Losing the last 5-10 pounds

picachu96
picachu96 Posts: 3 Member
edited March 2018 in Health and Weight Loss
I don't usually post but figured that I would share what I've been doing in case anyone else has been going crazy over their weight loss plateaus! I've been using MFP for over 3 years now and found success with generally changing my lifestyle habits. I lost about 25 pounds in 7-8 months over 2 years ago going from 155 to 130 (I'm female 5'5) by making an effort to track what I eat, eating about 1300-1400 calories a day, and having a very basic workout schedule (20 min of running on the treadmill, average burn about 200 calories) to supplement with my diet.

I'm really proud of my weight loss but still can't shake the feeling that I could lose a few 'vanity' pounds to look/feel my best especially around the summer time, which is something I think most people can relate to. However, a lot of people like me tend to struggle with losing the last few. Over the summer I got down to about 125-126 pounds, but that was a very unsustainable process as I was working out 2+ hours a day cardio/heavy lifting (I had too much time on my hands) and eating very little (1300-1400 a day) considering how active I was, so I was constantly fatigued. I was happy with my body, but I had bags under my eyes, my hair started thinning, and I would constantly ditch social events to go to the gym so I knew I had to stop. I switched back to a normal maintenance diet, and I gained back the weight I lost but that was because I was doing normal people things like hanging out with friends out at dinner/happy hour and my weight went back up to a perfectly healthy 130. Still, I felt frustrated that losing those vanity pounds was such a grueling process.

Recently however, I think I've found a solution. My spring break has been coming up and I've been back on the weight loss grind now that winter is starting to end. This time, however, I've ditched the low calorie diet and eat about 1700 calories a day, and supplement that with 60 minutes of high intensity training a day, with about 1 built in rest day a week. My workouts either involve a Barry's Bootcamp style workout where its 30 min of alternating run/sprints on the treadmill mixed with 30 min of interval training with medium/heavy weights, or 60 min of boxing with a heavybag with conditioning like pushups/squats in between intervals.

Diet wise, I know calorie counting is considered 'unhealthy', but I find it to be way less stressful than paleo/keto/macros/etc, and super compatible with this app, as well as easily incorporated into my busy/constantly changing lifestyle. I already ate pretty clean (no junk food, sodas, avoid red meat), but I love pasta and bread and rice and cheese and would rather die than cut it out. I just watched my total intake. That's it. If I'm hungry, I eat a low cal protein bar or greek yogurt, I don't care about going slightly over. Its incredible that all my body needed was for me to a) fuel a bit more and b) up the intensity of my workout, and it started doing magical things. It's only been a month, but I've lost about 3 pounds and am noticeably more cut/toned, which is all I really wanted. For reference, in the past it's taken me about 3 months to achieve the same results. I love this new lifestyle because I don't feel like I am sacrificing a huge part of my day to workout, and I don't feel constantly hungry like I used to. It's funny because Ive done so much research in the past, and everyone says at this stage you need to watch what you eat/what you do like a hawk but I honestly think that everyone has small tweaks that they can change about their life that make a huge difference in their fitness goals. I also feel so relaxed about my body for the first time in years knowing that I don't need to starve myself, and I feel like my metabolism is repairing itself.

For everyone else who read this and is in somewhat of a similar situation, first of all thanks for reading and I'd love to know what else you guys have done thats worked for you!

Replies

  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    I'm glad you found your golden ratio :)

    I'm a bit concerned some people who are newer to this might get the wrong message. It seems from your post that you are saying that eating 1300cals and exercising for two hours makes you lose less weight than eating 1700cals and exercising one hour.

    I wanted to assure people that it doesn't work like that. There are a lot of people here who say "I stopped losing, should I start eating more". There were other factors which made it seem like that for you (for example not weighting all your food the first time and eating more than you think. Then you say you switched to maintanance and regained the weight which is impossible if it was maintanance by definition - I think you weren't tracking your food). Whatever the reason it sends the wrong message.

  • Fitnessgirl0913
    Fitnessgirl0913 Posts: 481 Member
    jelly_potato wrote: »
    Muscleflex79 wrote: »
    you lost me at 'calorie counting is considered unhealthy' ?? by who??

    By the media and a lot of people with strong opinions and zero knowledge I assume, as calorie counting is apparently often considered to be a symptom of an eating disorder - anorexia for example (while I don't have a source for you, I bet the first show about anorexia you watch will mention it). As soon as people around me learnt that I do calorie counting, for example, they lined up eager to tell me how unhealthy and obsessive it is and how I need to see a professional. A friend saw me once logging a piece of cake we had at a cafe and immediately had to express how worried she is about me. I thought the world around me had gone mad until I watched a few shows and it clicked for me.

    Anyway, my apologies for contributing to getting this thread off-topic.

    I get exactly what you mean. I went out to lunch with my mom last week and looked up the nutrition facts for where we were going, chose something, and pre logged it. She told me I should not "obsess over calorie counting that way". I think you are right when you say it stems from the media, they usually portray calorie counting as "obsessive" and "unhealthy". *sigh*.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    Fitnessgirl0913 wrote: »
    jelly_potato wrote: »
    Muscleflex79 wrote: »
    you lost me at 'calorie counting is considered unhealthy' ?? by who??

