I started my weight loss journey about two years ago and the first year lost about 30 lbs. I wasn't really focusing too much on calorie intake, was just trying to eat better and incorporate exercise. About April/May of 2011 I got more serious about running and nutrition and was limiting my calories to about 1600-1800 per day with exercise. I lost another 5lbs and then started training for a half marathon. I noticed that once I started hitting long runs of 7-8 miles and up, my weight loss completely stopped. I don't believe I was fueling properly. In January of this year I had a New Leaf Metabolic assessment done. It stated my RMR was 1588 and my total daily caloric needs were 2064. From January up until a week ago I ate 2064-500+exercise=2100-2400 calories per day deepening on calories burned with exercise. If I do my calcs for the TDEE it is 2,513, BMR is 1627, TDEE-15% is 2136. This seems to be right inline with what I have been doing since January with no results, I've only fluctuated up and down a few lbs. About 3-4 days ago I began eating at TDEE (2513) thinking I should reset my metabolism.

Here are my stats:
189 (was 186 pretty consistently since January until I upped my calories a couple days ago, 190 after I completed my 1/2 marathon in October)
5'7"
35 yrs old
Work out 5 days/wk (M-Run, Tues-lift, Wed-spin, Th-weights w/ trainer and cardio HIIT, Friday swim, weekends generally off)

Any help or suggestions would be great!!!

You def weren't eating enough for the half marathon.

Are you doing 5hrs of exercise a week? Then you are moderate over 5 hours go up to the next level.

TDEE at mod will be about cut at next level up.... think it is a good idea for you to eat the moderate tdee. Give yourself 8 wks on that then cut 10% to see if you start losing.

Thank you, I'll eat at moderate TDEE (2513) for the next 8 weeks and see how it goes. Thanks!

One other question, on NON exercise days should I be eating sedentary TDEE?

thanks for this thread / the OP.

I am trying to make the mental switch to eat more and its hard, so I am starting small (have increased to 1300 this week and aim to eat my exercise calories) and then will build up each week until I get to 1500 / 1600 when I am at goal weight (plus extra exercise cals) - it make so much sense, but the quick low losses are easy - and as you say come back on just as quick!

bump

This is not the first time posting on this thread for me. I had been on a 4 week metabolism reset of 2200 net calories. Then I lowered by 15%. And I started losing. I gained a bit at the 2200 net calories and then settled down and maintained for the next 3 weeks. Before I got to 2200 net calories I upped my calories twice each time gaining a bit then settling down before I went up to 2200 net calories. I am now 3 weeks into the cut. On the 2nd week I started to gain and have continued to gain so that I am at my high for this past 12 months. Several things have changed since I was on my reset and when I started losing. I had a knee injury recently so at the last 2 weeks of my reset my exercise had fallen off. I didn't want to up my exercise when 1st lowering my calories so I only exercised lightly that week. Since then I have been exercising more regularly but am limited still by my knee. So no running or lower body weights and limited walking since more than 30 minutes seems to cause a flare in my knee problem.

I understand that you can gain when exercising more at first but will eventually lose or settle down again. I am not sure how long eventually is for this. I am concerned I am overestimating my calorie burn as well. Also the first week of the cut I was not as successful at always eating all of my calorie goal and exercise calories and the last 2 weeks I have been closer to eating up to my calorie goal and exercise calories. So I am definitely eating more calories than I was the week I started to lose but less than when I was on my reset and was maintaining. My first thought was to up my calorie goal slightly but to not eat all my exercise calories back. My second was to decrease my calories slightly and again not eat all execise calories back. I am sure some tools such at an HRM and something that measures my over all activity levels (fitbit, BMF) would help but I have been unemployed and just recently my unemployment benefits ended so that is not going to happen. I I am committed to keeping my calories above my BMR 1686 to 1700+ depending on the calcuator but really not sure how to find the right spot for now. I still have my lower days and my higher days but there are less of the lower days recently. However I have not only upped my exercise but have been more active generally as well. I am eating less net calories than I have for the last month or two and am gaining. I stayed the course for 2 weeks and would continue if I was just not losing but seem to be gaining. I am now hovering at my high of the past year after getting down to my low. When you aren't eating enough you keep losing and gaining the same 5 pounds. Even when I upped my calories I only gained a bit and then it settled down but now I am steadily gaining and it isn't settling down. I am assuming my TDEE is above 2200 calories since I maintained at that plus eating back exercise calories.

