That Last 10 Lbs Just Won't Go!

Bristeaux

I've been using MFP for a few years now. I have gone from my all-time high weight of 171 (about 5 years ago) down to 130 (2 years ago) then back up to 140 currently. I am trying so hard to lose that last 10 lbs or so, but nothing is working. I've tracked diet and exercise this whole time. I've made changes to both a few times but nothing is working. I'm so frustrated.

I eat roughly 1500-1700 calories, and I burn enough to net about 800-1000 per day (so I have maintained a deficit). I use the elliptical 4 days a week for an hour and have a cycle trainer for the other 3 days 30 minutes. If I take a day off of exercise, it's usually an elliptical day. Occasionally, I life weights or box because it feels good.

Not sure what more I can do. I think I want to just stop working out for a whole week but not change my diet and just see what happens. Maybe I am working out too much. I've read that that can lead to a weight plateau. It's really the only thing I HAVEN'T tried.

Grrrr.

kristen6350

I don't think you are NETTING enough. The last 10lbs are horrible to get off and I know that if I eat to low they hang around for dear life. What does MFP say to eat (NET) if you set your profile to .5lbs/week? Your deficient might be too high and your body is saying "oh no honey, I'm keeping my fat for warmth and function".

I NET around 1500-1600 and have been losing about .5-1lb a week since Dec. 10th. I'm down 5lbs total, 5lbs more to go. And seriously, it hasn't been that hard. And I don't exercise in winter - hibernate is more like it.

dfranch

This might sound crazy and it's not at all scientific, but sometimes when I've been stalled, if I have 1 really bad cheat day, and go right back to eating at a deficit, It seems to kickstart things.

tibby531

kristen6350 wrote: »

I don't think you are NETTING enough. The last 10lbs are horrible to get off and I know that if I eat to low they hang around for dear life. What does MFP say to eat (NET) if you set your profile to .5lbs/week? Your deficient might be too high and your body is saying "oh no honey, I'm keeping my fat for warmth and function".

this.

crystalstinson7

You know, I am right there with you. I have been struggling with the last 10lbs since Fall!!! During Winter Break (I work at a college) I didn't work out a single day and I basically ate whatever I wanted. That was for a whole 2 weeks. I lost a pound!! But then I gained two back the first week of January. Since then I have lost those 2lbs, plus 1.5 more. I don't know what did it--changing my exercise routine up: from 5-6 days a week to none, or eating more calories. I'm back to watching my calories, but, I don't know. Maybe what they're saying about eating more is right. I'd say take a break from the exercise for a bit. Give yourself a mini-vacation from it. As long as you get right back to it you should be fine. Good luck!!! I'm going to watch this thread to see if you get anymore tips.

SueInAz

I always say that if what you're doing doesn't work then try something else and it doesn't sound like what you're doing is working.

I've been where you are. There are a couple of things you can do at this point.

1. Continue to eat too little and workout like a hamster on a wheel and hope that something changes.
2. Eat even less which won't give you the results you want either.
3. Eat more and hope that something changes
4. Workout less and hope that something changes
5. Do what I did which was to change my mentality about weight loss completely.

What I realized was, I didn't want to care about the number on the scale. Oh, I still watch it but it's not a goal anymore. Instead, I'm more concerned with how I look naked. No one but me sees the number on the scale but everyone can see how fit I am. So I started strength training and you'll never guess what I discovered. At 10 pounds heavier than I was a few years ago I can fit into the same clothes. My underarms have lost their jiggle. My thighs are smaller and firmer. I look better overall.

It's definitely changed the way I view the whole weight loss process and made me a happier person.

paxbfl

Do you wear a heart-rate monitor? Machines tend to over-estimate calories burned. I'm a 215-pound guy. When I do the elliptical (hard) for 50 minutes, the machine says I've burned 1,000 calories. My HRM says 600 calories! Cycling is even worse - I have a hard time getting my heart rate up unless I really push it. So I question whether you're really burning all the calories you think...

ferdinandthong

My best advise is DO NOT track your exercise as the calories burn is much complicated than simple calculation especially the one shown on treadmill, different weight, body fat, gender all these need to take into consideration. So keep your calories in below your maintenance while ignore all the out put calories.

Liftng4Lis

kristen6350 wrote: »

I don't think you are NETTING enough. The last 10lbs are horrible to get off and I know that if I eat to low they hang around for dear life. What does MFP say to eat (NET) if you set your profile to .5lbs/week? Your deficient might be too high and your body is saying "oh no honey, I'm keeping my fat for warmth and function".

