Results from those who gained but stayed the course
TripleJ3
Posts: 945 Member
I wanted to read about some of those who increased calories, gained quite a bit but kept with it and eventually saw a loss. I seemed to only read the posts where people gained very little or saw losses.
I started EM2WL 3 years ago this summer and long story short just started lifting again and adjust my calories for that and after 3 weeks I've gained so much that jeans that I could slide on and off without unbuttoning, are now a very tight squeeze. I had tried lifting in the beginning but after 7-8 month of gaining ang zero loss in size, I took a break and followed other programs.
I'm not sure why I gain so quickly with lifting and I'm referring to my belly, leg and hip size not scale gain. I'm not stepping on any scales any time soon!
I know you are going to tell me it's only been 3 weeks, I tell myself that. But last time I gained and didn't see a fat loss then either after 7-8 months including a reset. So I'm questioning my routine.
I lift for about an hour or more 3 days a week then walk/run two days a week. I fit yoga in when I can and stay active inbetween. Im at a 10% cut and trying to gradually increase calories this time. I'm at a moderate activity level with Scooby. 3-5 hours of activity I believe. I understand you are going to tell me to up my calories and I understand how it all works, I'm struggling to make the goal I have now and have already gained considerable size and wondering if it would be worth continuing with my routine.
I started EM2WL 3 years ago this summer and long story short just started lifting again and adjust my calories for that and after 3 weeks I've gained so much that jeans that I could slide on and off without unbuttoning, are now a very tight squeeze. I had tried lifting in the beginning but after 7-8 month of gaining ang zero loss in size, I took a break and followed other programs.
I'm not sure why I gain so quickly with lifting and I'm referring to my belly, leg and hip size not scale gain. I'm not stepping on any scales any time soon!
I know you are going to tell me it's only been 3 weeks, I tell myself that. But last time I gained and didn't see a fat loss then either after 7-8 months including a reset. So I'm questioning my routine.
I lift for about an hour or more 3 days a week then walk/run two days a week. I fit yoga in when I can and stay active inbetween. Im at a 10% cut and trying to gradually increase calories this time. I'm at a moderate activity level with Scooby. 3-5 hours of activity I believe. I understand you are going to tell me to up my calories and I understand how it all works, I'm struggling to make the goal I have now and have already gained considerable size and wondering if it would be worth continuing with my routine.
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Can you post your stats (age, height, weight)? We can help you better with a bit more information. So when you say are gaining, you specifically only mean in size? So you have no actual weight gains on the scale? You do need to increase up to at least the next activity level and eat more calories. You workouts alone add up to at least 3-5 hours - then you still have your "active" life on top of that and you're not leaving any room for. You won't get results if you're not eating enough calories to support your training. There does come some water weight gain when initially starting lifting that could be making you feel a little puffy, but not so much that you keep gaining size, and that levels off after a bit. Lifting 3x a week with a couple of runs is fine, so there's not a problem with your routine, other than you aren't eating enough, which can stall your progress, and sometimes even make it seem that you're gaining in size.
You said you did a full reset - how many calories did you work up to and how long did you eat at that level? What did your weight do during your reset? I'm wondering if you truly went high enough with your calories during your reset if you only chose moderate activity level - your TDEE would actually be higher still. If you didn't go up all the way to maintenance, then you didn't complete a full reset and your metabolism would not have healed completely. It's really important to be honest with your activity level.
There are lots of success stories on the website at www.eatmore2weighless.com - please check those out. Every person has a different experience in how their body reacts, but you do have to give the process a fair chance to reap the benefits of EM2WL! Post back with more info and we're happy to help.
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I'm 37
Female
5'8
I was around 168-170 a few weeks ago, I used 170 for the calculator. I have not weighed myself yet since but I can't imagine I haven't gained any scale weight if I've gained this much size. I know....for an accurate calorie goal I need to weigh again.
I did the reset for 10 weeks....maybe 12 I can't remember and my TDEE was right around 2700. I never really starved myself in the past, just at times probably eating less than I should have but I know when I was In my early twenties I was overweight due to what I was eating, how much and my alcohol intake, not lack of. I've always worked out.
I hear you....it's just a hard concept to grasp to eat even more when I'm already getting bigger rolls and thicker thighs. It's feels more too good to be true and we all know if it's too good to be true....
