How long did it take you to lose the last 10lbs?

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johanna023
johanna023 Posts: 34 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've always been "skinny fat" and seem to always be trying to shed those few 5-10lbs. Even working out 5-6 days a week while eating well 85-90% of time, I just can't seem to get rid of those last few lbs. I know theres tons or books and articles out there about losing the last 10 but I wanna hear from people who have actually done it. How long did it take you? What did you do?
Thanks!

Replies

  • Love_flowers
    Love_flowers Posts: 365 Member
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    I have 5 lbs left and I still lose weight whenever I am consistent with my calorie deficits. If I have too many maintaining days then I naturally dont lose. So it is possible to lose the last weight, just make sure you are consistent and that your goal isnt too low :-)
  • johanna023
    johanna023 Posts: 34 Member
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    I have 5 lbs left and I still lose weight whenever I am consistent with my calorie deficits. If I have too many maintaining days then I naturally dont lose. So it is possible to lose the last weight, just make sure you are consistent and that your goal isnt too low :-)

    Thanks for the input! My thoughts now are to whether my calorie limit is too low? I've been doing 1200 cals plus eating back my exercise cals. However, maybe the "eat more to lose more" may be true in my case. If I don't start losing by the end of this week I think I'm going to up my cals a little and see how that treats me :)
  • art3mislecter
    art3mislecter Posts: 57 Member
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    I'm still trying to lose the FIRST ten pounds... I keep gaining back =/
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    For the last ten pounds, switch your weekly goal to a half pound a week and eat most of your exercise calories. OR calculate your TDEE and eat 10-15% below that every day, and include your exercise into your goal. Either one should work out about the same.

    For me, it took about 3-4 months.
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 3,019 Member
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    i wanted to lose 20 lbs and it took me a year to do that. the last 10 were easier then the 1st 10. I keep losing the same 3 lbs over and over now. So i changed up my exercise routine I only stuck with 1200 cals for the 1sr 3 months. After that i always ate more. it didn't slow things down at all. I also have always ate my exercise cals back too...
  • SueGremlin
    SueGremlin Posts: 1,066 Member
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    I have lost three pounds since July. I keep reminding myself that I'm in no hurry! I am on my last 10 now, and I expect to reach that goal sometime this summer. If I work at it. :laugh:
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    what do you currently do to work out? how do you eat?

    have you heard about staci?? http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    on the left she is 131lbs, on the right she is actually heavier at 142lbs.

    Screen-Shot-2011-07-21-at-92311-AM.jpg

    so those "last ten pounds" can be pretty arbitrary, if you decide to change to reducing body fat percentage.
  • wolf23
    wolf23 Posts: 4,178 Member
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    For the last ten pounds, switch your weekly goal to a half pound a week and eat most of your exercise calories. OR calculate your TDEE and eat 10-15% below that every day, and include your exercise into your goal. Either one should work out about the same.

    For me, it took about 3-4 months.

    ^ I did this. Plus I would be diligent in eating my exercise calories minus what I would have burned not exercising. One day a week I would allow myself to go over in calories from 500 to 1000 just to keep the body guessing. Also eating clean, meaning not a lot of processed stuff. After a while it will become habit. I have maintained for around two years. It can be done! Don't give up :)
  • mmddwechanged
    mmddwechanged Posts: 1,687 Member
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    My TDEE is about 1950 and I eat between 1400 and 1800 calories a day. I'm losing slowly. I figure at a rate of about .2 to .5 pounds per week. I have 2 more pounds to go.
  • johanna023
    johanna023 Posts: 34 Member
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    For the last ten pounds, switch your weekly goal to a half pound a week and eat most of your exercise calories. OR calculate your TDEE and eat 10-15% below that every day, and include your exercise into your goal. Either one should work out about the same.

    For me, it took about 3-4 months.

    Thanks for the advice everyone :) I think I'm going to try this! I noticed a few weeks ago that when I wasn't as strict with my 1200 cals, I actually seemed to be maintaining and even lost a little but have been too nervous to up my cals permanently! Definitely going to try it out though!!
  • a_vettestingray
    a_vettestingray Posts: 654 Member
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    what do you currently do to work out? how do you eat?

    have you heard about staci?? http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/

    on the left she is 131lbs, on the right she is actually heavier at 142lbs.

    Screen-Shot-2011-07-21-at-92311-AM.jpg

    so those "last ten pounds" can be pretty arbitrary, if you decide to change to reducing body fat percentage.

    This guy is onto something. I was skinny fat. My original goal was to lose 20 lbs. I lost 10 pretty quickly by just ditching soda, redbulls, and dropping cals to 1200 (when I cared enought to count). It took me about another year to lose five more pounds by getting dilligent in strength training and upping my calories.

    So I still haven't actually lost the "last ten". However, I don't feel like I need to lose five more pounds to be happy. I switched my goals to body composition. Coworkers and friends are always shocked to hear how much I weight, as they underestimate by 25lbs all the time.

    Perhaps you need to change your goal to reflect your overall body composition rather than focusing on the scale, as shown by the above post.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    so those "last ten pounds" can be pretty arbitrary, if you decide to change to reducing body fat percentage.

    That, too.

    My original goal was 135. I got there, and kept losing a little more, and eventually got to about 125. I never purposefully did a "bulk cycle," but I took some breaks from logging, took some time off to recover from an injury, gained a little, lost a little, took some more breaks from logging, and ended up back at my original goal weight, but was the same size as at my low weight. Then I switched from weight lifting on machines to free weights and ... wow, what a difference! Without really losing any weight.

    IMG_1297-copy.jpg

    IMG_1293-copy.jpg

    Last Halloween and this Halloween. My skirt/kilt is looser on me now, so that it sits about an inch lower on my hips.

    valkyrie.jpg
  • johanna023
    johanna023 Posts: 34 Member
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    Wow! You look amazing! I can't believe that it made that much of a difference depending on the type of lifting you did! Congrats, you should feel really proud! :)

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