Help losing the last few pounds

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JAT74
JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been on MFP for years and my highest weight since joining was 155lbs (a year ago) and 39% body fat!!! I let things get out of control with my eating habits but during the last year I've made it my mission to get the majority of the weight off (I'm 5'4") and used a combination of calorie counting, cardio/weights/Yoga and for a few weeks hired a nutrition coach in October last year.

I finally managed to get down to 121lbs and 25% body fat just before Christmas and since then I've been fluctuating between 121-122 pounds and my body fat has stayed at 25%.

I'm happy overall with what I've achieved but now want to get down to around 115lbs and 20-22% body fat which has always been my ultimate goal. I still feel that I'm carrying too much fat in some areas like my bum, thighs and upper arms and am prepared to do whatever it takes to get it off.

The problem is I'm stuck as to what I can do now to get there. I stopped calorie counting when I hired my coach because she told me it wasn't necessary and put me on a 3 part 6 week plan where I ate mainly lean protein, loads of green vegetables, fairly low carb (rice, potatoes with one meal a day only), protein shakes a couple of times a day plus other snacks like almonds, eggs, rice cakes and had one 'cheat' day off the plan per week on a Saturday which suited my lifesryle. Its been easy to follow and stick to to be honest, but I've cycled this 3 part plan almost 3 times now and don't know what to do next in order to get the rest of the weight off as I now seem to be maintaining, not losing.

Just before Chrismas my partner went into hospital for a major operation and since then my training hasn't been 100% consistent as he's needed a lot of help and I've also been working but I started training properly again (cardio 5 days a week and weights 3 x a week plus 1 or 2 Yoga sessions a week) two weeks ago and have had no further weight loss.

I can't afford to go back to the coach at the moment for another course, but feel really frustrated that my weight loss has stopped so any tips would be much appreciated. I'm also reluctant to go too low on calories or cut down on meals/protein cos she told me it was so important to eat enough and the composition of each meal, and I feel like I've lost weight the healthy way until now but I'm unsure about what to try next. Help!

Replies

  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,652 Member
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    Two week post resumption of training water weight obscuring weight loss likely
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    Portion creep over time is extremely common.
    I'd suggest if you like your eating style stick to it but calorie count as well to ensure your portion sizing results in a sustainable and suitable deficit. Also count your cheat day/treat day - the calories still get counted by your body.

    It doesn't have to be counting forever as it appears (like me) you can maintain without food logging.

    The other thing to consider is if your ultimate goal is a physique rather than a weight as you are already at a very healthy weight for your height. If you got to 20-22% bodyfat at your current weight wouldn't that be great?

    Agree with what you're saying. It's tedious but I think it might have to go back to calorie counting for a while. Cheat day too I suppose.

    If I'm being honest since I stopped working directly with the coach I've added in some oil/fat and bread/pasta whereas with her I was on zero fat and only rice/potato for carbs so that may have prevented me from losing more weight recently.

    You're right too re. Physique, I'd be over the moon to lose body fat rather than just numbers on the scale as that's all I really want, to look in the mirror and see the areas I'm unhappy with looking leaner. Will play around with a few things and hopefully I'll find what works!
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    sallykift wrote: »
    I'd be inclined to get yourself back to tracking calories and into a calorie deficit whilst keeping up with your training. Is there another way?

    Probably right, but I know it's possible without tracking too as that's what I've been doing for the last 4 months. I may just have to cut down portion sizes perhaps and carbs a little and cut out all oil/fat. Etc. Again. I'm keen to stick with my current protein and fibre quantities so probably easier to track to ensure I'm not missing out on anything.
  • SallyKaPow
    SallyKaPow Posts: 61 Member
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    JAT74 wrote: »
    sallykift wrote: »
    I'd be inclined to get yourself back to tracking calories and into a calorie deficit whilst keeping up with your training. Is there another way?

    Probably right, but I know it's possible without tracking too as that's what I've been doing for the last 4 months. I may just have to cut down portion sizes perhaps and carbs a little and cut out all oil/fat. Etc. Again. I'm keen to stick with my current protein and fibre quantities so probably easier to track to ensure I'm not missing out on anything.

    Give it a go! If it works without having to log everything then that has to be preferable right?
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    JAT74 wrote: »
    sallykift wrote: »
    I'd be inclined to get yourself back to tracking calories and into a calorie deficit whilst keeping up with your training. Is there another way?

    Probably right, but I know it's possible without tracking too as that's what I've been doing for the last 4 months. I may just have to cut down portion sizes perhaps and carbs a little and cut out all oil/fat. Etc. Again. I'm keen to stick with my current protein and fibre quantities so probably easier to track to ensure I'm not missing out on anything.

