Those struggling to lose the last 10lbs

carrie_eggo

Why is it “harder” to lose the last 10 pounds? Why does Mary over there lose 2 pounds a week and I only lose 1? It has nothing to do with what kinds of foods you are eating or what time you eat, or when you workout, etc. It’s still the simple calories in vs calories out equation. This is basically how I understand it and I thought I would write about it in case anyone else was interested.

As you lose weight, you need less and less calories for your body to function (maintenance calories, or TDEE (total daily energy expenditure)). Of course, TDEE varies based on body composition and activity, but here’s a basic example for you:

Susie weighs 175 pounds. At her weight, her TDEE is roughly 2450. She deducts a generous 1000 calories a day to create a deficit. Now she is going to eat 1450 calories a day. This will allow her to lose approximately 2 lbs per week. (1lb = 3500 calories)

TDEE: 2450
Daily Calorie goal: 1450
Deficit: 1000 calories (1000 calories x 7 days a week = 7000 calories under maintenance = 2lbs loss per week.)


Now, Susie has lost 25 pounds. Yay Susie! She can eat the 1450 calories a day, but if she wants to still lose 2lbs a week she needs to decrease her calories, because NOW her TDEE is only 2100. So in order to still lose 2lbs per week (1000 calorie deficit), Susie needs to eat 1100 calories a day. Now MFP (and it’s generally recommended) will not let her go down past 1200 calories a day—she won’t get adequate nutrients below this. So Susie goes down to 1200 calories a day. Her total weekly weight loss goes down some to around 1.8lb per week loss. So she is eating less calories and still has less of a deficit. Sucks, doesn’t it?

TDEE: 2100
Daily calorie goal: 1200
Deficit: 900 calories (900 calories x 7 days a week = 6300 calories under maintenance = 1.8lbs loss per week.)


Now, Susie weighs 125 pounds. Awesome job Susie!! But she’s 5’3” and would like to get down to 115. This is where it gets even harder. Her TDEE now is 1750. She can’t eat any less than 1200 calories a day. She won’t get adequate nutrition if she does. She stays at 1200, because she can’t go any lower. Even though she is still eating the same amount of calories, her deficit is smaller because her TDEE decreased with her weight loss. She will only lose about 1.1lbs per week now at 1200 calories.

TDEE: 1750
Daily calorie goal: 1200
Deficit: 550 calories (550 calories x 7 days a week = 3850 calories under maintenance = 1.1lb loss per week.)

SO, as you lose weight and your TDEE/maintenance calories decrease, weight loss becomes slower because you cannot create as large of a deficit as you were able to before. And with a smaller deficit, you have less and less room for error (aka underestimating intake and over estimating expenditure), and more of a chance that water weight will mask your fat loss.

Moral of the story? Keep up the good work! Fight the good fight and the weight will come off. Just understand that it happens more s…l…o…w...l...y than before.


Side note: This is also why it’s recommended to add strength training and get adequate protein in your diet. It will help you to preserve your muscle mass while in a deficit. The more lean body mass/muscle mass you have, the higher your TDEE, the larger of a deficit you will get.

Hope this helps someone out there! :flowerforyou:

MB_Positif

I am hot and sweaty from burning 500 calories in 40 minutes on the Arc Trainer! Will read all of this after my shower! Thanks for sharing!

Mama2HnC

Said well!

Shyloh1

Great post Carrie!

nixickle

Fab post and well said :-)

beachbum8

Great post and well said! Patience and hard work it is! Any loss is great to me! As well as strength training too! :flowerforyou:

harleygirl6363

i dont quit understand how this works im 5'3" and currently weigh 155 I eat around 1200 calories a day unless I exercise I may add a little bit more. I just dont understand this sorry can you break it down for me with my stats uuuggghhh i feel so dumb

carrie_eggo

i dont quit understand how this works im 5'3" and currently weigh 155 I eat around 1200 calories a day unless I exercise I may add a little bit more. I just dont understand this sorry can you break it down for me with my stats uuuggghhh i feel so dumb

It's ok. I was just trying to explain and give a basic example of why the weight comes off more slowly when you have less to lose. A person's TDEE will vary for other reasons than just their weight. I'm not trying to recommend a certain calorie intake for anyone.

ninerbuff

Why is it “harder” to lose the last 10 pounds? Why does Mary over there lose 2 pounds a week and I only lose 1? It has nothing to do with what kinds of foods you are eating or what time you eat, or when you workout, etc. It’s still the simple calories in vs calories out equation. This is basically how I understand it and I thought I would write about it in case anyone else was interested.

As you lose weight, you need less and less calories for your body to function (maintenance calories, or TDEE (total daily energy expenditure)). Of course, TDEE varies based on body composition and activity, but here’s a basic example for you:

Susie weighs 175 pounds. At her weight, her TDEE is roughly 2450. She deducts a generous 1000 calories a day to create a deficit. Now she is going to eat 1450 calories a day. This will allow her to lose approximately 2 lbs per week. (1lb = 3500 calories)

TDEE: 2450
Daily Calorie goal: 1450
Deficit: 1000 calories (1000 calories x 7 days a week = 7000 calories under maintenance = 2lbs loss per week.)


