Tips/help getting the last few lbs/kilos off?

FitAgainBy55

JAT74 wrote: »

Thanks, my current weight is actually 121lbs not 130 BTW.

Sorry, somehow I entered the wrong kg to lbs number.

JAT74 wrote: »

Regarding calorie intake, with exercise, calculators say I burn around the numbers you've stated ie. According to Fitbit, MFP etc. but in reality by body doesn't actually burn that much, or calorie burn numbers ate being overestimated.

My average right now across 7 days is 1400 per day and I'm losing very very slowly.

I have been eating 1000 calories a day weekdays this week and then at weekends I relax my diet and eat around 2000 per day.

Now that I fixed my weight conversion for you, your estimated TDEE would be somewhere in the range of 1721 - 1940. At 1400 calories per week you would be losing a little less than .5 lbs per week at the lower estimate. This would be difficult to 'see' on the scale and on your body. You say you are losing very slowly, so the numbers aren't that far off. I think what confused me was your comment about eating fewer than 1000 calories. Now that I know you eat under during the week and over during the weekend, that 1000 calories comment makes more sense. I do that same thing, so there is nothing wrong with that in general, although maybe you could shift your ratio a little.

I think you have done great and are doing great.

There are several options for you:

Continue averaging 1400 calories intake and losing weight slowly
This is the option that many people take and is definitely viable.

Lower your calorie intake
This doesn't seem like a good idea unless you can shift calories around so you aren't having to eat such a low calorie intake during the week. If you do this for too long it's possible that you trigger adaptive thermogenesis which is your body's attempt to reduce your TDEE in an attempt to compensate for persistent low calories. The fact that you calorie cycle each week, however, does mitigate the risk of this possibility. The other concern with this approach is nutrition. You would have to carefully pick what you eat to ensure you are meeting your body's needs. Once again, I personally think this is the worst choice of all the options.

Increase your TDEE with higher intensity workouts
I know you said you are already active and spend as much time as you have available exercising. I'm not recommending you spend more time, I'm suggesting you could increase the intensity of your exercise. It seems like you are looking to transition from an average normal weight body shape to a more fit/athletic body shape. The best way to do this is to train like an athlete. I realize that not everyone has this type of goal and I'm not trying to convince you that this is the only way ... but it is a way to reach your goal. Walking is great but it is probably the most inefficient (calories per hour) exercise. Instead of walking, consider transitioning to jogging. This transition should be slow to avoid injury -- following something like the couch to 5k plan is one option. Up the intensity of your strength training. Body weight exercises at your weight aren't that intense. If/when it's safe (covid) for you and you can afford it, hire a trainer for a few sessions to setup a workout plan for you. Otherwise buy some kettlebells and up your strength training game at home. The full body/compound kettlebell moves are awesome workouts. They build functional strength while burning calories closer to the cardio burn rate than traditional strength training.

Recomp
You could eat closer to maintenance and switch to a higher intensity, lift heavy approach. If you have access to a gym, you could try the strong lifts 5x5 program. I followed a similar program 10 years ago after reaching my goal weight and I saw body transformation but it did take several months to see the progress.

I'm biased on the option that I would chose based on my personal experience but I would chose the 'if you want to look like an athlete, train like an athlete' approach. When I transitioned from fat to fit for the first time 10 years ago, I had no issue losing the last few vanity pounds. My rate of weight loss was consistent even as I transitioned to low body fat (my profile picture). My personal belief is that the reason this was 'easy' for me is because of the intensity of my workouts. I ran a lot and I lifted heavy weights.

AnnPT77

JAT74 wrote: »

FitAgainBy55 wrote: »

JAT74 wrote: »

I want to get the excess weight of and finally be lean, but I´m not sure how I can manage it unless I go much lower in calories (ie. below 1000 per day) and increase my activity level. I´m already as active as I can be really given that I have a desk job and walk both before and after work, as well as doing workouts on top most days (cardio and strength training).

I'm going to first agree with everyone else's statement that you are already at a healthy weight. But, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with a vanity or stretch goal that surpasses healthy -- assuming you don't go too far and get to underweight. 5'4" and 130 lbs (your current weight) seems pretty good to me but I'm not an expert on women's body types so I'll let others comment on what would be a good target for you.

The part I'm more interested in is your calorie intake because something seems off.

Based on the stats you've posted and 5 days per week doing some sort of exercise, your TDEE should be somewhere between 1800 and 2000 calories per day. Given that, you should be able to lose weight eating WELL above 1000 calories. Unless I've misunderstood/miscalculated, I would be more concerned with where you are currently eating to essentially maintain your weight.

