The Last 10

hepkitty

Hi all, Mind if I jump on board here? I'm in the last 10-15 pounds range, going to re-assess at 10 pounds lighter and see if I want to keep going or call it there...Struggling a bit as the first few pounds came off pretty quick, but the last few are hanging on for dear life!!

So something I thought you guys could help with...I'm in New Zealand so we're going into winter now..I don't have a gym membership so struggling to think of exercise I can do indoors...the other thing is I live with a couple other people and there's no private area I can exercise in at home...so if no one's home I can jump about and get all sweaty in the living room, but if others are home it is a bit weird cos they hang out in there too...not that fun having an audience watch!

Anyone got any other things they did over winter? Maybe I will just have to suck it up and join a gym, but they're so expensive here!!

Also, re: treats and trying to not go overboard at parties, I definitely allow myself something when I'm in those situations. Means I don't get weird looks from people (I've got some friends that are quite scornful of 'dieting'), and I feel happy and get to eat something yummy. For me the key is to pick, as someone said above, a couple of the best treats, and have small portions, and REALLY savour them. I notice now that I'm doing this, if my flatmates and I have icecream, I'll have less than them (often half as much cos I'm going by the actual serving size) but I'll be the last to finish because I'm really enjoying every single bite instead of gulping it down without paying attention.

That often means I won't eat something if I don't think it's good enough to savour, eg if I'm at a morning tea and there's chocolate cake, but it's a crappy dry storebought cake, sometimes I can avoid having any cos I know it won't be good enough to savour. Of course, sometimes I say 'screw it' and eat the damn dry cake anyways, but I'm working towards better habits

bebbjeb

Thanks for the tips re treats! I guess I'll just to make sure I eat the quality stuff and savour it!! and not stuff my face like I usually do. I'll let you know how I do.

Do you have space to work out in your bedroom. You could do things like push ups, sit ups etc in your bedroom. I don't know how cold it gets in New Zealand but could you go for walks and runs? In the UK it's never usually so cold that you can't run in winter - but maybe you have more extreme weather.

DeeDeeLHF

Hi Hep, my thoughts are the same as bebb...do what you can in your room. Google excercising in a small space or something like that. Buy some weights for you ankles (adjustable ones are good, where you can adjust the weight) and some dumbbells, 5 and 10#. Focus on strenght training and simply jogging in place with the weights can be a great work out. Jumping jacks...slow and quiet are also a great work out! Any calisthenic excercise augmented with weights is terrific. This link might give you some ideas: http://www.thatsfit.com/2009/06/02/15-minute-workout/


My question...Usually my attitude is that I am ready to conquer these last few pounds but then I have moments when i really don't care anymore because I am tired of doing this!! These moments scary the pants off me! Do you have these moments too?

bebbjeb

Hi Dee,

I feel like that too sometimes. Sometimes I think I lack the motivation to do this last push, but I know I would really like to lose the last bit and to reach my goal. I think we all have off days.

I am going to go for a long run on Saturday morning and hopefully that will get things moving!

What is everyone going to do this weekend to burn some calories?

gabyp0716

Hello Ladies,
Hope eveyone is doing well
Beb - you might be motivating me to get a workout in this weekend
I'm going out of town with my fiance this weekend. So I'm not sure if I will get to workout. But I think I should pack some of my workout DVDs just in case I have time, so I can be prepared.
I'm planning out my meals to make sure I don' go over my calories.
But at this point I guess we will see how things go on our Monday weight in.
Have a grea weekend.
Gaby

Aurora22

I plan to go for a long bike ride along the shoreline with my bf. we live next to the San Francisco bay and it is sunny and cool- no excuses not to get out and be active. they we are going out to dinner for his bday, so I am going to have to control myself with the delicious indian curries and nan...mmm. I kinda expect that I will go over with calories, so hopefully we can go on a long hike tomorrow too!
I think that my jogging has aggravated my knee, and I am hoping that if I can do other activities for a few days I will be able to run again soon.

hepkitty

Thanks for the suggestions guys! It probably rarely gets truly too cold to go running outside, but it certainly makes motivation a bit harder And yeah, I've probably got just enough space in my room to do some strength training type exercises, the ankle weights are a great idea!

Re losing motivation for the last few pounds, I know what you mean! Sometimes I think, well, I'm so close, would it really matter if I just stopped here? Particularly when I don't lose anything for a few weeks, I wonder if my body is asking me to stay at this weight lol. But I am hoping the satisfaction of actually reaching my goal instead of changing it will make up for the last few weeks/months.

