I would love to hear the answer to this, as well! I just started my journey (still on the first week, actually) and I'm not a very heavy lifter. Not because I don't -want- to lift heavy, but I find that doing a bicep curl with 12 lb weights causes me to "fail" at the fifth rep. However, I'm coming from a very low calorie diet (750~ cals) and likely don't have too much muscle. I lift 3-4 times a week, for about 30 minutes a day (sometimes spread out in intervals of ten, I try to fit it in whenever I can).

I also hope this is okay. I do know heavy lifting increases the rate at which your body repairs, but I'm new to all of this.

I do think that you should -not- lower your calories back! You've come so far!

I agree! Please don't lower your calories again! It *may* give you results to start with, but in the long run you will just be doing more damage to your metabolism. Feeding your body is a good, good thing. This process isn't a quick fix and it may take a while to figure out what works for you. You may need to re-assess your activity level, calories, etc. If you were eating 1200 calories for 6-7 months, you may even want to consider a metabolism reset. There is a ton of good information here on the boards, and so much good support.

I have been on EM2WL since late March, and I can tell you that I haven't lost weight yet--or inches. The scale says I'm up about 6 lbs. However, I am not bigger than I was before I gained those 6 lbs (my clothes fit the same). I am lifting heavy (I'm about 2 months into NROLFW), and I am about to start week 7 of my metabolism reset (and I think I'm going to give it 4 or 5 more weeks before I start to cut). Even though I'm not shrinking YET, I can see more definition around my shoulders and arms than I ever have. I am stronger. I feel amazing when I am putting the right foods--and the right amount of food--in my body. I love that I don't have to feel guilty when I eat a hamburger, have some ice cream, drink a beer, etc.--because if I plan things out right, it's not going to "ruin" my whole day of eating.

To be honest, even if I never get to what I used to imagine as my "ideal" weight or size, I am much happier eating more than I was when I was plateauing for a year at 1200 calories. I'd much rather weigh what I weigh now and eat good food, than weigh what I weigh and obsess over every little calorie.

Keep your chin up and keep at it! If you give up on the process now, how will you really know if it would have worked for you?

I began lifting two weeks before making the decision to go to Reset and eat at TDEE. Ive been lifting for 8-9 weeks and eating at TDEE for almost 7 now.. Of course, there is no results to share because I have no calorie deficit, but I am very hopeful there will be a ton of inches gone when I make my cut..However eating more isnt just for people who lift weights. Eating more is for everyone, regardless of what you do. In here, we do recommend strength training because building the muscle is what helps you tighten up, lose the inches and burn the cals longer after workouts. Cardio is great, but a lot of people spend so much time burning cals with cardio that they end up way below BMR, and they arent prepared for having to eat back more cals because of it.

Consistency is key. You have only been eating at cut for 6 weeks right? You said you are netting your 15%.. does that mean you are eating back your exercise cals? If so, this may be part of the reason you are struggling. You want to eat your Cut.. and only eat back any exercise cals IF you NET under your BMR.

How long have you been doing your activties? If they are new as well, then it could be the shift of eating more and different activities where your body is going "huh?!?".. Again, give it some time..

Also look at your diary. Are you eating your macros? Are you watching sodium? are you drinking your water?


If you are finding that after a few more weeks, eating at your cut is still not yielding the losses, then you might need to seriously consider a reset. Its hard mentally, I wont lie., but its probably the best thing you can do for yourself long term. Your body needs to trust you again, so you need to feed it properly. Yes it is likely you wil gain a few pounds back at reset, but its water weight and will not be true fat gains. Most of us recommend throwing out the scalr during this time, so you concentrate on feeding yourself and forgetting a number on the scale.

Hope this helps

I'm not an expert by any means but i feel like i now get the logic of this EMTWL thing.
Technically i don't think heavy lifting would be necessary. If you are eating at a deficit then unless you've screwed up your metabolism you should be loosing. The reality is though, we have all screwed up our metabolism before we got here which is why it takes a while before we see a change. Either more time doing what you already are or doing a reset should fix your metabolism.

Of course a big part of having a fast metabolism is your body composition and having more muscle which burns more cals than fat so technically increases your BMR. So i guess one of the problems for those of us starting out using BMRs that are just calculated from our height and weight is that that number may not actually be really correct. Because we've starved ourselves for so long on low calorie diets and lost weight too fast we've compromised our body composition and lost a lot of our muscle with our fat.

And weights help turn this around and build up more muscle. And that is why eating more is so important while doing this as it is impossible to build muscle without eating enough.
That is in addition to all the other factors to do with 'starvation mode'.

So i think the EMTWL method will work for you. You might want to consider a reset because it probably is the only way you can really get enough calories to build muscle and not just conserve what you already have. But that is really to you. I'm still trying at the 15% cut without a reset without a loss yet, but i'm still only 4 weeks in.
I do think body weight exercises can work but logically if they aren't going to have such a quick muscle building effect as heavy lifting, then you probably will just take longer before you've get over that hump and start loosing. But there isn't necessarily anything wrong with being slower, except if it is going to be hard on you psychologically.

