If you’ve been a chronic low cal dieter, and a follower of EM2WL for any length of time, then you know that we highly recommend doing a metabolism reset. Maybe you’re even doing one now, or planning to soon join the growing number of members who have decided to take back control of their lives from extreme caloric bondage. We all come to the point of metabolism resetting for different reasons. Some of us have actual diagnosis of an ED, and others have just been dieting longer than they care to remember. Our common ground: we have been starving ourselves by eating less food than our body requires to survive. Choosing the path of reset is one of the best things that we can do to recover from the mental and physical damage that occurs with long term, severe caloric restriction, but it is not an overnight process. A question that is popping up almost daily in our inbox is: How do I know when my metabolism reset is over?
We’ve avoided answering that question for quite sometime, much to the aggravation of most. We hated even giving the “6-8 week” guidelines, because, quite honestly, 6 weeks may not be enough for some, too long for others. At EM2WL, we are always stressing that everyone is different. We are individuals. Some people bounce back quicker than others. Yet, there are still those of you wanting specific deadlines, and exact “stopping” times.
Whether you’re at the beginning of your journey, still on the fence, or well on the road to recovery, there are things to keep in mind along the way:
Mental recovery
I mention this one first because it is the area that controls all remaining points:
If you are not recovered mentally, then whether it’s been 6 weeks or 16, you are NOT finished resetting. We give “guidelines” for how long to reset, but your body does not magically know that it’s been 5 weeks and 6 days, thus resetting on the 7th day. Take this time to understand why you are resetting in the first place.
If you are rushing to finish your reset, because you just want to “get it over with” or “hurry up and start cutting” because you “just need to get this weight off”…you have not mentally recovered, and should honestly consider continuing your metabolism reset. When your reset is over, you just know. You completely comprehend that this is your new way of life, and that you will NEVER go back to low cal madness, no matter how long it takes.
If 1200-1400 cals is still an option in the back of your mind somewhere, you have not recovered.
Expectations
Most of these are discussed in the post on patience, yet it still seems like we dive into the reset with unrealistic expectations of what will happen to us. Or, we say that we understand, but we don’t, really. We want to ride out the reset without a hitch and then hop on the cutting path and live happily ever after. Once again, this is when the mental aspect comes into play. That is our old “quick fix” diet mentality creeping in and telling us that if we eat too much, we’ll gain, going backwards and then we’ll NEVER get this weight off. So we go through our reset never fully allowing ourselves to relax and recover, because we’re so busy stressing about the .03265 gain on the scale that is about to happen in 5 minutes. Recall how many times that you have yo-yo’d in the past, or regained the weight after reaching “goal” because you used unhealthy methods to achieve the goal. Remember that if you don’t gain now and fully recover, you will likely gain it later, going back to square one, still with a shoddy metabolism.
Expect to gain weight. You are recovering from an ED (or similar mindset), it’s part of the rehab process. If the weight came off in an unhealthy manner, you will likely HAVE to gain it back (whether in water, or replacing atrophied muscle/essential fat) as part of the recovery. Couple that with the zillion other reasons for scale fluctuations (especially in women), and you have a recipe for seeing the scale move up. Expect the gain.
Expect the mental struggle that comes with that gain.
Expect that you will have to find ways to deal with it.
Expect to deal with bloat when you lift weights, or eat a lot of sodium, carbs, dairy, wheat, etc., as your body adjusts and tries to understand what’s going on.
Expect that people around you will not understand what you are doing.
Expect to lean on others who do understand for support.
Expect to eventually gain full confidence in what you are doing.
Expect to come out of this victorious.
Expect that any weight gained will come off.
Expect to never starve yourself again.
Stay Strong
We’ve never said the the metabolism reset would be easy, but we guarantee that it will be worth it. Quick fixes don’t.work.period. Take this time to set healthy habits and goals for yourself, that will support and affirm your new lifestyle.
Don’t focus on how “much longer”your journey will take, but on the fact that you are finally on the right path. Yes, you have a long journey ahead, so try to keep a realistic perspective.
Get involved with the EM2WL community for support, and make a determination to do what’s best for your body.
Hire a personal trainer and learn your way around the weight room. Set a new lifting goal, if you’re a vet. Try out a new workout class or DVD.
