Last ten pounds

Elle1657
Elle1657 Posts: 14 Member
edited November 26 in Health and Weight Loss

was wondering what you might suggest for losing the last ten lbs.

Currently:
164.9lbs
5'11"
female
25

I'm fairly active, I try to burn 500 cals on most days, except for rest days, I recently completed a triathlon. And would say I have a good amount of lean muscle as I am a size 6. It's mostly just the "vainty weight."

Replies

  • Elle1657
    Elle1657 Posts: 14 Member
    edited November 2015
    I will not be making my diary public, also I will tighten up portions and start using food scale more frequently.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    My biggest suggestion is patience. Kind of boring but that's what it comes down to. When you are closer to goal you can either have a smaller deficit, which will help you from getting too hungry but will lengthen the time to get there. Or you can have a larger deficit (meaning 500 or so, not 1000) which may get you there faster but you'll likely be hungrier since your TDEE will be lower, you have fewer fat stores, etc. The "rule of thumb" often quoted here on MFP is a 250 deficit for every 25 pounds to lose. I've not seen any actual studies/science stating how that was devised, though, and my opinion is that you can choose the steeper deficit if you can handle it.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    The last 10 lb are exactly the same as the first 10lb. A 1lb/week deficit is fine, combine it with lifting and protein to help preserve muscle.
    jemhh wrote: »
    The "rule of thumb" often quoted here on MFP is a 250 deficit for every 25 pounds to lose. I've not seen any actual studies/science stating how that was devised, though, and my opinion is that you can choose the steeper deficit if you can handle it.

    I actually tried to find this recommendation on any other website/study and couldn't. The only studies related to losing weight that I can find show that you don't actually lose that much muscle mass on a large deficit (large being relative) compared to those on a small deficit. Ultimately, the shorter weightloss timeframe meant you could return to building muscle after and in terms of total time be better off with the larger deficit. I think for average people, so long as you keep the weight loss under 1% of your body weight and lift heavy things that you are ok. If you are extremely built and have a very low BF% it might be a different story.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Elle1657 wrote: »
    was wondering what you might suggest for losing the last ten lbs.

    Currently:
    164.9lbs
    5'11"
    female
    25

    I'm fairly active, I try to burn 500 cals on most days, except for rest days, I recently completed a triathlon. And would say I have a good amount of lean muscle as I am a size 6. It's mostly just the "vainty weight."

    It's not about activity it's about your intake.

    You won't open diary but
    Elle1657 wrote: »
    I will not be making my diary public, also I will tighten up portions and start using food scale more frequently.

    Using a food scale for the last 10 pounds is actually quite important as you have little wiggle room typically.

    Have you adjusted your TDEE? What is your intake?
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    I respectfully disagree with the posters above. The last 10 require a smaller deficit and therefore greater logging accuracy, especially for an athlete in regular competition. So to spare your hard earned muscle mass and to give you as much fuel as possible for conditioning, I would vote for the smaller deficit. It requires patience, as jemhh said.
  • Elle1657
    Elle1657 Posts: 14 Member
    @jemhh appreciate your scientific perspective. Always like sound knowledge.
  • Elle1657
    Elle1657 Posts: 14 Member
    @norlead2005 I'd say I'm around 22-24% BF, thank you for your perspective and commenting.
  • Elle1657
    Elle1657 Posts: 14 Member
    edited November 2015
    @sezxystef TDEE is about 1700 calculated a few months ago but weight has not changed drastically, though may have decreased BF %

    Diet is mostly healthy if any pitfalls, likely saturated fat EG peanut butter and eggs, and I tend eat everything in moderation, could benefit from increased vegetables and possibly decreasing refined carbohydrates though primarily will rely on food scale as mentioned

    Thanks for your input.
  • Elle1657
    Elle1657 Posts: 14 Member
    edited November 2015
    @ahoy_m8 I think I will take your advice and narrow my calorie deficit to fuel continued athletic performance.

    I appreciate your perspective and do feel my hard earned muscle mass should be maintained despite the scale.

    Thanks!
  • Elle1657
    Elle1657 Posts: 14 Member
    Again thank you for your guys' input, really appreciate it.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    edited November 2015
    ahoy_m8 wrote: »
    I respectfully disagree with the posters above. The last 10 require a smaller deficit and therefore greater logging accuracy, especially for an athlete in regular competition. So to spare your hard earned muscle mass and to give you as much fuel as possible for conditioning, I would vote for the smaller deficit. It requires patience, as jemhh said.

    would you like to disagree with this study that says 0.5-1%/week is best for body builders?
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4033492/

    Or this study on lean athletes on a 60% of maintenance calorie restriction losing only 0.3+/-0.3kg LBM over 4 weeks. (low protein intake resulted in bigger losses)
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19927027

    Or this study on athletes showing a gain in LBM at a 0.7% loss/week, and staying about even at a 1.4% loss/week.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21558571

    I've seen references to other studies showing they tried to starve people (while they still exercised) to lose muscle mass, but couldn't really succeed until they hit low single digit (for males, ~10-12% for females) bf%. I don't have direct links for those though as their links died off.

    Basically, what I provided is based on research that indicates muscle loss shouldn't be a big concern if you do things right. But, it requires exercise and a proper diet. By eating 0.64-0.82g/lb, lifting, and having a loss under 1%/week, most people have nothing to be concerned about.

    I would love to see studies that show otherwise, but I'm yet to really run across any.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Elle1657 wrote: »
    @sezxystef TDEE is about 1700 calculated a few months ago but weight has not changed drastically, though may have decreased BF %

    Diet is mostly healthy if any pitfalls, likely saturated fat EG peanut butter and eggs, and I tend eat everything in moderation, could benefit from increased vegetables and possibly decreasing refined carbohydrates though primarily will rely on food scale as mentioned

    Thanks for your input.

    is that your TDEE or BMR...I ask as my TDEE is about 2200 and I am shorter, older and weigh less...

    I took your stats and "assumed" 1-3 hours of light exercise (which is probably too low based on post) and scooby put your TDEE at 2175...
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
    The last ten are definitely harder! I lost the first 75 quite easily. I have always been a very accurate logger and weigh my food. Now I'm in a healthy bmi but just want ten more lbs gone, and they are being stubborn. I'm short so my calories have to be set super low to lose even a half pound per week! I'm hungry dammit lol.
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