Scientifically Are the Last 10 lbs REALLY the Hardest?

likitisplit

I think you all are ignoring the feedback loops the body has to protect itself from starvation. You're also not defining "last".

Are you talking about going from 26% body fat to 25%? Probably not that hard.

Are you talking about going from 10% to 8%? Totally different ballgame.

This exactly! As you aproach essential bf% and below your body begins to fight and adjust where it pulls it's energy from, making fat loss a fight of balancing your deficit and exercise. You need to push the body to keep muscle out of necessity while keeping energy expenditure just above intake to slowly coax the body to burn fat.

As you lose weight at any point you have to continue to increase energy expenditure or decrease intake to keep the same deficit. So in this aspect each lb is harder than the last. But when they say the last 10lbs I believe it is ment to describe the last 10 to reach your essential bf%.

Study to back this claim up?

edit nmv I see it has been discussed above.

Not quite. If you have any research that show that the body uses less fat or uses muscle preferentially at some point, let us know. That would be very interesting.

likitisplit

So really, they are not more difficult or more stubborn to get rid of, the only difference is that your deficit has been dialed down to match your newer TDEE so it takes a longer period of time to reach the 3500 calorie deficit. Did I get it right?

By the way, "Duh" isn't really a kind response when someone is asking an honest question.

Additionally, since MFP doesn't tell users to decrease their calorie deficit as they get closer to goal, there are potentially many people that would continue rocking their initial deficit setting all the way to their goal weight and they'd never know that it should have been changed. So I'm not sure it's "common sense".

So wait....MFP won't bring my daily goal down as my weight comes down?

It will. What it won't do is change your goal from two pounds to a half pound when it's appropriate.

likitisplit

Personally I think there's no science to back this up because...that "last 10 pounds" is often just in our own head...while our body might not need to lose it...say "vanity pounds"...because you might not need to lose it, it makes it harder?

Good point.

Also your body doesn't know what the hell the "last 10 lbs" are. It's very common for people, especially once very overweight and obese people, to set goal weights that actually leave them still overweight. They pick a number that seems "normal", or the highest possible "healthy" weight on a chart, and aim for that. Then you see people struggling with the supposed "last 10 pounds" who actually could quite safely lose another 10-20 on top of that.

I think the point where people truly run into physiological resistance to low bodyfat levels, say 10% or less for men, or 18% or less for women, is a level that most once fat people never, ever even reach. Going from 13% down to 10% or sub levels is understandable. But what happens when a man is talking about the impossibility of the "last 10 lbs" when he's actually at around 23%?

How many formerly obese and very overweight people do you see with goal weights, and goal bodyfat percentages, that are in the truly "difficult to shed" category?

I've gone from clinically obese to 18% once and am on my way there again.

That's awesome! Rare, but awesome.

There's actually a number of people on MFP, who have done better.

Iwishyouwell

Personally I think there's no science to back this up because...that "last 10 pounds" is often just in our own head...while our body might not need to lose it...say "vanity pounds"...because you might not need to lose it, it makes it harder?

Good point.

Also your body doesn't know what the hell the "last 10 lbs" are. It's very common for people, especially once very overweight and obese people, to set goal weights that actually leave them still overweight. They pick a number that seems "normal", or the highest possible "healthy" weight on a chart, and aim for that. Then you see people struggling with the supposed "last 10 pounds" who actually could quite safely lose another 10-20 on top of that.

I think the point where people truly run into physiological resistance to low bodyfat levels, say 10% or less for men, or 18% or less for women, is a level that most once fat people never, ever even reach. Going from 13% down to 10% or sub levels is understandable. But what happens when a man is talking about the impossibility of the "last 10 lbs" when he's actually at around 23%?

How many formerly obese and very overweight people do you see with goal weights, and goal bodyfat percentages, that are in the truly "difficult to shed" category?

I've gone from clinically obese to 18% once and am on my way there again.

That's awesome! Rare, but awesome.

There's actually a number of people on MFP, who have done better.

Yes, I'm aware.