Stop reading magazines or watching television shows (or listen to friends!) that promote unhealthy body images or rapid methods of weight loss.
Read books (including cookbooks) and articles that teach you how to be strong, healthy and fit, without being extreme. Our Resources page is a great place to start.
Focus on changing types of food you eat. You have time to make healthier habits, so use it. Add real foods back to your menu. Cut out diet drinks/food/artificial sweeteners that you’ve always known were bad for your health, but you were willing to sacrifice for lower calories.
Buy clothes that fit and flatter you now. This does not mean resign yourself to a life of being fat, but simply not waiting to get to a “perfect size” before allowing life to begin.It wasn’t until I finally stopped dwelling on where I wanted to be and focused on looking my best in the present, that things came together for me. There’s a difference between being “focused” and being “obsessed“ (more on that in this post).
Enjoy where you are on the way to where you are going. Rushing the process and running through every stop sign and red light may get you there faster, but it may also land you in the ER.
Parting words:
Fuel your body properly. Enjoy your life now. Don’t stress. The results WILL come.
Just thought I’d send in a quick update on my metabolic reset progress:
I’m just starting week 3 of my metabolic reset. My bloat is finally gone, my weight seems to have temporarily stabilized at a one pound gain since starting the reset (for a total of 5 lbs). My jeans fit more comfortably again (I was unable to wear them 2 weeks ago if I wanted to also breath), and on top of it all, I am STARVING all the time!! I really understand now when people say it’s like they woke up a monster!
I’m so excited though because these are exactly the types of symptoms I’ve been waiting for these past 10 weeks since starting to up calories! That’s a long wait, but now I can see some awesome signs that I’m waking up that metabolism! Whoo-hoo!!
We are so excited to have a recurring feature on EM2WL, called “The Journey.” We strive to stress the importance of staying consistent, trusting the process, and making EM2WL a lifestyle. In featured “Journey’s” we get an inside look at how each person will make the process work for them, as well as demonstrating how this process looks from fresh angles. Journey participants agree to keeping us updated periodically, first sharing their story, then updating as their journey progresses…
Today, Nicole is inviting the EM2WL family to follow her journey from the beginning.
My Journey – The ‘Long Haul’:
I’m a very active 38 year old mother that has been struggling to lose weight for over 20 YEARS. After my first child, I had hit an all-time high of 197 lbs. Through exercise and the Weight Watchers program I lost 60lbs over the course of 4 years (I had child number two in the middle). However, as I got closer and closer to my goal weight, I found that I had to keep lowering my calories and increasing my exercise. When I was at my goal weight of 135 lbs I found that I was doing 2 hours a day of high intensity cardio plus just kept myself constantly moving and my calorie intake was extremely low. (I started to not meet the minimal requirements for weight watchers anymore because I just couldn’t keep the weight from coming back on at that level). Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I found myself exhausted, with constant injuries (I broke my very first bone), on high doses of depression medication and very strong prescription sleeping medication because I had severe insomnia. These helped a bit but I had to keep going back to my dr. to up the medication because after a while, they just weren’t as effective. As well, I continued to gain weight. Over the course of 3 years I had gained back 30 lbs. My doctor was stumped as to my weight gain since my tracking and records showed that I should be LOSING weight and she was positive the meds were more likely to see patients lose than gain on them, so she sent me to a nutritionist/personal trainer. After 6 months with her, she also threw up her hands in despair and said she didn’t know how to help me – I was doing everything they asked…nothing worked. The one common thing that neither did was to ask me what my NET calories were, what my BMR was. They didn’t even think in those terms, and from what I know now – I was nowhere close to getting enough calories to satisfy my BMR requirements.
Finally in a fit of frustration I cold-turkey’d off all the meds (which made my dr. raise her eyebrows at me) and told her to find another solution because this wasn’t working for me. I needed to lose weight and feel better, not just medicate and gain more!
1 month later I stumbled onto MFP in my personal search for a solution on the internet and discovered this whole new concept of net calories and eating enough. I found that I was averaging a NET calorie/day of approximately 600-800 because of the crazy exercise I was doing and the VLCD I was using. (around 1200) Often I wasn’t even Netting 0 or above…I had a negative Net. By this time I had also started the p90X exercise program.
