Wanna hear from folks who lost 100+ including final 25 lbs

peacemongernc

I've lost around 120 pounds. I'm at 185ish... depending on if you believe the scale this morning or yesterday or the day before that.

The last 25 to 30 pounds are a PITA!!!

Clearly, the game has changed. The things that worked for the first 100 or so won't work for me now. The margin for error and cheating is next to nothing now. I actually seem to be hungrier now than I was when I started.

I came up with a plan to eat at about my RMR... or BMR... the lower one... what you eat to maintain if you are doing nothing, and exercise for at least 300 calories a day, which should give me about a pound a week loss.

I based my maintenance calories not on what MFP said, but on what I had been eating since I had been maintaining, by accident, for months. That seemed to be around 1835 calories. A good bit lower than what it should be based on online calculators and such. I decided either my % body fat was much higher than I thought it was, or my metabolism was pretty slow. Maybe both. But I went with those numbers thinking I couldn't NOT lose!

I was semi successful at following my plan. I dropped almost 10 pounds in the first 10 days, confirming to me that something I had been eating had been causing inflammation and I had almost 10 pounds of water weight and inflammation causing the scale to be up. I got down under 182. I was well hydrated. Then i had two weeks in a row where I blew it and had two days that undid my calorie deficit for the whole rest of the week. BUT I thought, well, at least I won't GAIN any. WRONG. I was 187.5 this morning. Totally could be inflamation... or some of it could be.

I've tried several things over the last year with only marginal success.

The first 100 pounds came off in a predictable way. There were plateaus that sometimes lasted a couple of months, but eventually it always settled down to exactly where MFP said it should be. If I believed MFP now, over the last 12 months, I should be down around 175 or less.

I'm going to eat clean, exercise, and try to plan well so I don't have a day or two a week that undoes the rest of the week.

I've got to plan.

But seriously, this is FRUSTRATING!!

And I'm afraid to throw in the towel and decide that the 180s isn't so bad, which they aren't, because I suspect if I let up for a second I'll weigh 304 all over again.

I'm about 29 months into this journey and feel like I should know what I'm doing by now!!!!!

Shannon

LaneB89

Similar situation. Haven't lost 100+, but still nearly 60 pounds in the past 6-7 months. Have approximately 25 to go and have hit a brick wall with my weight loss. Previously I wasn't even very strict, would have one huge cheat meal a week, never measured anything, and still lost weight at a decent and predictable pace. Now, with 25 pounds to lose, I'm going nowhere fast on a 1600 calorie diet. I weigh foods meticulously and calculate every little thing I put into my body. I am a 5'11" 24 year old male weighing 183 pounds. I lift weights and run 5k 4x a week. I don't eat back my exercise calories. I'm eating like a 5'5" female would eat to lose weight, and nothing is happening.

peacemongernc

I am a 5'11" 24 year old male weighing 183 pounds. I lift weights and run 5k 4x a week. I don't eat back my exercise calories. I'm eating like a 5'5" female would eat to lose weight, and nothing is happening.

I feel bad for you, but this made me a teeny bit better. I was thinking that maybe part of my problem is that I'm getting old and hormonal. If you're male and only 24, maybe there is a much more appealing explanation. I'm looking for one that is also more appealing than I need to eat less and move more. I think I may have gone about as far in that direction as I'm willing to.

vismal

I lost over 100 including the final 25. They go SLOW. I was losing at a max 0.5-1lb a week. The principle is still the same. Eat less then you burn in a day. The issue is that after losing 100 lbs you burn a lot less per day then you used too. Have you at any point in your dieting taken a break? By break I mean eating at maintenance. I would strongly advise you take about 1 month off from being in a deficit. Eat maintenance levels and focus on strength training. This will let your body recover a bit and possibly raise your bmr some. Dieting over long periods of time can cause metabolic slowdown that usually reverses when you eat at maintenance for a while. This is what I'd do.

Lives2Travel

I've lost 109 in the last 11 months, currently weigh 186 and have 41 left to lose. Like you, the first 85 lbs came off steadily. Then, it all changed. I will weigh the same for a week to 10 days and then drop 2-3 lbs. I track my weight every day and have noticed if I eat at maintenance for a day or two, I'll put on 2-3 lbs. If I then cut back to the number of calories where I lose, the gain plus a couple more pounds are gone within 4-7 days.

For example, I ate at or above maintenance both days of the Mother's Day weekend and last Monday was up 3 lbs. This morning, I'm down 6.6 lbs since last Monday (3 lbs gained plus 3.6 more). I guess I'm doing an informal type of calorie cycling so my body never knows what to expect. I also exercise almost every day and eat back no more than half of the exercise calories.

And for what it's worth, I'm female, 56 yrs old and 10 yrs post menopause. Losing weight is not as easy as it was when I was in my 20s or 30s, but it's certainly doable.

seltzermint555

I don't have any great advice, and definitely haven't lost the last 25, but thanks for posting because I am in a VERY similar "boat" to yours.

I am at 183-184 right now and my HW was 307. I lost 45 lb before discovering MFP and then lost about 70 in the "textbook" MFP fashion but the most recent 8-9 lb have come off very very slowly.

My original goal was 180 lb, and I'll be happy to meet that but I would really like to see 170 or even 165-169 as a "buffer" before I go into maintenance. I don't truly mind if the last 5-15 lb comes off slowly but sometimes I wonder why it has slowed quite this much. Anyway, best of luck to you & I hope to benefit from your thread ;-)