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sbl1881
Posts: 213 Member
Hi,
I posted in the introduction area too, but thought I might actually stick with this long enough to warrant a longer thread. Lol
I'm 36 yrs old, 5'3, and 145 now. I was 178 at my highest I'm 2014, lost 30lbs by restricting in 6 months, and even got down to 131 last year. Since then, it's been a balancing act between 3 day diets, binging, carb cycling, binging some more, and finally some old fashioned calorie restrictions. As I was plotting out my next failed attempt at weight loss this morning, I had a heart to heart with myself. I need to fix my relationship with food. I can't keep doing this to myself physically or mentally.
Although it's super scary, I know I need to eat more and undo some of the damage I've done. I already lift weights 3x/week and will be incorporating HIIT 2-3x/ week too. I want to start by increasing calories to 1550, then increase 50 more every few weeks until I hit my TDEE. This may be my messed up food brain talking, but if I do a slow increase to my TDEE, wouldn't I still be losing weight on the way, since I'm in a deficit until I reach the golden number? While I understand staying at TDEE for the reset, the thought of eating that amount right away and the weight gain may be too much for me to handle.
Let me know what you think!
Oh, and my current TDEE is 1900-2050, depending on the calculator. I know to adjust it with every 5-10lbs weight adjustment
I posted in the introduction area too, but thought I might actually stick with this long enough to warrant a longer thread. Lol
I'm 36 yrs old, 5'3, and 145 now. I was 178 at my highest I'm 2014, lost 30lbs by restricting in 6 months, and even got down to 131 last year. Since then, it's been a balancing act between 3 day diets, binging, carb cycling, binging some more, and finally some old fashioned calorie restrictions. As I was plotting out my next failed attempt at weight loss this morning, I had a heart to heart with myself. I need to fix my relationship with food. I can't keep doing this to myself physically or mentally.
Although it's super scary, I know I need to eat more and undo some of the damage I've done. I already lift weights 3x/week and will be incorporating HIIT 2-3x/ week too. I want to start by increasing calories to 1550, then increase 50 more every few weeks until I hit my TDEE. This may be my messed up food brain talking, but if I do a slow increase to my TDEE, wouldn't I still be losing weight on the way, since I'm in a deficit until I reach the golden number? While I understand staying at TDEE for the reset, the thought of eating that amount right away and the weight gain may be too much for me to handle.
Let me know what you think!
Oh, and my current TDEE is 1900-2050, depending on the calculator. I know to adjust it with every 5-10lbs weight adjustment
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Replies
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Hello there! I did read your post in the introductory thread and starting your own thread was a great idea! You are already so,e steps ahead b realizing that you do need to eat more in order to maintain what you achieved, as much as it seems completely the opposite of we we have been listening all our lives. The longer you stay restricting, foods and or calories, the more frequently you will have binges.
Increase slowly. You could definitively add 100 more instead of 50. 100 more a week is a good amount and will help keep side effects under control. Have you read our metabolism reset guide? http://eatmore2weighless.com/the-metabolism-reset-guide/
Then go for what to expect:http://eatmore2weighless.com/upping-cals-what-to-expect/
We are here to help and support your in this journey. Feel free to add us as friends and send us questions.
Tereza
Team EM2WL0 -
Welcome!
Starting my own thread was very helpful to tracking my progress and thoughts.
The reset process is the time to heal your body, your mind, and your relationship with food.1 -
welcome to the group! You are already miles ahead of others by realizing you do in fact need to eat more. Being able to see that is a huge deal so applaud yourself for realizing that.
Increasing your calories slowly is the best approach. As Tereza said, read through the reset guide and what to expect when you increase and it will help you to prepare for what may come ahead.
Go slowly. Ask questions. We are here:)
Kelly
EM2WL Ambassador0 -
Thanks, everyone! I weighed myself this morning, took measurements and photos today. I'll update this thread weekly on the weight, and check the measurements/photos monthly.
As much as I'd like to jump right in and increase calories 100 per week, I'm afraid that might trigger me. For the same reason that subtracting 100's of calories calls for a binge, adding that many may lead me to restrict. So, I'm going to start off slow, add 50 every other week for the first month and see how I feel. I really want this to work for me, so there's no rush. If it takes more time, that's ok. Just looking at the calendar though, it would be really nice to eat at TDEE starting around Thanksgiving
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@sbl1881 I love that you got your ducks in a row and already realize what could be a trigger for you. Nope, we don't want not triggers here. Also the fact that you are not in a rush and that you want this to work for life is a big plus. As Kelly said, you are already miles ahead, give yourself a pat in the back!
Great job getting the measurements . Do not stress over the scale, focus on lifting heavier. Eventually you will have more energy from the extra calories and will get stronger!
Tereza
Team EM2WL0 -
I started Thursday, so it was a shorter week, but I still wanted to post the update.