I NET around 1500-1600 and have been losing about .5-1lb a week since Dec. 10th. I'm down 5lbs total, 5lbs more to go. And seriously, it hasn't been that hard. And I don't exercise in winter - hibernate is more like it.

No
You're telling her to eat more, to lose?

Christine_72

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

kristen6350 wrote: »

I don't think you are NETTING enough. The last 10lbs are horrible to get off and I know that if I eat to low they hang around for dear life. What does MFP say to eat (NET) if you set your profile to .5lbs/week? Your deficient might be too high and your body is saying "oh no honey, I'm keeping my fat for warmth and function".

I NET around 1500-1600 and have been losing about .5-1lb a week since Dec. 10th. I'm down 5lbs total, 5lbs more to go. And seriously, it hasn't been that hard. And I don't exercise in winter - hibernate is more like it.

No
You're telling her to eat more, to lose?

I read this often around here. How is this supposed to work??

kellicci

christinev297 wrote: »

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

kristen6350 wrote: »

I don't think you are NETTING enough. The last 10lbs are horrible to get off and I know that if I eat to low they hang around for dear life. What does MFP say to eat (NET) if you set your profile to .5lbs/week? Your deficient might be too high and your body is saying "oh no honey, I'm keeping my fat for warmth and function".

I NET around 1500-1600 and have been losing about .5-1lb a week since Dec. 10th. I'm down 5lbs total, 5lbs more to go. And seriously, it hasn't been that hard. And I don't exercise in winter - hibernate is more like it.

No
You're telling her to eat more, to lose?

I read this often around here. How is this supposed to work??

Yep. I see this a lot. Basically if you're not eating enough there is a theory that your body goes into starvation mode and you'll stop losing. I think it can happen but it probably doesn't happen to everyone. Do a search in the forum there's a lot of great posts out there about eating more to lose,

cheshirecatastrophe

You are not burning 500-900 calories in 30 minutes on an exercise bike/bike trainer. (Unless you are also doing *significant* other exercise you did not mention.)

higgins8283801

kristen6350 wrote: »

I don't think you are NETTING enough. The last 10lbs are horrible to get off and I know that if I eat to low they hang around for dear life. What does MFP say to eat (NET) if you set your profile to .5lbs/week? Your deficient might be too high and your body is saying "oh no honey, I'm keeping my fat for warmth and function".

I NET around 1500-1600 and have been losing about .5-1lb a week since Dec. 10th. I'm down 5lbs total, 5lbs more to go. And seriously, it hasn't been that hard. And I don't exercise in winter - hibernate is more like it.

With me, the smaller I got, the less I need to eat. As it stands my BMR is 1293 and my tdee is 1784. When I started, my BMR was over 1300 and my tdee was 1900.

I'm pretty sure the closer you are to goal; the lesser your deficit becomes and calorie counting needs to be more precise.

At least that has been my experience and the reason why it's so hard is because I already need fewer calories, and need even fewer to keep a deficit

oxers

SueInAz wrote: »

I always say that if what you're doing doesn't work then try something else and it doesn't sound like what you're doing is working.

I've been where you are. There are a couple of things you can do at this point.

1. Continue to eat too little and workout like a hamster on a wheel and hope that something changes.
2. Eat even less which won't give you the results you want either.
3. Eat more and hope that something changes
4. Workout less and hope that something changes
5. Do what I did which was to change my mentality about weight loss completely.

What I realized was, I didn't want to care about the number on the scale. Oh, I still watch it but it's not a goal anymore. Instead, I'm more concerned with how I look naked. No one but me sees the number on the scale but everyone can see how fit I am. So I started strength training and you'll never guess what I discovered. At 10 pounds heavier than I was a few years ago I can fit into the same clothes. My underarms have lost their jiggle. My thighs are smaller and firmer. I look better overall.

It's definitely changed the way I view the whole weight loss process and made me a happier person.

I think this is actually really important. If you're struggling with ten pounds, I mean, that ten pounds isn't going to make a significant health difference, and it's not like you don't still look fantastic. Instead of making yourself crazy and restricting and generally having a bad time, why not just eat at maintenance, work out for the joy of it and look to really lock down your nutrition for optimal health?

