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How do you lose the LAST FIVE lbs? It's rough!

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My weight loss journey began back when I was a junior in highschool (~8 years ago).  At that point I was 165 lbs and I always assumed I was "big boned" for a girl as well as being overweight.  I am about 5' 6" and I guess I just tried to make myself feel better by saying that I was big boned too.

 

Now that I have reached and lost more than my original goal weight (125), I have discovered my body can go a bit farther!  I have now realized that rather than having a large frame, I have a small one.  So now my goal weight seems to be a few pounds less than where I am now, about 5-7 lbs.

 

I know that my deficit needs to be small, and believe me, I am going slow!  I don't really track my calories anymore (although I used to religiously, scale and all), I just eat when I am hungry and try my best to eat whole foods amd protein at every meal, but of course I let myself splurge sometimes.

 

I run, walk, and do bodyweight exercises at home.  My current calorie goal with my fitbit is 2250 cals a day.  Normally I hit it, sometimes during the week I am just under, but on the weekends I am always over.

 

So my real question is, does anyone have any advice for loosing the last 5?  I am so used to eating just enough so that I am slightly hungry when I go to bed, but should this not be my goal anymore?  I think on most days I eat about 2000 cals.  I know this is an estimation but after YEARS of intense calorie counting and food weighing, I am pretty good at guessing what I am eating.

 

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171 REPLIES 171
Thanks for the reply

I use myfitnesspal app for the food log and I am on 1200 calorie goal
1200(goal) - 1227(food) + 341(Exercise) = 314( remaining) so this is what
basically it ends when I am done for the day
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I agree, I go to kickboxing everyday and I end up eating white rice in the
evening and on the weekends.Trying to eat brown rice on the week nights but
hard to eat on the weekends. It is like I am working hard twice to loose
the same weight 😞 it is really hard to loose, I came this far loosing 25
and I need to loose 10 more..we can do it.. Good Luck
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spol

We must burn more than we eat.  Eat lots of veggies, lean protein and no refined carbs- like pasta, rice, bread- and the weight will leave you. 

Barb

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Well... I was just plateauing and NOTHING was happening ... and even though I still have more than "those last 5 lbs" to lose I still think this may help someone: 

 

A friend of mine had me try her protein shake and I started having one every day. Often instead of breakfast or as mid morning snack. Banana and baby spinach and almond milk goes in it usually. Anyway... I just realized AGAIN - even though I thought I knew that already - how important good nutrition is and regular eating. I had skipped meals and not worked out and I believe that's why I got "stuck". 

 

So... two weeks in I have started practicing yoga and pilates again with a home dvd and really planning healthy food for my days, including that protein shake. 

 

And it worked. I am down another 6 lbs within two weeks. I believe the plateau has been broken. 

Sometimes my body just needs a change, a wake me up.... 

I love yoga, pilates, knitting, my fitbit and walking my dog! +++ Started with 100 lbs to lose - 60% there - reclaiming my life and health!
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I agree. I started giving my digestive system a break once a week and all I have to eat is protein shakes, maybe a piece of fruit and some protein meat at night and I got passed that plateau.

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That's the deal!!  Want something to change?  Change something!!!  🙂
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@missmia

 

Oh I like that! Tell us more about those days! 

I have had a hard time finding a vegan protein powder that tastes good and makes me feel full and also helps with my digestion. I found that the protein shake I used before was o.k., but it really didnt do much for my tummy... without going into too much detail... 

 

Which protein shake are you using? 

 

Best

Birgit

I love yoga, pilates, knitting, my fitbit and walking my dog! +++ Started with 100 lbs to lose - 60% there - reclaiming my life and health!
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@juicysgot

 

That's it .... in one sentence! LOL

 

So tell us - what do you change up, when you hit a barrier? What do you think makes you succeed and keep going? 

 

Cheers

BIrgit

I love yoga, pilates, knitting, my fitbit and walking my dog! +++ Started with 100 lbs to lose - 60% there - reclaiming my life and health!
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Okay. If you've changed everything you can with your food, it's time to change your activity. Either change the number of times a week you do an activity, or increase your intensity (how hard you work at the activity), change the activity to something a bit more challenging, or the amount of time you spend on that activity.
It doesn't really take a lot to change a little. 🙂

Moderator Edit: Removed signature.

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I am no longer using a protein shake. Because I am a breast cancer survivor, I have been advised to stay away from anything estrogenic (containing estrogen). Milk and whey products contain estrogen so bad for me. I eat oatmeal for breakfast now however, if estrogen is okay for you, whey protein isolate is a good place to start. You can add fruit and supplements, drink it with water or juice, and you can get a good 300 to 500 calories in for breakfast this way. 🙂
ENJOY!!

Moderator Edit: Removed signature.

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@juicysgot

Congratulations for conquering cancer!! Would you say that your experience of getting sick changed the way you have been living and thinking about health and fitness?

I am asking since I have been battling Depression and Anxiety for 10 years now, the last year being extremely difficult, but once I started Yoga this spring (and got a really good new doctor) my symptoms have improved tremendously!

I am so far that I have decided to take the training as a Yoga Teacher so I can share my positive experiences with others who live with Depression, Anxiety and PTSD. Teaching yoga and mindfulness meditation.

