For those that struggled with the last 10 lbs
ColoJessie
Posts: 11 Member
I've seen lots of talk about how hard it was (and how long it took) to lose the last 10 lbs. I have been wondering about this, is it physically harder to keep the deficit going since you are at a "normal" weight, or does the mental dedication wane? Or is it something else?
I'm curious to hear your thoughts and personal experience.
I'm curious to hear your thoughts and personal experience.
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Replies
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I'm not a doctor, but I believe it has something to do with the weight your body feels is optimal. Once you've reached your optimal weight (which is usually different from your "ideal" weight) your body will begin to retain calories again. For example, my doctor states that he wants to see me back down to 180, (I'm 6 feet tall) however when I hit around 190 my body simply refuses to let me shed anymore weight. My natural healthy balance is a muscular 190 pounds. From here, you have two choices. 1) Be patient and allow your body to begin shedding weight much slower at about 1/2 pound per week, or 2) go on a starvation diet.5
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For me it is a combination of just math and motivation. I've lost 72 lbs with 8 more to go. When I started me tdee was 2400 now it is 1800, and I am not comfortable eating less (if I eat significantly less than about 1500 cals I am ridiculously hungry and it is unsustainable). So the weight loss has slowed way down. So that and the fact I've been at this a year means I indulge a little more often than I used to. I still lose 0.5-1lb a week but every lb feel like a struggle.19
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ColoJessie wrote: »I've seen lots of talk about how hard it was (and how long it took) to lose the last 10 lbs. I have been wondering about this, is it physically harder to keep the deficit going since you are at a "normal" weight, or does the mental dedication wane? Or is it something else?
I'm curious to hear your thoughts and personal experience.
IMO, it's not about the actual weight...it's about the leanness. Once you're at a healthy level of leanness, you just don't have the fat stores to mobilize. Also, from an evolutionary standpoint, the human body doesn't like being super lean and trying to be super lean is pretty a pretty new thing.
All kinds of things start going on in the body when you're already lean and trying to get leaner...hormones get all whacked out, cortisol levels rise, adaptive thermogenesis becomes more prevalent, etc. All of these things make continued fat loss difficult.
A lot of it also has to do with lifestyle. I pretty easily maintain at around 180 and 12-15% BF...175 is more difficult and I have to have a lot less "fun" to do it...below 175 and basically I have to be a diet and exercise nazi.28 -
johnnymassie wrote: »I'm not a doctor, but I believe it has something to do with the weight your body feels is optimal. Once you've reached your optimal weight (which is usually different from your "ideal" weight) your body will begin to retain calories again. For example, my doctor states that he wants to see me back down to 180, (I'm 6 feet tall) however when I hit around 190 my body simply refuses to let me shed anymore weight. My natural healthy balance is a muscular 190 pounds. From here, you have two choices. 1) Be patient and allow your body to begin shedding weight much slower at about 1/2 pound per week, or 2) go on a starvation diet.
I'm not convinced of this theory. For me, it has been difficult mentally more so than physically. It took 3 years to get to that last 10-15 lbs. and I've been stuck there for months. But for me, losing was very difficult as well - more difficult both physically (and mentally as a result of the physical difficulty) for the first 3 years. My rate of loss was 1/4 lb. per week on average, so 1/2 lb. per week would be spectacular! Despite allowing myself some occasional all-out cheat days during the initial weight loss phase (they became smaller and less often over time to from 3-4 times to only 1-2 times per year), I never have been able to get over the idea that I'm always hungry. The all-out cheat days may be happening less often, but the un-planned days where I'm 2K-8K calories over maintenance seem to have become more frequent.
At this point, I'm planning to change my diet further. A year ago, I went low carb and started finally seeing more significant losses. That 1/4 lb. per week average is actually much lower at first and about half of what I've lost has been just in the past year. But that slowed down after about 8-9 months. Over that time, I kept lowering carb intake further and further, but when I stopped changing (about 20g-30g per day net carbs), the weight loss stalled and it became more difficult (again) psychologically to continue to feel like I'm starving AND to not have any weight loss. I can feel like I'm starving if I see some results... even painfully slow results... but I can't stand to both feel like I'm starving AND to see no scale benefit.
