Love the idea of my new diet being "eat more"
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So many things to love about this post!
1. Your cut is going exactly as planned!
2. You recognise your lack of energy and know you need to increase calories to fix it.
3. Your protein macro is pretty neat spot on.
4. You choose protein snacks when you're hungry.
So much awesome!
Keep it up lady! You are killing this!
Ichel
Team EM2WL0 -
Thank you Ichel
I think I will end up being a 4 weeks cut, 1 week maintain kind of person. I know eating at TDEE this past week felt really good for working out and energy. So starting out today strong, but back to 10-15% cut for another 4 weeks.
Weekly Update:
Maintenance week
Average TDEE per fitbit: 2595
Average Cals eaten: 2539
Avg Protein: 25%
I loved eating at TDEE again, not looking forward to cutting, but I do need to reach that fat loss goal somehow! I had a low protein average from family parties on Sat and Sun. Back to 10% cut today so goal is 2300 and not lower than 2150 (15%) for the next 4 weeks. Weigh in is Thursday - lot of water gain over the weekend so not counting today's weigh in.
Finally started some weight training this week on top of my karate workouts as well - that felt good too! Doing some limited upper body work ( due to torn rotator cuff), abs, and lot of legs. Hoping the leg work will help improve my forms and stamina too.0 -
So a little over .5 week into four week cut number 2 and I am noticing how much harder my workouts are. I think it is because I had so much energy when eating at TDEE last week (it was great LOL), I notice a BIG difference with a 15% cut. When I work-out I am tired halfway through and really lacking energy.
Any suggestions? Or just push through and enjoy my TDEE weeks? LOL. One thing this tells me is that the month before my Black belt test I will be eating at TDEE...0 -
Good plan for the future test.
And yes, power through, don't try to increase weight during a cut unless it's just easier.
In fact, it's been found that you can maintain on 1/3 of what got you to current level, as long as intensity (weight) is not cut.
So duration and frequency can be, and you can maintain your gains. So if 75 reps weekly got you there from 3 x 5 x 5, 25 can maintain, if that is 5x5 once weekly, there ya go.
So with that in mind - you dropping a set off everything so the things later in the routine are doable is perfectly fine and may become necessary.
Or you may drop a set on the lifts that aren't as important, so you can keep full sets on what is. Perhaps like many lower body stuff done first wipes you out and you find upper suffering, but you want to keep progressing on upper lifts. So you drop a set on lower to do that.0 -
That helps! I can apply that to my martial arts workouts as well, as long as I can maintain worry about adding more when I am eating at TDEE.0
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Looking for support and tired of yo-yoing I know I have lost my body weight in going up and down and need a group to keep me accountable. I also know I need to eat more to up my metabolism but also cut on after noon eating. Would this be a good group or do you ave a suggestion for a good one to join. I do have a Fitbit and access to Advocare and Melaleuca products.0
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Good group to start with. Suggest you start a topic of your own you can keep updating, give some background and current/recent eating level, and workout levels. FAQ's in stickies give some good info.0
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@kcmsmith0405 maybe the 15% is too much to start with? If it's a gradual climb up, maybe use a more gradual climb down. At a 5 or 10% cut.0
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I actually did 10% for my first cut and I keep it between 10 and 15 %, so its not a straight 15% cut.1
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Weekly report
I took Sat-Monday off for the holiday - had a wedding, birthday dinner for my daughter and labor day celebrations all in a row and I wanted to enjoy them. I did not pig out, but I did enjoy what ever I wanted and did not worry about logging.
So Mon-Fri report
Calorie goal: 2150
Calories eaten: 2100
Fitbit TDEE: 2400
Sat-Monday: Fitbit TDEE: 2600 Avg calories eaten - probably around 3000 per day
So that makes last week pretty much a TDEE wash I am ok with that I will restart he 4 week cut today.
Had a fantabulous weekend with friends and family so I am not worried, plus I was super active (can you say dancing all night on Sat) and felt great all weekend - never over stuffed etc. still managed to gain 3-4 lbs of water weight, that will hopefully be gone by my Thursday weigh in.
Overall I am happy with how things are going - I had a wonderful weekend and did not feel the need to binge, and I didn't overdo it on any of my favorite foods, plus I felt no guilt about not logging or what I was eating, knowing that my metabolism can handle one weekend of fun. It was a great change of pace for me.
I still get antsy and want to lose faster, but I remind myself that losing it slowly eating what I want and enjoying my workouts is worth crawling down the scale and clothing sizes as opposed to rocketing down then back up again.
