Anybody else struggling with the last 10-15lbs?

NikaIris

I'm 5'6 and my SW was about 210lbs (I stopped weighing myself after I reached 200lbs). After a year of mindful eating and walking 10k steps per day I'm down to 150/152lbs which feels great.
I still want to lose 10-15lbs because my legs and calves are still pretty chunky and I think it would help to lose some extra fat. But since about 6 weeks I've been struggling with losing any more.
I know it would help if I ate a little less and exercised a little more but somehow this is all I can manage. I'm not ready to maintain yet, even though it seems that's what I've been doing.
Anybody else having the same problem?

kommodevaran

The less you weigh, the slower you can lose, so you have to be patient. You also maintain on a lower intake than before, and what you're eating now, can be exactly that level.

Do you log your food? I get not wanting to eat less (who wants that anyway), maybe you can find something you can easily live without or in smaller portions or less frequently? The trick is to limit intake enough to get and maintain a healthy weight, without feeling overly restricted.

Good job on your loss so far! You got this!

NikaIris

I'm not logging every bite, but I eat no sugar (not even fruits), no snacks and my gf and me cook everything ourselves. Since I'm vegan it's mostly vegetables, chickpeas, beans, oatflakes and rice anyway. We also use almost no oil (1 teaspoon olive oil per day - for salad dressings mostly). So I'm not exactly sure where to skimp anymore.

I stick to 3 meals per day and I eat about 1800 calories per day. If I eat any less I get hungry real quick and start to overeat or snack between meals which adds up to even more calories.

And thank you!

kommodevaran

That was very little fat and variety. Maybe you just need more oil, and fruit?

bpotts44

That diet is short in some essential nutrients. You should think about some Omega 3 supplements and some vitamins as a minimum. I'm not an expert in vegan nutrition but you need to research how to do it successfully.

Stockholm_Andy

At 5'6 and 150lbs you'll be maintaining on about 1950 Kcals. Maintenance at your target weight would be about 1900 Kcals.

The margins are fine as you get closer to your target. The chances are that if you've not lost for 6 weeks you're actually eating closer to the 1950 than the 1800 you think you're eating.

The only way to loose more is to create a deficit. It doesn't sound like you've got much wiggle room in what you're eating so maybe up the exercise? 10K steps really isn't very much. Double that and you'll probably be in a sufficient deficit.

NikaIris

I'm sugar addicted so if I eat anything sweet the craving just won't stop and I have to go through withdrawal again. It's pretty terrible. I'm shaking and crying for days until the pain eventually stops. So I'd rather not go there again. Doing it twice was hard enough.

We eat a lot of different vegetables and legumes and my gf is a pretty fabulous cook, so it doesn't feel very sparse. She makes zucchini noodles, vegetable patties, bean pancakes and stuff like that. She's really very creative.
I could add a little more oil, I guess, but wouldn't that mean eating more calories rather than less?

kommodevaran

NikaIris wrote: »

I'm sugar addicted so if I eat anything sweet the craving just won't stop and I have to go through withdrawal again. It's pretty terrible. I'm shaking and crying for days until the pain eventually stops. So I'd rather not go there again. Doing it twice was hard enough.

Sugar addiction is a hot topic, and more a question on stance than anything. I too believed I had it, but for me it was just that I was so afraid of food I liked, that I lost control of my intake.

We eat a lot of different vegetables and legumes and my gf is a pretty fabulous cook, so it doesn't feel very sparse. She makes zucchini noodles, vegetable patties, bean pancakes and stuff like that. She's really very creative.

But you are hungry when you try to eat less, and you're still at a BMI of 24, so the quality of your diet is not optimal.

I could add a little more oil, I guess, but wouldn't that mean eating more calories rather than less?

You would have to reduce calories elsewhere.

NikaIris

Stockholm_Andy wrote: »

The margins are fine as you get closer to your target. The chances are that if you've not lost for 6 weeks you're actually eating closer to the 1950 than the 1800 you think you're eating.

The only way to loose more is to create a deficit. It doesn't sound like you've got much wiggle room in what you're eating so maybe up the exercise? 10K steps really isn't very much. Double that and you'll probably be in a sufficient deficit.

That is probably true! At the beginning when I counted everything I was almost always about 1800-2000 which was enough to lose weight at the time. It's entirely possible that I eat about 1950-2000 at the moment, maybe I should log my food again.
I try to step up the exercise, but it's´pretty hard for me to hit the 10k every day. It takes me 1.5 hours which I have to spend after work (I work 8-4 every day) and I also want to meet friends and spend time with my gf in the evening. Also the whole cooking everything yourself-thing takes time.

bpotts44 wrote: »

That diet is short in some essential nutrients. You should think about some Omega 3 supplements and some vitamins as a minimum. I'm not an expert in vegan nutrition but you need to research how to do it successfully.

Actually It's not.
We supply B12, but everything else we get from food (we eat algae every other week, so my Omega3 is fine). I had my yearly check up last month and my blood levels were excellent in all areas.
We eat pretty much everything on this charts except the highly artificial stuff eg margarine:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTsA4OTHnrDx77Iw2KTMgZcyfU3IcL-_fl3a5AGL-5v_rGcJtcN
https://cubaodw.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/mineral-chart1.jpg

NikaIris

kommodevaran wrote: »

NikaIris wrote: »

I'm sugar addicted so if I eat anything sweet the craving just won't stop and I have to go through withdrawal again. It's pretty terrible. I'm shaking and crying for days until the pain eventually stops. So I'd rather not go there again. Doing it twice was hard enough.

Sugar addiction is a hot topic, and more a question on stance than anything. I too believed I had it, but for me it was just that I was so afraid of food I liked, that I lost control of my intake.

I know, I know.
It's been really bad for me though. My cravings have almost ruined my health, have definitly ruined relationships, because I lied and I stole and screamed at people I love, twice I lost control and hit somebody, I almost lost my Job over it, and more often than not I ended up shaking, crying and puking in a bathroom somewhere. I've been doing a lot of apologies during the last months and I just ... can't go there again.

I tried it once back in december and ate some chocolate, but it's been hell all over again. I was ready to murder someone to get some more and I ended up not going to work for ten days, because I was crying and shaking the whole time, because it was so hard not to go out and get moremoremore.

So yeah ... I get that it's all in my head, but the only thing so far that worked for me has been to avoid sugar entirely.