how do you know if you need to do a metabolism reset?? My BMR is 1428 and my TDEE - 15% is 1881....so I've been eating 1881 calories unless I dont hit my bmr on workout days and then I eat back what I need to to get to the 1428... is this correct? i'm only on week 2.... cant tell if my weight is going up, down or holding steady as I'm not getting on the scale much. I hear alot of people talking about doing a reset and dont understand what it is, why you are doing it and when you need to do it... I also hear people talking about doing an "off" week.. what is that? thanks for your help.. sorry about all the ?'s, I'm a newbie lol

I was doing exactly what you are doing, but only maintaining my weight. So I asked the same ?s and was told to do the reset.

I forgot to add my ?'s.

Do I eat back my workout calories? Whats the difference between doing this for 4 or 8 weeks? I think I'll start at 4, but don't want to cheat myself by not doing 8.

I forgot to add my ?'s.

Do I eat back my workout calories? Whats the difference between doing this for 4 or 8 weeks? I think I'll start at 4, but don't want to cheat myself by not doing 8.

I think this got answered above, but just in case,
No, just eat at TDEE and don't worry about your exercise calories, they are figured into your TDEE when you selected your activity level. Hopefully you selected the appropriate one.
Once in a while you may have an unusually high burn day and if so, just check to see that your net is not below BMR. If it is, eat a little to get it over BMR.
If this happens a lot, then your activity level is probably set too low.

As far as how long to do it? I don't know. Obviously the longer the better chance of resetting the metabolism. I have heard others say the longer your were on vlcd the longer you should reset?

I plan to do at least 4 weeks, probably 6, possibly 8 if that helps.

Gosh I feel like such an idiot when it comes to figuring this stuff out. Help me out here. These are my numbers according to Scooby:

TDEE: 2433
TDEE - 15%: 2068
BMR: 1570

If I'm doing a reset, I eat at TDEE but I don't net below BMR? Or are you netting at TDEE?

So confused and the more I read, the more confused I get! :ohwell:

On a day where there's no exercise you'll end up netting TDEE. But when you have exercise you'll net less than TDEE. As long as you net above BMR on workout days, you're good to go. Does that help?

Hi guys,

I'm having second thought about eating at TDEE. I'm going back and forth between doing it for just a week, going back to TDEE -15%, or just eating a flat 1750 cals daily. My weight started creeping up at least a week before I started a heavy lifting program (Stronglifts 5x5), and I weighed myself on Tuesday morning because a lot of my small clothes are getting tight (and these were clothes I bought fairly recently). I measure myself once a month, and from April 28th - May 29th I went up 1" in my belly, 2" in my hips, and almost 2" in my breasts.

I weighed again this morning, because I decided to weigh in daily so that I could understand that daily weight fluctuations are normal.

I think I'm too worried that this won't work--which might be ok if I were to maintain--but I'm scared I'll gain a lot and that I won't be able to fit into ANY of my clothes, and of how long it will take me to get that weight back off. Plus I'm just feeling super bloated, stuffed, and uncomfortable. I pre-logged my after-dnner snack, but I don't want to eat it.

I might stick it out for the rest of this week, but right now I'm very nervous and scared. I've often been the odd one out in these situations--i.e., what seems to work for practically everyone else backfires on me.

I totally understand your worries about being that 'odd person' it doesn't work for. My personal history seems to have written the book on "that works for everyone BUT me". However, as I've pondered this group's philosophy and strategies, I've come to understand something....and it's based on something my husband used to say: "Honey, if a bunch of us got stranded on a desert island with no food, you'd be the last one standing....your body just makes the most of every bit of food it gets."

