Are the last 10 pounds really harder to lose?

Vain_Witch
Vain_Witch Posts: 476 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
(Note...I'm not there yet anyway, I'm just trying to understand.) I keep seeing everywhere that the last 10 pounds are the hardest to lose, but this doesn't make sense to me.

I'm a logic based person so I just need someone to explain this one if they can.

Every one of us has set our own individual goals...so, unless you're setting your goal too low, how would your body even know, "Ooops! She's 10 pounds from her goal...better slow down!"?

Personally, I'm 20 pounds from my original goal. My ideal BMI puts me between 105 and 136 pounds, so I chose 120 to see how I feel/look at that point. I'm currently 139. So, does this mean that things are going to slow down now because I'm so close tothat healthy BMI range, or will they slow down by MAGIC in 9 pounds because my body just suddenly knows what I'm going for?

OR (as my logic based brain is telling me) would they start to slow down around 115 because I have set my goal too low and my body is fighting back trying not to let me get underweight/unhealthy?

Just curious and looking to understand! :smile:
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Replies

  • closenre
    closenre Posts: 225 Member
    Technically they should be the same but for me I think it got to the point where I was happy with how I looked so I did not try as hard to lose it. I guess mentally it was easier to enjoy food again knowing that I was still maintaining then it was to fight for the last few pounds that in my mind would'nt make that much of a difference. Just my opinion/experience!
  • lin7604
    lin7604 Posts: 2,951 Member
    i found it very hard once i hit that last 10 lbs. I still haven't reached my goal ( took 1 full year to lose 20 lbs)and it's been an additional 7 months trying to hit my final goal... i think my body is telling me that 115 isn't realistic for me and i need to be happy that i am 118 most days :) so close enough i guess....
  • Fit_French
    Fit_French Posts: 134 Member
    I wouldn't look at it as the last 10 lbs, but as a body fat %. At my starting weight, I only had those 10 lbs to lose since I wasnt too big to begin with. The scale has stopped moving for me at around 130-132 but the inches are still coming off, so when you think your at your last 10lb point, I would ditch the scale and just go by inches and calculated body fat %
  • 5ftnFun
    5ftnFun Posts: 948 Member
    I think part of it can be psychological if you think "Eh, close enough" causing you to relax or stop when you get really close to your goal. Some may not be as diligent with their plan as they were in the beginning. Another part may be that when you get closer and closer to your goal weight, you are going to be getting very near your maintenance calories. That means your caloric deficit will be a whole lot smaller, so it's just going to take longer to burn those last few lbs.
  • marcia724
    marcia724 Posts: 180 Member
    They are hard to lose and for me hard to keep off!! I've been up and down within the last 10 lbs since I hit my goal last year. it's a drag.
  • mt130022
    mt130022 Posts: 48 Member
    YES! Definitely harder (HARDEST) to lose. The "whys" are probably different among each of us, but they definitely wanna hang on to ya! Good luck! :drinker:
  • PinkEarthMama
    PinkEarthMama Posts: 987 Member
    I think part of it is a physiological response to being lower in body fat. If we think in terms of thousands of years ago, people starved when their body fat got too low. Hence why our bodies make us work harder to get down that far.

