Last ten pounds and TDEE-20%

mh569

Hello lovely people!
I am struggling to lose my last ten pounds- mostly situated in my tummy. I also want to tone my arms and legs... I do have a plan for that!

With this last ten pounds, I've been stuck for TWO MONTHS. It is driving me crazy. PLEASE, I need some help. Tips, recommendations- anything. I'm on my second day of trying the TDEE-20%, and I've gained 5 pounds, probably mostly water weight. I've been getting the calories in, but maybe not with the right food, and getting my exercise. (But not eating back the calories.)
On Monday I plan to begin a walking program that does half an hour of speedwalking, challenge and brisk paces five times a week.

Please, please. I'm almost ready to give up on this...

PS- I've been told that to get rid of the tummy area, you must do intense exercise. Is that true? I'm afraid I won't have time for long and exhausting workouts. (I am a full time student that works part time.)

Sarauk2sf

To get rid of the belly fat you need to keep losing body fat in general. It will come of where it will based on genetics.

What intake were you on before, how long for and how much did you lose?

mh569

I was on 1450 for about 2 months and lost 14 pounds, and then it stopped and I started losing and gaining the same 1-2 pounds.

Sarauk2sf

I was on 1450 for about 2 months and lost 14 pounds, and then it stopped and I started losing and gaining the same 1-2 pounds.

What does the TDEE less the 20% come out to be?

RunDoozer

With being so close to your goal you may need to be eating tdee -10%. Also if you haven't recalculated your tdee recently it does change as you lose weight

Vailara

I know this sounds ridiculously old-fashioned, but good posture can make a big difference to the look of your tummy (and your body in general).

Toumani

Hi mh569,

I was exactly in the same position as you a few weeks ago. My magic number was 1475, that's TDEE - 20%. I was hanging there for about 2 months and thought, ok, somehting here is not working. If I lose 10 lbs, I will be my pre-pregnancy weight.

I can clearly see that the "new" weight is on my stomach and love handles. Even when I was heavier before, the fat just didn't stick or collect on those places, more on my butt and saddle bag area. So the fat distribution definitely changed due to my twins pregnancy.

I spoke to my sister about it, and she said even when she lost, she had the fat collecting on new places which made her original size clothes fit like crap. Basically, what worked for her and is now working for me is a change in macros. I was always a high-carb low-fat eater, and never paid attention to protein. Now, I see even today when I got up, the fat is totally shrinking away! I have my thin waistline and that damn belly pouch is shrinking!!

Let me explain what I did:

I changed my macros to low carb (which is again, totally different from my normal food intake).

I went here:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm

1. Put in your TDEE or your daily intake without exercise calories, depending how you want to do it on MFP

2. and choose LOW CARB from the common diet ratios.

(Not very low carb, ketogenic diets are more suitable for really overweight people or people with blood sugar issues)

3. You will see the percentage s for CARBS, PROTEIN and FATS.

4. Below that gives you the actual amount in grams per day. You can put this in your macro setting in MFP, by going to GOALS, Change Goals and adding these gram amounts.

When I started a few weeks ago, I felt sluggish and like **** for the first few days because my body was so used to eating such high amounts of carbs. I began eating a LOT more protein than I even did before, like in chicken, tuna, low fat yoghurt, low fat cottage cheese, hard cheeses, and other lean meats, like fish, etc.

I had to cut all: noodles, bread, rice, potatoes, and eat fruits at a minumum.

That wasn't hard, what was totally difficult for me were the sugar cravings, but I would just throw a little stevia in yoghurt ever so often to calm it down.

Anywas, fast forward to now, almost half the fat I started with is gone on those problem areas (of course fat loss is overall, but I like to gauge it by looking at the bulgy bits) and my cardio performace has improved.

Now, I will slowly up my carbs by 5% every few weeks and lower the fat% until maintenance. If you are doing cardio, 25% carbs is quite low and will affect your performance. The biggest change and help for me was that I am eating a lot more protein than I was before, which helps keeps your lean muscle when losing weight. And, I'm losing that fat that has been sitting there.


Feel free to add me if you want to have a look at my diary! (And soon I will post pics in success stories!!)

PS don't forget to do strength training, you will feel so happy when you start to see those lines on your stomach :-)

Sarauk2sf

There is no reason to go low carb before you give the change in calories time to work. If you keep chopping and changing intake/macro mix etc etc it is hard to identify what is working and what is not. When you change something, you should give it at least 4 weeks to see the impact.