At first I slowly started to up my calories after figuring out my BMR (1490) and TDEE (2130-2370) to 1500 Net minimum. This was very scary for me. Thankfully I did not gained tons of weight (about 4 lbs) but within a few days my depression was gone, I was no longer exhausted all the time and I began sleeping like a baby! Those NSV’s in themselves proved to me that no matter what happened, I was doing something good for my body.
I was still scared that I had the numbers wrong, scared that it wouldn’t work, scared that I’d never lose, but for the first time I actually had hope too. This is the ONE thing I had not yet tried so I figured, what the heck…it’s worth a shot! I kept rereading the forum for a little bump in encouragement whenever I needed it. I still tended to underestimate calories burned just in case (since I ate those back to stay at my net calorie goal of 1500) and I felt so strange being able to eat a piece of apple pie and still have room to eat some chocolate too at the end of the day! I also found that I had a problem of saving a lot of calories to the end of the day so I would suddenly have to try to eat a huge amount before bed because before, I used to be so hungry at bedtime, I HAD to save most of my calories for then and eat filling foods or I would never sleep! It’s a habit I’ve slowly been able to break (not completely yet though).
I managed to get my calorie intake up to TDEE – 15%. After 7 weeks at that level (plus still maintaining a crazy workout schedule from before) I found I was still a bit tired (not exhausted like before though), my weight was up 4lbs and I had gained over 6 inches! I was mortified! However, after speaking with Lucia, she informed me that I needed to reduce the exercise. I had used the wrong activity level and was maintaining too high of a deficit still. So, I listened to her advice and dropped the exercise but kept my calories the same. Within a week I started to feel better. I also started to reread through the forum and discovered that with my diet history, a full reset was likely what I needed to get the weight to stop dropping. So, the next day, I upped my calories to maintenance, maintained my workouts and as of today found that some of the 6 inches I gained have disappeared and I’ve even seen a small reduction in a couple of places (thigh/neck) to lower than start! I’m still bigger in the waist and upper body but I am assuming that is due mainly to water retention and the fact that I am now lifting without being in a caloric deficit.
I am excited for when I will see inches really start dropping or my weight to come down, but for now, I will continue on through my reset (I have gained 1.6 lbs since starting my reset) and give my body the time it requires to heal. I feel better than I have in years (despite my small emotional pity parties over my waist increase that makes my jeans almost un-wearable – I was already maxing them out so they didn’t have much room left).
This road is mentally difficult and tiring. Going against everything society tries to cram down our throats about weight loss, dealing with the looks of pity as people watch me gain weight and eat (usually more than they do), trying to reassure my husband that this IS the right thing to do, and all the time feeling unsure and scared myself, yet believing in it completely at the same time. The research is out there, the testimonies are out there… I know my story will be one of success. I just have to have patience and strength to do it right and see it through. I may not see the quick results that some others have when they started the Eat More plan, but then I did a LOT of damage to my system…it’ll take time to repair that. I’m already 10 weeks in with no loss, just gain and I’m just now starting to get hungry days (a good sign). It’s the long haul for me, but I’m ok with that because I know the destination is worth the trip.
Starting Info (March, 2012):
Eating 1200 cals or less (NET < 1000 – often between 0[or negative value] and 800) Plus some binge days due to special events.
Desk Job: Workout 7 days/week (P90X-lifting/cardio + 1.5 hrs brisk walking daily) I also did anything else I could think of that simply kept me moving.
Desk Job: Workout: 6 days/week (3x lifting + 6 days 1 hr brisk walks) I also still try to stay relatively active through my day, but much less intensity.
Weight: 166.2 lbs
Neck: 13 ½ “
R Bicep: 11 ½ ”
R Forearm: 10 ¼ ”
Over Bust: 38”
Bust: 42”
Under Bust: 36 ½ ”
Waist: 36 ½ ”
Hips: 41”
R Wrist: 6”
R Thigh: 23 ½ ”
R Calf: 15 ½ “
Remember, EM2WL is a lifestyle, not a quick fix. Featured Journeyers will remind us that we are all a “work-in-progress.” If you are interested in being featured in The Journey, please contact us for more info.
