I am REALLY considering this reset. I was on Medifast for 5/6 months and prior to this I'd go on short bits of eating 1000 calories meanwhile burning 1000 calories off, needless to say that didn't last longer than a month. I didn't know anything about tdee, bmr, muscle loss etc. Had I known I wouldn't have gotten on Medifast nor would I have waited so long to weight train.

I believe my metabolism is jacked because of Medifast. After I got off of it I started MFP, read up on tdee, bmr etc. Anyways I've notice that I only lose weight when I eat 1600 gross (bmr 1550-1580) and do not eat back exercise calories which will leave me a net of 1000-1200 calories. Based off of online calcs my tdee is 2400-2500 calories and a 15%-20% cut should leave me with at the very least of 1900 calories to lose about 1 lb/week.
This has led me to believe that I may need a metabolism reset.

Right now I'm about 8 lbs from my gw, but 'diets' like Medifast and no weight training has left me with a less desirable body fat. I'm afraid of gaining 10+ lbs as I'm only 178 lbs. Last weigh in I was 180.2 @32.58% bf.

For exercise I weight train 3x/week and do 30 mins on the elliptical 2x/week. I sometimes play basketball 1-2x on the weekend for about 2 hours around 2-3 weekends a month where I burn 700-1500 cals per session.

I would like to get down anywhere between 155-165 (wherever i feel comfortable) with bf% of 21-25%

So I would like to assume I would do a reset for 8-12 weeks or until I consistently gain weight over a period of 3 weeks so I can find my true tdee.

My intake is 1600 gross, so what is the smartest way to up my calories to maintenance without a huge gain of fat? I will still be doing my normal workouts of 3x weight train, 2x cardio.

For days that I play bball and burn 700-1500 calories, how many calories should I eat back?

Is it still possible to lower my body fat % through this process of maintenance? I know I've seen posts where people have lost body fat without losing weight.

Thanks so much for your help!

I'd go up about 200 calories extra a day for 2 wks, or until no gain. So water weight fast and first, and then maybe slow increase.
So you do need to keep weighing on valid days.
Then another 200 until no gain, ect.
If you do this method, good 4 wks at estimated TDEE.

I'd suggest your TDEE level is Lightly Active rounded up though, unless your lifting session is 1 hr solid, even though though, that's only 4 hrs.
So TDEE 2200, then take deficit when time to.

On basketball weekend, eat back those calories when it really happens. Something like that needs the calories that day, not every other day that week.

And you can lower BF during this process while LBM is increasing. System is so suppressed it's not going to be muscle, but even increased needed water stored is increased metabolism.
Just really push hard with that lifting. If calories are extra and going to cause gain, might as well be as much muscle as possible.

You may also confirm you are basing this math on the Katch BMR that uses bodyfat estimate, because you likely did burn off some muscle mass from past efforts, which would mean your TDEE isn't that high.
I'd do BMR multiplier 1.45.

Water weight gain is totally variable - depends on how depleted you always kept your glucose stores.
How much improvement your body finally gets a chance to make with eating more.
And how slow is your metabolism moving up. For some period of time, you are indeed eating over maintenance until it comes up. Hence the reason to feed a good lifting workout.

Usually the first week will see that fast gain, hence 2 weeks with 200 more daily.
Then another 2 weeks with 200 more daily.
If the last few raises up you gain nothing, it means metabolism is moving up fast. You just don't want it to lower fast again, do you?

So Friday is rest day then? And you won't be sore from a late Thu lifting session still.
Morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels not sore from last workout is only valid weigh in day.

Yes, if you start losing at 2200, increase. Actually, even if you don't for 2 weeks, you still increase by 250 more at that point.
Because if 2200 is TDEE, and you eat 250 extra daily for 2 weeks - that is 1 lb gain. And you just confirmed what the TDEE is.
So make sure it's normal weeks of exercise you'll be maintaining.

No need trying to nail down your TDEE when the routine is going to change.

Also i heard that with this reset i should continue it until maintenance calories doesnt feel like Im stuffing my face? Is that correct? I remember a week where I was trying to eat 2200 cal and it was very hard I was force feeding myself and i just stopped doing that.

I think I found out why I wasn't gaining weight eating at what I thought was my TDEE. I just got my RMR tested today and it was higher than I expected: 1701. I'm really glad to see it higher than I expected! And since I've been eating about 100-200 calories above my Fitbit burn I have managed to gain almost a pound. I think Fitbit was underestimating my BMR.

So thinking now I am hearing that I should have done a reset. Before I do have some questions:
How do I know how long to do the reset?

Thinking I will continue at eating at TDEE-20% until we head to Europe and start the reset with the vacation. Or should I just start now?

What should I expect right away? Should I expect a jump in weight on the scale? Especially with the change in exercise during our trip. Rather than near daily workouts include weights about 3 days a week we will turn to lots of walking (Expect 6-10 miles per day).

Get me started ( my wife as well..She has been stuck right about 132 for weeks )