How much are you currently eating on average and how long have you been eating at that level without losing any weight ?

Thanks, my current weight is actually 121lbs not 130 BTW.

Regarding calorie intake, with exercise, calculators say I burn around the numbers you've stated ie. According to Fitbit, MFP etc. but in reality by body doesn't actually burn that much, or calorie burn numbers ate being overestimated.

My average right now across 7 days is 1400 per day and I'm losing very very slowly.

I have been eating 1000 calories a day weekdays this week and then at weekends I relax my diet and eat around 2000 per day.

I weigh myself on a Saturday morning before I start my first cheat day so I can tell if the numbers are going down each week.

If I don't see movement soon I may have to lower calories on cheat days too. I sit at a desk all day, so my walks, cardio and other workouts amount to around 1 hour and a half to 2 hours per day in total on weekdays and less at weekends.

It would be good to consider whether you're training your body to expect famine, so it wants to limp along burning the minimum calories. Our bodies are pretty good at adapting to what we train them to do. Undereating, to them, is famine.

I'm not saying there's some crazy "starvation mode" thing where one can't lose weight. I'm saying that if we undereat (for our current size), our bodies will figure out a way to burn slightly less, so we may lose slower than expected. It uses things like subtle fatigue (less fidgeting, more resting, less general enthusiasm for life), slowed hair/nails growth (eventually, that can lead to thinning hair and splitting nails), maybe dropping body temperature just that tiny bit (so we may not notice, or may feel cold more often), etc.

Don't go to 1000 calories. That's not a good idea. Slow loss at this point *is* a good idea.

I'm about your size (123 point something pounds this AM, 5'5", body fat percent probably bottom half of 20s) but way older (65). I eat back all exercise calories, and even if I continued doing so, eating 1000 net calories - if I stuck to it - would put me in the hospital, severely underweight, within a few short months. I admit, I'm mysteriously a good li'l ol' calorie burner, but I'm pretty confident that if you fuel your body in a way that gets it firing on all cylinders, you can lose weight at a sensibly slow rate on way more than 1000 calories. (You might have to gradually work your way up to theoretical maintenance calories, hang there for a bit, then work yourself back down, if you've already got some slowdown (adaptive thermogenesis) in the mix.)

I've been (re-)losing a few vanity pounds in maintenance, after losing from obese to a healthy weight in 2015-16 (after previous *decades* of obesity), and I've been in a healthy weight range since then, just let myself creep up a few pounds within that range. Losing slowly has been pretty painless, but the jeans that were getting tight last Fall are now slipping down, and I'm going to need a belt or a smaller size. There were periods of a month or so where even my weight trending app thought I was gaining/maintaining (let alone what I saw on the scale day to day!), but I knew I was actually still losing fat . . . and eventually that fat loss did show up on the scale. So, I've done the "slow loss down to goal weight" thing a couple of times. Trust me, it can work. Punitively low calories is not the way to go.

Train your body to thrive. Give it reasonable calories, tolerate slow scale progress. Lift some weights (for recomposition), be sure to get adequate protein (ditto), and keep a very small deficit while you do that (to lose fat ultra-slowly in addition to the recomp effect, understanding that the muscle gain won't happen on a too-big calorie deficit that causes fast loss). You'll look better at the end of that process, *and* be healthier, *and* have less body fat. The only downside is that it'll take a little longer.

Hang in there, you can figure out what needs to be done, and do it. Wishing you huge success!

Speakeasy76

Everyone's given great advice, but the main thing I would say is to be patient. Honestly, it will probably take a least a year to go from average to "fit," perhaps even more if you've lost the weight recently and ironically if you lost a lot of that weight relatively quickly.

I personally would focus more on resistance/progressive overload strength training while aiming for a very gradual loss to get into the "fit" category. I actually just saw an IG post today featuring a client's one-year progress pics of one of my favorite trainers. She clearly looked like she lost some weight and definitely looked fitter,but ironically her actual weight had stayed the same.

JAT74

FitAgainBy55 wrote: »

JAT74 wrote: »

Thanks, my current weight is actually 121lbs not 130 BTW.

Sorry, somehow I entered the wrong kg to lbs number.

JAT74 wrote: »

Regarding calorie intake, with exercise, calculators say I burn around the numbers you've stated ie. According to Fitbit, MFP etc. but in reality by body doesn't actually burn that much, or calorie burn numbers ate being overestimated.

My average right now across 7 days is 1400 per day and I'm losing very very slowly.

I have been eating 1000 calories a day weekdays this week and then at weekends I relax my diet and eat around 2000 per day.