Q: I’m increasing my cals like you said, but I gained weight this week! I thought the point of finding my TDEE is so that I can get back on the losing track? I feel like I’m going backwards. I feel stuffed and miserable. I haven’t even hit my TDEE yet, because there’s just no way I can fit all this food into my day. Am I doing something wrong? Do you have any suggestions on how I go about increasing calorie intake?
A: Just a few pointers on increasing calorie intake, while minimizing fluctuations. You probably know most of these things, and this is not a completely exhaustive list/explanation. I’m just mentioning as many as I can think of, glean what/if you can, toss the rest, lol.
Always think of your metabolism as a fire. A calorie is a unit of heat (literally, that’s the definition). In order to increase the metabolism, you want to keep that fire constant. This means everything about it should be as consistent as possible, so that the fire does not die. There has been some controversy over whether or not the “thermogenic effect” of food is real or not, but that is not the main concern here. More than anything, it is helpful in the beginning, when consistency is most important, to follow some of these tips until your body gets used to higher cals again. Once your body is used to the proper cal levels, you will not need to follow these guidelines, as your body will want to be fed, and you will no longer feel stuffed eating such small amounts of food. When you get to this point, you can set up your eating habits in a way that is pertinent to your personal lifestyle.
Eat as soon as possible when you wake up. Start the fire, whatever you need to do, I’ve found that for me, and most people I know, this is what gets it revved.. Plus, if you are having a hard time fitting your cals in by the end of the day, then getting that first meal in nice and early really helps.
As soon as you finish that meal, set a timer for 2-3 hours. This is when you will add another log to the fire. Do this after every meal, for as long as you are awake (even if you stay up late!). For most people, it only takes a week or less of doing this, before you will notice that your body will BEG you for food by the “appointed time”, and you will no longer need the timer. This is GOOD. This means that it is working. Your body now knows/is confident in the fact that it can let go of that meal quickly, because the next one is just around the corner. The opposite is also true. When you miss meals (especially when first upping cals!), no matter how healthy you’re eating, you’re body doesn’t know when it will eat again, so it doesn’t want to let go of any of it.
Add the extra cals slowly, and spread out over those meals. Like an extra 25-50 cals per meal, instead of one huge extra meal. Stay at that level for a while, and if all is well, add more…
Take advantage of macro-nutrient timing. If you enjoy carbs, eat them early on in the day while your body needs them. It’s ok to have a (complex) carb heavy breakfast and a (simple) carb heavy after workout snack.
Immediately following your workout is the *best* time to add extra calories (really helpful if you haven’t figured out a way to spread them out). This is especially true if you’ve been setting your timer and eating at regular intervals. The last meal before your workout, be sure to have had some complex carbs and protein. IMMEDIATELY After your workout have some protein and carbs (this is your time to take advantage of a simple carb if you wanted to), this can be your post workout shake w/some fruit, or chocolate milk, or fruity yogurt, or whatever. Pick something that’s easily digested, and scarf it (before you even shower). If timed properly, by the time you get out of the shower, blow dry your hair, fix your make-up, what have you, (approx 30-60 min) you should be STARVING. Even if you’re not, eat again (yes, this is breaking the 2-3 hour rule, but this is the perfect time to do so, and you shouldn’t have eaten anything that made you too full to eat again). The meal after shower should be a real meal (back to the healthy stuff) good protein, good fats, good carbs (preferably veggies) if it’s later in the day. Then set your timer, and resume the regular 2-3 hour eating schedule.
If none of these things work, after staying consistent for 4-6 weeks, then it’s time to start investigating other aspects of your diet. Maybe your body prefers a certain macronutrient ratio, or you could even be allergic to something that you’re eating regularly. With the rise of gluten/wheat/soy/dairy/etc intolerance these days, it may be a good idea to hook up w/a good Dr and have your thyroid checked, or nutritionist to analyze your diet further…
ETA: This list is not an exclusive/exhausted list, or a be-all-end-all approach. This was not written to address any one person’s specific macro-nutrient ratio, so it is very general in that aspect. As stated in the last italicized line, everyone has their own macro-nutrient specific ideals, depending on various sensitivities, activity levels. If you are insulin sensitive, then your “log” that you’re adding to the fire will obviously not be something that spikes your insulin level to an extreme, etc. As stated in the beginning of the post, you may not use every single tip: take what you can, leave the rest. The point is to not starve ourselves, and then wonder why we don’t see results, and to provide a starting point for those trying to break free of unintentional under-eating. Stay consistent, trust the process, and regain your bodies trust in the meantime.