Two weeks ago, I was traveling and ended up eating more food (and more carbs as a result of higher volumes of foods) while traveling and decided to keep it up for a 2 week "refeed." I'm not restricting calories, but am now really trying to stay low carb. Over the past year, I had to keep cutting carbs to keep seeing losses. Starting later this week, I'm going to switch to a "zero carb" (just trace carbs in animal products - practically no plant products) diet for 2 months to see if I can finally lose that last 10-15 lbs. of fat.
One of my 2017 resolutions is to reach 10% body fat. I'll get a Bodpod or Dexa scan later this year when I think I'm close. If I lose 10 lbs., I think I should be around 7% body fat based on my best estimates as of today.0 -
Same as what @astroamy says. I've lost 70 with 10 to go (goal weight 135, I'm 5-7), but the deficit is steep and the margin of error is razor thin. It's a battle. I can eat 1800 and lose, but literally, one glass of wine or scoop of peanut butter sets me back. I'm beginning to think its just not worth it.23
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It's a combination of things.
There is the mental part. If you are a runner and you do a hard run, you find yourself being able to power through it, but the last couple of minutes feel the hardest and the longest. Being so close but not quite there yet amplifies the burnout feel of it and you're that much more anxious to reach it, and it doesn't help that the loss feels slow or even non-existent some weeks.
There is also the physical part. You are smaller, with lower TDEE, and the same exercise that used to burn a certain number of calories now burns less. This makes your deficit smaller and weight loss slower. Your small deficit means less room for mistakes. Random calorie blowouts no longer make you just lose less that week, they can halt your progress completely or even cause you to gain. Mistakes, inaccuracies and calorie amnesia are no longer mediated by deficit like they used to be.
Hormonally, the leaner you get the hungrier you become. The calorie level that used to work for you now leaves you hungry, so you need look for ways to not go crazy without blowing your entire already small deficit.
I haven't reached that point yet, but I have been reading a lot about it to know what to expect and be mentally prepared.19 -
Same as what @astroamy says. I've lost 70 with 10 to go (goal weight 135, I'm 5-7), but the deficit is steep and the margin of error is razor thin. It's a battle. I can eat 1800 and lose, but literally, one glass of wine or scoop of peanut butter sets me back. I'm beginning to think its just not worth it.
^This, I've got a desk job and have to net under1500 cals on average to lose only half a pound a week, so to earn more cals I have to work out more (and I don't earn that many cals for workouts), I also like to go out with my friends on a weekend so try to bank cals for a few wines and food for Saturday night. If you're not very active losing weight when your BMI's in the low to mid 20s is a bit of a ball ache. Small results for big dedication (if you're doing it in a healthy way). I guess its worth it in the end.
(Although this time I'm going to bloody log on MFP and maintain last time I nearly got to my ultimate goal weight, I just stopped logging confident I would be thin forever more, within a year I'd put the lot back on.)21 -
Yea, when I first started I thought it was silly that so many are talking about how hard it is to lose the last 10....until I got there.
I have to agree with @astroamy and @amusedmonkey on it being both mental and the margins of error/calorie goal is small and when you are so close you cut yourself a lot more slack in your eating, even though you have less slack to use. However, I have to add...
For me, it was the stalls once I was 10lbs into normal BMI range that got me a little bit mentally too.
In Oct, I had a stall where for most of the month I lost less than a pound overall even though I was faithful to the program. I pretty much just fluctuated between a few pounds (some days up, other days down). However, I had added weight training to my exercise list, and suspected I might be retaining a bit more water too. But I stuck with it and in Nov, I experienced a 'whoosh' month where I dropped about 4 lbs. Same thing happened in Dec/Jan for me.
So, it's also the mental fortitude to make it through 3-4 weeks of no change until you start seeing yourself drop again, even though you are doing the same things you were doing earlier to lose weekly. I think some folks get frustrated in the stalls and figure they are now in Normal BMI range, so that's good enough so they jump right up to maintenance levels.
