Losing weight harder closer to goal?

CeeBeeSlim

I’m sure I missing something just don’t know what it is. I’ve accepted that weight loss Is harder closer to goal - I have about 8-10 to lose and lost three in January - although from all my hard work and consistency of weighing food, tracking, training etc, I would think i would’ve lost all 10 this month. Which got me thinking - in my 20s and 30s, if I gained more weight, like 5-10 lbs, I could lose that in no time. Didn’t even think of counting calories or even know what strength training or cardio was. Just ate less, moved more, the weight gone - maybe in weeks. Now I have to wait almost 5 months to get 8-10 lbs down?? Educate me please!😀

Nony_Mouse

In a word, yes. You have less fat to lose, therefore less to draw from. Three lb a month is really good progress with only 10lb to lose. Ten lb in a month would be way, way too fast, and a fair bit of that would be coming from lean body mass (incl. muscle), not fat.

You don't say how long you've been at a deficit, or how much you've lost thus far, but it may be beneficial for you to take a diet break (this is not a free for all, it's eating at maintenance for a couple of weeks) - https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

CeeBeeSlim

@Nony_Mouse Thanks. This makes sense. I’ve been at 1260 for a while and lost about 8 lbs. I’m trying to figure out why when I was younger this weight came off faster although i was as close to goal as I am now. Plus now, 20 years later, I’m exercising more and watching and weighing what I eat. 20 years ago, it would’ve never occurred to me to consciously exercise and count calories, but the weight just slipped off. In short, is age- by itself - truly not a factor?

Onedaywriter

It definitely gets harder close to goal from a physical standpoint but from a mental standpoint the good habits become easier.

When I was young, I was soooo active without even thinking about it. But I was moving all the time. In your late teens and early twenties did you ever even watch TV or sit and read etc.?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but every time you enter a lower weight on MFP your calorie goals drop!! Also, your exercise calories burned drop. In my weight range and activity level right now it is 10 cals per day per pound lost!! So, when you lose 5 pounds, you now have to either eat 50 cals less or burn 50 cals more to meet your goal!! But your exercise burns less calories too.

Not so bad for 5 lbs, but if you started at a much higher weight the calorie difference is BIG!! FYI I started 107 lbs higher than today!! The goal change is huge.

But with time it is also easier to find little ways to cut and the hunger and cravings do diminish. It is also easier to be more active because your not moving as much weight around. So just keep at it!!

sardelsa

As you get closer to goal, the less wiggle room there is calorie wise. Also water weight fluctuations can affect the scale more. Also the leaner you get the harder it can be to get even leaner. When I get to that point, lots of refeeds and diet breaks are essential (see Nony's link there)

I find weight loss easier than I did in my 20s and early 30s since I understand how it works more and am more calorie aware. Plus I have more muscle now so that might help. I think as many people age they aren't as active and they have less muscle mass, hunger hormones can be affected so those can be contributing factors in some but not all cases.

AnnPT77

CeeBeeSlim wrote: »

@Nony_Mouse Thanks. This makes sense. I’ve been at 1260 for a while and lost about 8 lbs. I’m trying to figure out why when I was younger this weight came off faster although i was as close to goal as I am now. Plus now, 20 years later, I’m exercising more and watching and weighing what I eat. 20 years ago, it would’ve never occurred to me to consciously exercise and count calories, but the weight just slipped off. In short, is age- by itself - truly not a factor?

As others have suggested, the larger factors with aging are lower daily life (non exercise) activity levels, and reduced muscle mass.

Reduced muscle mass tends to equate to reduced fitness, which encourages us to do even less, so - without intervention - contributes to a slow, continuing down-spiral of body-composition, activity, and calorie-burn decline.

Happily, both muscle mass and daily life activity are things over which we have a great deal of personal control.

The calorie needs calculators have some of these effects cooked into them, because they're statistically based. Still, if I run there numbers for the actual 64-year-old me vs. a same-sized theoretical 24-year old me, the all-day calorie burn estimates (TDEE) are different by something in the neighborhood of one serving of peanut butter, or maybe 5000 steps - couple hundred calories. If I equate the body fat percentage (implied muscle mass) of young me vs. old me, even that difference pretty much disappears, for calorie formulas that take BF% into account.

lgfrie

There's definitely an impact, both of age and of lower weight. The TDEE calculator shows a 200 calorie difference between me at 56 and my 25 year old self, which seems about right, based on my remembrances of past diets.

