mymodernbabylon Member

Can I ask why you are eating back calories when your TDEE counts them? It may be that you are actually over your TDEE if you are eating above it by eating back Fitbit calories as well as the TDEE calories. BUT, I also want to remind you and others that very quick gain is always going to be mainly water weight. There may be…

Face, arms, boob, legs, bum and last is belly.

Glad to hear it! Wahoo!

I did the same. and it truly has made maintenance a lot easier as I didn't have to add many calories to get there.

You also have to realise that it takes a while to truly see change, especially when you aren't doing a huge cut. It takes time. A LOT of time. But it's worth it, especially as you are lifting, since you will lose more fat and retain more muscle than you would have before.

YAY!

The other option is to figure out what your TDEE would be if you were lightly active (assuming you do more than just sit on your tushy all day, every day, this is a good number to use as a base). Then use that as you goal and enter your exercise data into MFP and eat back 1/2 to 3/4 of the calories.

The way I see it is that a small gain (and by that I mean under 20 lbs) is worth it in the long run so that I can eat more food. I lost 20 lb in less than a year with a very small cut. I was eating more than I ever have while losing weight. And now I can maintain on more than I ever thought I could. Nothing you do here is…

Very much too early. You need to consistently eat at a range for at least a month. As you have stepped up and the numbers went up quickly versus slowly, it's water weight not weight gain.

That one week jump of 3 lbs is not fat gain. Fast gain is water gain. I think you should keep going for more than these few weeks. My guess is that most of this is water weight.

You are young. You have so much time to figure this all out. What I would do is figure out what your TDEE is. Go to the articles part of this and read. It means you won't lose weight for a while, but it will allow you to figure out what you should be eating and then what your healthy deficit should be. It's worth doing now…

Wannab - would you consider weighing daily and using an app which helps you see the trends? I like the Libra app.

Many Europeans, including myself, eat after 8pm...and I've lost 20 lb and maintained for ages.

I'm 167.5 cm, 66.2 kg and 46 years old. I lift 3x a week and do a sprint training 1-2x a week for 20 minutes with some minor dog walking & whatnot. My TDEE is minimally 2350. So I wouldn't be shocked at all that your TDEE would be 2500 calories for all that you do. Kids give you a good burn!

12 weeks then break, unless you feel a need for a break earlier. And then you go straight to maintenance.

If they saw how much I sweat when I lift they wouldn't say that I'm not working out. Brutal. My guess is that a lot of people think of 3lb weights when they think of women lifting cause that's the picture they see in lots of 'workout' magazines.

That sounds right. 6 lb isn't a lot to gain and a few of those pounds will still be water weight (carb restoring). It's why, when you eventually go for a cut, you should have a range of weight for your goal versus just one number.

As you said, you are carrying your toddler, walking a lot, going up and down the stairs, etc. That does burn a bunch of calories. How long have you been using your fitbit? I'd give it a few more weeks and see what it. In the meantime, why not try out the middle point of the two numbers you figure out and see what happens?

A correlation does not mean causation. Better posture helps with the appearance of your stomach as you are stretching things out, but you won't lose more belly fat is you have better posture. Many people who develop better posture also may be doing weight lifting which also helps with fat loss. So, no, you won't lose belly…

I've never used a coach for lifting or eating, and I'm doing perfectly fine. Most people don't use coaches unless they are doing competitions.

I'd also encourage you to start weight lifting or do some sort of bodyweight exercise routine, if you aren't already.

Just know that it took me about 9 months to fully lose 20 lb as it should slow down the closer you get to a healthy weight - the first 10 went reasonably quickly, next 5 slower and last 5 very slowly. But it's worth it. I changed my deficit from 15% to 10% when I had the last 5 lb to go so I'd be closer to my maintenance…

Keep at it, and recognise that what you think your body looks like is probably a lot worse than what it actually looks like. I know that I have always been my worst critic and don't notice the changes unlike others (like my husband).

I wouldn't set my goal for 1 lb a week. That is far too aggressive for someone who doesn't have a lot of weigh to lose and who is looking to just lose some body fat. Otherwise there are some great tips - progressive weight lifting programmes and good bodyweight programmes will help you preserve the muscle you have. If you…

Strong Curves gets great reviews. I'm doing Strong Lifts because it's free and easy with the equipment I have (plus I do it with my husband). As long as it's a progressive weight lifting programme, you can't go wrong. I think my next one will be either Cathe system or the EM2WL system.

Go check out my diary and see how I easily eat 1950 calories. And I don't eat chocolate cake every single time. Yes, this works. I'm 46 yr old and did the diet thing for ages. Then I realised I didn't want to eat that little for the rest of my life to keep at a weight that should be much more easily attainable. This works.…

I try to go up 2.5kg every time. If I hit a wall for more than 2x, then I'll deload but then go up by 1 kg the next time, particularly with overhead press and bench press (which I struggle with more than the other exercises).

Will the people you are working with write a letter of recommendation for you? When I moved to London, my job wrote a letter to the bank & to the letting agency which let them know I was on a 2 year contract, was earning X amount of money and that helped a lot (both to get a bank account and a flat). I also offered to put…

And definitely give yourself a range of weights or you'll go mad.

Come check us out on Eat More 2 Weigh Less and stop the cycle of losing/gaining/losing/gaining. It sounds like a gimmick but it's really just about making sure your metabolism is as healthy as possible and losing weight slowly to keep as much muscle as possible.