Week 5ish Update- EM2WL "rip the band-aid" attempt to find TDEE
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MandaLeigh123
Posts: 351 Member
For a more detailed account of my first three weeks click this link:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10111627/two-week-update-for-anyone-curious#latest
I am in the middle of week 5 trying to boost my calories to TDEE for a full metabolic reset before attempting anymore caloric cuts. I don't even know if I want a caloric cut anymore. I did much larger increases than most but I figured I was eating at least half of what I was supposed to and if I increased by only 100 per week, it would take me over 12 weeks to maybe reach my TDEE. Now I see it would've been even longer than that, and that would've been many more months of depriving my body the calories it needs as fuel. So I ponied up in my typical style and made as large of increases as my stomach and mind could stand each week.
Quick Summary after realizing I wasn't eating enough for how much I was working out....
Started with daily intake 1200-1500, sometimes more often less with weight loss having stalled out working out moderate to high intensity 5-6 days week.
Starting Weight: 145.2
Week 1: Jumped to 1900-2100 Weight: 145 (brief dip down to 143.2 for a day or so)
Week 2: Up to 2100-2400 Weight: Didn't weigh
Week 3: 2600 Weight: 146
Week 4/5: 2800 Weight 145.6
This past week I was on vacation so my exercise intensity was down (mostly walks) and I was completely guessing on my calories every day. Looks like I made it through unscathed for the most part! I think I need to hang out at 2800 for the next couple of days, and will boost up to 2900 on Friday.
The good parts:
The hard parts:
But in all seriousness, the support I have gotten from this group has been amazing. I'm blown away that I have more than doubled my calories eaten and haven't gained any significant weight. I go by the +/- 2 pounds things as normal water fluctuation and I'm still hanging out in there... which means I probably need to eat more than 2800/calories a day. Jeebus. I'll be an eating machine.
Thanks to all of you have given me feedback and interacted with me along the way since starting EM2WL!
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10111627/two-week-update-for-anyone-curious#latest
I am in the middle of week 5 trying to boost my calories to TDEE for a full metabolic reset before attempting anymore caloric cuts. I don't even know if I want a caloric cut anymore. I did much larger increases than most but I figured I was eating at least half of what I was supposed to and if I increased by only 100 per week, it would take me over 12 weeks to maybe reach my TDEE. Now I see it would've been even longer than that, and that would've been many more months of depriving my body the calories it needs as fuel. So I ponied up in my typical style and made as large of increases as my stomach and mind could stand each week.
Quick Summary after realizing I wasn't eating enough for how much I was working out....
Started with daily intake 1200-1500, sometimes more often less with weight loss having stalled out working out moderate to high intensity 5-6 days week.
Starting Weight: 145.2
Week 1: Jumped to 1900-2100 Weight: 145 (brief dip down to 143.2 for a day or so)
Week 2: Up to 2100-2400 Weight: Didn't weigh
Week 3: 2600 Weight: 146
Week 4/5: 2800 Weight 145.6
This past week I was on vacation so my exercise intensity was down (mostly walks) and I was completely guessing on my calories every day. Looks like I made it through unscathed for the most part! I think I need to hang out at 2800 for the next couple of days, and will boost up to 2900 on Friday.
The good parts:
- Food doesn't rule my life anymore and I don't feel guilty when I eat
- Eating has become more enjoyable again
- I've made physical increases in strength training and cardio
- I fit into two pairs of my smaller pants even though my weight is the same
- I feel like eating more is something that will be easier long term
- If I ever do feel like cutting calories, it's going to be like 2500 a day! Not 1200.
- I quickly learned to detach my self-worth from the number on the scale
The hard parts:
- Because I increased so quickly, eating more at first wasn't fun, it was a chore. I felt bloated and I didn't think I could ever eat more than 1,800 (boy was I wrong)
- I've lost the ability to support my MFP who struggle when they "totally over did today!" by eating 1500 calories... I'm not at a point in my journey where I can be a good mentor for them and a lot of them don't want to hear it anyway. I know I wouldn't have listened to me 3 months ago.
- I feel a bit like a cheat when I talk about EM2WL, because I didn't follow this program from the beginning. I lost a lot of weight fast by exercising a lot and not eating enough and in the process ruined my metabolism.