I know I had that thought in Dec when I knew I was in yet another stall. I had already resigned myself to being okay with being 5 lbs heavier than my original (albeit arbitrary) goal especially since I was already fitting into my goal clothes. But in Jan, even though I started adding calories (+100 cals/mon) to move to maintenance levels, I lost another 4 lbs, which put me right close to my original goal. This month has been yet another stall month. We'll see if I still lose a couple pounds in March even though I'll be closer to eating at maintenance.5 -
For me, it's not logging, weighing and measuring closely enough. I was able to lose the first 15lbs with fairly sloppy tracking but the inaccuracies in my CI are keeping me from getting rid of my last bit of vanity weight.4
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born_of_fire74 wrote: »For me, it's not logging, weighing and measuring closely enough. I was able to lose the first 15lbs with fairly sloppy tracking but the inaccuracies in my CI are keeping me from getting rid of my last bit of vanity weight.
Agreed. Accuracy really helps with a small deficit (and small margin of error).
To be honest, I think of maintenance as a constant state of re-gaining and re-losing the last 5 pounds, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just how it is for me. When I slack off on measuring/logging, my weight will creep up. Never down. Always up. When I hit that 5lb up point, I buckle down with logging at a 250cal deficit for several weeks until I'm back in range.
If you are dialing back your deficit as you get closer to goal, losing "the last 10 pounds" will look really similar to maintenance, and hopefully that is easily sustainable for you!21 -
To be honest, I think of maintenance as a constant state of re-gaining and re-losing the last 5 pounds, and I don't mean that in a bad way.
If you are dialing back your deficit as you get closer to goal, losing "the last 10 pounds" will look really similar to maintenance, and hopefully that is easily sustainable for you!
This is a great explanation of maintenance that I also found except I was totally unprepared for it- and am back losing the last 20 pounds with 10 to go!
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I've been struggling with my last 10-12 pounds for the last 8 months... I hover around 138-143 per week (I'm 5'6" and lightly active - I hike/walk trails every morning with my dogs and it ranges from 1 mile to 3 miles, depending on weather and how my dogs are feeling) so my burn varies every day.
I tried low carb (keto/paleo) and I didn't see ANY progress on the scale, but I did see some loss of belly fat and inches (admittedly, it didn't feel like much at the time, but looking at photos of myself before... I can see it was more than I realised)
So I am now trying IIFYM and even that, I've fiddled with the macro levels (the suggestions for carbs felt WAY too high for me, especially after having some success with low carb) and I also dropped the calorie intake suggestion WAY down (it was over 2200!! There's no WAY I'm going to lose weight/fat on that!) to 1200-1400 (depending on my activity that day, if that makes sense?)
I lost 20 pounds in 3 months, before this, but gained 12 back when we moved (Germany to the USA) as I could not be as active here (too bloody hot and humid) so it's been a battle for me.
I eat healthily, I occasionally "indulge" but not very often, and I'm now careful of what carbs I eat (I am trying to avoid breads, pastries, etc, and stick to vegetable carbs like sweet potato, potato, and brown rice) so I am HOPING that it will break this horrible stall I'm in.
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born_of_fire74 wrote: »For me, it's not logging, weighing and measuring closely enough. I was able to lose the first 15lbs with fairly sloppy tracking but the inaccuracies in my CI are keeping me from getting rid of my last bit of vanity weight.
Agreed. Accuracy really helps with a small deficit (and small margin of error).
To be honest, I think of maintenance as a constant state of re-gaining and re-losing the last 5 pounds, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just how it is for me. When I slack off on measuring/logging, my weight will creep up. Never down. Always up. When I hit that 5lb up point, I buckle down with logging at a 250cal deficit for several weeks until I'm back in range.
If you are dialing back your deficit as you get closer to goal, losing "the last 10 pounds" will look really similar to maintenance, and hopefully that is easily sustainable for you!
Very good info right there! Exactly how I look at maintenance as well. For example, I am always up a few lbs then those weekend water weight lbs go away by thurs or fri, eat out on the weekend, party etc, then up again monday rinse repeat lol5 -
Kimblesnbits13 wrote: »born_of_fire74 wrote: »For me, it's not logging, weighing and measuring closely enough. I was able to lose the first 15lbs with fairly sloppy tracking but the inaccuracies in my CI are keeping me from getting rid of my last bit of vanity weight.