Now, Susie has lost 25 pounds. Yay Susie! She can eat the 1450 calories a day, but if she wants to still lose 2lbs a week she needs to decrease her calories, because NOW her TDEE is only 2100. So in order to still lose 2lbs per week (1000 calorie deficit), Susie needs to eat 1100 calories a day. Now MFP (and it’s generally recommended) will not let her go down past 1200 calories a day—she won’t get adequate nutrients below this. So Susie goes down to 1200 calories a day. Her total weekly weight loss goes down some to around 1.8lb per week loss. So she is eating less calories and still has less of a deficit. Sucks, doesn’t it?

TDEE: 2100
Daily calorie goal: 1200
Deficit: 900 calories (900 calories x 7 days a week = 6300 calories under maintenance = 1.8lbs loss per week.)


Now, Susie weighs 125 pounds. Awesome job Susie!! But she’s 5’3” and would like to get down to 115. This is where it gets even harder. Her TDEE now is 1750. She can’t eat any less than 1200 calories a day. She won’t get adequate nutrition if she does. She stays at 1200, because she can’t go any lower. Even though she is still eating the same amount of calories, her deficit is smaller because her TDEE decreased with her weight loss. She will only lose about 1.1lbs per week now at 1200 calories.

TDEE: 1750
Daily calorie goal: 1200
Deficit: 550 calories (550 calories x 7 days a week = 3850 calories under maintenance = 1.1lb loss per week.)

SO, as you lose weight and your TDEE/maintenance calories decrease, weight loss becomes slower because you cannot create as large of a deficit as you were able to before. And with a smaller deficit, you have less and less room for error (aka underestimating intake and over estimating expenditure), and more of a chance that water weight will mask your fat loss.

Moral of the story? Keep up the good work! Fight the good fight and the weight will come off. Just understand that it happens more s…l…o…w...l...y than before.


Side note: This is also why it’s recommended to add strength training and get adequate protein in your diet. It will help you to preserve your muscle mass while in a deficit. The more lean body mass/muscle mass you have, the higher your TDEE, the larger of a deficit you will get.

Hope this helps someone out there! :flowerforyou:

Nice write up!

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

TurboFireMama

Thank you for writing this! I so needed to hear it! Patience is key.

GrandmaJackie

I'm on my last 10 pounds here! My weight is about 158.4 or 159! I was told to up my calories but when I TRY i gain a couple pounds! CAN someone look in my diary and tell me what they think!

allie7383

bump!

quiksandy

This is great. So glad you posted it!

carrie_eggo

I'm on my last 10 pounds here! My weight is about 158.4 or 159! I was told to up my calories but when I TRY i gain a couple pounds! CAN someone look in my diary and tell me what they think!

I can't see your diary.....

quiksandy

I'm on my last 10 pounds here! My weight is about 158.4 or 159! I was told to up my calories but when I TRY i gain a couple pounds! CAN someone look in my diary and tell me what they think!

GrandmaJackie...

I tried to look at your food diary but it must be set to private. Go to "settings', "diary settings" scroll to bottom of page and select "public" under Diary Sharing.

nakabi

great post

healthyJenn0915

Thanks for posting! This is so me right now!! I got down to my first goal weight of 145 back in October after I completed Insanity the first time around. My final goal weight is 135 which is the smallest I have ever been, and I have been sticking with the 1200 calorie goal for the most part and am doing my second round of Insanity, but haven't dropped a single pound!! I can tell I am building more muscle and my waiste is shrinking, but I wish the darn scale would drop too!! I'm ok where I am at, but would love love love for these final 10lbs to go away!!

GrandmaJackie

I'm on my last 10 pounds here! My weight is about 158.4 or 159! I was told to up my calories but when I TRY i gain a couple pounds! CAN someone look in my diary and tell me what they think!

I can't see your diary.....

Sorry now try!

velvetkat

Carrie-Thanks for taking the time to write all this out for people to understand! Makes perfect sense and shows exactly why as you lose weight it gets harder and harder or takes longer and longer to accomplish the same thing you accomplished when you weighed more!

Excellent post!

Training2Tri

great post - this was super helpful!

sc1234

Nicely written Carrie!

ladytinkerbell99

Thanks for sharing!

brittanyla077

I've only got 10 lbs to loose total and keep fluctuating I lost 4 then gained 2 back....

loved11

i am the same as brittanyla077. I had last 15 to go, got discouraged and gained 7. now starting again, i am determined to get to my goal. I am 131lbs, 5'2. I set 110 as my goal. I was down to 124 and the holidays and depression hit. UHG!!!! but I am back and starting over.

Thanks for the write up, it makes so much sense to me now.

JeSuisPrest

Bumping to read later....these last 5-10pounds are going to be hard, I know it but am not giving up!!!

ashleynicoleh04

bump

MissJamiie

Nice post Thx

Breadbar

Great post - thanks! I had been maintaining nearly a 100 lb loss when I joined MFP this past December. The final 8 lbs are coming off slowly & steadily with the accurate calorie recording. But the other important component is calories out. I believe that exercise is key to creating more of a deficit and will continue to always be key in maintenance.

Additionally, as I get into better shape I find I am burning fewer calories at the same exercises. So just as my calorie requirements drop my exercise needs increase.

If I didn't have to earn a living I could spend the day at the gym and be back to losing 2lbs a week!

Robin

kikix5

Thanks for sharing this, I don't have much to lose and its so hard when you don't see much of any change. I am going to restart again today after an injury to my foot. It gets frustrating when you see some lose so quickly and someone like me at 5'6 and 135 that just wants a 5 pound loss with some firming up

vic72

Great post!

wisecat1

Great post! Thanks Carrie!