The Final 10-15

savemama

I have been toying with the final 10-15 lbs for.EVER.!

I'm now in a dietbet (great accountability) and ready to really do this. And, just as I feared, it is HARD to come off. I can seem to do everything "right" and still not lose, or even gain.

I want to finish what I started once and for all!

Any tips for those final pounds? What's working for you? How to get off that plateau!?

SezxyStef

you lose the last 10 like you did the first 10 or middle 10...

you eat at a deficit.

If you are in a plateau you are not in a deficit.

weigh all solids, measure liquids log accurately.

mcspiffy88

Do some HIIT, it generally does the trick to shock your metabolism. Other than that yea you might need to reduce your calories more or maybe you are underestimating what you eat.

lavender_fairie

I have no idea what to do but I'm right there with you. I don't really understand how when we get to the last 10-15 lbs, we r Supossed to lose at a lower rate, which means upping calories generally, yet the typical suggestion is to slash calories more and eat even less. I tried to slash my cals more, fell off the wagon then ate it, and I'm back at it again. It's frustrating and you have my sympathy. Before I started messing around with my settings I had a good thing going- losing a pound/week, but I read I should slow down losing so I increased cals by 100, didn't seem to work, so I slashed, then failed and landed on my face, and here I am. What a ride.

As of today, my new plan is: I went from 1500 to 1600, and I'm eating 60% of exercise cals, instead of 75%, and I'm committing to an extra 30 mins of exercise 6 days a week. Le sigh. I know it's typical for it to be slow at this point, but I just couldn't eat so little anymore and I started exercising which made me so hungry- made me want to eat my pantry. So, new approach. Maybe it will work; if it doesn't I'm going to look into something really different like IF.

Iwishyouwell

You're not eating at a deficit for your lower weight goals.

It's a hard reality, but if you want to slash those last 10-15 lbs you might have to eat less than you imagine, and/or move more than you're comfortable with.

Sounds like you're trying to do now what worked 10-20 lbs ago. But as of now you're just working extra hard to run in place. You're maintaining, but with losing expectations.

lemon629

I have no idea what to do but I'm right there with you. I don't really understand how when we get to the last 10-15 lbs, we r Supossed to lose at a lower rate, which means upping calories generally, yet the typical suggestion is to slash calories more and eat even less. I tried to slash my cals more, fell off the wagon then ate it, and I'm back at it again. It's frustrating and you have my sympathy. Before I started messing around with my settings I had a good thing going- losing a pound/week, but I read I should slow down losing so I increased cals by 100, didn't seem to work, so I slashed, then failed and landed on my face, and here I am. What a ride.

As of today, my new plan is: I went from 1500 to 1600, and I'm eating 60% of exercise cals, instead of 75%, and I'm committing to an extra 30 mins of exercise 6 days a week. Le sigh. I know it's typical for it to be slow at this point, but I just couldn't eat so little anymore and I started exercising which made me so hungry- made me want to eat my pantry. So, new approach. Maybe it will work; if it doesn't I'm going to look into something really different like IF.

That's funny, I just changed my plan the same way yesterday (1500 to 1600, eating less exercise calories, increasing exercise)! I want to lose 15-20 more pounds, and have been stuck the past month after losing the first ten pretty quickly.

cwolfman13

It's tricky because you have to be in a deficit, but it should be a small one, which leaves little room for error. Also, it is very slow...so it can be hard to determine day to day and week to week on a scale. I'm at a healthy BF% but would like to get slightly leaner...I have about 10 Lbs to lose to get to where I want to be...it is very difficult to see on the scale, but my 6 week trend shows roughly a 3 Lb loss with all of the natural up and down fluctuations along the way.