Kelly2 -
@kcmsmith0405 I agree with the slow weightloss being worth it. While on and off Weight Watchers over the years, self starvation, I obsessed constantly about food and next meals. I hated eating out or with family. I made myself and my husband miserable. And my weight never stayed at goal because it's impossible to stay hungry all the time while surrounded by food and not eat! I feel so much better the last few weeks, mentally. I've got my TDEE down and now that the holidays are over, I have 1 more bump; I'll be out of town next week taking care of my father so it'll be a stressful week. Once that's over I'm ready to get serious about doing a cut for a few weeks.
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Felling a bit stalled this week, however - I am not gaining, so that is always a bonus. I am struggling with a cold, and that always makes me want to just eat carbs, so getting in my protein is rough. Plus working out is harder than normal. I have weights/swimming scheduled for today - I may have to cancel that and just rest.
Up 1 pound over my last weigh in, but that is not noticeable or probably even valid given the illness this week.
Update on the Karate school - moving forward - will take possession Oct 1 or November 1st! The stress of this is probably contributing to my cold hehe, but its a good excited stress.
Kelly1 -
Weekly Update:
This week was pretty much a bust. I think I need to be on the 6 weeks on 2 weeks off plan, 4 weeks was not enough time for me to see a noticeable result, and 1 week felt like a teaser at TDEE and I was not able to stay at cut after only one week off (way too much water weight fluctuation too).
Back to the week 1 of 6 cut starting today. Going to consider last week a TDEE rest week (though honestly it was more like a over-TDEE rest week).
Is it possible to be effective at keeping metabolism up to cut 6 days and eat at TDEE for one? I was thinking that was something that might work for me. Not sure it is enough of a break to count for keeping up metabolism though. I defer to the experts on this one!
Kelly0 -
Considering there was a study that was used as basis for 5 days extreme cut and 2 days straight eating whatever showing beneficial results - your 6 days reasonable and 1 day TDEE is probably useful too.
Now the study has people and their calorie burn measured out the whazoo for hitting it exactly right.
The application of it in real life was interesting, people really went extreme on both sides, and usually never started the method with normal functioning metabolism and TDEE as the study did - they started it after extreme diet and hitting plateau.
Result was usually fat gain since their TDEE was suppressed so much - wasn't hard to go over that on 2 days that wasn't enough for it to speed up.0 -
Hmm so possibly useful with a fully functioning metabolism, but too easy to overeat on the TDEE day hehe. I am going to see how 6 weeks on 2 weeks off goes for me first.0
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Weekly check-in No weight gain - no weight loss, bad logging, bad eating but.... I now am the proud owner of a Karate school. So I gave myself last week off ;-)6
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I have found that on diets that gave a 'free' day every week, it was an excuse to binge. I would start out eating sanely, but within a few months I'd plan my whole week knowing I had the free day so everything my heart had desired during the week, I'd overeat on that free day.
Following EM2WL, I'm finding I get plenty of food and am not hungry most days so I don't think it would be a problem for me but I don't want that mentality in my mind so my plan right now is to do 15% cut about 6 weeks and then stick with TDEE for a week.
I'm finding now that I'm not eating at my 15% cut most days. Not because I can't find tasty food to eat, but because it will throw my macros off too much. Just have to learn on that and tweak my eating patterns as I go and find more protein rich snacks that I like to eat.0 -
Just catching up here!
Wow! Congrats on the karate school!
Super super achievement.
Well done
Ichel
Team EM2WL1 -
Weekly Update:
Its been a stressful couple of weeks working on the transition of the Karate School from the old owner to us. My eating has been terrible, not home, not getting enough protein etc. My workout schedule has been cut in half (and that really hurts). I have relaxed a bit for now, but careful not to go over TDEE, so that at least I am not gaining, and eating at the lower TDEE since I am not working out as much. I am not worried about it right now, this school needs to be up and running - although it is always in the back on my mind. I will work on my macros this week, and avoid the sweets as much as possible.
Kelly1 -
Hi Everyone!
I am still here, just busy working about 80 hours per week now with the new karate school and my current full time job. I am continuing to focus on my eating - getting my protein in most days and staying under TDEE 5 out of 7 days by about 10%. I had to drop my TDEE since my workouts have reduced quite a bit and my day job is still very sedentary most of the time. I am starting to be able to get more workouts back in, so for now I just track it and eat back my exercise calories.
Haven't weighed in this week, but I know nothing has really changed - maybe 1/2 lb or so down at the most. I check in here when I get some free moments, still reading threads and keeping up on how everyone is doing!
Kelly
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Kelly's Blog
So I am finally back to cutting. Since my activity level dropped so much the cut feels huge (10% cut used to be like 2150 and now it is 1800).
