Does this really work?
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DSFfit
Posts: 133 Member
So I started trying to eat more in Dec. my goal was at 1690 calories per day. Most days I didn't make it that many. But I ate more calories. I am about to go back to eating 1200 plus exercise a day. I gained a bit and I am really frustrated. I wake up hungry at 3 am but don't eat. I am always hungry.
I have always been slightly overweight my whole life. But after my 3rd child I had when I was 40 years old I went up 15 pounds more and stayed there (5'3" at 155 lbs). I joined MFP last spring and got down to 140. Now back to 145. My weight most of my adult life was in the 130s and my goal is maybe 125. When I was younger and super fit I felt good at 132.
I work out almost everyday. I do weights. I count calories carefully.
Should I stick with EM2WL? I am so tired of always fighting these last 10 pounds.
I have always been slightly overweight my whole life. But after my 3rd child I had when I was 40 years old I went up 15 pounds more and stayed there (5'3" at 155 lbs). I joined MFP last spring and got down to 140. Now back to 145. My weight most of my adult life was in the 130s and my goal is maybe 125. When I was younger and super fit I felt good at 132.
I work out almost everyday. I do weights. I count calories carefully.
Should I stick with EM2WL? I am so tired of always fighting these last 10 pounds.
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I would stick with it. It works, it really does. Come to the website and read the blog which has a lot of success stories.0
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Stick with it. I am on week 5 of trying this. I was just like you thinking that this is some wacky thinking to get people fatter. But I have found many great benefits! I have so much more energy eating more food. I have not done the full metabolism reset (which I think I need to do. I just am eating at my 15% cut). After reading multiple people say that you might gain weight at first due to the increase in calories, I stayed away from the scale because I knew it would get to me mentally. Just this morning I was brave and decided to get on because I felt I needed to know where I was at. To my surprise I have only gained 3-4 pounds. This is great news! Weird to hear myself say that, but it is. I think I am going to increase still slowly to get up to my TDEE and then do another 15% cut. Trust the process. Don't give up. If you go back down to 1200 calories, it wont get you far. Keep going!!0
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Hi Dchaya,
Yes, it does work if done properly and if given a fair chance. So you started increasing your calories a few weeks ago but you haven't even made it all the way up to 1690 (which was still way too low with your activity level) and you're ready to drop cals again? You've got to be willing to increase calories the proper way and be committed to seeing the process through. Since you've been undereating so long, you've suppressed your metabolism. The point of increasing calories is to undo this suppression, but it takes a little time and patience. Gaining some water weight and maybe even a few pounds is completely normal and expected at first when increasing calories (read through some of the posts so you know what to expect and feel better knowing it's not just you). Your weight will stabilize after you give it some time to adjust. You work out every day and you do weights, so your activity level is very high. Use this website to calculate your calories:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
You will see that you should be eating much more to support your high activity level. You do not have much to lose. You would do best to choose a -10% deficit. You're stressing your body by working out so much and not eating enough. Free up some of that stress and you'll see much better results. You also mentioned you wake up at 3am hungry. Doesn't that tell you something? You need to eat more. The last thing you should do is cut your calories again and exercise more. That will not give you the results you are looking for. Your body is asking for food, so please listen to it. Decreasing some of your workout time will also help. You do not have to exercise excessively everyday to get results. Right now all your exercise is working against you, especially with your calories so low. Take a more balanced approach. EM2WL does work, but you need to commit to doing it properly and giving it time. It's not a quick fix, but it will give you results and set you up to maintain for life. Check out this post on what to expect when increasing calories:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/521728/upping-cals-what-to-expect-why-you-need-patience/p10 -
Thank you everyone for your quick responses. Jennbeck, according to the calorie calc I should be eating 2100 to maintain, 1900 for a 10 % deficient.
I dread going back up. I had an unhealthy diet for years. As a teen growing up I would fast for three days at a time to lose weight then binge on potato chips. I do want this to work. I recall during my time in the military I ate what I considered an enormous amount of food and was the fittest I had ever been. Maybe I do need to eat more to loose. It's hard mentally do allow myself to do it.
I have a long history of not understanding the best way to eat.0 -
Thank you everyone for your quick responses. Jennbeck, according to the calorie calc I should be eating 2100 to maintain, 1900 for a 10 % deficient.
