Oh wow, a whole YEAR following EM2WL!

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holleysings
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. :smile:
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Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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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?".
  • holleysings
    holleysings Posts: 664 Member
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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?".

    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!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    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.
  • astunningimpact
    astunningimpact Posts: 27 Member
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    Holley,

    I am so happy to be your MFP friend and to be able to watch your progress! You are amazing!!
  • Momwa6
    Momwa6 Posts: 37 Member
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    such great progress .You deserve this moment you stuck to it and made it work awesome job pal.
  • AnitraSoto
    AnitraSoto Posts: 725 Member
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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!!
  • mommamuscles
    mommamuscles Posts: 584 Member
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    MY GOSH I freakin love this! WTG Holley!
  • floopysandi
    floopysandi Posts: 138 Member
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    Holley, you are awesome!!! :)
  • Cheri_Moves
    Cheri_Moves Posts: 625 Member
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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!
  • volume77
    volume77 Posts: 670 Member
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    AMAZING!!!
  • beautifulswan1
    beautifulswan1 Posts: 58 Member
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    Awesomeness!!!
  • Jennacita
    Jennacita Posts: 116 Member
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    Fabulous progress.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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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!
  • jaeone
    jaeone Posts: 649 Member
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    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!!
  • Raynn1
    Raynn1 Posts: 1,164 Member
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    Love!:)
  • BarbellCowgirl
    BarbellCowgirl Posts: 1,271 Member
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    So awesome! Thanks for the inspiration!
  • linski24
    linski24 Posts: 155 Member
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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 xxx
  • hballack
    hballack Posts: 114 Member
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    Congrats Holley! You are doing so well!
  • natini
    natini Posts: 347 Member
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    You are doing fantastic!!!
  • angelina2585
    angelina2585 Posts: 273 Member
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    Fabulous results Holley. You are so inspiring and I'm so chuffed to have you as a friend here :)