wish I could help you on the TDEE, but I seem to be in a similar boat and Kiki has been working with me as well to tweak and find my sweet spot. Was doing pretty good for a few weeks, seeing some changes in muscle mass and a decrease in fat mass, and then all of a sudden things reversed on me again. No idea why. I still have a few more days before my official measurements, so we'll see what that says before going on.
Have you taken a rest week? Meaning no weights, no cardio, just active rest for 5-7 solid days? If not, consider doing that first. let your body heal from the workouts, see what happens and then go again. Since you just went to cut, I dont think you need to worry about a diet break yet, but like terri mentioned, it is possible you are still not eating enough. (I say this because I have a feeling Im not either, and I am fighting it tooth and nail. Not sure why either) Its hard to think that we could possibly be above what big number we already had trouble wrapping our brains around, so again the mental game comes into effect.
As for freakouts.. oh boy. I have had a few. Im sure you remember my last one a month ago and just how absolutely destroyed I was. And yeah I came extremely close to throwing it all in and getting my butt back to a weight watchers center.
But I didnt.
I KNOW that is not the long term answer. I KNOW that doing that will only prolong me finding out where my TDEE is for life. I KNOW that I never wanted to starve myself again. SO no matter how frustrating, upsetting, blood curdling angry I get at the whole process, I KNOW my answer is close and it will come with some final tweaks. Dont get me wrong. I am pissed on a regular basis that in a year I am basically no different in my clothes or in my weight, especially when so many others around me are succeeded at this doing the same things I am. But I also know I am doing things I never could have without doing this process. And the ability to change my views on dieting for life... well lets just say I hope it will mean my girls will never have to experience a crash diet and starvation like I did for most of my adult life.
Vent away.., get angry. We all do. But know when the vent is over, and the anger subsides, there is still work to be done and you will find the answers with some tweaks.0 -
Thanks all for the comments thus far. My height is 5'4" and my weight (that I'm now using with my new scale) is 168.4.
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Cindy,
Just read through it, am absorbing it. Will read again, then ponder it.
What are your specific goals ? Meaning ... What are you wanting for your body?
Example: for me ..my goals are fine tuning / tweaking at this point. Yes, will extrapolate to some lowering on the scale, but my goals are to burn some additional fat, get sleeker. In the end, that means visually sleeker and inches lost, with maintenance of my pretty darn good LBM. and yes, will prob see lower # on scale, but that isnt my " goal" . 'm very focused & am employing a couple new tools. I've named the next 12-16 weeks " Operation Abs" . So named, because as I get sleeker, so will my abs.
With all THAT said: finding caloric sweet spot is key. And!! The sweet spot with workouts. I'm VERY passionate that too much can be counterproductive and we shoot ourselves in the foot sometimes.
Let me ponder, and I think I have some suggestions for you.0 -
I will also leave this on your wall in case you don't see it.
I need you to do some homework today. A bit more data.
Please go to fit2fatradio.com. You will need your measurements. Additional ones will be your forearm and wrist.
Calculate your body fat via Military and Covert Bailey methods. Covert tends to be low, military is high. DON:T FREAK. Average the 2 numbers that you get. Bring that # back to me. Then, we will use that # and crunch your data using Katch McCardle.
Then .. we ponder. Then we will talk cals and exercise. And .. then I will suggest a book for you to read.
Rest. Someone asked - and now I will. When is the last time you took a full week of rest from workouts?0