    By the media and a lot of people with strong opinions and zero knowledge I assume, as calorie counting is apparently often considered to be a symptom of an eating disorder - anorexia for example (while I don't have a source for you, I bet the first show about anorexia you watch will mention it). As soon as people around me learnt that I do calorie counting, for example, they lined up eager to tell me how unhealthy and obsessive it is and how I need to see a professional. A friend saw me once logging a piece of cake we had at a cafe and immediately had to express how worried she is about me. I thought the world around me had gone mad until I watched a few shows and it clicked for me.

    Anyway, my apologies for contributing to getting this thread off-topic.

    I get exactly what you mean. I went out to lunch with my mom last week and looked up the nutrition facts for where we were going, chose something, and pre logged it. She told me I should not "obsess over calorie counting that way". I think you are right when you say it stems from the media, they usually portray calorie counting as "obsessive" and "unhealthy". *sigh*.

    The thing is, once you've done it, it's logged and you're no longer thinking about it... not sure how that's obsessive. If you know where you're going, you can pre-log in the morning or even the night before... or if it's a very special event, when you make the reservation.
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
    Fitnessgirl0913 wrote: »
    jelly_potato wrote: »
    Muscleflex79 wrote: »
    you lost me at 'calorie counting is considered unhealthy' ?? by who??

    By the media and a lot of people with strong opinions and zero knowledge I assume, as calorie counting is apparently often considered to be a symptom of an eating disorder - anorexia for example (while I don't have a source for you, I bet the first show about anorexia you watch will mention it). As soon as people around me learnt that I do calorie counting, for example, they lined up eager to tell me how unhealthy and obsessive it is and how I need to see a professional. A friend saw me once logging a piece of cake we had at a cafe and immediately had to express how worried she is about me. I thought the world around me had gone mad until I watched a few shows and it clicked for me.

    Anyway, my apologies for contributing to getting this thread off-topic.

    I get exactly what you mean. I went out to lunch with my mom last week and looked up the nutrition facts for where we were going, chose something, and pre logged it. She told me I should not "obsess over calorie counting that way". I think you are right when you say it stems from the media, they usually portray calorie counting as "obsessive" and "unhealthy". *sigh*.

    serious question - is your mother overweight? I find usually comments like that are from people that don't want to examine their own food choices.

    also, it is really no different than budgeting/spending. saying you shouldn't pay attention to your input/output would be like saying you shouldn't pay attention to your spending/saving - sure people live that way, but it's not exactly the best advice!
  • Fitnessgirl0913
    Fitnessgirl0913 Posts: 481 Member
    Muscleflex79 wrote: »
    Fitnessgirl0913 wrote: »
    jelly_potato wrote: »
    Muscleflex79 wrote: »
    you lost me at 'calorie counting is considered unhealthy' ?? by who??

    By the media and a lot of people with strong opinions and zero knowledge I assume, as calorie counting is apparently often considered to be a symptom of an eating disorder - anorexia for example (while I don't have a source for you, I bet the first show about anorexia you watch will mention it). As soon as people around me learnt that I do calorie counting, for example, they lined up eager to tell me how unhealthy and obsessive it is and how I need to see a professional. A friend saw me once logging a piece of cake we had at a cafe and immediately had to express how worried she is about me. I thought the world around me had gone mad until I watched a few shows and it clicked for me.

    Anyway, my apologies for contributing to getting this thread off-topic.

    I get exactly what you mean. I went out to lunch with my mom last week and looked up the nutrition facts for where we were going, chose something, and pre logged it. She told me I should not "obsess over calorie counting that way". I think you are right when you say it stems from the media, they usually portray calorie counting as "obsessive" and "unhealthy". *sigh*.

    serious question - is your mother overweight? I find usually comments like that are from people that don't want to examine their own food choices.

    also, it is really no different than budgeting/spending. saying you shouldn't pay attention to your input/output would be like saying you shouldn't pay attention to your spending/saving - sure people live that way, but it's not exactly the best advice!

    She is not and actually obsesses over her weight so it is kind of ironic her making a comment like that. Maybe she just doesn't want me to obsess like her?
  • toxikon
    toxikon Posts: 2,383 Member
    Congrats on your progress!

    I'm teetering on the edge of "Should I lose more?" or "Should I start recomping?" and it's hard to decide. I'm 5'7" and 140lbs right now. I'd really love to get down to 130lbs because I've never been that low as an adult. But eating more sure sounds nice.
  • picachu96
    picachu96 Posts: 3 Member
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    I'm glad you found your golden ratio :)

    I'm a bit concerned some people who are newer to this might get the wrong message. It seems from your post that you are saying that eating 1300cals and exercising for two hours makes you lose less weight than eating 1700cals and exercising one hour.

    Sure, I definitely agree how this could be misconstrued. To be clear, I have had many plateaus over my previous weight loss journey and usually found that I broke through by adopting one more marginal healthy habit (drinking more water, running faster on the treadmill, making one meal a bit healthier, cutting back on alcohol). Those are general lifestyle changes that one can/should do. Finally, I relied on tracking accurately and being honest with myself, which I think is super important.

    Tracking made me rely on a strategy of CICO, which is why I was frustrated when the numbers weren't working out. However, I genuinely was putting my body into starvation mode and 'overtraining' at those low levels, and I think that's what I'm trying to warn people against. I didn't weigh my foods but was obsessively tracking nutrition facts from foods I bought at the grocery store (didn't cook much).


    But if I could rephrase this post and target a very specific set of people, it would probably be for people who plateaud because they've been yo-yo dieting for awhile now and their body is used to very little fuel.

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