With the knee injury I may have slightly gained in inches but measured last week and have started to lose a bit in inches with the exercise. (a half an inch in my waist and a half an inch in my bra line (just under my bust).

Hi, y'all...

I just joined this group and hoping to get a little direction. According to scoobyworkshop, my BMR is 1262 and my TDEE is 1957. I have a desk job, but I also lift weights 3x a week and either run or do some bike riding 2-3x a week, so I used the moderate level. Ideally, I would like to gain muscle, lose fat, but is that even possible? If I choose that setting, my calories stay at 1957. If I choose the 15% deficit, I get 1663. Is this correct?

My stats are:

CW - 135
GW - 118-120
Height - 4'10.5"
Age - 53

Any guidance would be much appreciated. Thanks!

To continue to lose weight, yes you would eat your cut value, but honestly if your goal is to lose fat and try to gain some muscle mass, then you may want to try eating your TDEE and lifting heavy. I have a few pounds to go and decided to stop cutting and start eating maintenance calories. Not quite mentally ready for the bulking phase, but I believe that if we eat enough protein, and maintenance calories we may be able to gain a little bit of lean mass while losing fat. So, I am going for it because lean muscle mass burns up fat!

Totally needed this post! I've been upping my calories for about 4/5 days of the week to slightly short of my would-be maintenance level (in other words, I've gone over by 250-300 some days). I've started to see gains on the scale, even after a day of hitting my calorie goal, so what you said makes sense, my body probably think's I'm 'crying wolf'. I toyed with the idea of giving up increasing them and simply go back to trying my hardest to keep my calories under a net of 1220, which is really difficult on rest days! After reading your post, I'm tempted to forget the scales altogether for an entire month and just listen to my body and tape measure (I've just re-measured myself).

I'm 9lbs away goal weight (the top end of a healthy BMI), and I'm already in the size I always thought was my happy size (UK 12). So really, it won't matter if I don't reach my actual goal before my holiday, I'm getting more body confident with every trip to the gym and pool and it's my health that's priority.

Thanks again for your post. Fantastic timing.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

thank you! needed to read this

That is exactly what I want to do! I'm not so much concerned with losing weight as I am with losing fat. I try to get in 1 gram of protein per pound, but have been confused by this. I've read that we should consume 1 gram of protein per pound of LBM and I've read 1 gram of protein per pound. Any idea of which is best way to go? Either way, I'll work my way up to eating TDEE. I would imagine that as I work my way up to eating at maintenance, I will manage to lose a little weight in the process. Thanks for your help!

It's typically recommended per lb of bodyweight. But if you shoot for that and land somewhere in between the two, you'll be fine. Check your MFP macro pie chart daily and just make sure that you're keeping it well balanced. Keep fats moderate, and it's ok for carbs to be slightly higher than protein, but just watch for an obvious imbalance, or piece of the "pie" being too large on a regular basis (like 70% carb, 10% protein, and 20% fat, or some other extreme)

~Kiki

I have macros set at 40/30/30 (carbs 165; fats 55; protein 124) and usually stay pretty close to that. Some days I do end up with higher protein and lower carb, fortunately.

Pie chart? Where do I find that? Thanks.

I'm so excited about this!! It all makes really good sense but can you just help with the details please?

I'm:
5'3"
168 lbs (on the way down again after losing a lot and putting a lot back on then - strict 1200 diet at times!)
age 46 years
BMR 1460
TDEE -
1750- little no exercise/desk job so -15% = 1485
2000 - light (1-3 days/week) -15% = 1700
2260 moderate (3-5 days/week) -15% = 1920

My problem is I'm not sure what activity level to go for! I usually walk the dogs at good speed for about 40 mins at least 3 or 4 times a week and - would that make me 'light exercise' so TDEE minus 15% makes 1700? And if add 1 or 2 sessions of aquafit/aerobics/weights a week too would that make it 'moderate' at 1920 after cut - this additional activity won't be for a while as I'm recuperating from an operation at the moment so to know both scenarios would really help.)

That seems like a very high total amount of calories to me but if it's right then I most definitely will stick to it - love the thought of not being ravenously hungry anymore!
with many many thanks Campervangirl

Go with the light cut until you are able to start the add'l exercise. Eat it consistently every single day:flowerforyou:

Thank you for this information! I have recently decided the starvation method isn't helping (no weight lose after 6 weeks at or below 1200 calories). I have been reading, reading, reading. I LOVE the book NROLFW! Something clicked in my head and I'm super excited to start this lifestyle change. I decided that I would up my caloric intake gradually though, going from 1200 to 1350 for a week and then to 1460 (my TDEE). And I'm not really worried about the scale! As long as I can keep increasing my weights, I will be happy (because I know by doing this I will also decrease my pants size, regardless of the scale.)

