Is it true that the last pounds to lose are the hardest?
elleryjones
Posts: 88 Member
I'm sorry if this has been asked and answered before. I've never seen it if it has (but each child I've given birth to has depleted my minimal brain resources).
Is it true that the last 5-10 lbs to lose are the most difficult? I've heard this forever but have never really understood the logic to it. Isn't a pound a pound?
Is it true that the last 5-10 lbs to lose are the most difficult? I've heard this forever but have never really understood the logic to it. Isn't a pound a pound?
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I'm curious to know more about this also. I only have about 5-10 lbs I'd like to lose and it seems like progress is going to be very, very slow.0
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I'm with you. I started my weight loss journey in July 2010. Over the first two years I lost 120 pounds. At that point I had 15 pounds remaining to reach my goal. It has taken me a year to lose 8 of those pounds. I will say it has not been too bad though. I am viewing this experience as part of learning how to maintain my weight loss.0
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Jillian Michaels talks about the last 10-15 pounds a lot on her podcast.
She calls them "vanity pounds" as these are pounds that your body is totally happy with.
Your body has gotten healthy, and strong, and would like to hold onto some fat stores in case of a famine or pregnancy, or sickness, anything which will cause some additional requirements basically.
Reducing as much stress on your body is supposed to be very helpful at this stage - so taking a VERY SMALL deficit, perhaps throwing some TDEE days in each week, sleeping, reducing stress, anything to keep your body happy.
From everything I've heard about this, it can totally be done, but just takes very careful logging (as with a small deficit you have no margin for error in cals eaten or burnt) and it will take some time!
(Although as you can see from my ticker I am not nearly at the last 10 pounds!!!)
[Edited to correct typos]0 -
Jillian Michaels talks about the last 10-15 pounds a lot on her podcast.
She calls them "vanity pounds" as these are pounds that your body is totally happy with.
Your body has gotten healthy, and strong, and would like to hold onto some fat stores in case of a famine or pregnancy, or sickness, anything which will cause some additional requirements basically.
Reducing as much stress on your body is supposed to be very helpful at this stage - so taking a VERY SMALL deficit, perhaps throwing some TDEE days in each week, sleeping, reducing stress, anything to keep your body happy.
From everything I've heard about this, it can totally be done, but just takes very careful logging (as with a small deficit you have no margin for error in cals eaten or burnt) and it will take some time!
(Although as you can see from my ticker I am not nearly at the last 10 pounds!!!)
[Edited to correct typos]
i've heard this a lot as well -- especially the 'very small deficit' thing. i am wondering why our bodies would even begin to let go of anything with a small deficit when it is hypothetically holding onto the last 10-15 for just-in-case incidents. i personally have never been able to coerce my body to 'let go' of fat with a super small deficit. it's only been the fake famine times (vlcd or sickness) that it has let the last of the reasonable fat go. interesting to contemplate.0 -
Agree with Yogi, though it usually seems to be the last 5-10 lbs if doing it right.
But if you get to that point with good metabolism and healthy body, then you can do some things to lose that last bit with a bigger avg deficit. If diet is the only stress, you can make it work. But if you got a bunch of others, it'll be a fight probably lost.
Like it may avg out to 10% only, but you accomplish it with something like the 5/2 plan, 5 days TDEE, 2 days 25% of TDEE.
That makes avg deficit of 21%. Do that for a few weeks and take care of last 5 lbs.
Or you go to a plan where you pick out the cardio days, and make the biggest deficit on the biggest TDEE days. But you keep your lifting days as reasonable because you want to keep progress there.
So there are several options available when you have a healthy metabolism.
But if you kind of screeched into 5-15 away from goal weight with a wrecked metabolism that is at that point TDEE because it's suppressed and body is stressed, you have much fewer options that are going to work.
The boards are littered with those that did exactly that, they maybe plateaued for awhile, or loss slowed down very greatly compared to what the numbers say it should be, or they started eating more, just not enough more, and down to last 10 and nothing but difficulty. The old methods surface of eating even less and working out even more, and it gets them nowhere.
Several on FL dealing with this, and at this point they are just going to have to fail for a while to discover what isn't going to work.0 -
I only have 10-15 lbs left to lose as well but have a 33% bf. if all lbs lost was 95% fat then I'd be at 25% bf at 165. Id still be left with a reasonable amount of fat. So does this pertain to certain bf%? I would assume losing 5lbs at 33% bf vs 20% would be different??0
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True, it's the amount of desired BF that really dictates if a deficit in eating is seen as stressful enough to do something about.
But add up all the stresses in life, the combo could be enough to make it difficult too. Or body with health problems too.0 -
So with 33% bf would a 500 cal deficit be too big? I wouldnt think so since that bf is in the overweight or obese category.0
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Another ? Is nearing 25% bf would a 500 cal deficit be too large?0
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Another ? Is nearing 25% bf would a 500 cal deficit be too large?
That's where it totally starts depending on a persons body. What is stressful to YOUR body and system.
Combined with other stresses.
Frequent intense exercise stressful.
Lack of sleep.
Poor diet nutrition.
Food allergies big or small.
Life stress.
Genetics on what body sees as safe level.
Ect.
Too stressed, hormones change, body adapts, no deficit, no loss.
It's why some people can start eating 200 cal more, and still not even to TDEE-20%, and start losing again. Others need to hit TDEE for a while.
What can your body take. Sadly though the general advice to just eat less and exercise more can backfire too.0 -
Ok thank you! I'll just monitor my losses etc0
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The complaint about the last few pounds makes one consider setting the weight loss goal 10-15 pounds more than what is really wanted.... LOL
For those that are close - hang in there and don't give up!0 -
How do you know what the last pounds are? That is very subjective depending on your goal. My goal is to get back into a 'healthy' BMI (although I am less and less happy with the concept of BMI). That means I have 6 lb to lose. Someone else's goal could be to get to the lowest healthy weight range for BMI. Seems crazy to me to want to be 1lb above underweight but there you go. I would probably have to lose 20lb plus if that was my goal. Yet I am struggling to lose my last 6 lb. is there a psychological element at play as well?0
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I'm not there yet, but good question and a response from HeyBales. I'd be interested to hear from people who did the 5/2 plan, had success with it and got to goal. I've read about the 5/2 plan, but really not sure I could restrict myself to only 500 calories in a day!
The theory though, is good. Might be something to look into when I get closer to my goal. There is a group here that may be worth joining if needed.
A lot of people do seem to struggle with those last kilos. Just keep your eyes on the prize!!0