I also figured if I start here and slowly work up verses when I jumped up to 2700 in one day that I wouldn't quite see such a rapid gain. Plus with lifting I don't want to choose the higher amount since I'm not sure if my routine would qualify. I use weights at home, and not always can do the full reps and then including in that hour is my rests. So it varies and I don't want to kid myself.
Thanks for your input!0 -
I'll just remind that lifting weights doesn't burn as much as equal time say running, and when majority of time is lifting and a decent amount of time at that, it could throw things off.
You don't mention the time spent walking/jogging, or what you mean by staying active otherwise, does that mean 15 min walks at lunch 5 days weekly, or walking dogs, ect?
That could add up.
So you may indeed need to go higher.
But if 3 hrs lifting traditional not circuit training, and only 1 hr walking/jogging total for the week, TDEE may not be that high.
But just remember that fat isn't fast - loss or gain.
So if it's slow weight gain in tummy first not related to feeling bloated from eating a decent amount more, and the math spells out it could be realistic fat gain - you could be eating too much. Just depends on factors above.
Just as chasing a falling metabolism and crashing it into the ground is no good, chasing a TDEE higher until the weight actually matches a value is no good either.
Anyone can make a high TDEE reality eventually, if you gain enough.0 -
My lifting includes weights and body weight exercises such as push ups, squats, lunges, burbees, etc. about 8 different exercises in each routine. My run/walk varies. It ends up being about 3 1/2 miles. I'm just getting back into running and each week I walk less run more. I run for a length then walk just until I almost start breathing normal then run again, repeat. Starting to run more than I walk not including warm up/cool down. I do take the dog for walks but not always everyday. I walk around running errands several days of the week. We have a new puppy so I take him outside regularly and run around the yard chasing him, about 10 min each time. I ride bikes with my kids around the neighborhood. We go to parks and play. When I do stay home I'm on my feet cleaning or doing food prep, I make many things from scratch and freeze. It takes up a lot of time.
Many activities I do might not be getting my heart pumping, but I'm rarely just standing still. I'm never bored! We go to the zoo, there's a lot of state parks and nature walk and such here in Lousiana so we are outdoors a lot. So just busy. We have no need for cable
That is why I started with the lower 3-5 hrs because I wasn't sure how much I'm actually burning with my weight routine. I get winded and feel my heart pumping after each rep but it's not the same as running.
Where would I go to look into finding out what I burn? What is the term for that again? I know I could buy a polar but I would like to get as accurate as possible. Obviously there is not a 100% true number but a better idea of what I actually burn would be more helpful than trying to guess.0 -
You are at least 3-5 hr activity level with all of that activity, possibly the next level higher. We so often underestimate daily activity outside of formal exercise. I only work out max 2 hours a week, but I have to choose 5-6 hr level at a 15% deficit to lose. I kept stalling out when using 3-5 hr and it took me a long time to believe that I still needed to increase my calories even more. Once I finally increased again, my progress and fat loss resumed. I'm a stay home mom and I run around all day with a 3 year old...daily activity does add up.
I'm not sure how many calories you have been eating before now. Are you wanting to try to increase your calories up to a proper amount, or are you not wanting to because of a perceived gain in size? If you slowly increase your calories and give your body time to adjust, you weight and body will stabilize. Maybe what you've been experiencing is trying to pick of weight lifting and eating more at the same time - you're probably gaining water from both lifting and increasing calories to quickly.
If you want to get an accurate calorie burn for weight lifting, a HRM is the best way.0 -
If the body weight exercises are higher than 15 reps and usually 20, and rests are under 1 min between exercises, that's going to be calisthenics in the database, and actually a good estimate because it is based on studies.
If up to about 15 reps and almost failure on last few, and you do a few circuits of same stuff, that's circuit training in database.
You don't have to log it to get an idea, just punch in minutes and see what it changes calories to for knowing.
Not warmup/cooldown cardio time, just the resistance training time.
HRM will inflate calorie burn for that type of workout because your HR is going up and down, but inflated the entire time. At least it's not normally anaerobic though since doing so many reps.0 -
Thanks Jennbecca33 and Heybales. Gives me more of an idea to work with. I played around with numbers on the calculator and really it was a matter of a few hundred calories either way so I picked in the middle. I'm feeling a little more confident with this as a starting point to work with.0
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