No one wants to live like this forever. I can count and restrict and record the burn from every workout for now because I know there is an end in sight. Another twenty pounds and I'll still be ten to fifteen pounds overweight, but I don't want to make myself miserable all my life. I'd rather find an easily maintainable weight I can live with and spend my time focusing on enjoying that body I've worked so hard for, you know? Run that marathon, smash that Ironman, and eat because my body needs it.

Just a thought.

Bristeaux

Thank you all for some really inspiring words and ideas. One thing I have often wondered is whether the machines are anywhere close to accurate with their calorie burn calculations. I do a pretty intense hour on my elliptical and it says I burn 1000 to 1200 calories. The bike for 30 minutes says 120 calories but other sources show more than that for even light cycling so I use the "general cycling" calculation which doubles the calorie burn. Probably shouldn't do that. I know I have to be netting under the 1200 calorie MFP recommendation either way.

I don't think I can stop working out for a week because I love to do it. It's just who I am. But I think I'm going to lighten up on the resistance to give my muscles a break. Do it for the activity not for the burn. We'll see.

Thanks for the support though!

LivingtheLeanDream

SueInAz wrote: »

I always say that if what you're doing doesn't work then try something else and it doesn't sound like what you're doing is working.

I've been where you are. There are a couple of things you can do at this point.

1. Continue to eat too little and workout like a hamster on a wheel and hope that something changes.
2. Eat even less which won't give you the results you want either.
3. Eat more and hope that something changes
4. Workout less and hope that something changes
5. Do what I did which was to change my mentality about weight loss completely.

What I realized was, I didn't want to care about the number on the scale. Oh, I still watch it but it's not a goal anymore. Instead, I'm more concerned with how I look naked. No one but me sees the number on the scale but everyone can see how fit I am. So I started strength training and you'll never guess what I discovered. At 10 pounds heavier than I was a few years ago I can fit into the same clothes. My underarms have lost their jiggle. My thighs are smaller and firmer. I look better overall.

It's definitely changed the way I view the whole weight loss process and made me a happier person.

^^ this! Love this comment and totally agree ☺ focus on losing inches.

ka97

Yeah the last 10lbs sucks. I've been there, a few times, and I'm back there again. So clearly I have my own issues to figure out, but....
-Your calorie burns sound a bit high for what you are describing. So it's possible you may be overestimating calories out, and don't have as much of a deficit as you thought. One option is to eat back about 1/2 your estimated burned calories. Another is to basically set your calorie goal to maintenance and not eat back burned calories (unless you have like a crazy long intense workout).
-Are you using a food scale to weigh everything? If not, there's your problem right there. It's so easy to misjudge portion sizes. Measuring cups and spoons don't work accurately for anything other than liquid. When you get close to your goal weight, there is so little room for error.
-Lift weights. Seriously, lift weights. You'll look better and feel better.

yasmine334

SueInAz wrote: »

So I started strength training and you'll never guess what I discovered. At 10 pounds heavier than I was a few years ago I can fit into the same clothes. My underarms have lost their jiggle. My thighs are smaller and firmer. I look better overall.

It's definitely changed the way I view the whole weight loss process and made me a happier person.

Amazing! I just started my lifting exercises, Can I ask you how long it took you reach this result?

SueInAz

yasmine334 wrote: »

SueInAz wrote: »

So I started strength training and you'll never guess what I discovered. At 10 pounds heavier than I was a few years ago I can fit into the same clothes. My underarms have lost their jiggle. My thighs are smaller and firmer. I look better overall.

It's definitely changed the way I view the whole weight loss process and made me a happier person.

Amazing! I just started my lifting exercises, Can I ask you how long it took you reach this result?

I started lifting in April of last year but I've been fitting into my smaller clothes since late October. My routine isn't extreme. I lift twice per week at the company gym on weekdays after work with a lifting partner. Between the two of us taking turns on the same machine (we add weights for him and take them back off for me) we're there about 45 minutes to an hour. I haven't started using free weights yet; I'm still using the machines. I stopped doing any leg exercises in early December because I had been training for a half marathon that was yesterday morning (Jan 19) and they were impacting my long runs, so it's been all upper body since then.

As an example of my progression, I started out in April bench pressing 65 pounds a couple of times for 3 sets. Last Thursday I did 4 sets of 8 reps at 115 pounds. Tomorrow I'll be upping that weight by another 5 pounds.

For all of the lifting gurus out there: Yes, I know I could be getting better, faster results doing compound moves with free weights but I'm happy doing what I'm doing and I'm seeing good results. Our time lifting is also social time so I don't have a desire to cut that time down.