Normal???

adreal

I have been in the 150's since October. Up and down this whole time but stayed in the 150's. I am now fluctuating between 155-151. Is this normal as you get closer to the end goal?

dramaqueen45

Yes- there is a forum on here called "Last 5 pounds". It is a real struggle to lose that last little bit. I have been between 127 and 130 for the past two-three months and my goal is 125. Of course Christmas season doesn't help plus for me there are three birthdays in a row in my family in January/February and then the week after that is Valentine's Day. Logging has to be extremely accurate with no room for error. I have found that logging only half of exercise calories has helped me, but if, for example, I go away for the weekend and eat more than I normally would or I can't be as accurate then I'm up a pound or so when I return. If I lose .2 per week I'd be happy. Other things I've done in the past to break a plateau is eating at maintenance for a week or so and then dropping back down, upping exercise intensity, changing exercise routine and lowering calories just a little bit. Also change your goal to .5 per week if you are very close.

Jonna13

I would say it's normal. As you have less to lose its harder and harder to reach goal. I maintained in the 140's for over a year after losing 40+lbs. In January I finally decided to tighten up my food logging and up my exercise. It's coming off again, without much effort. I'm now 7.4lbs away from goal, and this is the closest I've been to my goal in over 3yrs. I expect it to get even harder for the last 5lbs. At that point, I'll probably up my workout/switch it up. I'm in no rush-slow and steady

crb426

You need to be patient, very, very patient with those last few pounds. And really, it's not so bad if you think about it. I am easing myself into maintenance. I would like to lose 5 more pounds to reach goal, but I'm also taking each day getting slowly closer to maintenance calories. This allows me to slowly adjust to the larger amount of calories while still offering some forgiveness for days that I eat more.

Basically, I know I could stick to the strict calories that allowed me to lose the first 30+ pounds, but I feel like it's really best to slow it down. It's interesting how much body is changing as I have been basically maintaining.

adreal

I don't even know how to eat at maintenance. And that scares me I have changed my routine this week so we will see. It is tough trying to figure this body out! It seems that I can get down to 151 and now I am at 154 but hit 155 this week. So I don't know. I am just going to keep moving. I still have some fat to burn so here's to hoping that it is melting away

gilldunkley

I have found the 'last ten pounds' to be an absolute nightmare; been stuck at 123-126lbs for months and months sadly. I would like to think it's a common problem and I'm not unique. I shook my diet up, started eating more fat and more protein (increased my energy intake) and the calipers are moving again - very slowly but in the right direction so here's hoping.

Good luck and I hope you are successful in getting things moving again too!