He said that because he watched me exercise for hours a day for years and eat so little (now I know I was netting around 500 cals or less many days) and I still gained weight (or lost nothing). My body had to be so efficient on so little food and I STILL kept going, and going, and going. I should have dropped like a fly. I wound up on medications so I could sleep (strong ones) and medication for depression, and countless other meds and vitamins for energy, fat loss, etc. My Dr. couldn't find anything wrong with me to explain my symptoms and she could not for the life of her figure out why I couldn't lose weight. So she sent me to a nutritionist/personal trainer/life coach. She got stumped too. And now I know why. Because NOBODY ever asked me what my NET calories were in a day!! All of them believed that the low cal, high exercise diet should work. But my body went into survival mode and it was VERY good at survival mode. Other people's bodies just might not be as efficient as yours and mine at survival mode...thus, they find success in things we couldn't after a while even though they were doing similar things.

I'm a survivor...I know that now-I've proven it...but it's time to get off the island. I want my life back, my body wants food and until I feed it, it's going to remain in survival mode and keep rationing/storing every bit of food it gets for where/when it needs it most. Once I feed it, it will know it's 'off the island' and food is abundant and it will stop storing for emergencies. This process will work because it just makes logical sense.

how do you know if you need to do a metabolism reset?? My BMR is 1428 and my TDEE - 15% is 1881....so I've been eating 1881 calories unless I dont hit my bmr on workout days and then I eat back what I need to to get to the 1428... is this correct? i'm only on week 2.... cant tell if my weight is going up, down or holding steady as I'm not getting on the scale much. I hear alot of people talking about doing a reset and dont understand what it is, why you are doing it and when you need to do it... I also hear people talking about doing an "off" week.. what is that? thanks for your help.. sorry about all the ?'s, I'm a newbie lol

I was doing exactly what you are doing, but only maintaining my weight. So I asked the same ?s and was told to do the reset.

Thanks for your reply. I'm wondering how long I should wait (since I've only been doing this EMTLW for not quite 2 weeks) until I try the reset? 4 weeks maybe? I would hope to see results by then. If I only maintain my current weight, then i would want to do a reset? And by a reset, that means eating my TDEE without taking into account the -15%?? What about working out? do I eat back those calories as well?

Your TDEE takes into consideration the amount you are currently working out. So you do not have to eat back those calories unless you burn so much that you are netting below your BMR. After eating TDEE for 4-8 weeks, you can then start eating at TDEE - 15% and will see a loss. I am starting mine today. Happy eating!

My TDEE is 2647 and I plan on eating that for four weeks.

I was out of town over the holiday weekend and ate and drank in moderation but knew that I was above the 1200 calories that I had been allowing myself previously. I hope to incorporate exercise back into my routine starting tomorrow and consuming 2647 consistently for four weeks.

Anybody here consider backing off on their exercise routine?? Last fall I ran my first half-marathon. Up to that point I had been running 3x week, plus doing a bootcamp 2-3x week. After my big race, I took a complete exercise break for two weeks. Quite frankly I was burned out from "having" to work out 5-6 days a week. I actually lost more in those two weeks off than I had at any other time in my weightloss journey. I've read a bit about advantages to diet breaks, and also periodic exercise breaks.

Thoughts?

My TDEE is 2647 and I plan on eating that for four weeks.

I was out of town over the holiday weekend and ate and drank in moderation but knew that I was above the 1200 calories that I had been allowing myself previously. I hope to incorporate exercise back into my routine starting tomorrow and consuming 2647 consistently for four weeks.

Ok...I'm jumping in with you!!! Are you nervous too?

I am an I am not nervous. I think I have been dieting way to much and have become obsessive about it. I was out of town for two days on Sunday and Monday. I didn't eat one home cooked meal and had wine and beer each night and a lot of cashews on the way home. I was thinking that when I stepped on the scale on Tuesday mornin I would see a gain. I was actually down two pounds without any exercise and just relaxing about the whole calorie tracking. I am somewhat excited to relax about this a little more. I think it will help my exercise routine a little more too. When I wasn't seeing results on the scale my reaction was to through in the proverbial towel and just say i'll go tomorrow. It is only a month and I am hopeful that if I do gain it won't be a ridiculous amount. Good luck!