Weight
Start of Week: 144.8
End of Week: 141.8 (this is probably water weight, so I'm not getting too excited)
Calories
TDEE: 1972
TDEG: 1775
My actual daily average: 1546
Is anyone else using Heybales Excel spreadsheet that was posted on one of the forums to calculate TDEE/TDEG, etc? I set my activity level to the 2nd option (kids/pets/45hr desk job), which I think is the equivalent of lightly active. I don't have kids or pets, but the option without them I think was more sedentary and 200 calories less for TDEE/TDEG. That just seemed low to me. The numbers above already include my planned exercise (lifting/HIIT).
Amazing that I had homemade lasagna AND pizza AND gelato yesterday, and still came in under 1,600 calories!
Upping my calories to 1600 this week. I thought about upping it more, but I'm not ready for big jumps yet. Slow and steady... lol2 -
@sbl1881 excellent job on increasing those calories! Slow and steady wins the race here. 1600 for this week is a great plan. Nope, you don't need to go all out and then have a freak out.
On the TDEE calculators, we like to stick to the one on www.em2wl.com site to keep it simple. No need to overcomplicate and detail every single move to get an estimate. Those small differences won't actually matter, it's like only drinking icy cold water to burn more calories. True but useless. The key is to be consistent, not perfect. Eat your calories, watch your macros, lift and keep repeating. If you continue to do this day in and day out, after a while, wonderful things will happen, it doesn't matter if out ate or burned 30 calories more or less than you estimated.
Now I don't think that an estimate with 200 cals less for you is right, even if you sit all day. Stick with the numbers you have.
Tereza
Team EM2WL2 -
@sbl1881
Couldn't agree more with @TerezaToledo
Just focus on increasing your calories to the amount you got from the website calculator.
When we try to change too much or over analyse every little thing sometimes we miss the big picture, which at the moment is just to keep increasing your calories!
Good job on increasing those calories already! Keep us posted!
Ichel
EM2WL Ambassador and Moderator0 -
Thanks!
One thing that I've really enjoyed about this is not having to restrict certain foods anymore. I'll have a handful of mixed nuts as part of my afternoon snack now. They're completely healthy, but I stayed away from them before because of the high calories and fat. When you only have 1200-1400 calories to work with, there isn't much room for them. That is no longer an issue 3 -
Brilliant! Yes, so many of us find we have 'fear foods' that we were scared to eat before and that we can now add back in as just part of our daily or weekly goals.
I had a fear of avocado because my mum did lots of WW and always said not to eat them because they were so high in fat, we never had them in the house.
I love them now! And yes they may be a bit high in fat, but it's a heart healthy fay that our bodies need and they are also high in vitamin E and potassium too.
So glad you are able to include nuts in your food line up again. What a great result already!
Ichel
EM2WL Ambassador and Moderator0 -
End of week 2. It's a holiday weekend, beautiful weather and I cannot get out of this funk. Grumpy, annoyed, haven't seen the gym since Monday and after seeing the scale not budge all week, I can't decide if I want to restrict or binge. Ugh. I won't do either, but just feeling overall crappy.
I'm still going to increase to 1650 and get back to the gym tomorrow. Hoping for a better week ahead.
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@sbl1881 Good job on increasing your calories! At this point, without going to the gym and increasing your calories, not seeing changes on the scale is actually a good thing. Remember, this process is not linear, do not expect things to happen in a predictable manner. I understand being grumpy from the lack of endorphin's, try to find other way to feel better and relax.
Do put that much value on the scale reading. This is why you should break up with the scale: http://eatmore2weighless.com/why-you-need-to-break-up-with-your-scale/
Slow and steady is the way to go!
Tereza
Team EM2WL2 -
I'm taking the plunge and upping my calories this week to my TDEE. Based on the calculators, I think it's around 1925. I changed my exercise routine a bit, so there's a slight difference from the original number.
I started this week back at 141.8, so I've been stagnant the last 3 weeks. In that time I've upped my calories from 1600-1700. I'm not sure if that means that my TDEE is actually lower (in the 1600's) or if I should go based on the calculators which put me at 1925.
I plan to stay at maintenance for 4 weeks, do a 6 week cut before the holidays, then back to TDEE until the New Year and beyond.
In other news, I had a 3D body scan done today and it measured me from head to toe. It's a little tough to see yourself in a 3D image. It doesn't hide anything, but I'm glad I did it. Over time it'll be a better representation of my progress than a scale. The more I lift, and hopefully with getting back into running slowly, I should see changes in the shape and proportion of my body, and I'll have measurements to prove what my eyes and the mirror doesn't always show. I know this isn't an option for everyone, but the cost is minimal, and I'm a data person, so it's something interesting and tangible for me.
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Yes! Weights will transform your body like nothing else!
It's the secret sauce!
Ichel
EM2WL ambassador and moderator0
