Last 10-12 lbs

gorple76

I’ve managed to lose enough weight over the last 10 months to take me from being obese to teetering at the top of a healthy weight. Over the holidays I decided to maintain but actually lost a couple of pounds. Since new year, I’ve stayed the same weight despite intending to lose another few pounds to get me to the middle of a healthy range. This isn’t a post claiming that I’m doing everything right, so why isn’t it working. I know I’m eating too much to lose! I’m really looking for suggestions on how to motivate myself to lose again. I’m really not sure what spurred me on 10 months ago after a lifetime of obesity. I’m maintaining well (I’m logging, exercising, not going over my weekly maintenance calories) but I can’t seem to stick to a deficit (by the weekend I eat more and drink more wine than I know I should). Any suggestions for how I can get my mojo back?

snowflake954

This happens often. Congratulations on your loss. There was a long thread running on "Diet Breaks" that might interest you. You eat at maintenance for a few months and then go back to a deficit. The idea is that your body needs a break after a big loss. It sounds like you're doing this naturally. I think certain times of the year are also easier because one tends to be more active.

Maintenance is by far the hardest thing to master. If you're managing that you're doing very well. Be patient and sooner or later you'll be ready. Good luck.

ReenieHJ

So stop it!! Sooo much easier said than done. But on the positive side, you haven't gained. I gained 20# during the fall-holiday season last year, thought for sure I was doomed. But the new year brought me new focus and I am back to within 5# of my goal.
You need to find something to bring you a new focus. Maybe planning for a vacation, new clothes, a different goal to work towards. Figure out where the main problem lies, such as wine? Certain time on the weekend? Make different plans for those specific instances. Can you make a feasible less calorie dense option available for the wine? Different activities to do for fun on the weekend? Find a walking or work-out buddy? Take up a new exercise routine?
It can get downright boring if we stick with the same thing all the time; find something new to change it up, make things more fun so you're not relying on wine and food throughout the whole weekend.
Good luck and wishing you the best!!

Lietchi

I think it comes with the territory of getting to a healthy weight. My tolerance of being in a calorie deficit is much smaller now than it was at the start of my weight loss, 70+lbs ago.

What helped me when I reached a healthy BMI was just setting my calories at maintenance on MFP and aiming for that number or anything under it.
But I'll admit that at this point (final vanity lbs at a BMI of 22) I'm having difficulty even aiming for a small deficit. I'm not too bothered as long as the scale doesn't creep upwards, I figure my body just needs a break and in the meantime I'm just keeping up my good habits.

Sinisterbarbie1

I am 5’9” and weigh 146.6 today. I joined MFP about 5 lbs ago to help lose a few extra lbs and to then maintain after losing 40 lbs on my own since last april. I knew I would find the final weight loss and maintenance the hardest and that if I didn’t start paying close attention to what I was eating by weighing and recording food I would eat more than I thought I was eating by grabbing a nut here and a handful of grapes there and a slice of cheese while getting something from the fridge to make dinner. And I was right. I had been “plateauing” even without drinking any alcohol for 6-8 weeks every 10 lbs or so and all of the sudden I started losing a lb a week again. So make sure you are really weighing and writing down everything.

Also set yourself a fun goal - best if it is exercise oriented too so you have to train for it - like a 1/2 marathon in an amazing location (you can walk/run) or a hiking or walking or biking vacation somewhere where you go from place to place and they transport your bags for you, or a fundraiser for a cause you care about in your own town that will motivate you to do the exercising and the event (maybe with a partner or a friend or a kid?) or a reward of an item of clothing or a day out to a spa or a massage that you will do at the next x lbs lost and not before.

cmriverside

Those last 10-15 pounds for me were, "Meh."

I had gone from obese to in-a-healthy-BMI-just-barely. I was okay with it. I felt I looked good (in comparison, I now know.)

I was tired of dieting. It was getting really hard.

So I took some time off. It's a valid strategy. When I went back to it I was motivated. It was not easy for me to lose that last 10-15. It took me nine months and I was not sticking to my calories more than about four or five days a week. I was hungry. It was difficult.

Have you read the Refeed thread? It will help you...not to be motivated but to give yourself some grace.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

gorple76

Thank you everyone - all of your responses have resonated with me. I’m not sure yet what my next move will be. I think I’m nervous about a prolonged maintenance break in case I put weight back on from relaxing too much, but I know that’s a silly way to think about the whole thing. It’s something I need to get my head around I think

cmriverside

Definitely keep an eye on it.

It was hard for me to accept that I would need to be a bit vigilant for the rest of my life, but these days I mostly can do it intuitively.

Doesn't mean I don't watch my calories (on average) and I still step on that scale!

Maintenance is generally a five pound range for most of us.

I suggest going to the top of the "Maintaining Weight" subforum and read the sticky threads at the top, the "Most Helpful" ones.

Welcome to Maintenance! Well done (so far )

AnnPT77

gorple76 wrote: »

Thank you everyone - all of your responses have resonated with me. I’m not sure yet what my next move will be. I think I’m nervous about a prolonged maintenance break in case I put weight back on from relaxing too much, but I know that’s a silly way to think about the whole thing. It’s something I need to get my head around I think

Here's a thing: Weight loss may have an end date, but successful weight management is forever.

