Logic on “the last 20 pounds”...

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  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    BattyKnitter wrote: »
    Maxxitt wrote: »
    BattyKnitter wrote: »
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    Other than muscle, there is also the issue of being more likely to suffer from hormonal problems when you're already on the lean side and still dieting on a higher deficit. Those can be so hard to resolve and may even require gaining back some fat, so it's best to avoid getting to that point in the first place. By that, I don't mean just menstrual cycle disturbances, but also hunger hormones can get out of whack and when you transition to maintenance you'll find it much harder to keep your weight stable.

    How do I know if I am at risk for this though? Would I not start feeling crappy? Right now I have energy and I'm only hungry before meals.

    I noticed that you said you were inclined to stick at your current 1500-1700 calories a day (that's net, right? after eating more calories to support your activity level?) because it's working for you at present. With ~18 pounds to go, that same deficit is going to result in slower weight loss over time. You might not "feel crappy" in the traditional sense (feeling low energy, for ex depending on your caffeine habit) if your deficit is too steep. What you might notice is hair loss beyond your seasonal shedding & disrupted sleep, and maybe more hunger sensations. That's your body working to divert resources to maintaining essential function. Lean mass loss (everything that's not fat) is inevitable during a long deficit period but as noted above, it's to be minimized as much as possible. If you're wanting to roll the dice a bit, keep doing what you're doing for another month. But then re-assess and slow your roll :) Really, it's not a race ... one of the up sides of reducing the deficit is figuring out how maintenance is going to work for you.


    Oh I know it's not a race! I am totally fine with my rate of loss slowing down, I was just trying to figure out when exactly I should drop, if my goal is 130 I should do that now with only 18lbs left but if my goal is 115 then I still have 33lbs to lose and don't need to switch to .5 yet. You see my confusion?

    1500-1700 is including my exercise calories, sedentary with a 500 cal deficit is about 1300 calories for me. I use my Fitbit to track my calories and I eat back the big majority of my exercise calories back.

    If you are already in a healthy BMI range, and your goal is to lose more, would be a good time to lower the goal to 0.5 lbs. If you knew your BF%, then you could change to 0.5lbs/week when you are in the 24% range
  • BattyKnitter
    BattyKnitter Posts: 503 Member
    edited April 2019
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    erickirb wrote: »
    BattyKnitter wrote: »
    Maxxitt wrote: »
    BattyKnitter wrote: »
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    Other than muscle, there is also the issue of being more likely to suffer from hormonal problems when you're already on the lean side and still dieting on a higher deficit. Those can be so hard to resolve and may even require gaining back some fat, so it's best to avoid getting to that point in the first place. By that, I don't mean just menstrual cycle disturbances, but also hunger hormones can get out of whack and when you transition to maintenance you'll find it much harder to keep your weight stable.

    How do I know if I am at risk for this though? Would I not start feeling crappy? Right now I have energy and I'm only hungry before meals.

    I noticed that you said you were inclined to stick at your current 1500-1700 calories a day (that's net, right? after eating more calories to support your activity level?) because it's working for you at present. With ~18 pounds to go, that same deficit is going to result in slower weight loss over time. You might not "feel crappy" in the traditional sense (feeling low energy, for ex depending on your caffeine habit) if your deficit is too steep. What you might notice is hair loss beyond your seasonal shedding & disrupted sleep, and maybe more hunger sensations. That's your body working to divert resources to maintaining essential function. Lean mass loss (everything that's not fat) is inevitable during a long deficit period but as noted above, it's to be minimized as much as possible. If you're wanting to roll the dice a bit, keep doing what you're doing for another month. But then re-assess and slow your roll :) Really, it's not a race ... one of the up sides of reducing the deficit is figuring out how maintenance is going to work for you.


    Oh I know it's not a race! I am totally fine with my rate of loss slowing down, I was just trying to figure out when exactly I should drop, if my goal is 130 I should do that now with only 18lbs left but if my goal is 115 then I still have 33lbs to lose and don't need to switch to .5 yet. You see my confusion?

    1500-1700 is including my exercise calories, sedentary with a 500 cal deficit is about 1300 calories for me. I use my Fitbit to track my calories and I eat back the big majority of my exercise calories back.

    If you are already in a healthy BMI range, and your goal is to lose more, would be a good time to lower the goal to 0.5 lbs. If you knew your BF%, then you could change to 0.5lbs/week when you are in the 24% range

    I will look into how to calculate my BF%, at 148 I am still in the overweight category on BMI charts until 135lbs, the healthy range is 104 to 135 so it's pretty wide.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
    Options
    BattyKnitter wrote: »
    erickirb wrote: »
    BattyKnitter wrote: »
    Maxxitt wrote: »
    BattyKnitter wrote: »
    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    Other than muscle, there is also the issue of being more likely to suffer from hormonal problems when you're already on the lean side and still dieting on a higher deficit. Those can be so hard to resolve and may even require gaining back some fat, so it's best to avoid getting to that point in the first place. By that, I don't mean just menstrual cycle disturbances, but also hunger hormones can get out of whack and when you transition to maintenance you'll find it much harder to keep your weight stable.

    How do I know if I am at risk for this though? Would I not start feeling crappy? Right now I have energy and I'm only hungry before meals.

    I noticed that you said you were inclined to stick at your current 1500-1700 calories a day (that's net, right? after eating more calories to support your activity level?) because it's working for you at present. With ~18 pounds to go, that same deficit is going to result in slower weight loss over time. You might not "feel crappy" in the traditional sense (feeling low energy, for ex depending on your caffeine habit) if your deficit is too steep. What you might notice is hair loss beyond your seasonal shedding & disrupted sleep, and maybe more hunger sensations. That's your body working to divert resources to maintaining essential function. Lean mass loss (everything that's not fat) is inevitable during a long deficit period but as noted above, it's to be minimized as much as possible. If you're wanting to roll the dice a bit, keep doing what you're doing for another month. But then re-assess and slow your roll :) Really, it's not a race ... one of the up sides of reducing the deficit is figuring out how maintenance is going to work for you.


    Oh I know it's not a race! I am totally fine with my rate of loss slowing down, I was just trying to figure out when exactly I should drop, if my goal is 130 I should do that now with only 18lbs left but if my goal is 115 then I still have 33lbs to lose and don't need to switch to .5 yet. You see my confusion?

    1500-1700 is including my exercise calories, sedentary with a 500 cal deficit is about 1300 calories for me. I use my Fitbit to track my calories and I eat back the big majority of my exercise calories back.

    If you are already in a healthy BMI range, and your goal is to lose more, would be a good time to lower the goal to 0.5 lbs. If you knew your BF%, then you could change to 0.5lbs/week when you are in the 24% range

    I will look into how to calculate my BF%, at 148 I am still in the overweight category on BMI charts until 135lbs, the healthy range is 104 to 135 so it's pretty wide.

    On the surface, without knowing more (such as BF%), I would say that 1lb/week is a reasonable goal until you get to 135, then change to 0.5lbs/week.

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