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

[reasonle]

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.

[BurdsNest]

I feel like you and I have the same story!  I am 5'3" and in June of 2012 I was 166pds.  I didn't feel it, most people couldn't believe that I weighed 166 because I guess I carried it well.

I joined Lucille Roberts in July of 2013, and Weight Watchers the followoing month, August.  When I joined WW, I had managed to lose 5pds.  So I started my journey @ 161pds.  My journey was "sweet."  I had a goal, to look absolutely "hot" for my son's college graduation in front of my ex-husband and his wife.  Well it worked!  Made "life time member" by December @ 135pds.  The pounds continued to shed until I was @ 125pds. 

Present day......I've huddled between 126pds and 130 (target weight @ WW is 132pds) but can't seem to get back down to at least 126. I know I can do it because I've done it before.

Sooooooooooooooooo I joined the FitBit family and have worked harder than I did to initially lose the weight.  It's just those last few pounds.  I burn about 600 calories a night @ the gym from Sunday through Wednesday, and it keeps going up.  "Muscle" everyone says.  The scale will catch up.  When????

I feel you pain girl!  Let's work together on hints and tips.  Spring is almost here and summer is around the corner

Sincerely

Feeling good!

[Heybales]

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@BurdsNest wrote:

I feel like you and I have the same story!  I am 5'3" and in June of 2012 I was 166pds.  I didn't feel it, most people couldn't believe that I weighed 166 because I guess I carried it well.

@I joined Lucille Roberts in July of 2013, and Weight Watchers the followoing month, August.  When I joined WW, I had managed to lose 5pds.  So I started my journey @ 161pds.  My journey was "sweet."  I had a goal, to look absolutely "hot" for my son's college graduation in front of my ex-husband and his wife.  Well it worked!  Made "life time member" by December @ 135pds.  The pounds continued to shed until I was @ 125pds. 

@Present day......I've huddled between 126pds and 130 (target weight @ WW is 132pds) but can't seem to get back down to at least 126. I know I can do it because I've done it before.

@Sooooooooooooooooo I joined the FitBit family and have worked harder than I did to initially lose the weight.  It's just those last few pounds.  I burn about 600 calories a night @ the gym from Sunday through Wednesday, and it keeps going up.  "Muscle" everyone says.  The scale will catch up.  When????

I feel you pain girl!  Let's work together on hints and tips.  Spring is almost here and summer is around the corner

Sincerely

Feeling good!

---

Ya, sadly as a woman eating in a deficit, you could never replace fat loss with muscle that fast - muscle isn't that easy to gain.

And unless you are doing a progressive overload weight lifting routine, there won't even be a need to gain muscle mass.

Getting stronger and muscles looking bigger, neither have anything to do with actually gaining muscle mass.

But bigger means more retain water, so that could be a factor.

With so little to lose, if you want your workouts to really transform your body more, I hope you took the smallest deficit.

That will cause the least stress, and least fight, to actually lose the fat and weight.

But don't become too fixated on the scale, unless you are inviting people into the bathroom to watch you weigh naked and see the number.

And you are manually logging workouts the Fitbit is underestimating?

You don't mention what device, but at minimum lifting should be manually logged.

And then you are meeting your eating goal, not missing it way under, thinking bigger is better?

Body has a harder time with stress as you get older, or lose muscle mass.

Eating too little compared to what you are putting your body through just adds stress - which will make your fight harder.

Increase cortisol enough from stress, you can gain upwards of 20 lbs of water weight. Will that freak you out and cause more stress?

[BurdsNest]

Thanks Heybales for so much good information.  I'm using the FitHR Charge, and once I hit the timer, it records my calories burned throughout my workout.

But you did mention a few interesting things.   With such a small amount of weight to lose (and yes, I do invite people to see the weight on the scale 🙂 ,  I should use the easiest deficit.....which I'm not.  Not leaving calories on the table.....which I do especially when I've been @ the gym, Sunday through Wednesday, but I often go over Thursday through Saturday when I'm not as active according to some portions of my dashboard.  I use 10-12 pd weights during my toning, and lots of cardio including the treadmill.  