I've just started trying something slightly different with my calories. I was set on 1200 calories and was eating them all and eating my exercise calories back (and often struggling to stay under ,particularly on light / no exercise days). Have fluctuated around between 159 and 163 for about 3 weeks which is quite frustrating

Was looking around at some information about BMR though, and saw in a few places (of unknown reliability) that you're not supposed to eat less than your BMR, since it's what's needed to keep you alive while sleeping, basically..So I've bumped my cals up to 1550 (what my BMR is supposed to be) and will try to eat about 50-70% of my exercise calories but make sure I'm always over 1550...have only done it for two days so far but I've dropped to 158 this morning so maybe it's working?

What's your guys' strategies for calorie intake? Have any of you tried 1200 and found it not enough to lose weight with?

questionablemethods

I struggle with 1400. I would have to eat perfectly and tons of high volume foods to make 1200 work. Also, I believe that once you are within a healthy weight, your body doesn't want to get rid of that last bit of fat, so it is important that it doesn't start to think it is starving. That's why I make sure to eat at least my BMR (1400). I typically don't eat my exercise calories, unless I burn a lot in a day, then I might eat back some just to make sure that I'm at least netting 1200 or so. It has been working pretty well for the past month or so. I'm still not down into the lean range that I'm really aiming for yet, so we'll see.

hepkitty

Almost forgot weigh-in day! My Monday weight this week = 157.3 pounds which is a 2 pound loss! Yay. How's everyone else going?

gabyp0716

Helllo Ladies,
I actually went up one lbs :grumble:
But its not so bad. I know I could have done better during the weekend, so you get out what you put in.
Still motivated this week to be really really good, specially cause this weekend I'm going to my niece's 3rd bday and its going to be a weekend getaway to AZ with the whole fam, so I know I'm going to be eating some extra stuff. But its all good.
Anyhow today's weight was 170 lbs,
Should we start a new thread. The last 10 week two?
This one seems to be getting long.... any thoughts?

lgblack

Well count me in. I started the year at 158 (160 at Christmas to be totally honest!). I turned 50 last year...so that doesn't help the metabolism. My goal is to get down to 138. (I think I would be happy at 135, but I think the last time I was that weight people thought I looked too skinny. So I will see.) Right now I am wavering around 145.6lbs....for the last few weeks!
I started out this journey swimming for about 1/2 hour 3 mornings a week. Then added to that a few lunch hour strength classes (I am fortunate to actually work at a huge recreational centre that has a fitness centre and classes!!) Then my husband and I started TRX suspension training classes - but that was only once a week for 45 min. But between the swimming, lunch classes, TRX and a few short 10 min walks on the track during the day.....and of course keeping within my calories....I lost 15 lbs. I think it has increased from the 143 lbs I saw due to muscle mass....but I am just hoping. Pants are lose...could likely go from sz 12 down to sz 10...but want to wait until I hit my ideal weight before buying new clothes. (We get to wear yoga pants at work...and they are very forgiving....) My problem right now is the last stretch. MFP has my daily calories at 1200....plus whatever exercise calories I earn. I find 1200 quite restricting....so am very willing to work out to add more calories. I now have Zumba classes on Sat., and the TRX on Sunday....so two very good workout days. But one of the personal trainers that works in the fitness centre feels that the 1200 cal might be too low. Any thoughts? Should I increase my calories allowed per day? I will weigh in next Monday. Happy to share my successes and challenges!

DeeDeeLHF

Hi everyone,

Gaby...I am not sure we need to start another thread. I am OK with just going on this one until we hit the magic 500 point. Sometimes it is hard to find everyone if you switch.

As for the pound...yeah, me too...but I think I am starting my period soon...it has been a long time again (I am 45 and going through menapause already!), so I am not sure. It is just how I feel...which is HUNGRY! I have been over calories by about >200 for two days in a row and craving everything salty and sweet!

Hepkitty! Congratulations! 2# at this point is really something to celebrate.

So concerning the calorie thing...my problem is that my BMR is under 1200! That is what happens when you are so short! So, yesterday I ate almost 1500 calories (with no excercise) and it said that at the end of 5 weeks I would be heavier than I am now by a half of a pound! To me that is scary! It is easy for me to see how I gained weight! I was eating "normal"...so I guess life will just have to have a built in restriction with no exceptions to needing to excercise (I really don't like to and still have to basically force myself).

Harder too because I am getting so many compliments! I love the compliments and I wish they were motivating but instead I am feeling attitudes of "settling". My sister and I joined MFP together and although she is still on and has lost weight, she isn't really doing it anymore, so that stinks too. We were really sharing our journey together and now it isn't like that and I don't want to make her feel bad by talking about it too much.

Well, I am off to jump on the trampoline with my daughter like I have been promising her all day!