    I'm cutting my winter fluff now without food logging.
    Mostly just skipping breakfast (most days), being more restrained about snacks and alcohol, generally being more mindful about what and how much I'm eating.
    You lose the precision (and perhaps some self-accountability?) of food logging and weight loss can be quite irregular but I'm not in a hurry to lose a few pounds.

    Change does require change (clearly!) but doesn't have to be huge to shift the balance.
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 980 Member
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    JAT74 wrote: »
    sallykift wrote: »
    I'd be inclined to get yourself back to tracking calories and into a calorie deficit whilst keeping up with your training. Is there another way?

    Probably right, but I know it's possible without tracking too as that's what I've been doing for the last 4 months. I may just have to cut down portion sizes perhaps and carbs a little and cut out all oil/fat. Etc. Again. I'm keen to stick with my current protein and fibre quantities so probably easier to track to ensure I'm not missing out on anything.

    I also question the possibility of portion creep. Also, are you still eating the same sized portions you were at a higher weight? Reducing your portions sizes a little would enable you to eat in a way that you're happy. You need some fat for your body to function, so don't eliminate them completely. Perhaps log every few days (and alternate cheat days) to see if you really are only eating the number of cals that you think you are. You could also work out whether your cheat day is counteracting the rest of the week.
  • CeeBeeSlim
    CeeBeeSlim Posts: 1,264 Member
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    Did you recalculate your TDEE? I was in almost the same boat as you. High of 147, got to my goal weight (or so I thought at the time) of 135 and kept going to 117. Then got to 114 around October. I don’t remember how often I did it but each time I recalculated my TDEE, I had fewer calories to work with - about 1100 towards the end - but I didn’t want to do eat that low. So eating at 1200 and working out more.
  • B_Plus_Effort
    B_Plus_Effort Posts: 311 Member
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    it's 90% diet and only 10% exercise, the easiest calories to burn are the ones you don't put in your mouth in the first place

    I can relate as I have lost some weight and want to reduce my body fat down to 15% (which is healthy normal for a guy) I'm currently at 19% and it's all about consistency and just grinding, no cheat days, eat what you want just make it fit your daily calories, and you will see how junk food prevents you from hitting your macros

    as someone has already pointed out, you must track how many calories you eat especially now when you are fine tuning and in the last stages of our weight loss

    I noticed you are drinking your calories too, I would recommend not doing that, but eating them instead, make your body work for it, believe it or not digesting food actually burns energy that's why eating the proper amounts of protein is important as it is much harder to digest than sugars, protein shakes are for top tier athletes like world class cyclists who just don't have enough hours in the day to eat more food, they train, eat, sleep, rest, and drink a protein shake to get more calories in them, you don't need to do that
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
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    OP, it sounds like you lost weight/fat when calorie counting on MFP. When following the nutritionist program, you maintained. So go back to what worked for weight loss (calorie counting) until you get to goal, and then go to what worked for maintenance (nutritionist program).

    2 other observations:
    1) fat is an essential nutrient for hormone synthesis, and there is a minimum fat requirement ~0.35g/lb body weight. Be sure you meet the minimum fat in your diet just like you try to get the minimum fiber.

    2) the healthy way to lose the last few pounds of vanity weight is slow to spare lean mass. 250kcal deficit for 0.5lb/week leaves a lot less margin for counting error than in the beginning when you have more to lose and can afford a faster rate of loss. Personally, I cannot achieve a consistent 250kcal deficit without counting pretty carefully.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    CeeBeeSlim wrote: »
    Did you recalculate your TDEE? I was in almost the same boat as you. High of 147, got to my goal weight (or so I thought at the time) of 135 and kept going to 117. Then got to 114 around October. I don’t remember how often I did it but each time I recalculated my TDEE, I had fewer calories to work with - about 1100 towards the end - but I didn’t want to do eat that low. So eating at 1200 and working out more.

    That sounds great! Well done :) . I did recalculate my TDEE the other day and I basically need to eat around 1150 to lose around 1.5 lbs a week which is what I'm aiming for. I've decided to log for now to ensure I can stick to that just until I reach goal weight and then I'll reevaluate. Until now (on the days I've checked) I have been at 1200-1300 or so. Problem is I've been having one 'cheat day' a week so might have to cut back on that a bit and perhaps at least log what I'm eating on that day and agree to stick to a certain calorie number ie. 500 calories extra (for example).
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    B_Plus_Effort wrote: »
    it's 90% diet and only 10% exercise, the easiest calories to burn are the ones you don't put in your mouth in the first place

