Females only - how did you lose the last 10 pounds?

celeste_2009

Hi ladies!! I am 5'4, 135 pounds, and I've been trying to lose simply a pound since January, to no avail. I was doing intuitive eating before, but finally started MFP this week, with the aim of eating 1800 cals/month. Any advice? I feel like when there is less to lose, it's much harder! (as is evident from my lack of progress!)

hesn92

Yes it is harder when you’re already at a good/healthy weight. Just keep plugging along. If you eat the appropriate amount of calories your weight will go down although you shouldn’t expect to lose a pound a week. Probably set your goal to .5lb a week instead and try to not let the scale discourage you. It helps me to focus on fitness related goals.

urloved33

I switched out my snacks for tea...its working like a charm!

celeste_2009

Thanks for the advice, both of you, and for reminding me to be patient

Tq43

I'm trying to lose my last 4 pounds. I lose a pound, then gain 3...then lose 2 and gain 1....this has been going on a month or more.
I still have 4 pounds to lose...
I'm not sure if it's water fluctuation, hormonal, fat or what ! It's terribly annoying but I'm determined to get there !

KickassAmazon76

I lost them by calorie counting. I found them, and five of their friends, by thinking I no longer needed to pay attention to what I ate.

That said... maintenance was a constant +/- 5 pounds... I'd go slack on logging... +5... pay attention... -5... and so on.

At some point, life became too overwhelming and injuries were in full force, that I skipped the "Pay attention... -5" part, and just repeated the "slack on logging... +5" cycle a few too many times. lol

abbynormal52

I'm going for that now, and I'm down 2 in 11 days. I set my goals according to my TDEE, and I use this calculator to figure out my numbers;) It's working great so far. I do weight-training with body-weight for now, and it's very effective for me. I'm 100% for toning and building muscle, especially because if I just lose fat, I would look like a stick Here's the link: https://damnripped.com/tdee-calculator/

PS my diary is open for foods, and so is my exercise but I haven't kept track of all I have done as far as exercise, not much, but I'm doing something every other day;)

HoneyBadger302

KickassAmazon76 wrote: »

At some point, life became too overwhelming and injuries were in full force, that I skipped the "Pay attention... -5" part, and just repeated the "slack on logging... +5" cycle a few too many times. lol

Oh boy do I know that feeling. I was losing nicely, had made activity a part of my life again (after my first "desk" job saw the weight gain in the first place), was making solid progress, and then a bad injury with the stress that came with it, plus a move and other "life" stuff, put back on most of what I had lost Now back to slowly taking it back off.

apullum

Weigh every food you can possibly weigh. Estimate high when you can't weigh. When you are close to your goal weight, your calorie deficit gets very small, and even a few errors can put you in maintenance or cause you to gain. I had to be meticulous about it.

Don't trust exercise calorie estimates from gym equipment or the MFP database. They're notoriously high. This is why many people say to eat half your exercise calories--not because you only need half, but because estimates are often wrong.

Get comfortable with water weight fluctuations. Intense exercise will cause water weight gain. So will some foods. So will hormonal changes. It's annoying and normal.

Be patient and realistic about how long it takes to lose the last 10 pounds. It took me eight months.

abbynormal52

celeste_2009 wrote: »

Hi ladies!! I am 5'4, 135 pounds, and I've been trying to lose simply a pound since January, to no avail. I was doing intuitive eating before, but finally started MFP this week, with the aim of eating 1800 cals/month. Any advice? I feel like when there is less to lose, it's much harder! (as is evident from my lack of progress!)

You mean 1800 per day I'm guessing? For your height and weight, that's too much I think unless you are calculating in your deficit, like I do a 20% of my 1700 per day. I put the calculator in my other reply above, the one I use anyway. And you'll see by my diaries what I eat, and basic idea of how much exercise (calories burned). I don't log those every day, but I manage to get my food logged;)

KickassAmazon76

HoneyBadger155 wrote: »

KickassAmazon76 wrote: »

At some point, life became too overwhelming and injuries were in full force, that I skipped the "Pay attention... -5" part, and just repeated the "slack on logging... +5" cycle a few too many times. lol

Oh boy do I know that feeling. I was losing nicely, had made activity a part of my life again (after my first "desk" job saw the weight gain in the first place), was making solid progress, and then a bad injury with the stress that came with it, plus a move and other "life" stuff, put back on most of what I had lost Now back to slowly taking it back off.

at least we know we can do it! Now it's just a matter of wanting it badly enough TO do it. haha

teeenabeana

I'm having a hard time with the last 10 lbs also it's getting really frustrating! I'm trying to incorporate more strength training into my routine because I think my body got used to the same cardio exercises every day for the past year. I'm also paying more attention to hitting my macro goals. I've only been trying these things for a few weeks, so I'll see if it works!

sexygatubela77

Discipline, consistency... and PATIENCE!! It took about 6 months to lose the last 10!

bbell1985

Ugh...I did it once and it didn't last. My lowest was 128. It took me weighing every little thing, logging my gum, carrying around peppers for snacks in case I was at events with food...bleh.

