Last 8 lbs to lose!

You're so close! Congrats! I had a stall and I kept my calorie intake at where it would be if I hadn't exercised but lowered my carbs (80-100 grams) and increased my protein. Also, I switched up my exercising to stairs. Real stairs. And, I walked hills. The idea is to get your heart rate up and then ease it back down and then up again. So you could walk, jog, walk, jog. Total workout time for the day was an hour. I dropped 2.5 lbs a week doing that. My metabolism is slow so that was impressive. Now, it's time to take my own advice!

No problem. It's incredibly tempting to use higher burns, but it won't do you any favors in the long run.

njay51404 wrote: »

Help! I am down to my last 8 lbs to lose and the scale is NOT budging. I have my goal set to 1350 a day. I am working out now more than ever (5 days a week). Sometimes I eat some of my exercise calories back but usually not all of them. I'm looking for advice on whether I should increase or decrease my calorie intake. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Congratulations on the weight you've lost.

The last 8 pounds will come off much slower, as they should. 1350, plus not eating back cardio exercises, is way too aggressive.

If you are not losing weight at what you're eating now, no you should not raise your calories. You are most likely eating at maintenance right now. Raising calories only works if:

(1) you are absolutely sure of how many calories you are eating. You can only be sure of this if you weigh your portions, log everything you eat, This means you have to do some extra research to ensure accurate calorie counts, and you also have to create some of the entries yourself based on packages. When I make my own entries, I always do it in grams.

(2) you stay within your calorie deficit. This is why knowing how much you are eating is so important.

Finally, it's important to adjust your calorie goals with every ten pounds you lose. This can be done in your settings, I believe (I've been in maintenance for a year, so I forget where those things are).

Good luck!

Edited to add: Njay, I now see you do use a food scale and weigh your food and have been successful thus far, so we'll leave my reply for any newcomers with the same question.

njay51404 wrote: »

Jencbrown19, thanks for the advice! I've increased my protein with protein bars before or after a workout but I have not decreased carbs. I will try that. Queenliz99, how do I open my diary?

Through settings on your home page. My home/Settings/Diary Sharing

Your diary looks pretty good. Just a couple of things, however. Like the taco salad is that your recipe, otherwise don't do this because you have no idea what the ingredients are. Sometimes you use measuring cups on things that you should really weigh, like the cheesy scalloped potatoes. Weigh everything but the liquids. Don't use quick add calories unless it is lightweight calories such as carrots or lettuce, etc. but don't make a habit of this.

So, all in all, I think for you is to be patient. I took me at last 4 months to lose the last 20 pounds and until I started weighing everything very carefully did I achieve my goal. You will get there.

Are you also taking measurements? As I got closer to goal weight, there were months where my scale didn't show any progress, but I was buying smaller clothing at the same time.

I also maintained a small calorie deficit - it was slow progress, but still progress, and it came off and has stayed off for around three years now, so totally worth it.

Read this, I found this had helped me

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/113609/relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner/p1