But you're right, it could be a combination of factors.  It seemed to be so easy before, and the direct correlation of the scale going north is running on the treadmill.  Water retention could be a factor, but I have to tell you, I feel good, look thin, abs slowly but surely are getting into shape, BUT I am stressing over the number which makes things even worse.  

Oh....did I add that I'm a 5th grade teacher with 3weeks to go before the state exams.  Yes!!

Thanks again.

[Heybales]

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@BurdsNest wrote:

Thanks Heybales for so much good information.  I'm using the FitHR Charge, and once I hit the timer, it records my calories burned throughout my workout.

@But you did mention a few interesting things.   With such a small amount of weight to lose (and yes, I do invite people to see the weight on the scale 🙂 ,  I should use the easiest deficit.....which I'm not.  Not leaving calories on the table.....which I do especially when I've been @ the gym, Sunday through Wednesday, but I often go over Thursday through Saturday when I'm not as active according to some portions of my dashboard.  I use 10-12 pd weights during my toning, and lots of cardio including the treadmill.  

But you're right, it could be a combination of factors.  It seemed to be so easy before, and the direct correlation of the scale going north is running on the treadmill.  Water retention could be a factor, but I have to tell you, I feel good, look thin, abs slowly but surely are getting into shape, BUT I am stressing over the number which makes things even worse.  

Oh....did I add that I'm a 5th grade teacher with 3weeks to go before the state exams.  Yes!!

Thanks again.

---

So lots of cardio isn't going to do a thing for helping to retain muscle mass.

Encourages loss of it actually while in a big diet.

If you could use those weight for upwards of 20 reps easy enough, those aren't cutting it either anymore.

Big enough deficit, the least used is first lost, and 20 reps easy isn't big use in the scheme of things.

And the body's response to more cardio? Store more carbs, with attached water, in the muscle. Increase blood volume, more water again.

If it's hard to reach a higher eating goal, then do less cardio because you wouldn't need the extra calories then, and get some more resistance training in.

Heavy for you, not easy. Body has no need to adapt to easy, it must adapt to hard though, if given rest for recovery and repair, and nutrition, and calories.

It'll also transform the body more with less deficit and more strength training. And you may discover the last 5 aren't even needed gone, since weight on the scale is arbitrary anyway.

But use the biggest leg muscles for strength.

Curls and tricep kickbacks ain't going to cut it. Every pull and and every push of major muscles uses those anyway. Limited on time, work the bigger ones.

[BurdsNest]

Ok Heybales.....sounds like you have some experience and expertise in this field so lets have it in a nutshell.

1. trying to lose 5pds.

2. a mixture of cardio and toning @ the gym, Sunday through Wednesday

3. running 1 - 1/2 miles on the treadmill before classes from Sunday through Wednesday

4. will leave calories on the table some days, when there is a lot of calories out.

5. weigh in on Saturdays, which gives me muscles a 2 day rest to recover.

6. toning includes plenty of reps with 10 - 12 pd weights (not everyday)

7. will make my deficit through fitBit the smallest amount (don't have much to lose)

8. I drink plenty of water most days.

9.daily  diet includes yogurt, fruit, vegetables, popcorn (94% fat free) a few ww snacks, and only chicken for dinner.and salad for lunch.

10.  Now Lets Move The Scale South!!!!

[Grace-fit]

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@SunsetRunner wrote:
How to lose the last 5lbs?


A little flu with intestinal issues..
Lose those 5lbs easily

🙂

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This is so true! 😄

[Heybales]

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@BurdsNest wrote:

Ok Heybales.....sounds like you have some experience and expertise in this field so lets have it in a nutshell.

1. trying to lose 5pds.

@2. a mixture of cardio and toning @ the gym, Sunday through Wednesday

3. running 1 - 1/2 miles on the treadmill before classes from Sunday through Wednesday

4. will leave calories on the table some days, when there is a lot of calories out.

5. weigh in on Saturdays, which gives me muscles a 2 day rest to recover.