Agreed. Accuracy really helps with a small deficit (and small margin of error).
To be honest, I think of maintenance as a constant state of re-gaining and re-losing the last 5 pounds, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just how it is for me. When I slack off on measuring/logging, my weight will creep up. Never down. Always up. When I hit that 5lb up point, I buckle down with logging at a 250cal deficit for several weeks until I'm back in range.
If you are dialing back your deficit as you get closer to goal, losing "the last 10 pounds" will look really similar to maintenance, and hopefully that is easily sustainable for you!
Very good info right there! Exactly how I look at maintenance as well. For example, I am always up a few lbs ON MONDAYS then those weekend water weight lbs go away by thurs or fri, eat out on the weekend, party etc, then up again monday rinse repeat lol
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born_of_fire74 wrote: »For me, it's not logging, weighing and measuring closely enough. I was able to lose the first 15lbs with fairly sloppy tracking but the inaccuracies in my CI are keeping me from getting rid of my last bit of vanity weight.
Agreed. Accuracy really helps with a small deficit (and small margin of error).
To be honest, I think of maintenance as a constant state of re-gaining and re-losing the last 5 pounds, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just how it is for me. When I slack off on measuring/logging, my weight will creep up. Never down. Always up. When I hit that 5lb up point, I buckle down with logging at a 250cal deficit for several weeks until I'm back in range.
If you are dialing back your deficit as you get closer to goal, losing "the last 10 pounds" will look really similar to maintenance, and hopefully that is easily sustainable for you!
Haha, yea, I've stopped trying to lose any more weight. I'm into maintenance and recomp now.
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First of all don't know if you read anything about what people talked as a set point but your body does not have a set point it's simply comes down to a matter of eating less calories than your body Burns and you will keep on losing weight.
To put things in perspective I've lost 80 pounds since January 1st 2016 I decided to go into maintenance around September 1st 2016 my weight at the time was 220 pounds. I totally screwed maintenance up when is low as 203. Currently I'm about 207 and I like where I am. I'm doing a body recomp now where am increasing my calories and adding a lot of extra protein to build up some muscle. I know I probably gained some weight but that's not an issue for me it's more inches and how I feel.
Losing the weight is 95% mental and 5% physical, if you think you can't do it you probably won't. As far as having the final weight goal number that number is going to fluctuate it'll never be a static number.
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Don't just use weight for your end goals. Unless you've set your weight target based on what you weighed in the past at a comparable phase in your life, your weight goal may not be the most accurate.
Body composition is actually a better target, especially as you get closer to your target weight. Muscle is more dense than fat, meaning a pound of muscle takes up way less space than a pound of fat. If you are only measuring your "success" based on your total weight, then you aren't getting an accurate picture.
You should additionally be taking body measurements and set targets there as well. If you don't want to do body composition measurements, body measurements will at least show you if you are replacing fat with muscle. If your weight doesn't change but your waist gets smaller, then you can be pretty sure that's what's happening and you can adjust your weight target appropriately.6 -
For me it was because I was already eating better (healthier) and exercising, lost 40 got to the top of the BMI, got stuck, and contrary to what many suggest (increase cals, set your diary to lose 1/2 lb) I had to pay closer attention AND eat LESS of my extra earned cals (fitbit) that's how I lost the "last 10" now we'll see if I'm able to maintain at my lowest weight
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I'm currently losing the last 5 pounds. I would not say that I'm struggling, but only because I realized that I had to change my expectations. I am 4' 11.75" and 120 lb. right now. My starting weight was 215 lb. I had to come to terms with the fact that my body is smaller now, so it needs fewer calories and also burns fewer calories during exercise. That makes it really hard to maintain a deficit, even at a baseline 1200 calories plus exercise (and I'm pretty active). I would perhaps lose faster if I didn't eat as many of my exercise calories back, but I want to fuel my body properly, and I also want to be able to eat chocolate. I'm still losing, but very slowly, and I'm okay with that.12
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It wasn't motivation for me - I'm still logging 5 years later. It took me longer to lose the last 5 pounds than the previous 25. I just slowed. However, I eventually went 8 pounds under the bottom of my goal range and had to up my calories before I stabilized.2
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HIIT will help you with losing the last 10lbs.0
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I have given up and decided to build muscle instead of lose weight for the last ten pounds, I'm seeing better results and like the way my body is changing.5
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Really depends on what the 'last 10' are for everyone too. My last 10s were probably someone's last 20s, for example.