    I can relate as I have lost some weight and want to reduce my body fat down to 15% (which is healthy normal for a guy) I'm currently at 19% and it's all about consistency and just grinding, no cheat days, eat what you want just make it fit your daily calories, and you will see how junk food prevents you from hitting your macros

    as someone has already pointed out, you must track how many calories you eat especially now when you are fine tuning and in the last stages of our weight loss

    I noticed you are drinking your calories too, I would recommend not doing that, but eating them instead, make your body work for it, believe it or not digesting food actually burns energy that's why eating the proper amounts of protein is important as it is much harder to digest than sugars, protein shakes are for top tier athletes like world class cyclists who just don't have enough hours in the day to eat more food, they train, eat, sleep, rest, and drink a protein shake to get more calories in them, you don't need to do that

    Thanks for the advice. So far I've lost 19% body fat in the last year! I only started again with the protein shakes when I had the coach as she told me what to eat/drink at each meal, and I've pretty much been sticking to her plan since then. She also massively increased my protein intake as I wasn't getting anywhere near enough before and it made a real difference to my body composition and how it looked etc. She didn't see a problem with it and it so I'm not sure it's a problem. It would be very hard to eat the right amount of protein otherwise for me and with the shakes it keeps the fat low too. I'm eating only lean protein so it would be hard to eat the right amount at the correct intervals otherwise.

    Time is a factor for me as I have a very strict schedule at work (as I teach English online) so don't get many breaks/time to prepare food and early in the mornings/late evenings I'm training, dog walking etc.
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    ahoy_m8 wrote: »
    OP, it sounds like you lost weight/fat when calorie counting on MFP. When following the nutritionist program, you maintained. So go back to what worked for weight loss (calorie counting) until you get to goal, and then go to what worked for maintenance (nutritionist program).

    2 other observations:
    1) fat is an essential nutrient for hormone synthesis, and there is a minimum fat requirement ~0.35g/lb body weight. Be sure you meet the minimum fat in your diet just like you try to get the minimum fiber.

    2) the healthy way to lose the last few pounds of vanity weight is slow to spare lean mass. 250kcal deficit for 0.5lb/week leaves a lot less margin for counting error than in the beginning when you have more to lose and can afford a faster rate of loss. Personally, I cannot achieve a consistent 250kcal deficit without counting pretty carefully.

    Hi, thanks for your reply. Maybe I wasn't very clear about how I lost the weight. I did lose weight/fat initially when logging on MFP but it took a VERY long time and I was stuck maintaining for around 3 months after the initial loss. The diet coach basically stripped back my fat intake to a very low level, and also got me eating more protein and fibre (loads more of both), plus drinking a lot more water and my weight loss started again. In my 6 weeks with her helping me I lost 11lbs and about 5% body fat so I was very happy with my results in such a short time. I was eating more calories than I had been previously on my own too.

    Since then I've lost about another 3% body fat and another 6lbs so it slowed down again, and now I seem to be maintaining (for the last few weeks).

    I think that counting/logging is going to be required to get the last few pounds and body fat off unfortunately. Boring as it is I think it's the only way I'll be able to go low enough on calories and keep an eye on my macros. Re. fat, I've been eating slightly more fat than the diet coach recommended ie. adding 1 tsb oil when cooking rather than 0 like before and also eating protein from sources she wouldn't have considered to be lean enough ie. minced beef, oily fish etc. She had me on lean chicken and white fish basically, but I wasn't enjoying any of the meals I was having, so decided to change things a little.

    I'm now aiming for a 750 daily calorie deficit as I've increased my exercise and cut back a little on calories so it should be achievable most days.

  • sarah7591
    sarah7591 Posts: 415 Member
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    B_Plus_Effort wrote: »
    it's 90% diet and only 10% exercise, the easiest calories to burn are the ones you don't put in your mouth in the first place
    Wow....love this! I have to remind myself of this advice daily! Thank you!
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,078 Member
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    Lietchi wrote: »
    Unless I've missed something, it would seem you're only trying to lose 6lbs? Why are you aiming to lose 1.5lbs per week then? That seems overly aggressive for the weight you want to lose.

    Pretty much correct (I say that because depending on how I look I may revise that number). It's harder to see/notice any less than that to be honest, which is the main reason why I'm aiming to lose 1.5lbs per week. I weigh myself in Kilos because I share my scales with someone else, so it becomes a little demoralising to see such little movement one way or another at less than that too.

    I know I've come a long way, having lost 32lbs in the last 12 months and a ton of body fat, but I am really keen to reach goal weight so I can concentrate on maintaining. It feels like its been a constant battle to get the weight off (a lot of it without help) and it's becoming harder the lighter I get, of course. I want to keep myself motivated to be honest and tiny losses don't make me feel as good as slightly larger ones I guess!

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