Being vegan I also try to stay away from milk and whey products. Also soy milk is supposed to have lots of estrogen, so I am using almond milk with a high quality vegan chocolate protein powder. I find it changed a lot in the way I am eating and I am excited now for my breakfasts. LOL
I love yoga, pilates, knitting, my fitbit and walking my dog! +++ Started with 100 lbs to lose - 60% there - reclaiming my life and health!
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Way to go! Sounds like you're doing great. Awesome that you're going for certification.
I've been a certified fitness trainer for 17 years. The cancer changed how I view EVERYTHING in my life. lol. I had it for 2 years before I found it. Exercise was a constant throughout everything, so it was what I held on to. All the things I could still be doing were by far better than sitting at home, sick from treatment. I know firsthand that I can go into a class feeling one way, and come out feeling totally different. Always better.


Moderator Edit: Removed signature.

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That's exactly how I feel! Anything is better than sitting on my couch crying, being consumed by Depression and Anxiety....

Actually I just decided to start a 60 day challenge workout that includes Pilates and Yoga! So excited! Officially I want to start on Labour Day, but I am so curious... I'll do the first training today! 🙂 

 

Oh uhm... to explain: it's a program that can be streamed over TV/internet or played by DVD, so ... anytime, anywhere. And my time is NOW! LOL

I love yoga, pilates, knitting, my fitbit and walking my dog! +++ Started with 100 lbs to lose - 60% there - reclaiming my life and health!
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@spol wrote:
I agree, I go to kickboxing everyday and I end up eating white rice in the
evening and on the weekends.Trying to eat brown rice on the week nights but
hard to eat on the weekends. It is like I am working hard twice to loose
the same weight 😞 it is really hard to loose, I came this far loosing 25
and I need to loose 10 more..we can do it.. Good Luck

If you have not lowered your deficit to 250 cal, then you are setting up a fight with your body for that weight loss that you'll lose - and I don't mean the weight.

 

That is just stress trying to do that.

 

Set weight loss goal to 250 deficit with that little to lose.

 

Accurately log your food by weight eaten.

 

Correct Fitbit for exercise it doesn't estimate well by manually logging it on Fitbit.

HR-based models need Weights manually logged, circuit training also.

Step-based models need biking, rowing, swimming, weights, elliptical, ect manually logged.

 

Eat the daily goal that is given. Of course it should increase when you do more - that's the whole point.

 

MFP was estimating what you'd burn on non-exercise days to make an eating goal.

As soon as you exercise, your eating goal goes up to lose the same amount.

 

Just meet your goals.

 

As to why you gain water weight (fat is not fast, gain or loss), probably more sodium on those days.

Or because of likely extreme deficit right now, you are finally eating more carbs and replenishing muscle glucose stores with attached water then.

 

So water weight is just false weight loss and gain, your goal weight should be a range anyway - you'll never hold to one number - you'll go batty attempting to.

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I use invigor8. I buy it off of amazon. Tastes really good (chocolate flavor) and grass fed whey.

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@missmia

 

There are so many items that arent shipped to Canada from the States. It's really mindbogling why some do and some dont. 

 

Moderator Edit: word choice.

 

I love yoga, pilates, knitting, my fitbit and walking my dog! +++ Started with 100 lbs to lose - 60% there - reclaiming my life and health!
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I heard about shakeology. Is it good. Taste is super important to me.

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@missmia

 

Well I personally love it - have used it for a few months now after trying PGX, nutrisystem, Natures Way and VegaOne. And the cool thing is: they offer a Super Sampler with 1 pouch of each of the 6 flavours they have. This way you dont waste money on a whole bag that you end up not liking and tossing.
You can find more about it here: 6 Flavour Sampler Shakeology

 

I actually use it every day at least for one meal (usually breakfast) and believe that it really helped me with eating healthier and giving me structure (I was a breakfast-skipper before that and would snack my way through lunch). And now that I know I like it I have signed up as a coach to get a 25% discount on my monthly bag delivery which is perfectly alright with me 😉

 

I love yoga, pilates, knitting, my fitbit and walking my dog! +++ Started with 100 lbs to lose - 60% there - reclaiming my life and health!
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If you want to lower your body fat percentage, the easiest way to do that is to NOT eat a calorie deficit, and combine balanced nutrition with strength training.

 

While possible, it is difficult for your body to build muscle on a caloric deficit. Generally, if you strength train 3-4 times a week on a deficit, all you do is prevent your body from losing muscle mass, rather than gaining it. So if you haven't been strength training lately, that means you've been losing muscle mass along with your dieting.

 

When not on a deficit, the average female can gain 0.12 - 0.25 lbs of muscle per week... that means about a month to convert one pound of fat into one pound of muscle. Here's a link to a great, informative article about building muscle mass & reducing body fat:

 

http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-much-muscle-can-you-gain/

 

The article also links to information about proper nutrition, and why reducing body fat percentage is much more about what you eat, rather than how much you eat. Hope you find it helpful!

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I’ve actually read that too somewhere!
If you want to build muscle mass you can’t have a calorie deficit because muscles need energy to build.

Right now what I need is lose fat though… so gimme gimme gimme deficit!!! :))
I love yoga, pilates, knitting, my fitbit and walking my dog! +++ Started with 100 lbs to lose - 60% there - reclaiming my life and health!
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