Q: I’m seriously getting discouraged. I’ve tried EVERYTHING, and it doesn’t work. Even the things that you’ve said. I feel like I’ve been stuck since the holidays. I originally had my cals set at 1200, I was losing ok until the holidays then I hit a serious plateau after falling off the wagon, w/my holiday eating. I tried to get right back on track in Jan, but the scale wouldn’t budge. So I added a bit more cardio to see if that would help. After a couple weeks I got frustrated, and the extra cardio was making me SO hungry. I kept reading about people upping their cals, and since I was starving, and it seemed to make sense, I upped mine to 1400. February, I read your posts about bulking, and figured since I wanted to gain some muscle, and wasn’t seeing results w/low cals, I’d just focus on muscle building. So I upped my cals to 2300 and started lifting heavier in addition to my 60 minutes of cardio 5xs a week, which, after a week, I saw you tell someone that that was too much cardio, so I cut back. But I kept lifting heavy like you said. I was hoping to see some good muscle definition, but I just felt like I was getting bigger. After 2-3 weeks I couldn’t see any of my muscles, even the ones that I could see before. So I couldn’t take it anymore , I had to add the cardio back in, because, I think I need more than most people. Plus I know that you just don’t like cardio, so that’s your reason for not doing it. I also just really felt like I was eating WAY too much, and had to drop my cals, but I only reduced them to 2000, nothing crazy. I also decided to try out Paleo, because a lot of my friends are seeing success with it, to see if it would help me break my plateau, and with Paleo, I find it harder for me to get in more than 2000 cals. But in March, the weather just started getting so warm, that I dropped my cals to start my cut. I just couldn’t take bulking anymore, and I HAVE to get the weight off and start losing weight, I really wanna be able to rock tank tops and shorts this year. So I set my cals at 1600, and switched to higher rep weight workouts, and I read that HIIT cardio is better for weight loss, so I’m doing that now. But now I just saw that low-intensity cardio is actually better for fat burning? I’m just so confused and getting frustrated with it all! NOTHING is working!!
A: Wow! That was a mouthful, girl, lol. I certainly feel your frustration, it can be tough when you’re trying to find the key that will make it all click for you. And you certainly have tried it all…
all.at.once.
Your body doesn’t know whether it’s coming or going. Seriously, hun, not to knock your willingness to try new things, tweak here and there to find what works for you, and even listen to me (bonus points for that one)…but, you have to pick a plan and stick with it. Your consistency with any one program is key to finding out if it will work. But trying out 18 different things at once, and not giving any of them enough time, will only keep you in a cloud of confusion…with nothing to show for your efforts, including losing weight.
When you add in too many things at once, you have no idea which thing worked/didn’t work. Be wary of changing certain eating and workouts aspects at the same time, if they are both a change to your current routine. Say you’re currently doing no cardio, yet lifting weights 3 times a week and you decide that you’d like to see how your body would react to a larger deficit. You elect to lower cals or add in cardio. Pick one. Doing both at the same time, not only brings on a myriad of other issues that I’ve already written about, but confuses you when/if you see a drop on the scale that week. Which caused the drop? Less food? The cardio? Both?…Or worse, was a drop prevented due to the combo?
Also, consider not doing too many changes with your food at once. A few examples would be:
raising/lowering cals,
eliminating entire food groups (meat/dairy/grains),
changing macros considerably (low carb, low fat),
fasting
If you did them all at the same time, how will you have any idea which is working/not working? Suppose you only needed to change one of those things, but…because you start seeing results, you have to keep them all changed, because no one thing was pinpointed. So, now you put yourself in the position to either have started something that you can’t finish– setting yourself up for failure because it’s just too hard– or resign yourself to living a life of unnecessary deprivation.I know that it’s hard because there is just SO much info out there, and we’re constantly inundated with what others are doing that’s “working” for them, but that doesn’t change the basic tenant of fat loss. Consistency. There will always be a plethora of methods, techniques, and waves of thought that will pique your interest, but that does not mean that you throw all caution to the wind and jump on every bandwagon that comes your way…especially all at once.Yes, you should be willing and prepared to change your current regimen if it’s not working. Yes, you should be willing to listen with an open mind when someone presents an aspect of health/weight loss/training that is completely different from what you’ve been doing (especially when it is backed by sound research). Yes, your regimen should be ever changing, like the seasons of the year. Long enough to enjoy, yet ending just as you’ve become acclimated, with the promise of return in it’s due time.