In my case, it was harder because my appetite spiked up badly and I had to really deprive myself to lose more... and clearly I don't have the willpower to deprive myself THAT much (I've actually gained back 10 lbs from my lowest but my measurements haven't changed and I'm just not willing to starve/deprive myself to lose those last 12 lbs now).
Seriously though, the only way I could lose that weight at this point is to not have any treat ever, pretty much.. it's hard enough to maintain, let alone keep a deficit over a month!5 -
I was briefly at 184, skinny as a rail, lots of ropy vasculature. Friends told me I was too skinny. At a certain point, one of the nutritionists I work with (who is an exercise freak and always skinny) told me in confidence he thought I looked like a prisoner of war and should add a few pounds back.
I'm now at about 195 and although I've tried to bring myself down to the 180s again it seems like I just can't get myself there without some herculean effort I'm not really willing to muster at this point. Given my high weight was in the highly porky range of about 260, I'm not complaining.6 -
For me, it's hasn't been hard physically, because i began the transition to maintenance months ago. So as i started approaching my end goal, i increased my calories and now i can eat more, which by the way is a strange feeling .So i haven't felt any excess hunger or anything like that. Unfortunately eating more does slow down the weight loss, but because i'm already happy with my weight as it is, i don't really mind.Sometimes i don't step on the scale for 2-3 weeks, because i know any small loss will not be visible, so i don't bother.
I also found myself thinking, that because i've been dieting for so long, i've gotten used to it and to having an actual goal i'm working towards,and i'm not that happy on entering the maintaining phase. So i don't mind if it takes longer to reach my end goal.6 -
I would say that it gets harder when you're closer to your goal weight because you are burning less calories from exercise. When you started, it came off easier because the extra weight resulted in higher calorie burns. I personally didn't have any issues reaching my goal weight other than it came off a little slower at the end.
In the 1st 90 days, I lost 30 lbs. It took about 6 to 7 weeks for the remaining 12 lbs.
I've now been maintaining for a year. My weight fluctuates within about 3 lbs. I love the way my body looks now so it motivates me to keep it that way. I was always thin growing up and never thought Id be overweight. When I see old pictures of myself, I cringe and I don't ever want to look like that again. Also, I've become a long distance runner and extra weight means slower running.
It still can be a challenge, but I guess I've just gotten used to it and it's my way of life now.5 -
Of course you are all correct. It's a combination of maths and psychology. Many people don't realise that as they get slimmer their body adapts to a lower calorie intake. Those of you who are funding it hard might be surprised to realise that is because you've reached your maintenance calories. So it's a good time to hone your forever diet. This is (approximately) it!
Getting past a plateau:
I found when I reached a plateau that simply cutting out breakfast on an active day, then eating normally for the rest of the day, once a week resolved the problem. Of course it also reduced my weekly calorie intake a bit.
Once you reach your desired weight increase calories very gingerly. I did 100 cals per week and only increased the next week if I wasn't gaining.
If you are like me you will find that your total calorie intake will increase a little bit as your body readjusts.
Keep activity at levels you know you can maintain forever. Keep eating a balanced diet and when you add calories translate that into an extra portion of carbs, veg, fruit, dairy or protein. Keep recording!6 -
For me it is a combination of things - Yes to the margin or error becomes so tiny that it is harder
Yes to the motivation is harder
But I also think - so it takes longer those last few kgs, longer than all of the Kgs before on average - Well so be it. My body is still changing - I am still loosing (though a lot lot slower) I'll get there .............eventually3 -
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Somebody had a really great paper towel roll analogy. Takes longer (more turns) to take off one sheet the closer you get to the cardboard roll. Or something.
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