Edited for more clarity.

EvaD12

Hi

Im in the same place and it's driving me nuts I was thinking about making sure I get more protein and stuff as my carb intake is pretty much half of my food so higher than I want.

Thanks for the post about going low carb it sounds like a good option!

As to "there's no reason to go lo carb" maybe add something to the conversation not just critizice without an explanation.

Hi mh569,

I was exactly in the same position as you a few weeks ago. My magic number was 1475, that's TDEE - 20%. I was hanging there for about 2 months and thought, ok, somehting here is not working. If I lose 10 lbs, I will be my pre-pregnancy weight.

I can clearly see that the "new" weight is on my stomach and love handles. Even when I was heavier before, the fat just didn't stick or collect on those places, more on my butt and saddla bag area. So the fat distribution definitely changed due to my twins pregnancy.

I spoke to my sister about it, and she said even when she lost, she had the fat collecting on new places which made her original size clothes fit like crap. Basically, what worked for her and is now working for me is a change in macros. I was always a high carb low fat eater, and never paid attention to protein. Now, I see even today when I got up, the fat is totally shrinking away! I have my thin waistline and that damn belly pouch is shrinking!!

Let me explain what I did:

I changes my macros to low carb (which is again, totally different from my normal food intake).

I went here:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm

1. Put in your TDEE or your daily intake without exercise calories, depending how you want to do it on MFP

2. and choose LOW CARB from the common diet ratios.

(Not very low carb, ketogenic diets are more suitable for really overweight people or people with blood sugar issues)

3. You will see the percentage s for CARBS, PROTEIN and FATS.

4. Below that gives you the actual amount in grams per day. You can put this in your macro setting in MFP, by going to GOALS, Change Goals and adding these gram amounts.

When I started a few weeks ago, I felt sluggish and like **** for the first few days because my body was so used to eating such high amounts of carbs. I began eating a LOT more protein than I even did before, like in chicken, tuna, low fat joghurt, low fat cottage cheese, hard cheeses, and other lean meats, like fish, etc.

I had to cut all: noodles, bread, rice, potatoes, and eat fruits at a minumum.

That wasn't hard, what was totally difficult for me were the sugar cravings, but I would just throw a little stevia in joghurt ever so often to calm it down.

Anywas, fast forward to now, almost half the fat I started with is gone on those problem areas (of course fat loss is overall, but I like to gauge it by looking at the bulgy bits) and my cardio performace has improved.

Now, I will slowly up my carbs by 5% every few weeks and lower the fat% until maintenance. If you are doing cardio, 25% carbs is quite low and will affect your performance. The biggest change and help for me was that I am eating a lot more protein than I was before, which helps keeps your lean muscle when losing weight. And, I'm losing that fat that has been sitting there.


Feel free to add me if you want to have a look at my diary! (And soon I will post pics in success stories!!)

There is no reason to go low carb.

Toumani

There is no reason to go low carb.

I understand everyone's needs/preferences are different. I wanted to give my personal story, and I am in no way claiming this *is* the only way to do it. Again, I am stating what has worked for me - that is all.

This change in diet has worked for me because of my past history and I needed to break my plateau (I am in the normal weight range).

Going low carb has taught me to reduce my unbridled carb intake, which was part of the problrm. Most importantly, it has made me focus on eating more protein and not just filling myself up with bread and noodles.

Again, for everyone else-
Disclaimer: I am not arguing what is correct and what is not for scientifically proven weight loss methods. I do not care about being an authority on such matters. This is not the field I spelialize in.

This is a story about how I broke my plateau, this was something that worked for me and I thought I would like to share the story as it bears some relevanvce.

Toumani

Hi

Im in the same place and it's driving me nuts I was thinking about making sure I get more protein and stuff as my carb intake is pretty much half of my food so higher than I want.

Thanks for the post about going low carb it sounds like a good option!

As to "there's no reason to go lo carb" maybe add something to the conversation not just critizice without an explanation.

Exactly.

This is the only thing I hate about this site.


There is nothing to criticize as this is a PERSONAL ACCOUNT, as I have restated in my disclaimer. What is there to criticize? My writing style? My grammar perhaps?

I find the rapport on this site so rudimentary sometimes.

I am simply telling a story about an experience I had and the successes that came with it. Perhaps OP can take something from this story. I am not an authority in nutrition and fitness, nor do I claim to be. I will keep repeating this until people read my post properly.