But…
It should not be like a celebrity marriage, ending before it even begins. Doomed from the start because there are way too many outside forces involved, with the “newest” thing just awaiting the opportunity to catch your eye and lead you astray.
We all need to take the time to become in-tuned with our bodies and understand what action leads to what result. This ONLY comes from taking time with each individual change to understand the bodies reaction to it, see if it leads in the desired direction. Yet at the same time realizing that quick fixes will NOT last forever. So, when you hear something that sounds interesting, and you’d like to give it a try, take a moment and evaluate:
How long have I been doing what I’m currently doing?
Is what I’m currently doing working?
How does this “new” thing differ from my “current” thing?
How long is it taking other people to receive results using this new method? (max and minimum amount of time) And what are those results?
How much time am I willing to dedicate to this method?
What changes, relative to my weight/height/body composition/bodyfat % am I hoping to see?
How will I feel if I put in 4-6 weeks with this method and receive/not receive the results that I want? (Remembering that some changes require longer commitments than others)
If I find that this plan/method/idea works, for me/I’d like to give it longer than 4-6 weeks, how will I incorporate it in with other things that I’ve found to “work” for a fully comprehensive, personalized to me program?
Allowing yourself the time and thought process such as this, will not only help to steer you from the “lose 10 lbs in 10 days” nonsense mentality promoted by mass media, but will help you to be more prepared for adapting your regimen to different methods that you find yourself wanting to try. Giving yourself guidelines ahead of time, will also aid in keeping you committed and calm with your new changes, instead of second guessing yourself within a week, running to a new “tweak” or compounding on the current one. It will also help you to evaluate, how/if to incorporate it in with other changes that you’ve found that work. You may find many things that “work” along the way, but is not necessary to try/attempt them all (especially all at once). It is also, of the utmost importance, to always have the elusive “trump card.” In the dieting industry, these are known as “stubborn fat loss” methods. Don’t dive into these too soon in your journey, as “stubborn” means that you should already be fairly lean (as in visible abs), and are trying to get the last vanity pounds to move (as in competition or photoshoot lean). These techniques are NOT for the general fat loss community with lots of fat to lose.
In the game of fat loss, you NEVER want to throw all your cards on the table, from the jump.
Keep things fresh, always have a plan, but…always have another trick up your sleeve.
If you are not recovered mentally, then whether it’s been 6 weeks or 16, you are NOT finished resetting. We give “guidelines” for how long to reset, but your body does not magically know that it’s been 5 weeks and 6 days, thus resetting on the 7th day. Take this time to understand why you are resetting in the first place.
Most of these are discussed in the post on patience, yet it still seems like we dive into the reset with unrealistic expectations of what will happen to us. Or, we say that we understand, but we don’t, really. We want to ride out the reset without a hitch and then hop on the cutting path and live happily ever after. Once again, this is when the mental aspect comes into play. That is our old “quick fix” diet mentality creeping in and telling us that if we eat too much, we’ll gain, going backwards and then we’ll NEVER get this weight off. So we go through our reset never fully allowing ourselves to relax and recover, because we’re so busy stressing about the .03265 gain on the scale that is about to happen in 5 minutes. Recall how many times that you have yo-yo’d in the past, or regained the weight after reaching “goal” because you used unhealthy methods to achieve the goal. Remember that if you don’t gain now and fully recover, you will likely gain it later, going back to square one, still with a shoddy metabolism. 
We’ve never said the the metabolism reset would be easy, but we guarantee that it will be worth it. Quick fixes don’t.work.period. Take this time to set healthy habits and goals for yourself, that will support and affirm your new lifestyle.
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