Anyone else just need to lose 10-15 lbs?

atjays

I'm down 20 lbs and ideally would like to lose another 10 lbs, I'm still a solid 20 lbs from a proper BMI # but with my muscle I don't think that's a realistic goal.

I'm doing this slowly and steady, eating around 1600+ calories with exercise 6 days a week.

runningdiva77

needing to lose 15. weights to keep body fat down, running to keep weight down, and MFP to work with the other 2 things.

mom2mozart

I've already lost 15 and another 15 would have me in a nice healthy range... I've only been doing this since 2/1/12 - and have found that as long as I'm staying in my calorie range I've been consistently losing. I've been averaging 1 or 2 pounds every week. I'm still amazed at how easy this has been so far. Guess it will get harder as I get closer. Love the information available on this site.

theprettyone1010

I'm currently 155 and want to get to 140. Trying to finish this in 8 weeks, but I don't know if that's unrealistic.

Kristinemomof3

My goal weight is 135, I weighed in this morning at 139. I started at 149 last fall. It's slowly coming off, but that's ok. I've gained muscle, smoothed things out and dropped a pants size since October. I'm 5'6" btw.

k8lyn_235

Hey! So I am 5'1, 20 years old, and 111lbs (as of last weeks weigh in!) I'm trying to lose the last ten pounds or so, being really short I don't carry weight well at all! I am seeing that there are a lot of people who know their stuff on here so I was hoping for some help.

I carry most of my excess weight around my mid-section and although I have been steadily losing around 0.5- 1.0 lbs per week for the past couple of months - which I am happy with - I still look like what a lot of people call "skinny fat"..!

I do cardio (running) 5-6 times per week and also do some weight training, although I can't afford a gym membership so it is just stuff at home.
Although I have read that the only way to see definition in your stomach is to lose weight, what gets me is that I see pictures of women who are 20-30lbs heavier than me and their abs look amazing!

I don't just want to keep getting smaller without more definition.. am I doing something wrong? Any advice is welcome!

i'm in the same boat! 5'1" 109 lbs.. flabby stomach!

techiegurl

Hey! So I am 5'1, 20 years old, and 111lbs ...

I do cardio (running) 5-6 times per week and also do some weight training, although I can't afford a gym membership so it is just stuff at home.
Although I have read that the only way to see definition in your stomach is to lose weight, what gets me is that I see pictures of women who are 20-30lbs heavier than me and their abs look amazing!

I don't just want to keep getting smaller without more definition.. am I doing something wrong? Any advice is welcome!

Can you do more strength training and less cardio?
Women's Health, Shape or Fitness mags all have lots of strength training routines online. You can tone up and burn at the same time. I gained a lot of muscle when I started doing power yoga, not that I got abs to show for it but a lot of core work moves with high # reps will get you that

erickirb

Hey! So I am 5'1, 20 years old, and 111lbs (as of last weeks weigh in!) I'm trying to lose the last ten pounds or so, being really short I don't carry weight well at all! I am seeing that there are a lot of people who know their stuff on here so I was hoping for some help.

I carry most of my excess weight around my mid-section and although I have been steadily losing around 0.5- 1.0 lbs per week for the past couple of months - which I am happy with - I still look like what a lot of people call "skinny fat"..!

I do cardio (running) 5-6 times per week and also do some weight training, although I can't afford a gym membership so it is just stuff at home.
Although I have read that the only way to see definition in your stomach is to lose weight, what gets me is that I see pictures of women who are 20-30lbs heavier than me and their abs look amazing!

I don't just want to keep getting smaller without more definition.. am I doing something wrong? Any advice is welcome!

Doing that much cardio, without strength training will lead to a loss of a large % of lean muscle, not the fat you are looking at losing. I would suggest starting a strength training routine that uses compound lifts and is with heavy weight (less than 12 reps/set) Take a look at New Rules of Lifting for Women, or Starting Strength, or Stronglifts 5x5, among others.

sblack91

i'm in the same boat! 5'1" 109 lbs.. flabby stomach!

Haha! yeah I'm around 109 lbs after todays weigh in.. what are you doing to tone up?

sblack91

Can you do more strength training and less cardio?
Women's Health, Shape or Fitness mags all have lots of strength training routines online. You can tone up and burn at the same time. I gained a lot of muscle when I started doing power yoga, not that I got abs to show for it but a lot of core work moves with high # reps will get you that

Thanks, I will definitely look into that! I love running and I feel bad when I don't feel as though I've pushed myself so I am reluctant to cut down, but I will give it a shot!

sblack91

Doing that much cardio, without strength training will lead to a loss of a large % of lean muscle, not the fat you are looking at losing. I would suggest starting a strength training routine that uses compound lifts and is with heavy weight (less than 12 reps/set) Take a look at New Rules of Lifting for Women, or Starting Strength, or Stronglifts 5x5, among others.

Why is that? I do some strength training, but like I said I can't afford to join a gym and I don't have access to heavy weights, so its really just strength training I can do in the flat

erickirb

Doing that much cardio, without strength training will lead to a loss of a large % of lean muscle, not the fat you are looking at losing. I would suggest starting a strength training routine that uses compound lifts and is with heavy weight (less than 12 reps/set) Take a look at New Rules of Lifting for Women, or Starting Strength, or Stronglifts 5x5, among others.

Why is that? I do some strength training, but like I said I can't afford to join a gym and I don't have access to heavy weights, so its really just strength training I can do in the flat

One reason is that if the muscles are not put under sufficient load while in a caloric deficit the body gets rid of them as it doesn't think it need the muscle. And since muscle burns more cals at rest this is one way for your body to lower its metabolic rate in order for it to survive longer and for you to have more energy on a reduced caloric intake.

