What helps you lose weight when you have 20 lbs or less to l

I'm also interested. I'm new to MFP, I've only 16 pounds or so to lose. I'm finding difficult, as these are the same pounds I've been trying to lose for what feels like 2 years. But I lose 4-6 pounds, then I put it back on, and it's a vicious cycle. Feels like exact precision in what you eat is necessary to notice any type of difference.

I'm now in a pattern of exercising about 4-5 times a week, losing around 400 calories a session (this has been going for 2 1/2 weeks now). I average around 1400 in my calorie intake, some day it may be 1600-1700 in which case i up the gym efforts. I don't feel like i'm getting anywhere.

When anyone knowledgeable enough to respond to this properly does reply, let me know.. =P

I've been trying to lose weight for the past 5 weeks and haven't lost a single pound. Im 19, 154 pounds and only really want to lose around 20/25 pounds max, I work out 5 times a week - 30/45 mins cardio, & Jillian Michaels 30 day shred recently, I eat a very clean diet and eat some or most of my lost/exercise/'net' cals back, arghhhh!

well, for me... it's been a loooonnnng process. Took about a year to lose 20 pounds. Then again I didn't make any drastic lifestyle or diet changes. I believe in "everything in moderation" for this whole thing to be something you'll stick with for the rest of your life. Once again- my opinion!! I cut down on things- like less white bread, pasta more whole wheat options... more veggies,.... less sugar. Maintaining a healthy balanced way of eating is most important and will make the biggest changes- exercising can't do it's job if you're not eating well. How did I stick to it? Determination. It's all a very personal thing- if you want to lose the weight bad enough you'll figure out what healthy things you like and don't like and what you'll actually eat instead of grabbing a bag of chips or something. I recommending spreading your calories out so that you're eating something every four hours or so. Exercise? For me it HAS to be something that combines cardio AND strength. I prefer cardio kickboxing dvds and only exercise 3-4 times a week. Cheat Day? Not a healthy habit in my opinion. Log everything, everyday even if you know you'll be seeing the numbers in red at the end of the day. Exercise calories? EAT THEM BACK!!! The goal is of course to get under your calories goal but not like "hey I'm only at 1100! nice!" it's best to get as close to your goal as you can even if that means like 30 over or something like that.

Hope some of my ramblings made sense )

I would also appreciate info on this. I am 22 and have been trying to lose something--anything!--for nearly two months with no change. This week I have decreased exercise to 30 minutes of cardio and 30-40 minites of strength training and have upped my base calories to 1810. With exercise calories that's nearly 2300 calories per day! I'm going to see how this goes but am getting so frustrated by the lack of ANY loss! I try to shake it up with the exercises but with runner's knee it's rather difficult. I also eat super clean, the only non-natural sugar I get comes from my daily dose of Nutella. So yeah, at this point I'm willing to try anything.

P.S. I'm always looking for friends who share my situation. Feel free to add me! :flowerforyou:

P.P.S. Happy Valentines Day!

Please add me and keep me posted of anything that helps! I am under 20lbs...more like 10lbs but the scale isnt budging!!!
I'm going to try to completely face out sugars (as best as I can!) and see if that does anything :grumble:

Kali112

I think your problem is eating to little calories while working out as much as you are. I was only doing 1200 calories and I'm doing 4 days of intense weight lifting, several people pointed out to me that it isn't enough, I could be injured etc. So maybe that is your problem, I know I didn't like hearing it though but good luck to you.

I'm right here with all of your i want to lose 27 more.
Here is a few tips that i have gotten:
1000 calories a day is WAY too few. this may be the reason you are at a plateau or not losing the wait.
i eat small meals every 2-3 hours and it Jump starts your metabolism.
breakfast 300 calories
morning snack 200
lunch 300
afternoon snack 200
dinner 400

---

total of 1400 calories/day
eat within 30 minutes of waking and eat lots and lots of fruits and veggies throughout the day

For excersizes: strength training is important as well! lifting weights builds muscle which burns fat and raises your resting metabolism as well.
do not soley rely on cardio for your exercise!

hope these tips that i have picked up help.

wow nice to see so many others in the same boat as me! I have been trying to loose 10-15 lbs since oct and i have only lost 6-7. I have been at a stand still for a month now, no change! I had 5 months as my goal to loose 10-15, at least the 10 and i doubt i am going to make it. I never thought it was going to be so hard to loose 10 stinken pounds! I am at least now in my healthy bmi range with that 6-7 lbs off me but that's it. i started doing cardio 5 days week for 30-45 min and no change so i added 30ds into the mix too, so then i was working out 7 days a week for just under 1hr. i seem to only loose 2 lbs a month max. i only lost 1 inch off my waist, 2 off my hips and tummy with 30ds. I got fed up and was going through some stuff personally, so i dropped working out and figured i will try just by diet alone. i dropped 3 lbs once i finished 30ds and that was it. stuck now for the last month. I started up 30ds again as of yesterday, so i hope getting back on the exercise wagon will help. I have 4.5 weeks left to loose another 6-7 lbs, that's it!

bump

I lift for roughly an hour 3 days a week. That's it. It works. Lift heavy, tax your body with compound heavy lifts in multiple low-rep sets, doing weight that's all you can handle for those reps. Keep your body constantly occupied with the business of repairing and rebuilding muscle tissue.

Also: eating multiple small meals throughout the day is no better for you than eating all of your calories in one meal. Your metabolism isn't that finely tuned. I fast 16 hours of every day. You don't need to eat breakfast to "jumpstart your metabolism." That is one of the worst myths out there.