TDEE - convince me and tell me how to do it?

[BuntyCollocks]

I'm carrying a stone of baby weight 7 months down the line, and I was a stone over what I wanted to be before pregnancy anyway. In total, I'd love to lose about 30lbs.

I've been doing mfp for two months and lost ... Pretty much nothing. I have been rigid, counting my calories, putting in exercise. I have also ignored my breast feeding extra calories in the last month, as I thought maybe that was skewing things.

Mfp tells me I should be aiming for 1390 cals a day. I average about 1400, so not too far off. I do one Kettlebells class a week which burns 1200 cals. I run after my 7 month old and 2 year old, and still breastfeed on demand.

In June, in 2 weeks I put on half a stone. I have lost that a kind of. My weight fluctuates daily. No periods yet.

But, literally all I have lost is that half stone I put on whilst on holiday.

I don't know what to do. Someone here ages ago mentioned tdee - wondered if maybe it would work for me, and that's why I'm not losing - am I eating too few calories?

The tdee calculator I used said my bmr is 2400?!

If you don't mind sharing your details on here, then I can have a proper look: age, gender, current weight in lbs or kg, height in cm or in, activity levels...

At 210 lbs, my TDEE was 2296 (lightly active) and I ate at 15% cut of that daily (averaged out over the week - ie less during the week and more on the weekends) for a year. It came to around 1800-1900 calories. I didn't eat back my exercise cals as my TDEE accounted for it. I lost 3 stones.

I then got bored of calorie counting (and didn't need to count because I learned what normal healthy portion sizes for me were) and have lost another 2 stones doing 5:2 (2 days at around 500 cals and 5 days average my current TDEE of 2107 cals - high because I exercise more these days).

But I've been able to get away with eating at or close to my TDEE because I've not really dieted before so my body never got used to eating below 2000 cals a day. I was probably eating closer to 2500/3000 cals a day or more to get to 210 lbs so any drop from that would inevitably result in a loss.

You may have a longer dieting history than me and your body is used to eating 1400 cals despite being very active. You should be able to eat much more and lose but you need to increase slowly eg 50-100 cals extra daily per week - increase it slowly to get your body used to more fuel and your metabolism should rev up slowly too. Then you might lose. But give it a few months.

Or it might not have anything to do with what you eat or how much - could it be your thyroid or some other medical condition?

Kettlebells help build muscle which retain water as they repair so water weight could be masking fat loss, or you are gaining muscle which is denser than fat... I now do three heavy weights sessions a week and 4 cardio sessions but always lose more weight when I don't exercise (even though I don't over-compensate with food).

Argh! So sorry for the lengthy post

It's a brilliant post, thank you! I'm 5'8, 210lb and 30.

I was this heavy at 21, and lost easily on slimming world. I ate a shit load of pasta and dropped 3 stone in 3 months. Now, nothing seems to shift my weight, aside from stopping feeding my babies, and a nice chest infection.

I ideally want to get to 180, which still puts me as overweight, but I look good at that weight. The lightest I ever was was 168, and I looked ill.

I had my thyroid checked after I had ds 2 years ago, but nothing was up. However, I'm going to get checked again, as they only say yes or no, and I want to know the levels. Dmil has informed me there is a wide range of normal, so I could potentially be at the top end of the range, and could benefit from thyroxine.

I had 1800 cals today - didn't realise about building it up slowly :( but for the first time in 2 months I don't feel like I want to eat my own arm.

You should be able to get away with 2000 cals. I find that eating high-ish calories means I'm less likely binge which has definitely helped me lose weight. See how you go for a month, two, three months ideally - let your body adjust. Build up slowly to 2000 cals. Keep exercising, moving. Try and eat nutritiously but don't deprive yourself of treats. I have a weakness for ice cream and have eaten it most nights. Lost 5 stones :) No need to eat the same amount each day - I think the body thrives on feast-famine cycles - keeps it guessing. Like I said in above post, undereat some days, overeat others - so long as you average 1800/2000 whatever cals.... In MFP manually change your daily calorie goal.

