Very overweight, will it work?
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Tipularia
Posts: 19 Member
Hi! I've found my way to this discussion because of frustration with weight loss (yeah, I know that's not unusual. LOL!) . I'd love to find someone who has had the same problems and was successful with the eat more/weigh less method.
I began in May 2014 at 355 lbs and was able to lose 45 pounds by August. It was thrilling until the loss abruptly stopped and has barely moved. I've been hovering between 309 and 314 for months. I track every calorie and went from eating 1700 in the summer to 1525 in the fall (myfitness pal did their calorie cut based on my weight). I eat low carb (usually below 100g/day) and lots of lean protein and veggies.
I've always exercised (walking mostly), but began strength training and HIT cardio in November. Every other day, 30 minutes of cardio and about an hour of strength training on all major muscle groups. I usually through it another 30 - 40 minutes of cardio on the off days.
I've noticed that I will lose weight after over-indulging (Christmas) or right before my period, when I know I eat more carbs. Putting two and two together I thought the Eat More philosophy might be for me. My BMR, according to the Scooby site, is 1835, TDEE is 2845, and the daily calories it suggest I should eat for 20% calorie reduction is 2276.
I've been trying to eat more, at least my BMR for the past two weeks and some days will up it to around 2276. So far I've gained about two pounds, although that fluctuates daily, as I know it should.
So, after that long story, is this going to work? Should I continue to stick it out?
Should I be concerned that the BMR calculation isn't as accurate for someone with such a high body fat percentage?
Is there anyone else who has had a similar experience with such a long plateau?
I'm going a bit nuts and would love to hear something positive!
Thanks!
I began in May 2014 at 355 lbs and was able to lose 45 pounds by August. It was thrilling until the loss abruptly stopped and has barely moved. I've been hovering between 309 and 314 for months. I track every calorie and went from eating 1700 in the summer to 1525 in the fall (myfitness pal did their calorie cut based on my weight). I eat low carb (usually below 100g/day) and lots of lean protein and veggies.
I've always exercised (walking mostly), but began strength training and HIT cardio in November. Every other day, 30 minutes of cardio and about an hour of strength training on all major muscle groups. I usually through it another 30 - 40 minutes of cardio on the off days.
I've noticed that I will lose weight after over-indulging (Christmas) or right before my period, when I know I eat more carbs. Putting two and two together I thought the Eat More philosophy might be for me. My BMR, according to the Scooby site, is 1835, TDEE is 2845, and the daily calories it suggest I should eat for 20% calorie reduction is 2276.
I've been trying to eat more, at least my BMR for the past two weeks and some days will up it to around 2276. So far I've gained about two pounds, although that fluctuates daily, as I know it should.
So, after that long story, is this going to work? Should I continue to stick it out?
Should I be concerned that the BMR calculation isn't as accurate for someone with such a high body fat percentage?
Is there anyone else who has had a similar experience with such a long plateau?
I'm going a bit nuts and would love to hear something positive!
Thanks!
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YES YES YES!!! Stick to it! I can't speak from experience per se but I hit a plateau for a year and that was eating 1200-1400 calories a day. I couldn't figure out the problem. I just began my journey with EM2WL. I was petrified of the scale going up, but i understood why it would go up. After 5 weeks, I weighed myself and I only gained 2 pounds. I workout 5 times a week, strength straining. I did not do the full metabolism reset, but I think I need to. I just went directly to my cut. I will try to work up to my TDEE soon. The hardest thing about this journey is it takes time. A lot of time. But it will be worth it. People won't understand your reasoning behind it, but trust the science.0
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Hi there, and welcome to the group! We're really glad you found us! Yes, it most certainly will work for anyone! EM2WL is just about creating a smaller deficit rather than a huge deficit that low calorie dieting creates. Our bodies were not meant to run off of low calories, so that plateau your hitting is your body's way of saying "this is not working and I don't like how little food you're giving me". The numbers you calculated sound about right, but you will want to increase your calories slowly - maybe 100 cals added each week until you reach your increased calorie level. When I increased my calories, I immediately lost pounds. Some will gain a few and that is totally normal as every body reacts differently. As Nayners said, it does take time. It's a slower process, but very worth it in the end. Please let us know how you do and if you have any questions. You can check out the forums on at em2wl.com for further support as well. Feel free to add any of us here on mfp!0
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Also, I will add with exercising pretty often like you do, depending on your daily activity outside of exercise, it almost sounds as if you need to choose the next higher activity level. What level did you choose on Scooby? You should not eat below or net below your BMR. Unless you are completely sedentary through the day outside of your workouts, I think your daily calories should be a little higher than 2276. Also, we don't recommend anything more than a -15% deficit, so that will up your calories a little.0
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So 4 hrs weekly of at least some intense cardio, and 3 hrs of lifting? Or is the 30-40 min walking, which is half-time?
That's 7 hrs weekly, how active is the other 23 hrs of the day, well, with sleep, I guess maybe 16 hrs of the day?
And yes, BMR will be inflated when using Mifflin BMR and therefore TDEE too, Katch would give a better estimate.
http://www.gymgoal.com/dtool_fat.html
Then take that avg result to Scooby, Most Accurate link and select Katch BMR method.
Recommend you do the lifting before the cardio, especially if interval cardio. No need having bad lifts with worn out muscles being used intensely first.0 -
Thank you all so much for the words of encouragement! I'm amused at the fact that the science makes sense to me, but I'm still fighting my head on it. After losing it's hard to think about gaining even an ounce.
