Oh wow, a whole YEAR following EM2WL!
holleysings
Posts: 664 Member
Hey, everyone! I wanted to offer a little inspiration. I started my EM2WL journey at the beginning of July 2012 with an eight week reset. Then another reset when I gained weight on a cut. :noway:
Here's my progress for the first year:
6/26/12: 44.6% body fat at 198 lbs (88.31 lbs fat)
8/28/12: 43.1 % body fat at 200 lbs (86.2 lbs fat)
4/24/13: 36.1% body fat at 219.8 lbs (79.35 lbs fat)
7/3/13: 32.7% body fat at 217.6 lbs (71.16 lbs fat)
I've lost inches all over the place, but I really don't keep track of that very well. I'll post progress pics sometime this weekend.
For the past twelve weeks, I ate 250 calories less than my BMF said I burned per day, so I ate 2200-3200 calories a day depending on how big my burn was. About every two weeks I ate 700 OVER TDEE because I was starving, topping 3600 calories a few times. :happy: And I did take a TDEE break in the middle. Didn't hurt my progress any, obviously! My deficit was actually LESS than the 10% recommended when you're close to goal, which I'm not lol. (I have no goal. :drinker: ) This was my first true effort at a cut. I pretty much ate at maintenance until April 24th. I tried and failed at cutting several times. Got too hungry.
I lift heavy three days a week, spin once a week, and am incredibly active. I walk a lot and dance during musical rehearsals 3-4 days a week. I don't sit still very often, but when I do, it's not for long!
I just want to stress how important it is to trust the process and not focus on the scale. As you can see, I gained so much weight this year! OMG I should cut the calories to get back to 198 lbs. BUT I don't really give a flying you-know-what about the number on the scale. I don't have TIME to care about something that can't quantify the enormous amount of progress I have made in the past year. Plus, everyone I know thinks I've lost all this weight. And no one believes me when I tell them how much I weigh. I'm pretty sure if I wore a nametag saying "Hi my name is Holley. I weigh 216 lbs." everyone would think it was a joke. So I might do it. Might raise some awareness about weight. :laugh:
Anyways...if you're too anxious for progress pics, FR me and you can see some recent ones on my profile. Current pic is from a week and a half ago. It's a Large.
Here's my progress for the first year:
6/26/12: 44.6% body fat at 198 lbs (88.31 lbs fat)
8/28/12: 43.1 % body fat at 200 lbs (86.2 lbs fat)
4/24/13: 36.1% body fat at 219.8 lbs (79.35 lbs fat)
7/3/13: 32.7% body fat at 217.6 lbs (71.16 lbs fat)
I've lost inches all over the place, but I really don't keep track of that very well. I'll post progress pics sometime this weekend.
For the past twelve weeks, I ate 250 calories less than my BMF said I burned per day, so I ate 2200-3200 calories a day depending on how big my burn was. About every two weeks I ate 700 OVER TDEE because I was starving, topping 3600 calories a few times. :happy: And I did take a TDEE break in the middle. Didn't hurt my progress any, obviously! My deficit was actually LESS than the 10% recommended when you're close to goal, which I'm not lol. (I have no goal. :drinker: ) This was my first true effort at a cut. I pretty much ate at maintenance until April 24th. I tried and failed at cutting several times. Got too hungry.
I lift heavy three days a week, spin once a week, and am incredibly active. I walk a lot and dance during musical rehearsals 3-4 days a week. I don't sit still very often, but when I do, it's not for long!
I just want to stress how important it is to trust the process and not focus on the scale. As you can see, I gained so much weight this year! OMG I should cut the calories to get back to 198 lbs. BUT I don't really give a flying you-know-what about the number on the scale. I don't have TIME to care about something that can't quantify the enormous amount of progress I have made in the past year. Plus, everyone I know thinks I've lost all this weight. And no one believes me when I tell them how much I weigh. I'm pretty sure if I wore a nametag saying "Hi my name is Holley. I weigh 216 lbs." everyone would think it was a joke. So I might do it. Might raise some awareness about weight. :laugh:
Anyways...if you're too anxious for progress pics, FR me and you can see some recent ones on my profile. Current pic is from a week and a half ago. It's a Large.