GIven your concern now, if you can, do heavy, then try it. You'll probably love it and love the effects. You can always make your own heavy weights such as sandbags as a substitute for barbells or fill milk or washing liquid bottles with concrete. There are heaps of ideas like these online on bodybuilding pages. Or just pick up things second hand or join a gym.
My weights setup at home, has definitely been money worth spent and it doesn't take much space and wasn't expensive (everything i have folds away).

Hope that helps. Don't go back to starving, you'll just end up back here eventually in worse shape in terms of your metabolism.

Good luck

Hi
I had a stroke so I cannot really exercise at all.I have done EM2WL for about 10 weeks and lost 9.5 pounds after a slight initial gain. Hang in there! You can do it!

Hang in there!!!!

I have to say I was skeptical at first. I don't have a lot of weight to lose and I'm only 5'1" but I was TIRED of starving at 1200 calories. I've been on EMTWL and lifting heavy for about 2 months, I also run a bit and do pilates & yoga. At first the scale went up, then it started slowly going down. I'm still up about 2 lbs but look better and feel a lot better so don't intend to try to lose any more but just maintain. I admit to not eating great - I refuse to give up wine, pizza, coffee and dessert and I will not pass up an opportunity to share a meal with family or friends. Most days I stay right around my new calorie goals but I don't quite get the macros right.

It's still working for me, it can work for you too!

...always netting my 15% cut of TDEE (1845 - scooby #).

Are you entering your exercise into MFP? If you have your goal set at your TDEE - 15%, and you eat that amount every day, after you enter in exercise, your NET will not be the same as your goal...it should be lower, but not lower than your BMR. On days you don't exercise then your NET will be the same as your total food eaten.

I have a friend who mistakenly was trying to make sure her NET = her TDEE - 15% everyday even after exercise was entered so that is why I ask...just want to make sure you aren't doing the same!

Morning !

First of all .... BUMMER that you are feeling frustrated.

To answer your initial question - eating more than your BMR, less than TDEE is what EM2WL is and NO - you don't have to lift heavy to succeed. However, I'm pretty passionate about strength training and the difference it can make in terms of how you feel and how your body looks. Sometimes folks think they need to lose a few more pounds when in fact what they want is to LOOK better (actually, isn't that what we all really want ??) After all, we don't carry the scale around with us or tattoo our bodyweight on our forehead. Strength training can recomposition your body in ways that just losing some "weight" cannot.

Now ...

I took a quick peek at your profile - see that you have lost 33 pounds with a goal of losing 11 more? Your diary is closed, so I couldn't see what your food looks like.

When I first read your post, my first thought was FOOD and second was "NET" ??

A couple others have also keyed in to the food part in terms of calories. From the exercise you described, I think I would have plugged in "moderate" in the Scooby calculator. I assume you did to get the # you did. VERY IMPORTANT - you don't eat back yoru exercise cals when you are basing your daily intake based 0n a cut from your TDEE. Activity is already accounted for in that. When you used the word "net" - I "net" X calories. A red light went on. Make sure you are eating the 1800 , not 1800 PLUS exercise cals.

I'd definitely not recommend that you lower your calories to 1200. If you are convinced that what is right for you is to go down a bit in calories - I'd take a slightly higher cut from TDEE - 20%.

Lastly, from your pic and from your ticker - looks like you are close to goal. Losing 10 pounds , those last 10 pounds can be the most difficult. So .. my thought is this. A suggestion. Why not change your mindset from losing those pounds to changing your body - recomp fat to muscle. To do that, eat toward TDEE and focus on strength training. I'm betting that recomping your body may get you to the place you want visually and physically.

Even though my weight is still a higher # on the scale, I"m about 15 pounds away from my goal. Lowering my cals isn't going to get me where I want to be. I'm going to be eating closer to my TDEE, continuing with my 3x heavy lifting with 2 days of HIIT on the bike or walking outdoors w/ hills. 2 days of rest.

Good luck !

Jen

HarlanJen is probably going to kill me for saying this, but when I was lifting my 15 lb dumb bells I noticed that my abs were getting more firm and have even noticed them getting flabby again since I quit doing the dumb bells. I for one think that weight lifting is they key to fat loss, but I am not studying this like Jen is. As a matter of fact I have been going to write her and say help, but haven't gotten the nerve to do so yet. Love Jen, but she doesn't like the fact I can't get in more calories than I can.

I understand what you're saying, but I had the opposite....sorta.

My abs have slowly increased in firmness, but since I started adding Insanity cardio to my P90X routines?

Oh. Em. Gee.

His cardio moves force you to keep your abs tight. With absolutely everything you do. I've noticed a huge difference.

But, it may also have something to do with increasing my weights lately and eating more protein. LOL.

Actually, I'm sure it does.

Before I joined this group, I didn't even eat...probably a quarter of the protein I needed. No wonder my entire body swelled and was heavy and gross!

Wow, that's great!