*If you are curious about my journey from the beginning the links to those updates are all at the bottom of this post*

So whats up with you Amanda? You are eating more and you are SOOOO not weighing less. Yes, yes this is true. I started at 145, and right now the scale usually shows me 148-150 when I hop on it. So you are eating more and weigh more? Well, kind of... I guess. I'm eating a lot of salty, salty food lately. My stress levels are through the roof with nursing school. I don't really consider 5lbs to be a real gain because I don't even know in hindsight if 145 was a real loss. Maybe I was dehydrated that day that I hit my lowest weight

I finally figured out my TDEE is around 2,850 at the moment. I had ups and downs and struggles along the way. I finally decided I was ready for a cut because my body really seemed to adapt quickly to the increase in calories, meaning my weight didn't shoot up like most peoples do. A lot of people ask, "How long did you stay at TDEE before doing a cut?" Truth is, I haven't really done a cut yet. I kind of intended to a couple of weeks ago, but I've been eating out so much that even though I'm try to keep to my cut calories of 2450-2550, I could easily be going over this without realizing it. I'm just trying to not be overly focused on cutting my calories right now. Once I get done with school finals, and done eating out so much, I might focus on it more.

Yeah... you are thinking...but how long did you eat at TDEE before considering a cut? People are asking me this ALOT because they want to stay at TDEE for as short of time as possible before starting their cut to start losing weight. EM2WL recommends you stay at a cut for 8-12 weeks before going to your cut calories, and I would follow that advice. Think about how long you have been dieting and how your body adjusted to the increase in calories. Mine for example, didn't gain any weight until I reached around 3,000 calories day and I started at 1200. So my metabolism revved up fast. We'll see if this is a problem when I do a cut, and see if my metabolism also slows down quickly. Won't know until I try it.

So what else. I got a FitBit Flex just for fun and it was wayyyyyy underestimating my calorie burn, even when I would add in non-step based activity. It gave me a TDEE of 1700 when I had already figured out my TDEE is closer to 2800. Made some adjustments with it with @heybales help, and the numbers seem to be a lot more accurate now. I made some serious gains weight lifting, but recently stripped my weights back down to correct my form. I was getting really hooked on lifting heavier and heavier (got my squat up to 205lbs!) but I realized my form had gone down hill so I am back to much lighter weights now.

I've started being a huge advocate for people eating more and I spread the word all the time to whomever will listen. I tell everyone how much I eat. It's become kind of a source of pride. I wrote two papers for two different classes on why I eat so much and why it's important and I backed it up with research and science. I've convinced two bro's at my gym to start eating more. My arms are looking awesome. I'm pretty frickin' strong. People at school know me as the athletic one in class. With all of my exercising, my blood pressure has dropped in the last 8 months from 120/80, which is already healthy down to 106/60. My resting heart rate has dropped way down, and I have good quality to my pulse (nursing school has it perks having people constantly assessing your heart).

I don't know what the future holds exactly with this TDEE because my activity is about to change quite a bit for summer. I am hoping to get a job in a hospital this summer, but who knows. I know I won't be walking around with with 40lbs of books strapped to my back anymore but I may be spending 10 hours a day on my feet running around in the hospital.

Biggest change of all? My life doesn't revolve around food anymore. First it was constantly having to plan everything in advance so I didn't eat too much. Then, it was having to plan everything in advance so I didn't eat too little. Now, I've figured out how to make this adjustments along the day without mapping out the entire day in advance. I'm also done hoping on that scale all of the time. I even went almost three weeks without weighing. It wasn't even intentional. I just forgot about it. I weight daily for six months, so that was huge.

Struggles? I've had plenty of them. I even had freak out randomly when I decided to calculate my body fat % and I didn't like the number I saw. I saw my body fat %... I cried. I instantly felt fat instead of strong and lean. I stripped down and jumped on the scale because I was just sure I had gained 10lbs in those three weeks I hadn't weight myself. What was my weight? 147lbs. I was still within my weight range. Those numbers can really mess with your head and I am clearly not immune to it. I'm working on it.

Every time I will say THANK YOU. Thank you to those who have been doing this for awhile and who have taken the time to help me. Thank you for answering questions people have asked you before. Thank you for being encouraging and for calling people out when their logic is flawed. Thanks for taking time out of your day, just to help someone else.



Whats my activity level?
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10108212/5-6x-week-strenuous-activity#latest

Week 2 update
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10111627/two-week-update-for-anyone-curious#latest


Week 5ish Update
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10125614/week-5ish-update-em2wl-rip-the-band-aid-attempt-to-find-tdee#latest

Struggle hitting the 3,000 calorie mark:
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10129033/the-eating-3-000-calories-a-day-woahs#latest


Week 6.5 update
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10134868/week-6-5-update#latest