Taking a maintenance break can be useful during loss (hunger/appetite hormones, psychological break, blah blah blah). But - maybe more importantly - it's a chance to figure out and practice your maintenance strategies.

Sooner or later, that needs to happen. If you want to stay at a healthy weight long term, it requires new habits. You can't just go back to the old ones. That "relax too much" worry you have makes me think you still might have some work to do on those habits.

A very few people maintain by going back to the old habits, gaining a small number of pounds, going back into a deficit - basically a controlled yo-yo. IMO, that requires more of the mojo muscle.

What habits will work for you - eating and activity/exercise - to keep your life reasonably happy, while staying more or less in a range of a few pounds, more or less on autopilot? Figuring that out during weight loss is really helpful. Life gets complicated now and then, and a maintenance strategy that requires constant motivation, willpower, discipline . . . well, that would break down, for me; and I suspect that's true for a lot of people.

Getting more specific for a moment: One of my maintenance strategies (I'm in year 6+) is "calorie banking". My routine calorie goal is a bit under maintenance calories - not punitively much, maybe 100-200 calories. That creates some wiggle room for more indulgent days occasionally. Some people do that as a weekday/weekend pattern, but as a retiree, my pattern is less regular. It's still a strategy that works for me. If you like to kick back a bit on weekends, maybe it's a thing for you to consider?

(Over around 4 years earlier on in maintenance, I'd let my weight slowly creep up 10 or so pounds, still in a healthy range - my jeans were getting tight, I hate to shop. All I needed to do was reduce the frequency/magnitude of my indulgent days - for a long time! - and creep my weight back down. Nearly painless!) Obviously, my maintenance approach still includes logging/tracking, which I don't find burdensome or obsessive - maybe the most productive 10 minutes of my day, in benefits. If logging forever isn't for you, you'll need an alternative.

You can figure all of this out. It's a process. I also endorse that idea of checking out the "maintaining weight" part of the Community. It's not super active - there are quite a few maintainers here, but many of us are free range in the rest of the forum, not as much in that section. But it's accumulated some excellent content, helpful, worth reading.

Best wishes!

ReenieHJ

Sinisterbarbie1 wrote: »

I am 5’9” and weigh 146.6 today. I joined MFP about 5 lbs ago to help lose a few extra lbs and to then maintain after losing 40 lbs on my own since last april. I knew I would find the final weight loss and maintenance the hardest and that if I didn’t start paying close attention to what I was eating by weighing and recording food I would eat more than I thought I was eating by grabbing a nut here and a handful of grapes there and a slice of cheese while getting something from the fridge to make dinner. And I was right. I had been “plateauing” even without drinking any alcohol for 6-8 weeks every 10 lbs or so and all of the sudden I started losing a lb a week again. So make sure you are really weighing and writing down everything.

Also set yourself a fun goal - best if it is exercise oriented too so you have to train for it - like a 1/2 marathon in an amazing location (you can walk/run) or a hiking or walking or biking vacation somewhere where you go from place to place and they transport your bags for you, or a fundraiser for a cause you care about in your own town that will motivate you to do the exercising and the event (maybe with a partner or a friend or a kid?) or a reward of an item of clothing or a day out to a spa or a massage that you will do at the next x lbs lost and not before.

I'm also 5'9" and was 150 last Monday. Just curious what goal number you're using? I feel best between 140-145 but find it very difficult to stay there for long.

Sinisterbarbie1

@ReenieHJ I don’t have a precise goal other than to be within the lower end of the BMI range, and at a weight I can maintain. My doctor and I discuss this every couple of months but have just agreed on lifestyle and maintenance targets to hit rather than weight goals centered on numbers.

I don’t want to hijack the original question so I am going to answer your question further in a way I hope is also helpful to @gorple76 — maybe she should stop thinking about numbers on the scale too as motivation to sustain the healthy eating plan she has been on and consider setting some goals along the lines of the ones i set with my dr that are specific to her needs and interests and thus motivating for her lifestyle and health …

In my case those goals are to ensure my bloodwork is good without having to take medicine, that I am in a healthy to low end of healthy BMI range to reduce pressure on joints because I have arthritis in pretty much every joint and a history of arthritis in my family, that I pick a weight I can maintain without starving myself and missing out on enjoying things (I actually am fine even now as I am losing so am hopeful)…. I have done well between 135-145 depending on exercise and other variables but that was also pre chemo induced menopause, and rapid weight gain associated with medicines I was on for different things after. I also now have some limits on the types of exercise I can do so I am aiming to lose a few pounds extra just in case these new factors make maintenance more complicated than anticipated. Understanding my health as a whole, and thinking about all the things that happen to my body (and have happened to it in recent years including aggressive breast cancer, a bout with an auto immune disorder, peripheral neuropathy from a combo of the two, arthritis …. And I take care of elderly parents, work full time as a university professor, and need to be around for a while yet!) keep me motivated.