I dread going back up. I had an unhealthy diet for years. As a teen growing up I would fast for three days at a time to lose weight then binge on potato chips. I do want this to work. I recall during my time in the military I ate what I considered an enormous amount of food and was the fittest I had ever been. Maybe I do need to eat more to loose. It's hard mentally do allow myself to do it.
I have a long history of not understanding the best way to eat.
I think by slowly increasing your calories, you will find that you still need to choose healthy foods, but its ok to throw in your treats now and then. For example, I love tacos!! ANy type of tacos: chicken, ground beef, fish, whatever! Great sources of protein but the tortillas, (ugh). I made it a point to make them fit into my macronutrient ratios of carbs so I can enjoy it. It does take a lot of time to plan out. But it is a mental FREEDOM to be able to eat food again without the fear of going over 1200 calories! I like my day higher in fat compared to my carbs because that is what makes me feel the best. Find what foods you love and slowly increase them. You will fall in love with the amount of energy you have. It is a mental game indeed! Try reading the EM2WL stories, over and over again (like I do). It helps to remind me that it is possible. But it will take more than 4-6 weeks for it to happen. So be patient!0 -
Ok, just take some time to think it over and ponder the idea of eating more. Once you're ready, then very slowly increase. You can go as slow as you want and that gives your body plenty of time to adjust. It is very much mental, and you really have to be able to mentally "see" the benefits and where you want to be. I would much rather maintain eating 2500 calories rather than 1200...that's my story. I'm so glad I was willing to try EM2WL. I remember being very scared, but knew that nothing else was working.0
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I agree it's a very difficult process to go through. Our minds, our past eating habits, what we've always heard from the diet industry, etc. etc. all play against us.
I started eating more with a new trainer last Sept. and then found this group here which confirmed everything he was telling me as well. I worked my way up to my TDEE, gained some weight but it fell off pretty easily when I worked in a deficit again. Now I'm losing again weekly. As a matter of fact I've decreased my deficit (increased my calories) again this week because I think my deficit was a little too big.
I have a lot more energy, my workouts are much more productive and I never imagined I could eat this well and still lose weight. It was a little scary because I was so anxious to lose the last bit of weight. Now I am anyway.0 -
Thank you everyone for your quick responses. Jennbeck, according to the calorie calc I should be eating 2100 to maintain, 1900 for a 10 % deficient.
I dread going back up. I had an unhealthy diet for years. As a teen growing up I would fast for three days at a time to lose weight then binge on potato chips. I do want this to work. I recall during my time in the military I ate what I considered an enormous amount of food and was the fittest I had ever been. Maybe I do need to eat more to loose. It's hard mentally do allow myself to do it.
I have a long history of not understanding the best way to eat.
Strongly consider - did the way you have done it before have lasting success?
Do you want a lifetime of yo-yo dieting, with a love/hate relationship with your body and food, slowly but surely burning off muscle mass, making it easier to gain each time and harder to lose each time.
You need to eat more to have a healthy body.
Once you have a healthy body, then you can lose fat with reasonable deficit, and benefit the most from exercise.
Attempt that with the unhealthy body you've had - well, you already know the results, no need to spell them out.0 -
I do think I have over the years messed up my metabolism. I have always struggled with about 10 to 15 extra pounds but I am short so it looks like more. I also have food allergies and I am trying to find the best foods for me. I was very obese as a child I was on cortisteroids for my allergies and asthma. I was a skinny child before that.
I am going to keep trying this approach. I only made it to about 1400 calories yesterday, I am thinking about the GAP diet because of all my digestion and allergy issues. Thanks again everyone for your encouragement !0 -
I saw on this on my FB page today, thought I'd share: http://eatmore2weighless.com/sagefitnessfanatic/0
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Wow skinny4me2be. You look wonderful! That's so encouraging to see it works .
I'm pretty sure I need to stick with it. I just took the last two days as rest days, I've been working out fairly intensely and I swear my pants are looser today. I see you slowly increased calories and you keep them healthy calories. I'm 53 and fear a slowing metabolism, I've gained biceps in the last 9 months but my abs are stubborn.
Thanks for sharing your story.0 -
skinny4me2be wrote: »I saw on this on my FB page today, thought I'd share: http://eatmore2weighless.com/sagefitnessfanatic/
Thanks for that link. I'm about 14 lbs away and having hunger issues as well so it was interesting to read that she kept slowly upping and still lost the last pounds. I upped my calories another 50/day this week and will probably do it again next week if I'm still hungry. I hate giving up any of my exercise because I've worked to hard to get here. This is the same thing my trainer is telling me to do, eat more.