    That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
  • stephaniethomas80
    stephaniethomas80 Posts: 190 Member
    It's harder for a smaller person to lose weight. So those aiming for the lower end of healthy weight range will have a tougher time and it will take longer
  • TinaLTaylor79
    TinaLTaylor79 Posts: 140 Member
    Once i was down to the last 10lbs it took me 6 months to see the scale move down again. All i did was take a one week break from exercise, still watched what i ate, but was not so strict and then after a week i started a bran new workout program and ate my cals accordingly and the weight started to come off again. My body just needed a break, and a change. That's what worked for me anyways. Good luck.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Not for me. It's slower going but that's because I intentionally increased my calories since I don't have the fat reserves I used to have. What I have found is that I have to be a lot more accurate with logging because with a small deficit being off can quickly make you have no deficit at all.
  • cktb4him
    cktb4him Posts: 56
    It has been for me-I need to lose 8 more pounds to reach my goal but my body is really hanging on to the weight! So not fun!
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    It's not any harder, just slower. Plus, as you get closer to your goal, the number on the scale becomes rather meaningless. It's better to focus on body fat rather than pounds.... track your progress through measurements, how clothes fit, and progress photos.
  • TedStout
    TedStout Posts: 241
    I don't know about the physiologogy of it, but when you have a lot to lose, it comes off much easier. First week, 8 lbs kind of a thing. As you get leaner and have less to lose, your body just doesn't want to give it up. I was really stuck for a month or so, switched to a different workout (went to weights....BIG BIG HELP!) and less cardio. Weight falling off again. It got be through the last two pounds. Not a lot of help, just sharing my experience. If and when you get in a rut, change.
  • KimberlyDCZ
    KimberlyDCZ Posts: 525 Member
    I think part of it can be psychological if you think "Eh, close enough" causing you to relax or stop when you get really close to your goal. Some may not be as diligent with their plan as they were in the beginning. Another part may be that when you get closer and closer to your goal weight, you are going to be getting very near your maintenance calories. That means your caloric deficit will be a whole lot smaller, so it's just going to take longer to burn those last few lbs.

    this. I think this is where I'm at. I think it's phycological. My goal is 180 even though that's higher than what it should be, but once I get there, I will continue to live healthy and see what happens. I didn't want to set my goal too low and not be able to meet expectations. That said, since I got to 190.5, I have been slacking and gained back about 8 lbs in the last 2-3 weeks. Of course a lot of it was water retention bc I'm back down to 192 this morning after getting back on track slowly over the last few days.

    ETA: Once I get to 180, I will probably start weighing only once/month and focus more on building muscle and losing inches instead of lbs
  • movu101779
    movu101779 Posts: 27
    It is not harder really. It feels much harder because you keep going and going and going and it sometimes seems like you are not getting there fast enough once you reach that "Just a little more to go" point. I didn't have much I wanted to lose to begin with. I have lost 20lbs since december. In the last 27 days I have lost 5lbs. I am now working on my last 5lbs to lose until I am at my personal goal.. What makes it hard for me is family functions - aka. Birthdays, holidays or just family gatherings. LOTS of junky, high calorie foods sitting around that my family expects me to eat.. So really it all depends on situation & your own feelings.
  • PeteWhoLikesToRunAlot
    PeteWhoLikesToRunAlot Posts: 596 Member
    I thought it was an urban legend as well, but I found the last 5 lbs to be extremely difficult. I'm down 50 total, the first 35 came off "fairly" easily in comparison to the last 15, and as I got closer to my goal weight, each loss seemed to be more difficult to attain. I do think there is something to the fact that if you've got less to lose, it's harder to get rid of it. I'm also pretty sure I was under-eating for the amount of running I was doing, so there was a few weeks of trial-and-error to find the right calorie amount to get out of starvation mode, but not so much that it would stall weight loss.

    My $.02 - I'm sure others have different experiences.
  • Izzwoz
    Izzwoz Posts: 348 Member
    I think part of it can be psychological if you think "Eh, close enough" causing you to relax or stop when you get really close to your goal. Some may not be as diligent with their plan as they were in the beginning. Another part may be that when you get closer and closer to your goal weight, you are going to be getting very near your maintenance calories. That means your caloric deficit will be a whole lot smaller, so it's just going to take longer to burn those last few lbs.

