Losing "Vanity Pounds" or the last 10

Mariachicat

Can someone please let me know if I should update my MFP goals as I try to lose the last 10-11 pounds? SW was 152, CW is 120.6, GW is 110. I was listening to a Jillian Michaels podcast and she mentioned that if you are trying to lose "vanity pounds", you can't eat at as big a deficit as you did when you were bigger and closer to your SW, because as you get closer to your GW the body's metabolism can slow down if you eat at that great a deficit. That leads me to thinking that maybe I should redo my goals on MFP and maybe up my calories a bit. I've been netting 1200 calories a day and exercising 2 hours a day. This past week, due to changes to my schedule, I've had to decrease my workout time to 1 hour a day, except on weekends. I'm still maintaining 1200 calories or less and this past week I lost over 2 pounds despite decreasing my workout time. If anyone has any experience with this, please let me know. I haven't updated my MFP goals since my SW and I didn't think I would have to again until maintenance....but now I'm feeling like maybe I should. Thanks!

elisa123gal

From what i have read from other posts, you should reduce your weekly loss goal to half a pound and slowly lose the last ten.

365andstillalive

Calculate your TDEE, eat 250-300 cals below it. You shouldn't be aiming to lose more than 0.5lbs per week.

I'm also just going to assume that you are rather short/petite framed and that 110 is a healthy and realistic goal for you. If you're not either of those things, please remember that your health is more important than a number on a scale and that a 1200 calorie diet actually isn't healthy for the vast majority of people.

TiberiusClaudis

The last 10lbs are indeed the hardest. Yes, one trick is to fool the body that it is over the diet, so that it increases your metab. But don't get carried away. I do a refeeds once a week, for one day. I concentrate on carbs, normally its protein. If you were to look at my weight loss graph, it would look like a roller coaster. It's two steps forward one step back.

Mariachicat

Thanks! I'm going to do that. It makes sense to me, I guess as you get closer to maintenance the idea is to transition gradually and not be so aggressive. I don't want to stall, but I want to stay fit and maintain my GW when I eventually do get there, with an allowance for a 5 lb fluctuation, if that makes sense.

Sabine_Stroehm

If you can see this, have a read:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/737101-relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner

Mariachicat

Awesome, thanks everyone! I just redid my goals to lose .5 lbs a week and MFP bumped me up to 1400 calories a day. I weigh every week, so we'll see how it goes.