I'm back up to 147 and trying to lose another 10 now. If I get VERY lucky I might be able to do it by the end of July. Probably not though.

sardelsa

The first time, food scale and accurate logging, and lots of patience. The following times (after pregnancy, several bulk cycles, so I lose those last 5-10lbs often), I didn't track, but I had decent calorie awareness so just kept going until I was happy.., adherence, consistency and patience.

bfanny

It’s really is hard! I lost 45 and can’t lose 5
I workout daily, I know how to track and still, up and down the same 3, I’m 5’4” and I just want to get to 125-128 from 132-135 so not even to the lowest (115-120) I have tried eating more 1,600-1,800, eating less 1,300-1,500 and Nope, I can lose but ovulation or PMS get here and I’m up again

Pastaprincess1978

I lost 20 lbs in 2 months and can't lose the last 10 lbs as fast! I really shouldn't be so surprised by it's frustrating when you don't see the scale move!

celeste_2009

Thank yo so much for the feedback, everyone! I was starting to feel hopeless, but now I feel a little bit better knowing I'm not the only one . I think I'm going to see how 1800 cals/day goes, and then if that doesn't work, I'll go down a tad bit lower. Thanks again!

Fitnessmom82

celeste_2009 wrote: »

Hi ladies!! I am 5'4, 135 pounds, and I've been trying to lose simply a pound since January, to no avail. I was doing intuitive eating before, but finally started MFP this week, with the aim of eating 1800 cals/month. Any advice? I feel like when there is less to lose, it's much harder! (as is evident from my lack of progress!)

I find that it's more mental than physical at this point. I've always been weighing and logging food, so I'm good with that side of it and I pretty much get the expected rate of lose. You just have to keep plugging along! Time of the month can hide any loss for 2 weeks out of the month for me. I find .5lb per week really hides it's self sometimes. But it is happening! I'll get a whoosh every couple of weeks, then stall again. I have one stinking pound to go and have been bouncing around it for 2 weeks now. It will happen eventually! There's a lot of temptation to slack now that I am basically done and I am really fighting that. I'm also eager to get on to maintenance calories and finding myself a little more hungry every day. Hang in there!

cmriverside

Logging every single thing I ate.

Fixing 90% of my own meals.

Small calorie deficit = -250 off my TDEE. I came to this number by logging food for a very long time and studying my results.

FOOD. SCALE. ALWAYS. nuff said.

Exercising 3-5 times per week for 45 minutes to an hour. Nothing crazy, just moderate exercise.

Time. Took me nearly nine months: it's hard at the end. Hunger is a real thing at that point. It's a mental long game.

Patience. Not jumping off, or giving up. Just doing the right thing most of the time.

dramaqueen45

I got down to 125 after a year and a half-but probably the last 6 months was the last 5 pounds. I'm also 5'4", menopausal, hypothyroid and 50 years old (got to the lowest weight at age 48 in 2016). I would agree with all of the above- you have to be very meticulous- no cheat meals because they can throw off your whole week, no bites, licks, tastes, weigh everything and be patient. Avoid sodium, or if you eat something with high sodium, don't weigh yourself for a day or two because it can be discouraging. Also I changed up my exercise routine, added intervals and toward the end stopped eating back exercise calories. After I got to 125 I kept losing without meaning to and got to 121 for a few weeks. Maintenance is definitely much harder than losing because it's all about striking a balance. Getting back into some bad habits I gained back up to 141 this last winter and am trying to get into a range between 125-130. I was back to 130 about a year ago, but then relaxed and lapsed back into the bad habits of eating too many sweets and bad carbs. But instead of ignoring it I am trying to get back down and I am down around 137 at the moment. I almost like the losing thing better because you get the encouragement of good habits on the scale- with maintenance you have to not eat too much, but not eat too little- very hard to get that balance just right!

LivingtheLeanDream

Oh boy those last pounds are painstaking! it took me tracking really accurately, using a food scale, and consistently staying with my calories - for me at 5ft 2 and being lightly active I lost around 0.25- 0.5lb a week on average if I ate an average of 1600-1750 calories.