I was really surprised when I checked in with TDEEcalculator.net the other day, to see my TDEE down by 345 calories since May '19 due to a weight change from 320 to 253. I knew my TDEE would come down but I thought it'd be 100 or 150 calories. My weight loss has in fact slowed by 3/4 lb per week in comparison to the first month or two, and that's almost exactly what should be happening based on the TDEE calculators numbers, so I guess I trust it.

There is really no alternative but to just keep plugging away & accept that as your weight comes down, so does the pace of weight loss.

LivingtheLeanDream

I think you did great in January to lose those 3lbs given you are so close to goal weight. Definately less wiggle room so keep on keeping on.

Nony_Mouse

@CeeBeeSlim - what those guys said!

lgfrie wrote: »

There's definitely an impact, both of age and of lower weight. The TDEE calculator shows a 200 calorie difference between me at 56 and my 25 year old self, which seems about right, based on my remembrances of past diets.

I was really surprised when I checked in with TDEEcalculator.net the other day, to see my TDEE down by 345 calories since May '19 due to a weight change from 320 to 253. I knew my TDEE would come down but I thought it'd be 100 or 150 calories. My weight loss has in fact slowed by 3/4 lb per week in comparison to the first month or two, and that's almost exactly what should be happening based on the TDEE calculators numbers, so I guess I trust it.

There is really no alternative but to just keep plugging away & accept that as your weight comes down, so does the pace of weight loss.

Yep, body weight really does have quite an impact on TDEE. For me, in the reverse situation, it was a bit of a pleasant surprise/silver lining. I still had in my head what my TDEE at sedentary and slim would have been before I got sick, and was like 'argh, I'm gonna starve! And it's gonna be so slow cos I refuse to starve!' (not a huge capacity for exercise currently). But my chubbiness gave me quite a chunk more to work with. And if I didn't have a custom calorie goal set (due to the aforementioned refusal to starve), MFP would be trying to take 50 cals a day off me in a few weeks for daring to have a birthday. I'm like 'lol, no'.

Danp

It's the law of diminishing returns and it applies to pretty much everything.

It's like when you're starting to run/swimming/etc you'll beat your PB times quite frequently and by multiple minutes at the start. As you go those gaps will get smaller to the point where it's down to seconds or fractions of a second and getting a PB will become much rarer.

Or when learning a new skill. At first you'll develop in leaps and bounds. Making huge strides in your abilities and capabilities. As time goes on and you get more competent development slows down and it can take months to make as much progress as was achieved in a few days at the beginning.

CeeBeeSlim

Thanks All. Sigh. I also realized while I wasn’t strength training or counting one calorie back in the day I was running up 10 flights of stairs to make a class, beat being late for work, or leaving a club to see the sun coming up after a literal night of dancing. Patience. Patience. Patience.

AnnPT77

CeeBeeSlim wrote: »

Thanks All. Sigh. I also realized while I wasn’t strength training or counting one calorie back in the day I was running up 10 flights of stairs to make a class, beat being late for work, or leaving a club to see the sun coming up after a literal night of dancing. Patience. Patience. Patience.

Patience, but also:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

(shameless self promotion)

lynn_glenmont

CeeBeeSlim wrote: »

@Nony_Mouse Thanks. This makes sense. I’ve been at 1260 for a while and lost about 8 lbs. I’m trying to figure out why when I was younger this weight came off faster although i was as close to goal as I am now. Plus now, 20 years later, I’m exercising more and watching and weighing what I eat. 20 years ago, it would’ve never occurred to me to consciously exercise and count calories, but the weight just slipped off. In short, is age- by itself - truly not a factor?

One possible explanation:
If you were closely monitoring your weight 20 years ago and taking action on 5 to 10 pounds of gain that you noticed over a relatively short period, most of what you were tracking, gaining, and losing was water weight, which can shift relatively quickly.

If now, on the other hand, you're dealing with 8 to 10 pounds of weight that has been around for a while, you're more likely dealing with actual fat mass, which takes longer to deal with.

(Also, I don't know your situation or even your gender, but if you were pre-menopausal 20 years ago and are currently peri- or post-menopausal, you have been just riding waves of hormonal water retention then and may no longer have as much fluctuation in that area.)

CeeBeeSlim

Shameless self-promotion well-deserved @AnnPT77! I can certainly find ways to increase my NEAT. I always look forward to your knowledge-filled responses - on any thread. 😀

@lynn_glenmont - I think you may have hit the nail on the head. What I was gaining back in the day was most likely water weight from a weekend of crap eating and drinking. I would catch it soon and get to work ASAP to get it off. This extra pudge, albeit not a lot, has indeed been around with me for years and years so I’m sure is fat. Just a head shaker for me that to lose about 8-10 more pounds would be in May or June. ☹️