Last 9lbs & feeling discouraged!

Sarahclarke82

Hi All,

I've been doing MFP since January and have lost 26lbs so far and have found it to be a lot easier than I thought it would be!

I've now got 9lbs left to get to my target weight of 133lbs which will give me a nice healthy BMI of around 22.8 (BMI is currently 24.4)

The problem is that I know this is where it's going to get tough and the weight loss has slowed down already, nothing drastic yet, maybe a pound has come off in the last 2 weeks but it's definitely losing momentum.

I was considering increasing my calorie intake slightly (currently 1200 net) as I didn't want to get to target weight and then try and eat an extra 500 or so calories a day for maintenance as that's a lot extra to work into your diet so thought it would be better to work up to it gradually.

Any tips for keeping the weight loss going at this point would be welcomed!!

mkennedym

try revving up your exercise? what type of exercise are you doing right now?

Sarahclarke82

I exercise 4 or 5 times a week using predominantly workout DVD's. I usually do cardio based ones like Ministry of Sound 2 or 3 times and then interval style weight training (Davina or Jillian Michaels) on the days inbetween.

mkennedym

alright. so you are definitely exercising, but your weight is coming off slower than you anticipated. unfortunately you are already at 1200 calories a day which is the lowest recommended amount of calories a woman consumes (i'm assuming this is net calories, as in if you burn 500 calories in a workout you actually are eating 1700 calories)?

first thing you should check is to make sure you are accurately weighing and accounting for the calories in. measure every serving of everything you have an make sure that it is what you are putting into mfa.

as far as exercise, you could try an HIIT program. basically try something like 30 seconds of sprinting, 1.5 minutes of walking, 30 seconds sprinting, 1.5 minutes walking, etc until you get to 10-15 minutes total. the post exercise oxygen consumption will allow your body to burn extra calories for up to 18 hours after you are finished with the workout. with regular steady state cardio, your metabolism returns to normal within something like 30 minutes after you are done.

other than that i'm not sure what it could be. try the things above. the important thing is to stick with your goal and not lose sight of it.

rileysowner

Some people has not problem getting off the last 10 pounds. Others do not. Having said that, when you get to the last 10 pounds you want them to come off slowly. I don't know what sort of pounds per week goal you have right now, but I suggest no higher than 1 pound per week, maybe even go down to half a pound. I am currently at about 1 pound a week and I'm in the last 10 pounds point as well. You want to be increasing your calories as you come closer to your goal to provide you body what it needs to burn off that last fat.

Secondly, reduce the long duration cardio and increase the Interval Training. If you don't do strength training of any sort, start now. The last 10 pounds are often a matter of resculpting. Since you seem to be another workout at home person like me, I would suggest starting with body weight strength training, that way you don't have to purchase a lot of equipment to start or join a gym. An excellent book on body weight training is Mark Lauren's "You Are Your Own Gym" I purchased it a while back just to get up to the free shipping category with Amazon, and it was one of the best purchases I have ever made, second only to "Cardio Strength Training" which what the other book I purchased. You may want to move from simple Interval training to High Intensity Interval Training as well or Metabolic Resistance Training (that is what the Cardio Strength Training book is all about). They burn much more fat than long duration cardio. Basically, what you need to do is work at strengthening your muscles. Building them is difficult when eating a calorie deficit unless you are very untrained and unfit. You sound like you are fit, so don't worry about bulking up, unless you have unusual genetics for a woman you will not bulk up, but you will tone up and get lean with strength building exercises more than with cardio. Cardio has its place, but burning off that last fat is not it. You will lose more muscle with cardio that Intervals, HIIT or MRT.

Be patient and don't use just the scale. Measure yourself as well. You may not lose a lot of weight, but if you diligently do strength training with Intervals and a couple of days of Cardio, you will lose that last fat. I have to keep telling myself that as well just so you know. I think the difficulty with the last 10 pounds is that the goal is in site, but you know it will take a lot longer than the first 10 pounds. Remember though, it is only 9 pounds you have left.

Sarahclarke82

Funnily enough I was reading up on HIIT training this morning, Got to be worth a go!

natskedat

Get your body fat percentage checked. Make sure that the weight you're losing is fat and not muscle. Losing muscle due to a deficient caloric intake will lower your metabolism and hinder your success.

You may need to increase your caloric intake to boost your metabolism and feed your muscles what they need to consume fat. It's the only way continued weight loss is going to happen. Simply increasing your exercise will force your body to consume the muscle you work so hard for. I think we're around the same weight. I usually work out around 5 times a week and eat anywhere between 2300 and 2700 calories a day. I recently gained 7 pounds while starting a training program for a triathlon. I increased my caloric intake accordingly. I panicked when I saw the scale climb! However, after checking my body fat and realizing that my percentage hadn't changed, I realized that the 7 pounds was all lean body mass.

Hope this helps!

AlwaysWanderer

read that thread, its really interesting.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/113609-relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner?hl=relatively+lean+people+trying+to+get+leaner
good luck

Sarahclarke82

Thanks for that Jim. I must admit I do love my bouncy aerobic DVD's but I think you may be right regarding the weight training. It's just getting myself out of the mindset that I need to do loads of cardio. I'm going to look at the HIIT training as well as I know that that could be really helpful as well.

I'll do some research/reading regarding the kind of things I need to be doing as weight training for the arms is obvious but I don't really know what I'd need to do for the rest of my body. Some homework for me tonight!

Thanks for the comments guys.