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Replies
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Great mindset. Great example to follow.
Do you think your BMF is decently correct for calorie burn on the lifting? May be why eating level leaves you so hungry, TDEE is actually higher. You've seen MrsBigMack's story.
Don't you love the comments of "wow, you've lost a lot of weight", and the look on their face when you say "no, not really at all, gained some actually", they look you over to try to figure out why their perception is so far off.
Then you can remind them muscle takes up a lot less space, "wanna arm wrestle?".0 -
Great mindset. Great example to follow.
Do you think your BMF is decently correct for calorie burn on the lifting? May be why eating level leaves you so hungry, TDEE is actually higher. You've seen MrsBigMack's story.
Don't you love the comments of "wow, you've lost a lot of weight", and the look on their face when you say "no, not really at all, gained some actually", they look you over to try to figure out why their perception is so far off.
Then you can remind them muscle takes up a lot less space, "wanna arm wrestle?".
Probably not. I'm going back to TDEE according to BMF for four weeks. We'll see what happens scale-wise. Then I might eat 250 OVER BMF to see if the weight goes up! I know the sensors are not all that accurate for me according to your spreadsheet. I haven't really wanted to mess with it until I was done with my 12 week fat loss challenge at my gym especially since my RMR tested at around 1800 at the end of April. BMF has it around 1800, but I am RAVENOUS eating at TDEE right now. Which could be residual hunger from the cut. Or the lifting. It's hard to tell!0 -
So true, good strong workout is going to make your body hungry to make use of that food.
Have you look at the BMF stats for sleeping cal/min and awake but sitting cal/min, to see how they compare? Or perhaps a post-workout burn at home sitting afterwards.
Those all help to see if a tad more accurate or not for you.
Especially if those sleeping cal/min x 1440 is close to your Katch BMR.0 -
Holley,
I am so happy to be your MFP friend and to be able to watch your progress! You are amazing!!0 -
such great progress .You deserve this moment you stuck to it and made it work awesome job pal.0
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Two words: YOU ROCK! Your mindset is so healthy, and your attitude is amazing (never mind your fitness progress!) Love it!!0
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MY GOSH I freakin love this! WTG Holley!0
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Holley, you are awesome!!! 0
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What an incredible journey! Your progress is amazing... what your doing is body re composition and thats where we should all strive to be
Awesome work!0 -
AMAZING!!!0
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Awesomeness!!!0
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Fabulous progress.0
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Those numbers are amazing! It's been so great following your progress, can't wait to see where the next year takes you.
This is perfect proof about trusting the process and not freaking out when that scale number starts to increase. You look amazing and no one would ever believe you've actually gained weight!0 -
Losing fat is what's up!!! Great job Holley!! You are great inspiration to those who are still struggling with trusting the process!! Kep up the awesome work!!0
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Love!:)0
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So awesome! Thanks for the inspiration!0
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Holly ..... Your blooming brilliant :-) you're an inspiration :-) you're always on the go ..!! Don know how where you find your energy from :-)
Lots of love xxx0 -
Congrats Holley! You are doing so well!0
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You are doing fantastic!!!0
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Fabulous results Holley. You are so inspiring and I'm so chuffed to have you as a friend here 0
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Holley you are just amazing.... Fat loss is what is all about. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing.... Everyone needs to see this!0
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Thanks for the inspiration. I started out with MFP using the standard settings and struggling with how to figure in my exercise calories especially from lifting. And I was proud to eat as few calories as possible. Then I found EM2WL and am trying a higher daily count based on my body fat and the katch BMR.
I'm still challenged not to feel bad about the lack of progress on the scale. I do feel it in my clothes and will do another Bod Pod fat test in the Spring.
I'm following my hunger for pre and post weight lifting more than the calorie settings. We'll see how that works.
Enjoy your success!0 -
Ok okay okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! I've upped my calories and trying this again!! A hard head definately makes a soft bottom!!!I wonder if my mom knew that saying could be used in the fitness world back then!! LOL....okay so I'm listening. I joined the group and became exhausted with all the thinking of how I was going to eat so much food....now I have a master plan...Load up my protein shakes and few other tricks.0