Have a good day!

Sarauk2sf

Hi

Im in the same place and it's driving me nuts I was thinking about making sure I get more protein and stuff as my carb intake is pretty much half of my food so higher than I want.

Thanks for the post about going low carb it sounds like a good option!

As to "there's no reason to go lo carb" maybe add something to the conversation not just critizice without an explanation.

Exactly.

This is the only thing I hate about this site.


There is nothing to criticize as this is a PERSONAL ACCOUNT, as I have restated in my disclaimer. What is there to criticize? My writing style? My grammar perhaps?

I find the rapport on this site so rudimentary sometimes.

I am simply telling a story about an experience I had and the successes that came with it. Perhaps OP can take something from this story. I am not an authority in nutrition and fitness, nor do I claim to be. I will keep repeating this until people read my post properly.

Have a good day!

Actually, I was just popping back to expand my comment as I realized that it was not exactly very informative and noticed your comment...fair point about the lack of color around my post, although I am not sure why you are bringing up grammar or writing style...where did I mention anything about that?

Toumani

Actually, I was just popping back to expand my comment as I realized that it was not exactly very informative and noticed your comment...fair point.

No problem. I just want to make clear that I am not one of these posters who is running around proselytising what I am doing is especially right. I am not interested in food science or organic chemistry as such, so if my way is a less effective way, it is still not really a matter of debate for me.

I was never a fat person, nor have I had weight problems, so this was a particularly interesting problem for me. Cutting my carbs was effective, granted there may have been more effective ways, but this was really what I needed. And eating more protein as a result was an additional benefit.

As I mentioned I am slowly upping my carb intake as I reach maintenance. I don't find low carb a sustainable diet, some do. But it is not for me. I just need to curb it now in the future and that is what works for me.

A good day to you too, sarauk!

Toumani

Actually, I was just popping back to expand my comment as I realized that it was not exactly very informative and noticed your comment...fair point about the lack of color around my post, although I am not sure why you are bringing up grammar or writing style...where did I mention anything about that?

<whooooooosh!>

Don't worry about it.

Sarauk2sf

Actually, I was just popping back to expand my comment as I realized that it was not exactly very informative and noticed your comment...fair point.

No problem. I just want to make clear that I am not one of these posters who is running around proselytising what I am doing is especially right. I am not interested in food science or organic chemistry as such, so if my way is a less effective way, it is still not really a matter of debate for me.

I was never a fat person, nor have I had weight problems, so this was a particularly interesting problem for me. Cutting my carbs was effective, granted there may have been more effective ways, but this was really what I needed. And eating more protein as a result was an additional benefit.

As I mentioned I am slowly upping my carb intake as I reach maintenance. I don't find low carb a sustainable diet, some do. But it is not for me. I just need to curb it now in the future and that is what works for me.

A good day to you too, sarauk!

You had a good 'real life' example of what worked for you and you did not try to pass it off as anything else and offered a suggestion to the OP that you thought may help as it helped you....all very good reasons to post. My post was not the best to say the least... I should really avoid posting when it is this late as my posts sometimes get a little blunt and taciturn.

:flowerforyou:

mh569

Thank you all so much for your input, I will be reading through this in more detail later. (I'm kinda sick right now!)
Please continue to add to this if there are any more suggestions : )
Thanks again!
PS- I've been told that with TDEE-20% you may have to wait it out a few weeks. Yes?

acogg

The closer you are to goal, the slower the loss. It took me 3 months to lose the final 10 pounds. It took me a month to lose the first 10. If I decided I wanted to lose another 10, it wouldn't surprise if it took me 6 months.

Don't even consider quitting. You need to dedicate yourself to health and fitness for LIFE! You have the rest of your life to lose and then keep off those 10 pounds. The work will never end so there is no need to be in a hurry. Or at least that's how I like to think of it.

Sarauk2sf

Thank you all so much for your input, I will be reading through this in more detail later. (I'm kinda sick right now!)
Please continue to add to this if there are any more suggestions : )
Thanks again!
PS- I've been told that with TDEE-20% you may have to wait it out a few weeks. Yes?

When you change anything with your diet/routine you need to wait at least 4 weeks to see what really is the impact. The main culprit for needing to do this is water weight stabilizing. Four weeks is generally a good amount of time and takes our cycles and the related water retention out of the equation as well.

Hearts_2015

bump

lieselLalor

bump

slieber

bump

emills1970

bump...good info!