Good luck Dchaya!
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Wow skinny4me2be. You look wonderful! That's so encouraging to see it works .
I'm pretty sure I need to stick with it. I just took the last two days as rest days, I've been working out fairly intensely and I swear my pants are looser today. I see you slowly increased calories and you keep them healthy calories. I'm 53 and fear a slowing metabolism, I've gained biceps in the last 9 months but my abs are stubborn.
Thanks for sharing your story.
That's not me, its a story that was posted on the EM2WL website and on their FB page. I just copied the link to share it with everyone here to show it does work :-)
I wish I was at that point but sadly I'm not. I'm still working on getting there, losing slowly, very slowly!! I will get there and have a success story like this some day. :-)
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I'm not usually the tough love type but....
Before considering GAPS for digestion issues i strongly suggest you read a couple ebooks by matt stone. He has a lot of advice about improving digestion through eating more.
I did gaps for 2 years. It healed one of my children's anxiety/oCD and healed his gut. But it totally freaked out my adrenals/ thyroid and although I had maintained a healthy weight for 4 years prior to gaps I gained about 20 lbs, and became sensitive to many gaps foods.
If you want to stay stuck in the loop of bad digestion and undereating to loose "the last ten pounds" go back to your 1200 calories.
You may keep getting smaller but you may not be leaner.
You may down regulate your metabolism even more and not loose weight even eating so little.
Or you can commit to your longterm health and start eating to nourish your body.
Here are some things to consider. What is your bf% what is your goal bf%. Are you currently lifting weights? What routine do you use? Do you take your measurements/take photos? Do you actually need to loose weight?
You are at a healthy weight right now. (You and I are the same height and weight. I'm a size 4 and eat 2400/day to maintain).
You can see Incredible Changes in your body composition while eating at maintnence and lifting weights.
You can eat enough and not wake up hungry in the night.
You can go back to 1200 calories stress your body out and see if it gets smaller (which it may not) to see that proverbial last ten pounds go away and then feel you have to eat 1200 forever to maintain that or you can learn to feed your body adequately, work out with intention, see you digestion and sleep improve all while melting inches away and then at that point you may choose to take a 10% deficit to loose a few pounds.0 -
Thanks mspunkyone
I appreciate your perspective.
I do lift, I mainly do Daily Burn routines. I am doing Bob Harpers Black Fire, only using 12 lbs for most things though. I have some 20 lb dumbbells that I do rows with.
I think I'm under eating. I spent the last week taking it easy. I took three rest days and ate an average of 1600 calories. I feel pretty good this week the main thing I noticed was my period came back after several months absence. I'm 53 so I didn't think too much about it stopping.
I'm reading the GAPS book I'll give it a short term try perhaps, it doesn't look sustainable.
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Does any one know if this works for pcos?
I can't not lose weight for the life of me....I work out I lift weights I eat crazy healthy. ... maybe not enough though. I'm to the point where I'm scared to eat...im putting on more weigh no matter what I do.:(.. I don't believe calorie in calorie Burn will lose weight it's not working for me. can any body help.0 -
OP, please reread my post.
1.reconsider gaps read matt stone
2. Eat more - do a tdee minus 15% or a reset
3. Cut back on excersize and take advantage of recomp
Betharmstrong, you should start a new thread with your q s.0 -
betharmstrong61 wrote: »Does any one know if this works for pcos?
I can't not lose weight for the life of me....I work out I lift weights I eat crazy healthy. ... maybe not enough though. I'm to the point where I'm scared to eat...im putting on more weigh no matter what I do.:(.. I don't believe calorie in calorie Burn will lose weight it's not working for me. can any body help.
You have a health issue, which specifically is changing the calorie burn side of the equation.
The normal estimates will NOT work for you.
But if you have confirmed you are starting high enough, and that weight gain is not just water weight, you should adjust from there.
Sadly your body can't take the stress of too much deficit, it'll just change the burn side more. So you must confirm diet is not that much stress.
Ditto to start a new thread, and share the following:
What is workout routine, time and frequency spent?
How much weight put on in how much time span?
And how much did you eat on average during that time, not net, total?
How much to lose to healthy weight?0 -
Thanks.ill try and start a new one just don't know if I know how too:/new to this0
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betharmstrong61 wrote: »Thanks.ill try and start a new one just don't know if I know how too:/new to this
Go to the bottom of all the threads - you see a button to start a new discussion.0
