The last 10...

Jmgkamp

I know I'm lucky to be down to the last 10, believe me I'm only partially complaining (since I've lost 75 already since March 1 2015)... But... This is SO HARD. My logging is super tight, down to the gram. I'm working out like a champ. I'm drinking my liquids. The only major change is sleep - I'm lucky to get 6 hours a night.

I knew I wouldn't be losing multi-pounds, or even single pounds, but I'm losing tiny fractions of a pound - or nothing, repeatedly. I've tried changing exercises, I reduced calories to absurd amounts (under 700 cal), tried eating maintenance (1660 cal), tried changing foods (can't do no carbs, just cannot do that). I'm at a loss (no pun intended).

Is this just how it's going to go? I was 5 pounds from goal before Thanksgiving but I starved myself to get there and that was not a maintainable or healthy lifestyle.

I think that I may be at a place where even with right logging I will only lose .5 pounds A MONTH. I'm 5'1.5" and 43. I don't have a lot if wiggle room.

Any advice or is this the way it's gonna go?

ahoy_m8

Well... how about try 0.5lb a month for a while?

Seriously, you have made tremendous progress. Go you! Sounds like you are doing everything right...except sleep. What if you just enjoy your accomplishment at maintenance for a couple months? Take what they call a full diet break. And work on solving the sleep deficit before tackling the last 10 pounds?

I have no doubt you can get there. The last few pounds take a lot of patience and subtlety.

Others may not see it this way, but to me, maintenance is really nothing more than gaining and losing the last 5 pounds continuously. As you said, at your size, not a lot of wiggle room. I'm considerably older than you and pretty low BF%, so I'm right there with you on the not much wiggle room thing. I really take my time to lose 5lb. You can do it. Figure out the sleep thing and you're there.

R0asted

Cycling carbs or drastically increasing cardio might be the only way. The other alternative is to take a break and eat maintenance for a while and maybe even gradually increasing cals over. 2-3 month period to reset your metabolism and then dropping them again but it sounds like you already tried the later in some form and that might not even work. I'm currently running into the same issue running moderate carbs. The thing is that I've dropped lower before on two separate occasions but both times my carbs were brutally low and I'm dreading the zombie mode that I get when I'm eating under 100g of carbs a day (which for me is extremely low).

Orphia

Have you got a screenshot of your weight loss?

Have you really only lost 0.5 lbs a month for months?

You might just need to give it more time. I've got 4 kg to go, and have only lost 1 lb since Jan 4, but I'm not worried because I know how my monthly hormonal times affect my weight.

irenehb

What is your goal weight? Is it realistic? How do you know your maintenance is 1660 calories?
But yes, it seems you don't have much wiggle room and have to accept a slow lose.

jenmovies

Maybe if you tried low-no carbs for a few weeks, up your protein and do more heavy weights? I've read those things can help just take it up a notch. Also, getting a personal trainer to kick your *kitten* a couple time a week can also boost the loss. I'm stuck at the moment too so starring this thread to see if you find something that works!

trjjoy

Something us wrong somewhere. Are you sure you are weighing everything correctly? That you are choosing the correct foods from the MFP database? Your body doesn't know how much weight you want to lose. Your body isn't holding your fat hostage. You just need to eat at a deficit.

dramaqueen45

I feel your pain. After the holidays- lucky to maintain during that I have been on my last five pounds since beginning of January. I actually was doing okay and then got derailed after going away for a weekend with little control over what I ate as meals were provided. Why does it take three weeks to lose two pounds and three days to put it back on I wonder? Anyway after that weekend I tried to get back on it but in my family we have three birthdays three weeks in a row and then of course yesterday was super bowl and we had people over. I plan to hit it hard this week even though we have one more birthday this Thursday. I find that eating back none or just half of my exercise calories has helped me to get back on that losing streak. I also find that doing intervals has helped too. You just have to try different things. I also lowered my calories just a bit and that also helped. It's like your body just wants to stop at a point when you only have a few left to lose and it's hard to make it start up again.

nordlead2005

The last 10lb follows the same process as the first 10lb just with different numbers.

Recalculate TDEE and adjust your food intake as required. If maintenance is really 1660, then just eat 1300 and you'll lose ~0.7lb/week, which may take weeks to show up on the scale. Heck, over the last 2 weeks most days have been over 1lb away from the previous days recording (175.3, 173.1, 172.6, 173.9, 174.2, 174.3, etc...)

I'm past goal, and now down to losing additional weight to get a lower BF%, and my rate of loss went down. Same thing happened when I was within 5lb of goal. It wasn't because of any magic, but because I mentally quit and was eating more than I should have. Just hopped back on the bandwagon so hopefully I can continue as planned.