The last few lbs...

The last pounds are supposed to be the hardest to lose. Mostly, this is due to the body being very thin, which means the metabolism has slowed down.

In order to lose more, it takes even less calorie consumption than normal, even more cardio than normal, and it will generally take longer to lose than normal.

If you've only got 5 or ten pounds, it could take weeks or even months to get them down. While this is natural, its also pretty annoying lol.

Try bumping up your cardio, cutting out muscle-gaining workouts (just until you lose the weight), and eating healthier versions of your favorite foods.

First, have you reset your goal to lose .5 lbs per week? If not, you should. You want a very small deficit when you have only a few pounds to lose.

Unfortunately, a very small deficit means you have to be very vigilant about logging correctly and accurately--exercise and food. You also have less room in your diet for crap (even though you have more calories), so if you're eating more than 10% of your daily calories in processed foods, alcohol, sweets, etc., try reducing the quantity of that food.

You amy also need to step up the intensity of your workouts. You don't necessarily have to spend more time, just hit it harder.

The last pounds are supposed to be the hardest to lose. Mostly, this is due to the body being very thin, which means the metabolism has slowed down.

No, your metabolism has not necessarily slowed down unless you have been habitually undereating and/or have lost a great deal of muscle. The weight comes off more slowly as you approach your ideal weight as you simply have fewer fat stores.

In order to lose more, it takes even less calorie consumption than normal, even more cardio than normal, and it will generally take longer to lose than normal.

Nope. If you're doing this correctly, your calories are slowly creeping back up as you get close to your ideal weight because you have reduced your calorie deficit. If you continue to increase the calorie deficit, you'll run into big problems because you are starving yourself.

Increasing your cardio is not the ticket to additional fat loss, although it will and often does increase muscle loss. at this point, it's important to add resistance training if you haven't already done so.

The only truth to what you are promoting here is that a smaller body needs fewer calories than a larger one to stay alive.

If you've only got 5 or ten pounds, it could take weeks or even months to get them down. While this is natural, its also pretty annoying lol.

True.

Try bumping up your cardio, cutting out muscle-gaining workouts (just until you lose the weight), and eating healthier versions of your favorite foods.

Disagree with all of this except cleaning up your diet.

I am pretty strict about eating clean, the only fats i have are usually from nuts or peanut butter. I think I may need to switch up my exercise? Right now, I try to get to the gym 6 days a week, and I usually do cardio and strength training for about an hour (strength training every other day). I feel like I'm doing the right things but just stuck.

I may not be eating enough as it is now, I haven't changed my goals to .5 a week, but a lot of the times I don't eat all my calories at my goal of 1 lb a week so wouldn't that create more of a deficit? Sometimes I just get to the end of the day and I have a bunch of calories left over... could that really be what is slowing me down?

The last pounds are supposed to be the hardest to lose. Mostly, this is due to the body being very thin, which means the metabolism has slowed down. In order to lose more, it takes even less calorie consumption than normal, even more cardio than normal, and it will generally take longer to lose than normal. If you've only got 5 or ten pounds, it could take weeks or even months to get them down. While this is natural, its also pretty annoying lol. Try bumping up your cardio, cutting out muscle-gaining workouts (just until you lose the weight), and eating healthier versions of your favorite foods.

Here is my perception on the matter. I actually use this site just to track my calories. I use a different method to determine how many calories I should be eating and suggest it to many. According to this website, if you use their calculations, if you workout and burn 300 calories, than you should eat an extra 300 calories that day because the site has already built in a deficit for you. The more you have to lose the bigger an acceptable deficit is but the closer your goal is, the smaller your deficit should be. This is because the more muscle you have, the lower the body fat, the more fuel you body needs to sustains it's functions. Also, a deficit is should never been more than 1000 calories a day (which would allow for 2 lbs per week loss) but it more acceptable to do 1 lb a week or 500 calorie deficit. Additionally, a woman should eat not less than 1200 net calories. This is the amount of calories after you workout. So if you burn 500 calories, you need at least 1700 calories; men should be no less than 1500-1700 after workout calories from my research. Also, a large part of these calories should be driven by protein based sources. The ammino acids in the protein is what stimulates muscle growth. The more muscle your body has, the more calories you burn at rest.

My approach looks at Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR); BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you slept 24 hours, for me, my BMR is 2000 calories. I then mutliply it by my Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE); how many calories I should eat to make up for daily activities (walking, working out, etc) to get a total number of calories. Because I do a program like p90x, I multiply my 2000 calories by 1.725 which equals 3400 calories. This amount of calories is the amount I need to eat to maintain weight. I back off 500 caloires as my deficit and eat 3000 calories in a day. This is the website I use.


http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm

I then go into a custom setup under my goals and set my daily intake for 3000 calories (well I will starting sunday, right now it's 2800 because I haven't officially started p90x until sunday). Additionally, to follow the p90x food guide, I set up custom ratio's. I do 45% of carbs, 35% of protein and 20% for fats. As I progress, I will lower protein and increase carbs. This method has worked for me and others I have worked with on the site. MFP just makes it simple for anyone to come on and lose weight. I take more of a scientific approach to weight loss. When I started I was 210 & 18% body fat. Now I am 189 and 12% body fat and hoping to break single digits within 3 months.

Cliff notes: if you go by the sites calculations, you absolutely should eat back your workout calories as they preload the deficit. If you go by the more scientific method, you don't have to worry about it, it's already figured in your number.

Good luck everyone.