D

hepkitty

Hi all

Gaby, I just discovered this yesterday, you might already know it but if you want to jump straight to the most recent post in a long thread, instead of clicking on the thread name in the 'My Topics' area, on the far right is a 'view' link that goes straight to the last post...then you only have to scroll up any posts you haven't seen yet, instead of paging through heaps of previous posts...

Welcome lgblack!
I think what kaitlin said a few posts back is very helpful...it's hard to drop the last few pounds, so it's important not to drop down into starvation mode. Have you worked out your BMR? Mine is 1550 and now that I'm eating just over that instead of 1200, I've started to lose weight again... might be worth a try? But on the other hand, I am just playing around trying to figure things out so what seems to be working for me might not work for you, etc...

Donna, I totally know the feeling re settling because of the compliments. And now that your sister has stopped participating as much that's got to make it harder again! I went through that cos my mum and I were doing this together but she's given up as she wasn't having much success... I guess it's just a matter of finding motivation from somewhere. For me it's setting mini-goals with rewards that I wouldn't normally give myself, and trying to set up accountabilities with other people here (like you guys!) or in real life.

Also, you sound like you might be fairly active anyways (eg jumping on trampoline with your daughter) and that might help when it comes to maintenance time..ie your BMR + calories burned through being reasonably active during the day (contrast with a desk job, for example) might be enough that you wouldn't have to do too much 'extra' exercise?

bebbjeb

I had quite a good weekend, but not good enough. I do really well all week and lose a couple of pounds but the weekend comes along and I put them back on. I really need to stick to my guns at weekends. The problem is we usually eat out at weekends, we are usually at a friend's or family's for lunch and then we often go to a restaurant in the evenings. On Sunday we went out for pizza but I had grilled veggies instead! Now I need to do this every time we go out. I think today I am going to try and cleanse a bit and eat fruits and veg as much as possible.

DeeDeeLHF

Bebb, I think the weekend thing is universal! I have the same problem and it is on the weekends that i don't always have the time to go to the gym. If some of the people are right and once a week having a day where you eat an extra 1000 calories then I am right on track!

kitty: I am going to focus on some mini goals. I haven't been doing that...just big goals but I am going to think about it some more and write them out for myself!

D

Aurora22

I missed weigh in day...149.2 this morning, which is exactly the same as last week. I had my boyfriends bday, so I ate way too many calories but we stayed really active so I think it balanced out. Now that the weather is nice, I am riding my bike to school and my knee is feeling a little better so I will try to run on it tonight.

gabyp0716

Hello Ladies,
I had a totally unhealthy lunch and went over my calories already! Oh well, I guess that does teach me a lesson to check out the food database before lunch rather than prior. Plus, it makes me realize that I'm putting all this hard work into getting in shape that I should go ALL out and not leave things to chance.
So even though I not the best cook (yet) I really need to start packing my lunches because it totally takes the stress out of everything.
In additition I've been having a tough time with some family issues, and have not had the motivation to hit the gym this week so far.
But with lunch today, I'm def gonna go work some of it off.
Just a little road block, but no change in mind about getting serious and finishing strong.
Gaby

bebbjeb

Hi Gaby,
Sorry to hear that you've had some family issues. I'm sure you'll find the motivation to go to the gym when you can. A few days off isn't going to harm your long term goals.
I had a really good workout at the gym and I ate well yesterday, so I'm hoping to be back on track. I really need to work at my weekends still.
Best,
Bebb

Aurora22

Have you guys seen this article?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/18/magazine/18exercise-t.html?src=me&ref=homepage

it talks about how women get signals from their bodies to eat more when they exercise, and how standing vs sitting could burn hundreds of calories a day. I like the part about how if you are able to get the weight off through a negative calorie balance, regular exercise can help keep it off without restrictive eating. So if I am able to minimize my calorie intake now, I won't have to do it forever to stay slim. Good news for me because eating less is the hardest part, but if I know that it is only temporary then it will be easier to get through the next few months.

gabyp0716

Hello All,
So things have been about the same for me. I've pretty much have decided to give myself this week for a "mental health" break and start strong on Monday. I know that sounds bad... right... more excuses! But I just want to spend some time with my family and help out with the grieving process as much as I can.
On a positive note. I'm super excited because I bough the Brazil Butt Lift (should arrive next week) which is perfect. I want to add this program to my morning rutine starting May 1st to have at least one month under my belt by the time my fiance moves in on June 1st. Looking forward to him noticing the change I also bought a HRM that should hopefully be delivered next week as well. I really want to be able to track my calories burned during the BBL so I knew I needed to get one.
Thank you all for your support.
Gaby