Now that I fixed my weight conversion for you, your estimated TDEE would be somewhere in the range of 1721 - 1940. At 1400 calories per week you would be losing a little less than .5 lbs per week at the lower estimate. This would be difficult to 'see' on the scale and on your body. You say you are losing very slowly, so the numbers aren't that far off. I think what confused me was your comment about eating fewer than 1000 calories. Now that I know you eat under during the week and over during the weekend, that 1000 calories comment makes more sense. I do that same thing, so there is nothing wrong with that in general, although maybe you could shift your ratio a little.

I think you have done great and are doing great.

There are several options for you:

Continue averaging 1400 calories intake and losing weight slowly
This is the option that many people take and is definitely viable.

Lower your calorie intake
This doesn't seem like a good idea unless you can shift calories around so you aren't having to eat such a low calorie intake during the week. If you do this for too long it's possible that you trigger adaptive thermogenesis which is your body's attempt to reduce your TDEE in an attempt to compensate for persistent low calories. The fact that you calorie cycle each week, however, does mitigate the risk of this possibility. The other concern with this approach is nutrition. You would have to carefully pick what you eat to ensure you are meeting your body's needs. Once again, I personally think this is the worst choice of all the options.

Increase your TDEE with higher intensity workouts
I know you said you are already active and spend as much time as you have available exercising. I'm not recommending you spend more time, I'm suggesting you could increase the intensity of your exercise. It seems like you are looking to transition from an average normal weight body shape to a more fit/athletic body shape. The best way to do this is to train like an athlete. I realize that not everyone has this type of goal and I'm not trying to convince you that this is the only way ... but it is a way to reach your goal. Walking is great but it is probably the most inefficient (calories per hour) exercise. Instead of walking, consider transitioning to jogging. This transition should be slow to avoid injury -- following something like the couch to 5k plan is one option. Up the intensity of your strength training. Body weight exercises at your weight aren't that intense. If/when it's safe (covid) for you and you can afford it, hire a trainer for a few sessions to setup a workout plan for you. Otherwise buy some kettlebells and up your strength training game at home. The full body/compound kettlebell moves are awesome workouts. They build functional strength while burning calories closer to the cardio burn rate than traditional strength training.

Recomp
You could eat closer to maintenance and switch to a higher intensity, lift heavy approach. If you have access to a gym, you could try the strong lifts 5x5 program. I followed a similar program 10 years ago after reaching my goal weight and I saw body transformation but it did take several months to see the progress.

I'm biased on the option that I would chose based on my personal experience but I would chose the 'if you want to look like an athlete, train like an athlete' approach. When I transitioned from fat to fit for the first time 10 years ago, I had no issue losing the last few vanity pounds. My rate of weight loss was consistent even as I transitioned to low body fat (my profile picture). My personal belief is that the reason this was 'easy' for me is because of the intensity of my workouts. I ran a lot and I lifted heavy weights. [/quote

Thanks, what you're saying definitely makes sense!

I'm not going to go lower on calories but I think with my current approach losing 0.5lbs a week is slow but manageable. I known I'll get where I want to be in a few months time and that's great.

I have a gym at home in my garage so access to weights isn't an issue. I was doing weight training at the start of my weight loss last year but stopped for a few months on the advice of my coach who told me that cardio should be my main daily activity for fat loss. I actually started weights again a couple of months ago but was getting bored as I train on my own so switched to doing Web based workouts following a trainer but there are weights an a body weight exercises on the website I use. I've heard of strong lifts 5x5 before so might check it out again. I really like the idea of a recomp I'd it will help with fat loss and give me a fitter look.

JAT74

AnnPT77 wrote: »

JAT74 wrote: »

FitAgainBy55 wrote: »

JAT74 wrote: »

I want to get the excess weight of and finally be lean, but I´m not sure how I can manage it unless I go much lower in calories (ie. below 1000 per day) and increase my activity level. I´m already as active as I can be really given that I have a desk job and walk both before and after work, as well as doing workouts on top most days (cardio and strength training).

I'm going to first agree with everyone else's statement that you are already at a healthy weight. But, in my opinion, there is nothing wrong with a vanity or stretch goal that surpasses healthy -- assuming you don't go too far and get to underweight. 5'4" and 130 lbs (your current weight) seems pretty good to me but I'm not an expert on women's body types so I'll let others comment on what would be a good target for you.

The part I'm more interested in is your calorie intake because something seems off.

Based on the stats you've posted and 5 days per week doing some sort of exercise, your TDEE should be somewhere between 1800 and 2000 calories per day. Given that, you should be able to lose weight eating WELL above 1000 calories. Unless I've misunderstood/miscalculated, I would be more concerned with where you are currently eating to essentially maintain your weight.