6. toning includes plenty of reps with 10 - 12 pd weights (not everyday)

7. will make my deficit through fitBit the smallest amount (don't have much to lose)

8. I drink plenty of water most days.

9.daily  diet includes yogurt, fruit, vegetables, popcorn (94% fat free) a few ww snacks, and only chicken for dinner.and salad for lunch.

10.  Now Lets Move The Scale South!!!!

------------------------------

5 - valid weigh-in day then, as long as normal sodium levels eaten on Friday.

2 & 6 - There is no such thing as toning really.

If by toning you mean maintenance lifting, doing stuff that's not hard anymore - why waste the time really.

That would be like going out for a 1 hr walk when you could easily run for that time, for no specific reason for it, not recovery, not rest day, not mental destressing, ect. The walk won't be a challenge to your muscles or aerobic system, and there will be no changes from it except burning a few more calories.

Usually toning is meant by showing muscles, which happens with fat loss on top of them actually.

Kick the weight up until you can only do 10 reps, and do the biggest muscles first. Every compound lift pulling uses the biceps, every pushing uses the triceps. Squats, deadlifts, bench press, overheard press, bent-over row, lat pulldown/pullups, ect.

4 - If willing to do this, be willing to eat over the same amount the next day when body may be trying to recover and really needs them. Diet impairs recovery, just a fact. More is worse. Less recovery, less results from a hard workout. Though actually, after a while, it's not really a hard workout despite how it may feel, because the body is just un-recovered and can't push as hard. That's just plain old stress on the body then.

9 - Resistance training, small deficit, and enough protein - the only 3 ways to help retain muscle mass when dieting. Your resistance training almost sounds like cardio if that many reps, may not be much help. Small deficit is going to be done now. Doesn't sound like much protein. You need more when in a diet. Failsafe would be 0.82 grams per lb of bodyweight. Anywhere near that?

Sounds like low on fat too. 0.35 g / lb BW. Fat doesn't make you fat, eating more of anything over what you burn makes you fat. Fat is needed for hormone regulation, vitamin absorption, ect.

10 - Measure many spots. Calf, thigh, hips, belly button, waist, neck, forearm, wrist, other desired.

Use those measurements here - www.gymgoal.com/dtool_fat.html

Side effect of exercise is weight increase, not loss. Diet is weight loss, if done right just fat loss.

You should find your workouts can be done harder with a smaller deficit, and with harder workout comes better body changes.

Don't be surprised to see inches move more than scale at first, especially depending on how much strength training you can do.

You'll need to manually log Weights as a workout since the Fitbit badly estimates what appears to be standing around time, but you are actually burning much more.

Once your body is responding to being fed enough for what it's being asked to do, and gets healthier, expect weight loss to actually occur.

[Vlee]

Hi there! I'm 5'6" also and I've also been dealing with my weight since I was a teen. I lost 72 lb between 10th and 11th grade, another 70 when I was 25 after gaining from a pregnancy and then I went up to 212 lbs after my divorce around age 33 and then lost back 85 lbs. I was around 133 lbs when my weight leveled out and I just COULDN'T lose that last 5 lbs. I do have lots of muscle from weight training as well. I have now managed to gain back 25 lbs AGAIN and I'm desperate to lose it. But anyway, 133 lbs was PERFECT! I was a tiny size 6 and I felt AMAZING!. Get back into weight training. Do it at home! You'll lose the fat, gain muscle, your weight will stay the same but you'll feel awesome AND you'll be able to EAT MORE without gaining!!

Good luck!!

[BurdsNest]

Yes, yes, yes. All of that and more. I do feel great and look even better. I wore a dress that I looked fabulous in this past Saturday. You know how you stress over putting something on that you wore two seasons ago. Well, I looked at a pic from August of 2014 where I wore that same dress that I wore on Saturday and……….Bam! I looked even better!

Originally I lost the weight (40lbs) now I guess my body is getting into such great shape and leveling off. So you’re right, I’ve seemed to have leveled out @ 130 - 131, which isn’t bad. I just have that number thing in my head and for some reason BELIEVE that I look thinner@ 128! Stupid I know. I am clearly in much better shape than I was one year ago. No complaints, except I’m working really hard on my abs and just trying to maintain.