Sorry I blabbed on and on... I'm just very stoked!

Congrats on your decision. Your body will thank you!

I'm not sure if your TDEE is 1460 or if that's your BMR (which sounds about right), but a gradual approach is often preferred when trying to minimize scale fluctuations that come w/the process, even though it may take a bit longer. As long as you are patient w/yourself and your body, you will be able to change your eating habits around for the best. 50-100 cal/wk is usually a decent rate for a gradual increase.

Stay strong, and keep us posted!

Kiki

This is really resonating with me. But I'm wondering if you mean gradual increase of 50-100 cal per week or per day, upping the daily increase per week. Thanks :-)

Hello all! I am also new to this group and have found some phenomenal information in this thread....thank you so much!

My question has more to do with activity levels as I'm getting quite confused in terms of what is classified as "light" or "moderate" activity. On the Scooby site "light" is 1-3 hrs/week of light and "moderate" is 3-5 hrs/week of moderate exercise.

Before I thought that I would be in the moderate range but after reading some of the posts here I'm second guessing myself. This is generally my workout regime....any help or advice would be great

Monday and Wednesday - 1 hour Zumba or alternate cardio (JM Banish Fast Boost Metabolism)
Tuesday,Thursday, Saturday - Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 plus 30-40 minutes treadmill, either interval training or fast walk on incline
Friday - Jillian Michaels Banish Fat Boost Metabolism 40 min and sometimes an additional 30 min treadmill.
Sunday - rest day

Ok, I am trying to wrap my head around this. So different than how I've been living since ... Well, forever.

TDEE 2570 (including activity)
BMR 1675

I am on an 80 day and counting plateau and a lot of kiki's original post resonated with me. I want to reset and move forward. So do I eat my TDEE for 6-8 weeks, then slowly drop to net BMR? Should I keep working out as normal?

This terrifies me, fully and completely, but I am willing to try anything (anything healthy, that is).

THANK YOU.

Yes, this is so similar to me!! And I'm scared, but excited!! I've just done all my calculations and my TDEE cut by 15% is 1821.

And I want to thank you SO much for this group, and this post. Couldn't work out how 1200 was doing so little for me while all these people around me ate heaps and maintained good bodies. Now makes SO much sense, and I'm more than willing to be patient. I love reading everyone else's stories and seeing their progress. You guys are awesome!!

So I'm wondering if I start by eating my cut level everyday, or as you said above, do I need to eat TDEE for awhile, whilst still exercising (I do Bikram Yoga some days, and 30DS others).

I have my macros set at suggested 40 carbs, 30 protein, 30 fat. It's exciting working out what to eat for the day. I've only been doing it a couple of days now (eating the 1821), but already I can feel my metabolism firing back up with more energy. I love feeling so much fuller than I was on 1200.

So yeah, just wondering if I should start higher or lower. Thanks in advance for anyone that can help. Really appreciate it!

I'm new to this and I'm going to give it a good go, but since I started eating more, I'm hungrier than I was when I wasn't eating enough! Does this make any sense to anyone? Or am I just backwards? lol

The advice on this thread is incredible!!! I am hoping that I can get some of it too :flowerforyou:

I have been at a stand still since early February, when I started training (triathlon and half marathon) 6x/week. I started upping my cals SLOWLY since then from 1200 to what I have been eating at 1850. I try to keep my macros at 40/30/30 most days and eat healthy, home-cooked, non processed foods. One thing to point out is that I would usually net between 1200-1600. I HAVE NOT HAD ANY FAT LOSS.

I joined this group a week ago, around the same time I read an article by Lyle McDonald called "the full diet break" and started reading the book "metabolic repair manual" by Leigh Peele. I started a metabolic reset then, so I am half way through and refuse to jepordize this process by getting on the scale. right now.

My stats:
Age: 28
CW: 153
GW: 142
H: 5'7"
BMR: 1500
TDEE: 2582

*Just a note, I am not actually counting calories right now (for the break). I am eating more, drinking lots of water, and keeping track of calorie burns to make sure I eat accordingly. (I logged cals for long enough to have a good idea of what I am eating right now.)

Am I on the right track? Having spent 3 months increasing calories slowly and seeing zero results, I am beyond frustrated.

Thank you!!!