We don't recommend such a steep cut of 20%. A cut of 15% is the max I suggest. So, bump your calories up to a deficit of 15% for 4 wks and see how things go. Have you ever done a full reset? When you have done VLCD for a while, the body needs a reset (eating TDEE for 8-12wks) to adjust the metabolism back up. Then take a small cut from there and cycle 4wks at cut and one at TDEE to avoid lowering the metabolism again.

Oh, once you really get into this, you will learn your body and tweak a bit on your own. The key is you want to eat the most while losing not just weight...FAT! Muscle is key. If you haven't done so yet, consider strongly adding strength training. That is what transforms the body.

Once reset is over, we suggest cutting for 4wks and then TDEE for a week...keep that cycle going. You don't ever want your body to reset your metabolism to the lower calorie intake so this helps to prevent that.

Another key...be consistent...stick it out and trust the process.

Just updating this.

I have been eating at my TDEE 2800 calories for a little over 4 weeks now and my weight has been consisent throughout this process. I gained 1.5 pounds and then lost it and it kept going up and then back down so no real change. I am getting tired of eating so much.

Should I keep eating at TDEE or begin cutting now? I was eating at 2300 before this for 1.5 months and then 1600 calories before that. I am not sure that I was on an extreme low calorie diet.

Also, I currently have my activity level set to moderate. I work a desk job but workout 6-7 days a week. Running 4 days a week and then bootcamp twice a week. Is this really moderate or should I increase the activity level?

That's not moderate unless 30 min classes. For that simple view, it's hrs a week, not days a week.

So you actually have not been eating at TDEE either, probably.

And you have not been losing. So it sounds like your metabolism just raised up to this level, but too stressed out to give you a deficit by going higher.

So guess what - you actually have not been doing a reset.

Part of the problem is also the fact that frequent and/or intense exercise is a stress on the body. Diet is too all by itself. Got other stresses?
Stress messes with hormones and fights against fat and weight loss - which sounds like the state you are in.

So you can keep the exercise level, and eat more in an attempt to remove that stress. Or lighten up on the exercise.

Are you thinking all this exercise is needed for weight loss? Or actually training for something? Or done for a sport? Really doesn't matter, it'll be too much when trying to eat at a deficit, or the deficit will have to be so minor.

I'll bet you could eat 250 more daily for 2 weeks, and not gain a thing. If this current level really was TDEE, you should gain 1 lb.
If you have instant gain which is water weight instead of slow through the 2 weeks, it means you have not been at TDEE yet.

Just wanted to be a bit more clear...I work out 5 hours per week which is considered moderate according to the scoobys workshop calculator (which is why I used moderate to calculate my TDEE). I actually decreased my exercise levels out about 2.5 months ago because I was working out for 7-8 hours a week and like you said I figured it was way too much for my body.

Also, the 1.5 pounds that I have gained in the past month occured over a 2.5 week period. It has been for the last week and a half that it has been fluctuating up and down.

Do you think that 5 hours is still too much for the amount of calories that I am eating?

Nope, you are more realistic now then, so that's good. Some workouts hard, some easy though? Because even 5 days in a row of intense workouts will usually mean no real progress from the workouts.

For example, many introduced lifting into an existing workout, so they kept doing HIIT or some type of intervals on non-lifting days. That prevents getting full benefit from either workout at the best, at the worst it's the wrong type of stress and it'll cause injuries and stalled loss.

So excellent job noting the gain time, that generally means it was excess, and if good workouts, some was muscle and LBM, and some even fat.

So I'd say your TDEE appears to be 1.5 lbs x 3500 cal = 5250 cal / 18 days = 292 calories a day less that caused that gain.

So real TDEE almost about 250 less. But, if it was really that much, you should have another 1 lb gain when you hit complete 2 weeks coming up.

So stick it out to hit that full 2 weeks of fluctuation, confirm last weigh-in day and upcoming are actually valid data points.
Morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels, not sore from previous lifting workout. Any other day is invalid data.

If you indeed gain 1 more lb, then knock 250 off the avg eating level you really hit over the last 3-4 weeks. That's your TDEE.
If you do not gain, then I think you are at TDEE whatever that avg eating level was.

So take that TDEE figure whatever it is, divided by current weight Mifflin BMR as MFP shows it. That's your personal multiplier for this activity level. As BMR drops, you can use it again to get new weight TDEE.

And then take your 15% deficit.

OP, I think I am in the same boat as you. I started MFP in Nov 2011. I ate at 1200 + exercise cals until August 2011 when I began feeling really lightheaded. I upped my cals to 1500 + exercise cals. I continued losing until right around Thanksgiving 2012 and completely plateaued. I went through the holidays just maintaining my weight but at the end of January, still not seeing any changes, I started researching and tried EM2WL.

I do high intensity Zumba for 3 hours a week (burn about 750 cals per class), a bootcamp one day a week (burn about 600+ cals per class) and then two weight training sessions a week. There are also dog walks and such in there too and I am about to possibly start training for a 5K I'm doing in June. I also have my activity level set at moderate but I was wondering if I needed to up it to strenuous activity.

Right now at the moderate level, my BMR is at 1615, TDEE is at 2503 and TDEE -15% at 2127. So I'm eating the 2127 each day. I've never done the reset before since I thought that maybe by just upping it to 2127 it would solve the problem.

I lost two pounds about 2 weeks ago after eating at 2127 for about a month but it hasn't changed much since then.

Any advice?

bump