    This!! I can absolutely confirm, is exactly how I feel. Once I got back into the "acceptable" range, I started to relax a little, went over allowance more frequently and started to treat myself a bit more often. I am fine with that, as I see it as slowly starting to move towards maintaining, and ultimately, the last couple of pounds are not that crucial for me. Don't get me wrong, I will get them off, but if it takes a week longer, so be it. Also, as you are supposed to recalculate your BMR/TDEE and therefore deficit, I adjusted my calorie goal and that makes losing slower.
  • tsamples23
    tsamples23 Posts: 33 Member
    As you lose weight your body is generally burning less calories at rest so you have to eat less calories to have the same amount of deficit, so as you lose weight it tends to get harder (you have to be more extreme) to lose weight. One way to counteract this is to gain muscle mass instead of just lose weight as it will help you burn more calories.
  • jonski1968
    jonski1968 Posts: 4,490 Member
    Simple...Tell yourself you have 20 lbs to lose, and the first 10 pounds will be easier...Worked for me.
  • QueenGyn
    QueenGyn Posts: 106
    It's harder for a smaller person to lose weight. So those aiming for the lower end of healthy weight range will have a tougher time and it will take longer

    ^THIS. I'm not losing any. :grumble:
  • tessaeve
    tessaeve Posts: 75 Member
    Been working on my last 10 lbs. since January the 1st. My scale has not moved at all for 5 months except to go up a couple of lbs. I've lost 71 lbs. in a little over a year. So for me, YES. But this close to goal, I'm just going to keep on track and see what happens. If you would have told me that the first 71 lbs. would be easier to lose than the last 10 before I started I would have called you crazy.
  • patentguru
    patentguru Posts: 312 Member
    Without citing any articles, YES. I am in that stage of trying to lose the last 10 pounds of fat and the hunger pains are definitely harder to control.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    As you lose weight your body is generally burning less calories at rest so you have to eat less calories to have the same amount of deficit, so as you lose weight it tends to get harder (you have to be more extreme) to lose weight. One way to counteract this is to gain muscle mass instead of just lose weight as it will help you burn more calories.

    This is true too-- you can (and should) go in and redo your goals with your updated BMR every once in awhile.
  • dsmpunk
    dsmpunk Posts: 262 Member
    I wouldn't look at it as the last 10 lbs, but as a body fat %. At my starting weight, I only had those 10 lbs to lose since I wasnt too big to begin with. The scale has stopped moving for me at around 130-132 but the inches are still coming off, so when you think your at your last 10lb point, I would ditch the scale and just go by inches and calculated body fat %

    What she said. ^
  • Wowunicorns
    Wowunicorns Posts: 16
    I think it is harder because you losing 10 lb at 100 lb (just an example) is a higher % of your overall body weight than 10 lb at 150 lb. Basically you're losing 'more' of your body.

    Also, the smaller you get, the less fat there is to lose. Even if you lose weight, your bones and organs stay the same weight!
  • CarmenSRT
    CarmenSRT Posts: 843 Member
    For one, the closer to your goal weight you are the fewer calories your body has to spend to do the same amount of work you did at a higher weight. To keep the same weight loss rate you have to either eat less, work out more or do a combo. It's imminently logical that those last few pounds are going to be harder. It also sucks, but what can you do? Well, you can work out more, eat less, do both or just develop some patience. :wink:
  • cappri
    cappri Posts: 1,089 Member
    All I know is that my weight loss was fairly linear for the first 96 pounds, which took just under a year to lose. That brought me right to the top of my healthy BMI weight range. Since then losing weight has become incredibly difficult. I don't know why, but I do know it's very frustrating and I have a new understanding for people who want to lose 10-15 of "vanity" weight, that I never had when I weighed over 200 pounds.
  • Sreneesa
    Sreneesa Posts: 1,170 Member
    Simple...Tell yourself you have 20 lbs to lose, and the first 10 pounds will be easier...Worked for me.

    Love this! lol

    I know old topic but googled and this came up. Always been curious why people say the last 10lbs are hard and like the OP is your mental and body at war! lol

    I constantly eat under or drink over, lol,, different exercise routines so I'm hoping this helps with my last 15lbs.. It keeps my body guessing. lol
  • MzzFaith
    MzzFaith Posts: 337 Member
    To me yes. But you got to set yourself @goal &motivate yourself
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
    For me it's ridiculously hard. Not only does carrying less fat around all day mean I have a narrower range between maintenance and weight loss as well as less calories to maintain, I'm much hungrier and I find a much wider variety of foods highly palatable than I did before.

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