Last 2 pounds

Lady_C_the_1st

Hi,

I just want to get an idea of how you managed to lose the last couple of pounds. I am struggling a lot to lose them and need some ideas and inspiration.

A friend on here suggested that I change my eating pattern as I tend to have my largest meal in the evening plus another snack or two before going to bed as I find this helps me sleep better. Has this worked for anybody else? Is this what tends to work better? This would be possible to do I am sure, I have school dinners, mainly I have baked potato and whatever filling it is that day, tuna mayo, cheese etc. with some salad but could bring in something else to have so I am not eating so much in the evening.

I go to the gym on average 4 x a week for about an 1 - 1 1/2 hours and do cardio and weights. I have been going loads over my Easter holidays though so this will show in my diaries if you look at them. I do not normally have the time to do this much though.

Any ideas are appreciated, my diary is public so please make suggestions. If you do look at my diary please bear in mind that the last two weeks I have been off so eating/working out is much more flexible than on a normal school week.

Thanks xx

Jelywa

A friend of mine suggested cutting out dairy all together, only eating carbs in the AM, and really increasing water for the last two to three pounds. I'm not quite there yet, so I haven't tried it. Maybe it's worth thinking about.

candicecumbie

I googled this recently and found the most overwhelming answer was to shock your body. Change your routine so completely that it doesn't know what to do. Do a different type of cardio than you normally do or switch your biggest meal to lunch for a couple of days. You may also try to change up the things you do for weight training.

kdiamond

Yes, the last couple of pounds are the worst!! For me, and this may not be the healthiest but it worked for ME, was to calorie cycle for a couple of weeks. I went extreme, one day eating 600 calories (not on a workout day), the next eating 1500, the next eating 1200, the next eating 1800, and so forth. Google calorie cycling. It isn't recommended for a long period of time but just to "get over that hump". The body reacts favorably to change.

MamaBear05

My first comment is to really think about whether or not your body really wants to lose these last two pounds. Maybe your body is comfortable at this weight. Check your body fat. That is more telling of where you are really at. Maybe you have lost all the fat your body can do without and those last two pounds of weight are really muscle pounds.

If it is body fat and your must get rid of it, try cutting out as much of the sugar as possible. I see sugar is not something you are tracking in your diary. Between the pudding, yogurt, ice cream, etc you may be consuming more sugar than you should be. Also, it looks like you burn an awful lot of calories during your workouts and don't get much of them back. You are working out hard. Your body needs the nourishment. If it feels like it is not going to be fed what it needs to replensish what your burn, it is going to hold onto the last bit of fat reserves you have.

Lady_C_the_1st

My first comment is to really think about whether or not your body really wants to lose these last two pounds. Maybe your body is comfortable at this weight. Check your body fat. That is more telling of where you are really at. Maybe you have lost all the fat your body can do without and those last two pounds of weight are really muscle pounds.

If it is body fat and your must get rid of it, try cutting out as much of the sugar as possible. I see sugar is not something you are tracking in your diary. Between the pudding, yogurt, ice cream, etc you may be consuming more sugar than you should be. Also, it looks like you burn an awful lot of calories during your workouts and don't get much of them back. You are working out hard. Your body needs the nourishment. If it feels like it is not going to be fed what it needs to replensish what your burn, it is going to hold onto the last bit of fat reserves you have.

Thanks for you comments, as to whether my body wants to lose these pounds, it is becoming apparent that it doesn't! My only concern though is that the fat is around my waist and I am well aware that this is the worst place for your body to store fat, health wise I mean, not just looks wise. My body fat is about 21%, according to my digital scales. I do have fairly ample 'assets' though :blushing: Haha! So apart from them it is in my waist area.

I stopped having so many puddings and it kinda slipped over the last few weeks as it was end of term then holidays etc. I am a bit of a pudding fiend! I love them! Haha! It is something I should stop eating though and you make a valid point about the sugar. I don't track it though as I was always waaaay over but that was down to yogurt, milk, fruit, veg etc and I just didn't find it that useful! I know that if I was not to have my deserts then my sugar intake would be ok. I do use honey to sweeten things but I don't use an awful lot normally.

With regards to the exercise calories, I did eat them all when I first started and then my weight loss stopped so I wasn't sure whether I was getting too many calories due to MFP over-estimating what I was burning off, I do not have an HRM and cannot afford one so these are the only numbers I have to go by, unless I use the machines but they are not 100% accurate either. I will try eating back my calories though as this could be the case.

Yes, the last couple of pounds are the worst!! For me, and this may not be the healthiest but it worked for ME, was to calorie cycle for a couple of weeks. I went extreme, one day eating 600 calories (not on a workout day), the next eating 1500, the next eating 1200, the next eating 1800, and so forth. Google calorie cycling. It isn't recommended for a long period of time but just to "get over that hump". The body reacts favorably to change.

I have done a little research into calorie cycling but I am not sure I would be able to keep track of it accurately enough as MFP does not give you that option. Is this something you have successfully managed to track? I do not think that I would want to go as low as 600 as I know I would not get through the day, I teach and it is quite demanding so low blood sugar levels I would not be able to teach to my fullest.

Candicecumbie, I do agree with shocking your body and I think that over the last two weeks I probably have done that as my workout routine has completely changed due to being off and my eating patterns have also changed, perhaps I will see the benefits of this soon though. :-)

A friend of mine suggested cutting out dairy all together, only eating carbs in the AM, and really increasing water for the last two to three pounds. I'm not quite there yet, so I haven't tried it. Maybe it's worth thinking about.

Aargh!! The idea of cutting out dairy has me running for the hills I'm afraid! Haha! I get lots of protein from my dairy and calcium also, and while I know there are other ways to get these nutrients I do not think I want to cut out a whole food group that my body does not have trouble processing. As for topping up the water consumption, yes I could probably drink a little more although I do tend to keep myself fairly well hydrated.

I will have a go at changing a few things and see if anything helps. Thanks for the suggestions. :flowerforyou:

Any more are welcome though. :happy:

emma1488

Have you tried not having any carbs after afternoon tea? Just veges and proteins for dinner and no carb rich foods before bed??

kwardklinck

These last few pounds have been really tough for me. What I did is I changed my weight loss goal from 1 pound a week to 1/2 a pound a week. This upped my calories by about 200 per day. I changed my exercise from aerobics to running. I eat within 50 calories of my goal (including exercise calories) every day. I also do cheats every weekend. At least one day a week, I eat whatever I want to eat. I may be up a few pounds after my cheat but 3-4 days later, I'm lower than I was before my cheat.