How much are you currently eating on average and how long have you been eating at that level without losing any weight ?

Thanks, my current weight is actually 121lbs not 130 BTW.

Regarding calorie intake, with exercise, calculators say I burn around the numbers you've stated ie. According to Fitbit, MFP etc. but in reality by body doesn't actually burn that much, or calorie burn numbers ate being overestimated.

My average right now across 7 days is 1400 per day and I'm losing very very slowly.

I have been eating 1000 calories a day weekdays this week and then at weekends I relax my diet and eat around 2000 per day.

I weigh myself on a Saturday morning before I start my first cheat day so I can tell if the numbers are going down each week.

If I don't see movement soon I may have to lower calories on cheat days too. I sit at a desk all day, so my walks, cardio and other workouts amount to around 1 hour and a half to 2 hours per day in total on weekdays and less at weekends.

It would be good to consider whether you're training your body to expect famine, so it wants to limp along burning the minimum calories. Our bodies are pretty good at adapting to what we train them to do. Undereating, to them, is famine.

I'm not saying there's some crazy "starvation mode" thing where one can't lose weight. I'm saying that if we undereat (for our current size), our bodies will figure out a way to burn slightly less, so we may lose slower than expected. It uses things like subtle fatigue (less fidgeting, more resting, less general enthusiasm for life), slowed hair/nails growth (eventually, that can lead to thinning hair and splitting nails), maybe dropping body temperature just that tiny bit (so we may not notice, or may feel cold more often), etc.

Don't go to 1000 calories. That's not a good idea. Slow loss at this point *is* a good idea.

I'm about your size (123 point something pounds this AM, 5'5", body fat percent probably bottom half of 20s) but way older (65). I eat back all exercise calories, and even if I continued doing so, eating 1000 net calories - if I stuck to it - would put me in the hospital, severely underweight, within a few short months. I admit, I'm mysteriously a good li'l ol' calorie burner, but I'm pretty confident that if you fuel your body in a way that gets it firing on all cylinders, you can lose weight at a sensibly slow rate on way more than 1000 calories. (You might have to gradually work your way up to theoretical maintenance calories, hang there for a bit, then work yourself back down, if you've already got some slowdown (adaptive thermogenesis) in the mix.)

I've been (re-)losing a few vanity pounds in maintenance, after losing from obese to a healthy weight in 2015-16 (after previous *decades* of obesity), and I've been in a healthy weight range since then, just let myself creep up a few pounds within that range. Losing slowly has been pretty painless, but the jeans that were getting tight last Fall are now slipping down, and I'm going to need a belt or a smaller size. There were periods of a month or so where even my weight trending app thought I was gaining/maintaining (let alone what I saw on the scale day to day!), but I knew I was actually still losing fat . . . and eventually that fat loss did show up on the scale. So, I've done the "slow loss down to goal weight" thing a couple of times. Trust me, it can work. Punitively low calories is not the way to go.

Train your body to thrive. Give it reasonable calories, tolerate slow scale progress. Lift some weights (for recomposition), be sure to get adequate protein (ditto), and keep a very small deficit while you do that (to lose fat ultra-slowly in addition to the recomp effect, understanding that the muscle gain won't happen on a too-big calorie deficit that causes fast loss). You'll look better at the end of that process, *and* be healthier, *and* have less body fat. The only downside is that it'll take a little longer.

Hang in there, you can figure out what needs to be done, and do it. Wishing you huge success!

Thanks, I agree with what you've said, though I average 1400 calories so I only have 5 x 1000 calorie days and 2 x 2000 calorie. I find that fits into my lifestyle and stops me feeling deprived or left out at weekends, and jeeps me on track the rest of the time.

I must admit I find weight training a little boring, but I know it's the best way to change my shape. A recomp is probably needed and a little patience! I'll keep at it and I know I'll reach my goal eventually.

JAT74

Speakeasy76 wrote: »

Everyone's given great advice, but the main thing I would say is to be patient. Honestly, it will probably take a least a year to go from average to "fit," perhaps even more if you've lost the weight recently and ironically if you lost a lot of that weight relatively quickly.

I personally would focus more on resistance/progressive overload strength training while aiming for a very gradual loss to get into the "fit" category. I actually just saw an IG post today featuring a client's one-year progress pics of one of my favorite trainers. She clearly looked like she lost some weight and definitely looked fitter,but ironically her actual weight had stayed the same.

I know, in quite an impatient person but having said that, the last year has gone really fast!

I will take on board all the advice which has been really helpful and I'm sure I'll reach my goal.