When we are down to the last pounds it takes being really vigilent about food logging and staying at calorie deficit.

But the good news is, it can be done - be patient. It took me almost 3 months to lose my last 5 lbs - so even with being vigilent there is always room for error but I got there and so can you .

SabAteNine

By not despairing... I went on a 1200/1250 cal per day intake for January and saw nothing. Nothing. Then I increased to 1450 and pounds started shedding. Accurate logging (can't stress this enough), lots of walking, and for me a very low carb intake, but what works differs greatly from person to person I guess, and so do preferences. Jan to mid April, lost 11 lbs and reached my target.

Best of luck to you! Consistence is basically all that it boils down to, AND the hardest part of it all.

Unknown

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krael65

I'm 5'2", currently 112. The last 10 came off like the first 13. Slow but steady, it averaged out to be a little over .5 lb. per week. It took persistence and consistency. But it's totally doable. The game changer for me was understanding my TDEE and how NEAT affects total daily calorie burn, more so than intentional exercise. So the adage 'move more' is true - but using my FitBit helped me see the impact of 'moving more' on my daily totals.

celeste_2009

Hi everyone, thank you so much for the tips and motivation. I'm still at 1600-1800 but might move down in a week if I don't see progress (although not too low, since I'm afraid of skimping on calories due to a past eating disorder issue years ago). I hope it's OK if I friend all of you for motivation!

helene4

I'm 5"3 was hanging around 115-120 for a year. Then got into a traumatic situation for a year on top of my dad having one health issue after another and gained to 135 (where I am now)

For me losing the last 5-10lbs (in the past and what I'm executing now) wasn't about being too strict w calories (I know some people might hate me for saying that) but by the time I was at 125 I realized what foods AIDED my weight loss (salmon, broccoli, foods w iodine - seaweed and yes pinches of salt I added to food I prepared at home) and what foods made me seem to gain 3lbs over night (popcorn, anything with corn actually - I don't digest it well, gluten, and sugar)

So for me it was about eating foods my body liked and avoiding the ones it didn't

Granted, I work out like a beast and Love it hah so that def plays a part too

I'm sure you'll figure it out! The plan you talked about above sounds good

ryenday

helene4 wrote: »

I'm 5"3 was hanging around 115-120 for a year. Then got into a traumatic situation for a year on top of my dad having one health issue after another and gained to 135 (where I am now)

For me losing the last 5-10lbs (in the past and what I'm executing now) wasn't about being too strict w calories (I know some people might hate me for saying that) but by the time I was at 125 I realized what foods AIDED my weight loss (salmon, broccoli, foods w iodine - seaweed and yes pinches of salt I added to food I prepared at home) and what foods made me seem to gain 3lbs over night (popcorn, anything with corn actually - I don't digest it well, gluten, and sugar)

So for me it was about eating foods my body liked and avoiding the ones it didn't

Granted, I work out like a beast and Love it hah so that def plays a part too

I'm sure you'll figure it out! The plan you talked about above sounds good

Puzzler! I wonder if the odd occasional weight jumping up 3 pounds is correlated with my popcorn intake! It never seems to coincide with extra calories, salt intake, or hard workouts, so I’ve been hoping I might some day pin it down.

The last 10? Mostly I got it off by not noticing it was the last 10. Nothing different than. The first 40. I sometimes think the mental component is a gotcha!

urbanfarmgirl2014

It's possible that you do not need to actually lose anymore weight, and you may need to gain some muscle. If you are losing weight via calorie restriction and cardio, you are possibly losing muscle mass along with the fat, which will affect your metabolism. I started lifting weights and doing HIIT circuit training a few months ago... my weight has actually gone UP (which messed with my head), but my muscle mass has gone up and body fat percentage have gone down. I have a very small calorie deficit, and have started keeping a better eye on my macros as well; a little more protein and a little less carbs (nothing extreme), but the difference in how my body looks and feels is amazing!

aliblain

I’ve lost 20lb and really I have 20lb still to go although I would be within my ‘happy’ weight range if I lost 10. It’s been sooooo slow. I’ve been sticking to the bottom end of the calories that the nhs bmi calculator gives me for my weight/height and activity (this they say should give a loss of 1-2lb/week). I try to eat 100g protein/day. I go up and down, up and down- last week I thought things were going in the right direction then it all goes back on again. I’ve become super strict about logging- weighing milk for coffee etc. I have a desk job 3 days a week but on my days off I walk a lot. Look at my April weigh ins...