Good stuff! I've been a part of MFP for over a year and read thru the forums and I'm so glad I found this today. Friending you, if you don't mind. I would love for you to look at my diary and see if there is something I can do differently.

shanaber wrote: »

I am so glad I found this group and this topic! Great information even after 2 years! I do struggle changing my mindset having never been at this place with my body since I was very young. I started running to lose weight/fat while I was learning to strength train and building muscle. Now I run because I love it and I am a nicer person when I do. I continue to lift and train because I love being strong, stronger than I have ever been. This doesn't mean though that I don't still worry about the scale and those last 5-10 pounds that simply won't come off.

Those last 5-10 lbs can be quite the challenge. A couple of random thoughts:

1. Are the last 5-10 lbs worth it? How much more happiness will it net you? Sure, since you haven't tasted it, it's hard to tell. But know this... that last bit of weight is so hard, generally speaking, because your body doesn't want it to come off. And if you actually got it off, the challenge of keeping it off becomes increasingly more difficult. It's all about managing your compromises.

2. I encounter a lot of people who simply aren't patient enough to handle the last 5 or so pounds. The lighter/leaner you get, the longer the time frame you need to allow for to see what's what. In some people, this can be as long as 2... maybe even 3 months. But by the time that rolls around, most people have already given up, binged, and erased the very slow, arduous progress they've accumulated to date. And thus the cycle continues... never really leaving the same few pounds that you keep trading back and forth.

3. For those folks who are really committed and truly only have the last bit of stubborn fat to go, I've found that the best approach is a cyclic diet where carbs are altered across the week, 2-3 rounds of strength training per week, 1-2 sessions of stubborn fat interval training a la Lyle McDonald, and maybe a couple sessions of steady state work as needed.

Thanks Steve -
I have been thinking about this a great deal of late. The other day I took stock of my body in the mirror and ended up walking away quite pleased with where I am. Is it perfect - definitely not, but looking pretty good for a 58 year old :happy:
My entire journey has been pretty slow (intentionally). I did not expect to loose quickly and honestly never really expected to get to where I am now (weight or strength). So I am not too concerned about it taking a while. I will look at the cyclic diet, I know you have info about it on your website, and I will take a look at Lyle McDonald's information, but I think I will take some time to enjoy where I am and not worry too much about those last few pounds. I am strong, I continue to track and measure what I eat, continue to train and run and look better as a result of all of it!

^^ this could be me as well I've saved the link to this in a blog so I can browse it over and over when I feel the need...thanks for the great info/insight

Thank you so much for this! I have spent the last three years gaining weight while eating at what I thought was either maintenance or even deficit (would occaisionally lose a few pounds then go back to gaining). Net effect was 18 lbs added to my initial loss. Now,I am still within "normal weight" and I went up only about 1/2 a dress size, so perhaps some of the gain was muscle, as I did lift from time to time. But I was not consistent with the lifting. I ran a moderate 12-15 mikes a week too. And I was consistent with that.

But basically this post could have been written about me! Probably I got down to too low a weight initially, which didn't help (112 lbs). And then I was swayed by so many posts from people and/or groups who wanted to tell me I had killed my metabolism and needed to eat a good bit more to "re-set". And there likely has been some inaccurate logging along the way too! In reality I was likely overeating my deficit or maintenance with small errors.

Anyway, this post explaining why loss is so difficult for those already small was a breath of fresh air! I no longer feel like the only one dealing with this, or like a crazy woman who is trying to starve herself (for perspective most of the three years I was eating 1300-1700 total calories, so I wasn't being unreasonable FOR MY SIZE AND LEANNESS but I did have a few say I was grossly under eating)!

It also helps me to distill my goals--not that I give up, but also, I don't plan to torture myself for something that is at best, difficult to achieve. After all, my husband thinks I'm hot just like I am!

So, I will continue to lift, run, and eat well, and wait patiently for whatever gains come!

I feel like two separate loads have been lifted. . . .

thanks great post!