Should I be ok despite having gone from 1400 to 1800 today? Last thing I want is go whack on more weight before I start seeing a difference (so so hope I see a difference soon!).

Thank you for your help, btw. It is inspirational, and not quite as scary, when speaking to someone who it's worked for!

WHAT you eat is crucial too!

Cut out all white carbs ( they have no nutritional value ) and stick to brown rice , whole wheat bread , sweet potatoes etc. I'm not an advocate of low carbing but moderate carbing combined with a sensible calorie counted diet works.

In fact, I'm proof it works ... I was 15 st 2 in may 2011 and I hit my target weight of 9 stone a year ago. A year on and I'm still at this weight - give or take 2lbs.

Bunty check out this 2012 thread from Mumsnet (and its followup):
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/big_slim_whatever_weight_loss_club/a1480554-Dont-Starve-The-Eat-More-to-Weigh-Less-Group

As for increasing your calories, don't sweat it too much. See if you gain at your next weigh in and if it freaks you a bit then scale back but then increase slowly.

Good luck!

Thank you both!

(Whispers) I've lost body fat since yesterday. May be coincidence, but I haven't lost any for weeks.

Btw well done, teddys!

One more question, please - I know you're saying to eat brown rice etc, not a problem, and I only eat brown/seedy bread anyway - but does it matter how I get my calories?

Obviously I'm not just going to eat a whole chocolate fudge cake every day, but if I have something along the lines of bacon sandwich for breakfast, pasta for lunch, steak and baked potato with salad for dinner - is that ok? Can I have a biscuit, as long as I'm meeting my calorie goal?

Bunty I lost all my excess weight eating anything I wanted. The key for me was to ensure I didn't overshoot my weekly average. It just made it easy and simple for me and I was more able to stick to the diet for the longerterm (when I did low carb once before I felt deprived after a while and the weight piled back on).

But now my priorities have shifted and nutrition is key for me so this means, as much as I can, I go for wholegrains and unprocessed foods, with an emphasis on lean proteins and lots of veg. But I still enjoy ice cream and biscuits and cakes if I want it. And I still eat white sourdough bread.

In other words, do what suita you best at this moment. If you want to eat jacket potatoes etc then go for it! Over time you may find your tastes shifting away from white carbs (or you may not!).

This sounds too good to be true - I so hope it works, because this makes so much sense to me!

But, you're a success story, so it must! I am excited :)

Thank you!

I'd disagree ( respectfully ! )

You describe a day which has carbs for every meal. You don't need them and they inhibit weight loss. An excellent source of info on this is dr Briffa so have a google .

Like I said , I'm no low carb er. But a day filled with cereal , a sandwich , a pasta dish or a baked potato with maybe snacks of a cereal bar or a banana is one long carb fest. Which your body turns to pure sugar .
For optimum health - plus a faster loss - stock to carbs for one meal only , don't snack or graze and cut out alcohol.

What do you want to lose ? You may have said and I've forgotten !

I've lost 5 stones in a little over a year eating some carbs with most meals. I've excluded nothing. These days I eat better, more nutritiously, less refined or even white carbs but eating them didn't hinder my weightloss.

Definitely agree with less snacking and grazing... But I did snack alot when losing weight .

Teddy speaks alot of truth and it makes sense but honestly - do what suits you Bunty because you can lose weight really well simply by keeping within your calories. The rest should come naturally to you as you feel better and more in tune with your body and with healthy eating.

Teddy - technically your body turns everything into "pure sugar" as glucose is the food of life! Nothing wrong with carbs as long as the bulk are not refined and your energy balance is correct. Culturally, I come from a background which food wise is carb high (white rice being the bulk of the diet) and protein moderate/low (little meat, loads of veg, and sweets consist of sweetened red beans and rice), little/no processed food - obesity has never historically been a problem.