Regarding the questions you have asked:
I chose the moderate activity level, but wonder if I should have chosen sedentary.
I'll try recalculating using Katch to see the difference. In addition, I found a journal article about calculating BMR for obese people. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11817239 It offers an equation that gives my BMR as 1767. That doesn't, however, include activity levels.
Yes, I guess it is about 3 - 4 hours of cardio and 3 - 4 of lifting each week. My activity the rest of the time is fairly low. My job keeps me in front of the computer too much, however I try to do a few laps around the building, stairs, squats, etc during the day. If I get 5,000 steps in during the workday I'm doing well. So I make up for it with cardio (walking, workouts with dailyburn.com, bike and elliptical in the gym).
My typical gym workout is 15 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes of lifting, 15 minutes of cardio, and 30 minutes of lifting followed by stretching and cool down. I find that mixing up cardio and strength training keeps me from getting bored and keeps my energy high.
Lastly, a bit of happy news. I usually find I gain a couple of pounds after each strength training workout only to have it disappear the next day. Inflammation I'm sure. However, this morning I found that I had actually lost a pound after throwing caution to the wind and eating pizza with the staff for lunch yesterday, a hard workout in the evening, and netting over 2,200 calories that day. A turn around? I'm not sure yet, but I am hopeful and feeling very positive today!
Y'all rock!
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You are not sedentary with 6-8 hours of exercise! Unless you sit/sleep 24 hours a day all week long, you are not sedentary. Be honest with your activity level. Right now, with 6-8 hours of exercise, you fall into the 5-6 hour strenuous level or very possibly even the highest level. You don't have to exercise that much to see results. Why don't you decrease your exercise a bit, focusing more on the weights with 2 shorter cardio sessions per week. Try to put yourself into a true moderate activity level which will bring your calorie needs down. You will still need to increase your calories to reach this level. Overstressing your body with too much exercise will hinder your efforts in the same way as eating too little.0
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^^ I agree with the above.....it really is simple if you have patience. I come from the old "all or nothing" school of thought as well but have truly seen the light after finding this group!
Over the years I've tried everything and thought I had to suffer in order to lose weight. I had been over exercising and under eating before stumbling across EM2WL and had completely stalled out for weeks! I immediately upped my NET to 1500 from 1200 and started losing immediately. I didn't do a reset, and weight started dropping about 1/2 lb per week on average. I only had a few to lose. I felt better immediately. Had more energy and didn't feel so "hangry" all the time! lol
I easily reached my goal weight this way. Slow and steady, not feeling deprived at all. Then I quit smoking, didn't work out as much due to the season and circumstances with my gym and gained some back.
I spent the last year doing a bulk cycle and have been building as much muscle as possible. I've recently started my cut at TDEE less 15% and so far so good.....I'm trying to stay off the scale as much as possible (weighing no more than twice a week) so those numbers won't mess with my head. I know if I eat the right amount of calories, then the fat WILL come off. I just need to keep doing what I'm doing. Don't stress your body by overdoing the exercise, calculate the numbers appropriate for your activity level, eat what you like and fit it in your numbers, stick with it, and have patience. It WORKS!!
Some days aren't as easy as others, but it really IS that simple.
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Thanks again for all the positive advice! What a supportive group!
And now, one last question (well, probably not the LAST one, LOL)...
Am I supposed to be ravenously hungry? This started a few days ago and I'm even waking up at night hungry. I'm eating enough, but I sure do want everything I can get. I'm wondering if it's because I upped my carbs from less than 100g/day to around 150 - 175g/day or if it's a natural part of the process.
Thanks!0 -
Yes - it's a very positive thing. It means your metabolism is revving up, which is GOOD.0
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I now save more calories for the evening as I get hungry then too (even if it's a carrot or something like that).0
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mymodernbabylon wrote: »Yes - it's a very positive thing. It means your metabolism is revving up, which is GOOD.
Thank God you cleared that up because I thought there was something wrong. Even after eating 400 plus calories than what I was used to, I find myself starving still sometimes and that usually when I think, "wow, I am a fatty!" Question for everyone: I find that the day after my intense workout, ie LEG DAY I am eating everything in sight. Someone told me about carb cycling but I don't think that would work for me since my workouts are scattered and not planned. I have a great workout eating a high fat and high protein day within the same day. It's the next day when I feel I need my carb overload. Does this make sense to anyone else?0 -
Yup - I am more hungry the next day (or that night) on some days. I think it's fine to eat a bit more when you are hungrier...try stuff out and see what works for your body!0
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The next day is the recovery day, body is shuffling most of what you eat off to recharge glycogen stores, and muscle repair, and it wants more to make the changes it wants to make based on the workout being given to it.
This is where it's tough, if you really have the weight to lose, you'll have to suffer if you want the fat gone. Don't worry though, eating more was just easiest solution to what body wanted.
It can still do what it wants, somewhat, without the extra food. It'll just have to use more fat for fuel to accomplish it.
When you get to last 10 lbs, and been lifting for awhile, you no longer are going to get those performance gains as easy in a deficit compared to being a newbie.
You could then switch to a calorie cycling approach which takes care of carbs too.
You cut about 200 cal out of the 24 hrs prior to the workout, and put it in to the 24 hrs post workout. You still want your snack or meal prior to workout to confirm you have the strength.
This doesn't work so good with split routine since there is no rest day in there usually. But you could follow the routine for the lower body day, since those bigger muscles have more need of improvement.0