It can be difficult because you're not going to see Lbs go flying off the scale like you did before and small losses can easily be masked by natural weight fluctuations (likely the cause of your so called "gains"). In my own personal experience, this can be cause to just say frack it and just maintain...this is the first time in the past 6 months that I've really sat down for an entire 6 weeks to see how it would play out...and it's playing out beautifully, just slow...as it should be.

becs3578

Dealing with this now.. Lowered my net calories but still need to eat enough to keep myself fueled for my workouts and running during the week. 6.5 lbs left!

lavender_fairie

I have no idea what to do but I'm right there with you. I don't really understand how when we get to the last 10-15 lbs, we r Supossed to lose at a lower rate, which means upping calories generally, yet the typical suggestion is to slash calories more and eat even less. I tried to slash my cals more, fell off the wagon then ate it, and I'm back at it again. It's frustrating and you have my sympathy. Before I started messing around with my settings I had a good thing going- losing a pound/week, but I read I should slow down losing so I increased cals by 100, didn't seem to work, so I slashed, then failed and landed on my face, and here I am. What a ride.

As of today, my new plan is: I went from 1500 to 1600, and I'm eating 60% of exercise cals, instead of 75%, and I'm committing to an extra 30 mins of exercise 6 days a week. Le sigh. I know it's typical for it to be slow at this point, but I just couldn't eat so little anymore and I started exercising which made me so hungry- made me want to eat my pantry. So, new approach. Maybe it will work; if it doesn't I'm going to look into something really different like IF.

That's funny, I just changed my plan the same way yesterday (1500 to 1600, eating less exercise calories, increasing exercise)! I want to lose 15-20 more pounds, and have been stuck the past month after losing the first ten pretty quickly.

Good luck! I'm rooting for you! this last stretch is hard, lol.

lavender_fairie

Ok, so just stay the course and increase patience (by...a lot). Thank u for your reply. The last 15 is proving much more difficult than the first 45. I suspect it's normal but I still don't like it. I'm math-impaired too, which doesn't help.

savemama

Good to hear your thoughts.

I think the issue is- that I am losing more SLOWLY and as cwolfman pointed out, because the deficit is smaller (since I am smaller) the margin for error is TEENY TINY it feels. Add hormonal fluctuations from week to week and I can easily see how some weeks I am not seeing the numbers drop. And that makes it seem like- why am I doing this?

It's so easy to stay motivated when you're seeing numbers drop every week. Harder to stay the course when you're going hungry all the time, working out every day, and you could step on the scale and see the same damn number (or higher from water weight).

It's good to know I'm not alone

I think my other issue is- that I am in a Dietbet and so I am impatient with the slow pace this is taking. I am trying to hit the same % of weight lost, but my weight is much lower now. That % is harder to come by. Maybe I need to stop letting the dietbet determine how I feel about my rate of progress.... that is food for thought!

H_Factor

do the two things described in these two blogs and the fat will fly off:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/H_Factor/view/my-experience-with-intermittent-fasting-175218

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/H_Factor/view/sprint-interval-training-659426

MChommie

big fan of diet betting -- I need to lose my final 7 by the end of the month! btw, here is a diet betting site you might like: fatbet.net

sweetnlow30

I am in the final stretch too. I haven't been this weight since I was ten years old because I was heavy as a child too. I was stuck at the same weight for almost six weeks then we went on a two day trip where I ate at maintenance. I lost three pounds that week. Sometimes a little break helps but I do agree it's so frustrating! I plan to start toning more once I hit maintenance if my damaged spine allows it. I hope to see another inch or so go in the process.

savemama

do the two things described in these two blogs and the fat will fly off:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/H_Factor/view/my-experience-with-intermittent-fasting-175218

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/H_Factor/view/sprint-interval-training-659426

Thanks for the tips! I read them both

I don't think I'm ready for fasting yet- but I really want to do it some day. (Right now I have a toddler at home that I need to be nice to... so fasting isn't a good choice for me with how grumpy I get! lol) But I will try your HIIT exercise this weekend! (and keep fasting in my mind for when toddler is in school!

ahoy_m8

It's tricky because you have to be in a deficit, but it should be a small one, which leaves little room for error.

This is so true. The lower your BMI or BF%, the less margin you have to work with. What helps my perspective is I weigh myself every day and average my weight over the M-Su week, and then I track my weekly progress. What doesn't show up daily is sometimes clear steady progress in averages.

Good luck!