Hi there!

Have you considered weight lifting? If you begin lifting weights you will build lean muscle mass and your metabolism will increase. I have heard of a good book that gets you started if you are new to weight lifting called "New Rules of Lifting for Women".

Just a thought!

I came up with a BMR of 1426 and TDEE of 2211 (using 3-5 hours a week of moderate exercise). A 15% cut would put you at 1879.

What is your diet history - have you been restricting calories for a long time? You probably need to eat full TDEE for 8-12 weeks to reset your metabolism, then try a 15% - 20% cut. You increased your calories, gained, but have maintained since then, so I think you need a full reset. Hopefully someone wiser in the process will come along.

I know that feeling too well! I've been at the gym since dec and on here for over a month and only 2lb weight loss!!! Talk about disheartened, it gets me so down!
I've tried doing various things food wise but nothing!
Try not to give up Hun ... I've decided to just keep going, I upped my cals from 1200 to 1300 so will c where it takes me.
Good luck xxxx
Donna xx

Is a reset really required when I've been eating 1600 for 6 weeks? Wouldn't eating that much (400 more than usual) reset my metabolism?

Yes, I feel a reset would be required in your case. No, eating 400 more than 1200 will not reset your metabolism.

Nikkit wrote: "I came up with a BMR of 1426 and TDEE of 2211 (using 3-5 hours a week of moderate exercise). A 15% cut would put you at 1879. "

You're eating 1600 calories, which is approximately 200 calories more than what sustains you. This means you only have 200 calories to spend on your work outs. Unless you are eating back your exercise calories, you're eating too little. If you are eating back your exercise calories, you need to make sure you're netting 1426 at bare minimum.

Hi there,

Here's my experience, maybe it will help?

I too was netting below my BMR (1430) for a year because I wasn't eating back my exercise calories from my 4-5X/week workouts.

As a result, I was hungry all the time, my weight plateaued, and I felt a sense of desperation that I was going to have to starve myself EVEN MORE to lose the 15 pounds I would like to lose.

I started my reset a little over 4 weeks ago at 158 pounds. I weighed in yesterday at 160.2. Yes, I "gained" 2 pounds but this could be anything - more muscle (I lift heavy), water retention, etc. Here's the thing - I have been eating between 2100 and 2400 calories a day and that's ALL I have "gained" on the scale. But more importantly, I've gained the peace of mind that comes from being able to enjoy dinners out with my husband, the comfort of actually being FULL, and the flexibility to add some nutritious and tasty foods back into my diet that I previously avoided because they were "too many calories". Nuts, coconut, full fat yogurt when I can get it - all back on the table and I'm a happy happy lady!

So ... my weight has remained basically the same for the past three weeks and though I might be okay to cut, I'm going to hold off a little bit longer. I'm still not convinced I have found "true maintenance" but it's looking like it.

I have to tell myself every day to be patient and let the process work, so I know how hard it can be!

Thanks for your help. I used the spreadsheet, but it came out to 1520 calories. I had been doing 1600, which is very close.

I took a look at my reports, and I haven't been eating 1600 for six weeks...I have been eating between 1400-1600 for TEN weeks, since the beginning of January.

That's even longer than I originally thought!

So, if there haven't been any changes in 10 weeks (no pounds, no inches, and now my jeans feel tighter)...is it possible that eating more won't work for me?

Eating more than a very restrictive calorie level will work for everyone.

All you must eat is less than your real maintenance level, and you will lose. Too much, and body may find that stressful with all the other stresses you pile on it, and it may fight that fat/weight loss. Too little, and may take a while to notice, or there can be a trade between exercise body improvements that add weight and fat loss.

So have you eaten more to confirm you got the TDEE right, did you do a reset to test your metabolism running at full steam.

You've eaten at 1400-1600 with no weight gain or loss.

So are you really eating at maintenance then, and must reduce more?

Are you under 5 ft and no exercise to have such a small goal?

Or are you actually not high enough and body is stressed out enough it's not going to allow a deficit, because it is just running suppressed?

Eat 250 more daily for 2 weeks. If you have a big initial gain, then that is water weight, and that means you were not eating enough.

If you truly were eating at TDEE, then 250 more daily over 2 wks with no change to exercise should mean 1 lb gain. That's all.

If you end up not gaining except initial water weight, your TDEE is higher.

I'm sorry, there were a lot of questions in that reply, and I'm not sure if they were real or rhetorical. I am under 5 foot (I'm 4'11) but I do exercise. I have a HRM and burn about 250-300 per day, 5-6x a week.

According to the spreadsheet, my TDEE is 1986, and suggests I eat 1518. Are you saying I should add 250 for 2 weeks and eat 1768?

Even the spreadsheet is a best estimate at TDEE, a starting point. Hopefully better than choosing 1 of 5 levels and working from there.

Yep, some questions of the unknown no one could know until you test.

So I'd suggest start eating half way to TDEE, like 1700. For 2 weeks.

Still below maintenance, should cause NO weight gain. But if body is still stressed, may be what it needs.

If you gain instant water weight, and then nothing, just restored some glucose, and metabolism raised to that point if no further weight gain. In which case raise it to estimated TDEE for another 2 weeks. Again if instant water weight gain, that's fine. worrisome there would still be anything to top off though. But if no more for 2 wks, that may be TDEE. Now raise 250 more for 2 wks. Should be 1 lb gained total. If still instant water weight gain, I'll bet you don't gain anything else.
And all that instant water weight gain was going to happen eventually too, when you went to maintenance.

If you gain no water weight, great. Keep testing, then go up to TDEE as above.

All this time eating even closer to TDEE will allow body to unstress, just in case you got too much going on for stress on the body.

So it doesn't sound like you did a reset, just jumped into the deficit. May not work best, or it'll take longer for body to feel good enough to give you the deficit.