To help ensure you don't lose much lean muscle you should also be getting adequate protein (.8 to 1.0 grams per pound of lean body mass) if you don't know BF% then try to get 0.7-0.8 grams per pound of goal weight. So if your goal weight is 120lbs you should aim for 84 to 96 grams of protein per day, if you get more it will not harm you, the 84 should be seen as a minimum.

antihillmoby

Any already active and healthy people out there that just have 10-15 lbs to lose?? And how are you doing it?

I increased my calorie intake from 1200 to 1400 last week, I usually burn about 200-300 calories in exercise about 6 times a week and always eat back those exercise calories. The scales have started moving again - its seem the way to go!!!

Sweetcheeks278

I want to drop 10-15 more. I am very active but gained ~10 late last year during the holidays and other stressful events.
I was losing a bit, especially when I cut out the tempting foods but I always thought the 1200 cal limit was very restrictive and not at all customized for my height and muscular/atheletic build. Besides I always went over it, except for a few times and was still losing weight, slowly but surely..
So after reading around a bit, some formulas including one from teambeachbody gave me about 1600 for weight loss while being very active, so now I use 1570 (arbitrary). I don't know if it really works yet, mostly because I can't seem to achieve that 50:40 ratio of carbs to protein ideal for weight loss, and I haven't measured myself in the 1.5 weeks since I made that change. Will post my progress with that soon

I'm pleased to say that having 1600+ cals per day is working for me, along with logging my meals and maintaining a very fit afterwork lifestyle (just started Insanity last week). I've lost 2 more lbs in the last 2 weeks.
Would have been more if I didn't indulge during my monthly craving time

I have been thinking about upping my calories too. I'm currently at 1260 but I haven't lost since December and I would like to get down another 10lbs. Where was your calorie intake set before you upped it to 1600? I'm so scared I'm going to increase and then gain!

erickirb

I want to drop 10-15 more. I am very active but gained ~10 late last year during the holidays and other stressful events.
I was losing a bit, especially when I cut out the tempting foods but I always thought the 1200 cal limit was very restrictive and not at all customized for my height and muscular/atheletic build. Besides I always went over it, except for a few times and was still losing weight, slowly but surely..
So after reading around a bit, some formulas including one from teambeachbody gave me about 1600 for weight loss while being very active, so now I use 1570 (arbitrary). I don't know if it really works yet, mostly because I can't seem to achieve that 50:40 ratio of carbs to protein ideal for weight loss, and I haven't measured myself in the 1.5 weeks since I made that change. Will post my progress with that soon

I'm pleased to say that having 1600+ cals per day is working for me, along with logging my meals and maintaining a very fit afterwork lifestyle (just started Insanity last week). I've lost 2 more lbs in the last 2 weeks.
Would have been more if I didn't indulge during my monthly craving time

I have been thinking about upping my calories too. I'm currently at 1260 but I haven't lost since December and I would like to get down another 10lbs. Where was your calorie intake set before you upped it to 1600? I'm so scared I'm going to increase and then gain!

add 100 cals to what you eat now, stay there for 2-3 weeks then add another 100, keep repeating until you find an intake that works for you.

danmathers09

I started in decent shape, but felt I needed to lose 12-15 to be around what I considered my best weight. I'm down 11 pounds so far. As far as exercise, I've been doing a lot of running. I HATE running, but it seems to work the best (at least for me) in terms of burning fat. On days I don't run I still focus on a lot of cardio workouts, doing Crossfit, Jacobs Ladder after strength training, etc.

In terms of diet, I've tried counting calories and I hate doing that. So I don't. I eat when I'm hungry, but try to eat healthy things and not quick, easy junk. If you're hungry, you're body will start holding on to calories instead of burning them. So I try to be mindful if I'm really hungry or not. Then I eat cucumbers, nuts, bananas, apples. I'm no vegetarian, but I felt I didn't eat enough vegetables, so I forced myself by giving up meat for a month. It changed my habits enough where, although I certainly eat meat again, I'm more comfortable incorporating vegetables into my diet (and more creative about it now). Obviously, cut out the soda and fast food.

For motivation, sign up for a challenge that scares you. I've never, ever been a runner. But I signed up for Tough Mudder with friends last year. The idea of running 10 miles scared me to death, so it motivated me to train more running and cardio than I ever have before. Being scared (but commited because of the sign-up fee) was the best motivation I've ever had.

SoDamnHungry

My goal was just to lose 7 pounds. I seem to have plateaued, so am going to start increasing my calories the day after tomorrow. I'm eating 1200 now and not eating back exercise calories. I think I'll go to 1400 a day and see if that helps.

LastMinuteMama

For motivation, sign up for a challenge that scares you. I've never, ever been a runner. But I signed up for Tough Mudder with friends last year. The idea of running 10 miles scared me to death, so it motivated me to train more running and cardio than I ever have before. Being scared (but commited because of the sign-up fee) was the best motivation I've ever had.

^^^ This, I agree 110%! Signing up for something outside your comfort zone is exactly the thing that will make you work hard!!! ..and shed those extra pounds/inches!!!

techiegurl

Weirdly after completing insanity, my calorie intake the last few weeks has been somewhat high still, averaged 2000-2500 (I'm 5'9, 174 now), from just cravings and social events with tempting foods. But I still keep losing beyond my goal weight. It's probably from being active too, running, yoga, climbing, and kick boxing make me hungry. The key for me is feeding my body quality nutritious foods esp tracking my protein intake to eat at least the total protein goal. Eating other 'cheats' here and there didn't seem to affect much now i need to find a way to maintain

Ashly744

I have about 7-10lbs left to lose, give or take. I've been fighting with the same few lbs so I'm attempting to up my calories to see if that helps.