Upped my cals around 4 weeks ago....
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Mindylee143
Posts: 27 Member
and I've gained 5 pounds so far. I know that I'm doing the right thing by eating more...I do have more energy, and I feel great! I just wish that the scale would move just a little bit...but I know that this process takes time, and I'm in it for the long haul! 
I lost 84 lbs. doing the low cal 1200 calories/day thing...but I came to a complete halt about 2 months ago. I knew that I couldn't lower my cals any more than I already had, so I started doing some research. That's when I came across this group! My BMR is 1560, with my TDEE at 2418, so my daily calories are around 1800. I guess what makes me unsure of these numbers is the choice in activity level. I have a desk job, but I work out 6 days a week (consisting of Jillian Michaels' Body Revolution for strength days and Turbo Fire for cardio), burning between 300-500 calories in each workout (sometimes more than that if I choose a longer Turbo Fire workout on cardio days). I used the Scooby Calculator, and right now, my exercise level is set to 3-5 hours a week of moderate exercise. Does this sound about right?
Basically, I'm hoping to hear from some people who have initially gained weight by upping their calories...did you ever start losing again? Any advice or pointers? Thanks!!
I lost 84 lbs. doing the low cal 1200 calories/day thing...but I came to a complete halt about 2 months ago. I knew that I couldn't lower my cals any more than I already had, so I started doing some research. That's when I came across this group!
My BMR is 1560, with my TDEE at 2418, so my daily calories are around 1800. I guess what makes me unsure of these numbers is the choice in activity level. I have a desk job, but I work out 6 days a week (consisting of Jillian Michaels' Body Revolution for strength days and Turbo Fire for cardio), burning between 300-500 calories in each workout (sometimes more than that if I choose a longer Turbo Fire workout on cardio days). I used the Scooby Calculator, and right now, my exercise level is set to 3-5 hours a week of moderate exercise. Does this sound about right?Basically, I'm hoping to hear from some people who have initially gained weight by upping their calories...did you ever start losing again? Any advice or pointers? Thanks!!
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Hey Mindy,
I've been doing the EM2WL thing for about 7 weeks now and I've gained 2.2 lbs... it's been kinda weird so far for me, where some weeks i loose and some I dont..then some I gain. I've been staying around the same vicinity, but I'm like you and I want to see the scale go DOWN. I've lost weight twice before doing the 1,200 cals per day and fasting (terrible). But this time I really want to loose weight the right and healthy way.
I recently also decided to go on a "clean" eating lifestyle. Because before I was letting small things like fast food and "non diety/healthy foods" slip into my diet. Even though I was calculating everything and staying within my allotted cals/sodium/and fat.. I think it's still hindering my weight loss. I also upped my workouts to 5-6 times a week last week to see if that helps.
My BMR is 1860, my TDEE was like 2,100 something so I eat about 1,500 a day. But what I do to make sure I'm calculating right is just add my workouts to my BMR. That way it's tailored to how much I workout. Maybe that will help? Hope it turns around for you and you start to loose, I hope that I can do the same! Good luck!!! 0 -
Hi Via! Thanks for adding me as a friend, and for the awesome response! That sounds like a really great idea to just add the number of calories burned to my BMR # and eat that for the day! Since I workout in the mornings, I'll be able to plan out my whole day...and I was feeling kind of strange about eating 1800 -1900 calories even on my rest days. Now, on my days of rest I can just eat my BMR! 0
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Hey Mindy! No problem, exactly that's what I do as well on days I dont workout 0
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Hello Mindy,
Most of us that are doing this go to our TDEE and do that for a full reset ofr 8-12 weeks before the cut. So in my case its 2150, I have been on this 4 weeks and went right from a Very low cal diet around 800 a day. I went directly from that. I knew I would gain back the water etc. So I gained 11 pounds. I have do 3 30-40 minute weight workout a week and have it set ot lightly active. If you are doing more then you are possibly not at the right TDEE yet.
I will stay at this TDEE for another 4 weeks, but I am feeling just fine, and expect that when I do the 10-15% cut in a month I will start to lose more again.0 -
Hello,
I am on week #4 of increasing my calories and have gained about 2 lbs in doing so. I eat about 1800-1900 calories per day and it certainly is scaring the crap out of me. I really don't want to see the scale going up; I want it to lower again or I would like my BF% to lower if I am building muscle. I am okay with that; I will check my BF% again in another few weeks and see what happens
However I do have more energy and feel a lot better physically right now than I did before.
If anyone would like to friend me so that we can track our progress I am open for that.0 -
By the time I completed my 11 week reset I was up 10 lbs. Initially I lost about 4 of those (mostly BLOAT), my middle came back down. Now though, with lifting my weight has stayed the same and measurements are ever so slowly getting smaller. 0
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Were you eating in gross 1200 calories, net being a whole lot less once exercise took some off the top for your body to use?
Or you ate 1200 base and correctly ate back exercise calories too, meaning you ate in total how much?
If the former, then your BMR based on age, weight, height might be very off, as you probably lost some muscle mass, and with less than average expected, your BMR is lower than that really.
I've seen many cases where the best estimate Katch BMR based on decent bodyfat estimate is 200-400 less than Harris or Mifflin BMR.
Once you multiply out to TDEE and eat there, you are overeating by 300-600 calories daily.
Take a deficit from that inflated TDEE, and you really are eating at maintenance.
Which is great for lifting and body recomposition, but if you truly need to lose weight, basing figures on inflated values is not that useful. Of course eventually you might adjust that TDEE estimate based on results, but why start inflated when already eating more anyway?
Use this to get best estimates and track your progress with measurements, best way when going up.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/961054-spreadsheet-for-bodyfat-bmr-tdee-progress-tracker0