Walkywalkerson

cmriverside wrote: »

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

I found this thread helpful too.
I'm having real trouble with my last 15 / 20lbs too.
I can't maintain even a very small a deficit longer than a couple of days.

Sinisterbarbie1

@Walkywalkerson thanks for sharing. The video is long but has interesting insights. I wonder if the 6-8 week pauses I was experiencing in losing every 10 lbs or so were as a result of naturally induced leptin slight refeeds I wan’t monitoring for because I wasn’t on MFP and when my hormones were back in balance I started letting go of the extra carbs or calories I may have been unconsciously eating and started losing again. I also notice that I really don’t feel any major issues with the deficit eating now at 1200 calories but, I also see that when I look at macros I am eating every last bit of my carbs (and sometimes a few extra) and rarely hit all of my protein requirements. Since my carbs are coming mainly from fruit and vegetable sources (occasionally rice in sushi) and my daily psyllium fiber biscuits with tea I am also hitting all my sugar. So I am already sort of accidentally doing what the thread suggests doing on refeeding except at a deficit calorie level — probably just because I am eating what I want to eat within the calorie limits set.

I am saying all of this, because maybe the OP doesn’t need as much motivation as she thinks she needs after all. Perhaps she even needs less motivation and to just listen to her body more. Maybe that is why she also continued to maintain/lose weight over the holidays when she thought she wasn’t going to. Set goals that are manageable to stick with and then eat what appeals, but be honest with yourself on what you are really eating.

gorple76

So many helpful responses, thank you!

I’ve spent the weekend reading and thinking. I’m still a bit muddled in my thoughts - I’ve got to the point by logging everything (including activity), but not weighing food. My deficit initially was large, but this has diminished both naturally and intentionally over time. I think I’d hoped that I would gradually taper to my goal weight, but I think I’m struggling psychologically and practically with the deficit needed for the last bit. I’ve once before got down to this weight and bounced back up almost immediately. That’s playing on my mind a little.

I’ve also been eating back all my exercise calories, which has led to overeating as the adjustments at the end of the day take account of step counts abd often deduct some. As I’ve always seen my calorie target as having a ‘buffer’ of 100-200 calories anyway, some days (most days?) I’m ending up over by 200-300 calories.

I clearly need a change of approach. I’m going to spend the next 4 weeks with a calorie goal based on my TDEE minus 250 per day on average, with a larger deficit on sun-mon so that I have some in hand for Fri and sat. Obviously I won’t be eating exercise calories (I used the sailrabbit calculator and I seem reasonably average on this score based on my numbers over the past few months).

As always, it’s very much a mindset issue for me. I’m like a small child - I hate missing out or feeling deprived. I constantly seek comfort and distraction through food. At the start of all this, I spent more time thinking about this and working on my patterns of thought and responses. I need to stop chasing calories (by exercising so that I can eat more) and remember that eating a bit less is not the awful thing my inner child seems to think it is!

snowflake954

gorple76 wrote: »

So many helpful responses, thank you!

I’ve spent the weekend reading and thinking. I’m still a bit muddled in my thoughts - I’ve got to the point by logging everything (including activity), but not weighing food. My deficit initially was large, but this has diminished both naturally and intentionally over time. I think I’d hoped that I would gradually taper to my goal weight, but I think I’m struggling psychologically and practically with the deficit needed for the last bit. I’ve once before got down to this weight and bounced back up almost immediately. That’s playing on my mind a little.

I’ve also been eating back all my exercise calories, which has led to overeating as the adjustments at the end of the day take account of step counts abd often deduct some. As I’ve always seen my calorie target as having a ‘buffer’ of 100-200 calories anyway, some days (most days?) I’m ending up over by 200-300 calories.

I clearly need a change of approach. I’m going to spend the next 4 weeks with a calorie goal based on my TDEE minus 250 per day on average, with a larger deficit on sun-mon so that I have some in hand for Fri and sat. Obviously I won’t be eating exercise calories (I used the sailrabbit calculator and I seem reasonably average on this score based on my numbers over the past few months).

As always, it’s very much a mindset issue for me. I’m like a small child - I hate missing out or feeling deprived. I constantly seek comfort and distraction through food. At the start of all this, I spent more time thinking about this and working on my patterns of thought and responses. I need to stop chasing calories (by exercising so that I can eat more) and remember that eating a bit less is not the awful thing my inner child seems to think it is!

Sounds like a plan. Good luck and let us know how it works out.

cmriverside

Yeah, like I said above, the last 10-15 are a grind - both physically and psychologically.
I have to get some exercise most days or it's impossible for me to stay within calories over time. i don't chase calories by over-exercising but exercise does make a really big difference in my ability to stay on track and in my general feelings of well-being.
..also in that last paragraph - a little hunger goes away. Real actual hunger I can't ignore. Sounds like you have a good plan.
You CAN do it. It doesn't have to be perfect. No one is grading you.

ReenieHJ

@cmriverside I love your last statement. It hits home. We all feel we have to do this perfectly or we fail. And that's just not true.