Above is perfect example of the logic of the fact that the level you are eating at with no weight change does not mean it's true potential TDEE.

And in your own case you prove it out too.
What level did you eat at with that looooong plateau prior to eating 2360 goal?

I moved up fast. Multiple increments in a week, which isn't the recommended way but worked for me. I knew my TDEE was really behind where it needed to be, so upped as quickly as I could. This came with some drawbacks, like feeling overly stuff all the time and whining about how this is "too much food" and "I can't eat it all" and "I don't ever feel hungry" and "how do I eat some many calories?!" The 1200-1500 jump was right before I found EM2WL 1500-3000 range all happened over about 4 weeks if I remember right. March 6- April 2 I upped to 2800 then spend the next 10 days around 3000, or 3000+ and that when I slowly started to gain. Got a bit sloppy on logging and had spring break but then went back down to 2850 and stayed there for a couple of months until recently, my activity level has gone way down so my TDEE is down as well.

If I had only increased 100 calories a week, it would have taken 15 weeks to get to 3000. This way is recommended to give your metabolism a chance to speed up, and give your mind and relationship with food a chance to heal as you increase. For me though, I knew myself and knew I wouldn't have stuck with it if took that long to increase so I upped as much as I could, as quickly as I could

BalanceModeration: If your metabolism is suppressed, you will maintain at suppressed TDEE. So if you broke a plateau, by increasing, you have proven that your metabolism was indeed suppressed. By how much though? You won't know until you keep upping. Nobody really gives a good answer for how long you should stay at the upped level, unless you are doing a full metabolism reset which is 8-12 weeks. If you were eating at a calorie deficit from January- April, it's a good idea to give your body a rest from caloric restriction and eat at TDEE for a little while.

You you will never truly know until you keep upping them and upping them until you slowly start to gain.
250 over calories a day over your TDEE would cause a 1lb gain of weight in 14 days. When I told heybales I was going to go up by 100 and stay there to see if I gained, he pointed out that to gain 1 pound of real fat it would take over a month, so not a quick or easy way to determine TDEE.

How accurate is your logging with that too? 100 calories over.... are your food measurements spot on? Is your calorie burn an exact measurement? Probably not... I know mine isn't anyway. 100 calories sounds like an average margin of error.

You have to keep upping until you slowly start gaining I posted an article to your page from the EM2WL group. It takes time and patience and trial and error. Just up and up and up, and when you see a slow trend of fat gain, not water, then you know you are slightly over TDEE and you go back down. You could use the scooby calculator 7-21 as a goal at first, and if you are brave, your TDEE could be even higher than that, which mine was.

Then when you finally get your TRUE TDEE figured out, hang out there for awhile, 8-12 weeks for that full reset and if not that long, at least a couple of weeks. THEN, you do the 10-15% cut.

I actually haven't cut yet. I've been at maintenance calories since Mid-March. I kept intending to cut, as I have a bit of fat left to loose (not much) but it just hasn't happened yet and now I don't know if I need/want to.

I think you're doing great trying to get it figure it out!

Do it! Do it! Haha I think it's great taking your time and making sure you understand why you are doing it. It's much easier to stick with it, if you understand why you are doing it. Just remember that extra calories = extra carbs = a little extra water that comes with them so keep that in mind. Look for increase in fat, not just a little extra water weight as you increase.

The way this one pair of tight pants I have fits. They barely fit and look good. If I gain actual fat, they would get too small within about 1 pound increase from now I think. Other people use measurements, but I'm pretty bad at taking them in the exact same spot every time. I carry most of my weight in my hips and bum so this pants method has worked well for me. When I was at 147lbs they fit a bit better. Now at 150lbs, I know I am on the verge of them not fitting. It's also a super quick way to do it. Just slide them on and feel how they fit.

The scale and usually a waist measurement at belly button are the only good indicators if eating above true potential TDEE and gaining fat.

And sadly if lifting, the waist part may be slow to show the fact. But usually for most, the waist gets the fat first. Sadly it also gets bloated first.
But it also balances out the scale for when glucose stores with water are topped off - that doesn't show on waist, just scale.

The most accurate way to get TDEE is also the least useful.
It's to log what you eat before you start a diet or change activity, and at the eating level that had you maintaining.

But now with most wanting to improve body beyond just weight loss - exercise starts - so that number is useless, except showing you what you used to eat to maintain doing even less activity.

I've had a few take my suggestion to go backlog some typical eating days with things they could get decently accurate with - and blow their minds how much they used to eat. At least compared to the 1200 they started with. Which in many cases was indeed a 50% or bigger deficit.

Moving up semi-fast after a couple weeks of 100 cal increases daily (which tops off glucose stores and increases LBM and metabolism) is best.
Then a couple weeks at potential TDEE, or until no weight changes.
Then that 2-week 250 test hopefully during good time of month for women. Pick 2 weeks wisely. No changes to exercise or daily life routine.
Also valid weigh-ins needed to minimize expected water weight fluctuations, to give better meaning to weight changes.

That's about as close as you get. But then TDEE changes when seasons change (was that a Bangel's song?) so must be ready to adjust if it starts to appear how much TDEE has changed.

No, it's not a method for the impatient, as you will be fine tuning it all the time, probably at least 2 x yearly between winter and summer activity differences. Let alone life and exercise changes.

Just to confirm, it's an increase of 100 to eating goal for a week at a time.
About 2-3 weeks of that slow increase method.

Then go for 250 increase for a week at a time until you reach estimated potential TDEE.

Couple weeks there with no gain or loss.

Then do 2 week 250 more test.

Bloat is just body getting used to eating more. And possibly stress hormones.

If you do stiff drinks, have one the first night of the day you make an increase.
Increased carbs and hard liquor have been shown to cause whoosh effect of water weight drop, if related to body being stressed.

heybales wrote: »

Just to confirm, it's an increase of 100 to eating goal for a week at a time.
About 2-3 weeks of that slow increase method.

Then go for 250 increase for a week at a time until you reach estimated potential TDEE.

Couple weeks there with no gain or loss.

Then do 2 week 250 more test.

Bloat is just body getting used to eating more. And possibly stress hormones.

If you do stiff drinks, have one the first night of the day you make an increase.
Increased carbs and hard liquor have been shown to cause whoosh effect of water weight drop, if related to body being stressed.

So I should take a shot to get rid of some of this water? Here I've been drinking gallons of water all day, that sounds more enjoyable!

heybales wrote: »

http://www.leangains.com/2010/07/truth-about-alcohol-fat-loss-and-muscle.html

That's pretty cool and good info! I lost 1 out of 3 pounds of water weight, not sure if it was the extra water or the shot. Will do the same today, but with wine because the shot was awful