I am pondering why this is called "cutting" and not "dieting" because it feels so much the same. After doing a reset I am much more realistic about a cut than my previous diets. I cut a lot less now compared to how I used to cut 20-25% without knowing it - I just thought I was eating the right amount of calories for my height and weight. I also pay much more attention to my protein intake (instead of obsessing over carbs), and I allow myself carby treats if they fit my macros and calories for the day. I think maybe cutting is really just flexible dieting, like an article I read recommended by Heybales. I do think it is good to take the focus off the word diet and shift it to cut so the idea that you are cutting your calories to an amount below what you burn so you lose weight.
Either way I am watching my protein intake. My protein goal is 25-30% and I seem to be able to do that pretty regularly most days. I am also taking on the added goal of adding in whole fruits and vegetables and trying to get 4-5 combined servings a day, in the past I have not done this and lets face it fruits and veges give you a lot of volume for lower calories and really help you stay full for a while. I need this to keep me from feeling deprived. Plus an apple is better than a candy bar.
I am not starving (though I am missing my sweets), and working out seems to be good so far. There is an intense kickboxing workout planned tonight so we will see how that goes.
Over all my reset extended itself into almost 9 months and I had a bunch of over-eating thrown in there too. I am 20 lbs up from when I started the reset. The old diet mentality part of me is screaming oh no this is not working!! But honestly the problems are eating patterns that I have not fully addressed and conquered, such as emotional eating, stuffing myself, not being able to throw out food etc. I am addressing those now and with the new eat more mentality, I feel like getting down to a healthy weight and staying there is a realistic thing that will happen. It will take an 9-12 months but I am ok with that, losing it fast has never ever ever worked long term for me and I have done the yo-yo weight thing at least 10 times in the past (probably closer to 15 or 20 times over my whole life). I have about 40-50 lbs to go depending on how much muscle I can build, but I am going to do this the healthy way.
I know this forum is really dead because of the facebook group, but I don't do facebook very often, and I am on MFP every way, so I will continue to post here.
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It is a diet, or a deficit, simple as that.
The cutting term is used along with the bulking term in normal usage. When you are doing those types of cycles along with weight lifting to both lose fat, then gain fat/muscle.
I think it was used merely to get away from the connotation of doing a diet, instead of just eating the way you can for life in general.
So a feel good term, just not used in normal usage since I have yet to hear of anyone going on a bulk purposely.
But you are eating differently - you are eating less than you normally could eat to maintain weight, because you want to lose weight. So diet, or cut, eh, same thing besides semantics.
Great lessons you've shared there. Hope others can learn from it.3 -
I just popped on. I don’t do Facebook so keep posting. 1
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Managing to hold steady - not losing though I am supposed to be eating at a cut - I am but I am working out so much less its more maintenance than anything. Still not gaining is a victory too!1
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That is true and even more so during the holidays!0
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Check in time!
Ok so I weathered the holidays- enjoyed everything I wanted stayed at TDEE and didn't gain anything. I think that may be the first time ever...!
I am back to cutting now - shooting for 0.5 -1 lb a week - will be doing this until the end of February when I have a black belt test and I will go back up to TDEE for that week just to be fully nourished for what will be a long grueling day.
I also have discovered a few things along the way, first of all due to my gall bladder removal if I go over 30% fat even a tiny bit - I have all kind of digestive issues. Secondly I think I am having wheat troubles. I have a son with the double HLA DQB2 mutation who is celiac. I have been having stomach/intestinal issues for a while now so I decided to try going gluten free as well (I have the partial gene mutation for Celiac). Low and behold - as long as I keep my fats under 30% the rest of my intestinal issues are better.
Fortunately my house is very gluten free friendly due to my son - so switching over has not been a hardship at all - and as a bonus it keeps me away from the donuts and fast food that have been my downfall in the past.
And lastly - I have to say I LOVE trendweight.com. I like to weight several times a week (when I am on track at least LOL) and trendweight will sync with my fitness pal to tell me how I am doing. Its great to see in black and white the nice even, slow downward trend in my weight, all the while eating 1900-2300 cals per day. It really reinforces that this is the way to go.
Kelly2 -
Excellent results to a season that normally causes more damage, mentally and physically.
It's interesting how when stresses pile up, other things become stressful to the body.
I truly believe that is the biggest reason many that take a steep deficit discover food sensitivities.
Then when they eat more, don't have them.
Hope deficit is easy for ya!0 -
Not easy, but not terribly hard either
It still requires saying no to things I want, but on a much smaller scale than the usual strict or severe diets that I have done in the past. And my body REALLY wants to eat at TDEE - I think it is spoiled hehe. 0 -
Since I am pretty sure only people in this forum will appreciate this post and I don't particularly want to bring down the wrath of dieters on my head
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/kcmsmith0405/view/learning-to-eat-more-and-lose-weight-9467700 -
And all the work with the new business!
Just created a new topic in regards to the diet break idea.1
This discussion has been closed.