- It actually takes up a lot more time to eat so much more, so I've had to learn to prepare foods in advance and I feel like I go grocery shopping every other day because I EAT ALL THE FOOD! Haha!
But in all seriousness, the support I have gotten from this group has been amazing. I'm blown away that I have more than doubled my calories eaten and haven't gained any significant weight. I go by the +/- 2 pounds things as normal water fluctuation and I'm still hanging out in there... which means I probably need to eat more than 2800/calories a day. Jeebus. I'll be an eating machine.
Thanks to all of you have given me feedback and interacted with me along the way since starting EM2WL!
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Replies
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That´s so impressive! And such a great success in that short amount of time. Excellent! I start to really looking forward to my reset, although I will not be eating that much, since I am not as active as you are. But still :-) It will be cool0
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Great results from great effort put forth.
And curious, how many people around you knowing what you were attempting with weight loss, saw the increased eating and got confused looks on their faces?
And any close enough that you responded to and how?
I think useful info for others, because while support here is great, it's nice to have in your face support too. Well, not that in your face I guess.0 -
Awesome!! Great example, wonderful results! So glad you trusted and tried it out - so many women are scared to give it a go! Great job.
I love that you did the semi Band-Aid approach - you increased a lot quicker than most, but still in a way jumped up in large steps and with no gains!! Thanks for keeping such a great record and posting it so that others can learn and be encouraged.
I think I'll post a link to this thread on mfp if you don't mind?
Also, have you made an appearance on the main website yet? They have forums there as well...I'm sure they'd like to share your story. www.em2wl.com0 -
Congratulations!!!0
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Thx all! I hadn't checked out the forums yet, but just did and now I have so many more things to read to help me along my journey. I totally forgot they were there. Any of you newbies looking for more information and personal stories to eat up should go check it out!
http://forums.eatmore2weighless.com/0 -
@heybales : You know, people haven't noticed very much that I am eating more. A couple of people in my nursing program saw me eating some treaties (cadbury eggs, nom nom nom) and commented that they thought I was trying to eat healthy. I said, "I am! I realized I wasn't eating enough... so now I'm eating more." Then class started so we didn't have time to finish that conversation.
My husband is pretty much on board with whatever I am doing and he's been super supportive and thinks it's good I'm eating more. He tends to eat whatever I eat in slightly larger amounts, and I think his metabolism was suppressed as well even though he wasn't trying to lose weight. He's now eating what I'm eating (not in larger amounts, because I train more) and he's lost a couple of pounds without trying. He does cardio 3x a week for 30 minutes. Been working on getting him into weights but he had a bad experience with them as a little guy in highschool and hasn't been to keen to get over to that section of the gym.
One of my friends is my activity friend. We developed a friendship training for a marathon together, and now when we meet up it's always for a walk, hike, run, stairs, etc. She said she's happy to see me eating more. She's a long distance runner mostly (marathons and ultras) and is also a nurse, so on her feet a lot and we've been talking about how she can increase her calories because she said she doesn't think she eats enough.
My mother-in-law also said she was happy to hear I was eating enough to fuel my body. When I first talked to her about it and told her I had been eating 1200/cal a day during the course of the conversation she said that my body was starving on that little amount of food. I told her now I am eating around 2800 and she said, "Boy- that's great! I wish I could eat that much!"0 -
This is so awesome! What a great post .... amazing progress! Doubling your intake from 1400 to 2800 and still climbing. Score! Thanks so much for sharing!0
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That's exciting! I don't need a reset, but you make me want to up my calories more. Thanks for sharing!0
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Manda, you really are an inspiration, well done matey
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Love. Thank you!!!!0
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I'm very interested in how this is going for you. I've been eating at 1350 for a while (5'2", 46) and lifting heavy 3x week, some cardio. I increased my calories by 100 calories and dropped nearly 10 lbs in a month. Now (per help from Jennbecca33 & Heybales) I am increasing my calories more. My weight had spiked up a couple lbs. after the weekend but after two days of eating more, carefully, and working out my weight went back down 2 lbs. Exciting stuff. Sounds like you are doing it right!0