Thanks a bunch!


Sincerely,

Arms like Michelle Obama and Angela Bassette






Sent from Windows Mail

[jangoandphoenix]

This is how I lost 25 lbs: Try Eliminating all bread products, flour, sugar. To burn fat, try eating top quality protein and vegetables as your main diet. Add healthy fats like grass fed ghee,avacado, coconut oil. ALSO, strength training is essential to burning fat. Resistance training, weight lifting, etc. Replenish with plenty of water! This is the most effective combo with which I've had success.

[BurdsNest]

Yes, that's how I loss the first 40lbs....no bread, pasta, rice, but some sugars.  I do losts of strength training as well.

Thanks!  

[CherawGirl]

I have a similar build as you, 5'5", 124 lbs. with 23% bodyfat.  I'm 56 years old and have tried lots of diets and workouts to lose those "last five". My ideal body weight (in my mind) is 118 lbs.  However I could live with 125lbs. if I could reduce my BF% to below 20%.

I've had the most success using intermittent fasting, reduced calorie, reduced carb diet.  I recently discovered intermittent fasting (IF) and, for me, it is easy to do.  Just eat sensibly during an 8 hour window each day, and no calories in during the other 16.  There are other types of IF that you can explore, but that one is the easiest for me.  I highly recommend you check out http://www.leangains.com/2010/04/leangains-guide.html to learn about IF and how it works to reduce body fat and keep lean muscle.  Note that leangains insist you do serious strength training to build and maintain your muscle mass and less cardio that tends to eat into muscle when dieting.

It also helps if you have a way to measure your body fat.  Calipers can be purchase for a few dollars online, and include instructions on how to use them.  The result won't be exact like water measuring, but what you want is to get a baseline and try to bring that value down, no matter the number.

Gaining muscle and losing fat at the same time is an problem that bodybuilders and fitness experts have been battling for ages.  It takes extreme disipline and every body is different. 

Good luck.

[dancefoxtrot]

On my last 5 lbs. now. Actually I was aiming for 140 by mother's day as I'm 5'7" . Today I hit 142.1 and it is quite surprising. On Saturday I was 144.4 in a quickstep dance workshop and twisted my ankle. So Saturday night, Sunday and Monday  I was sitting icing and elevating my foot and came down with a serious cold and sore throat. So I'm eating lightly , not getting more than 300-600 steps in for 2 days. This AM I had dropped to 142.1 so I'm wondering is this muscle atrophy setting in so quickly? Glad to be close to goal and look forward to dancing again. Today I made 2560 careful steps and iced the ankle.

This weight loss is a mystery but I have been eating light and healthy so it is paying off. At first, I seemed not to lose but I think I was gaining muscle from the extra dancing and walking I was doing. 

I might just aim for 137 as the tummy fat is less but still annoying me.

All the best,

Barbara 

[Heybales]

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@dancefoxtrot wrote:

On my last 5 lbs. now. Actually I was aiming for 140 by mother's day as I'm 5'7" . Today I hit 142.1 and it is quite surprising. On Saturday I was 144.4 in a quickstep dance workshop and twisted my ankle. So Saturday night, Sunday and Monday  I was sitting icing and elevating my foot and came down with a serious cold and sore throat. So I'm eating lightly , not getting more than 300-600 steps in for 2 days. This AM I had dropped to 142.1 so I'm wondering is this muscle atrophy setting in so quickly? Glad to be close to goal and look forward to dancing again. Today I made 2560 careful steps and iced the ankle.

This weight loss is a mystery but I have been eating light and healthy so it is paying off. At first, I seemed not to lose but I think I was gaining muscle from the extra dancing and walking I was doing. 

I might just aim for 137 as the tummy fat is less but still annoying me.

All the best,

Barbara 

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Fortunately, you can't lose muscle that fast. Not even strength, which is different.

Sadly, you also can't gain it that easily.

Extra dancing and walking doesn't require more muscle, it requires more carbs in the muscle to sustain longer effort.

Now if you went from total couch potatoe to walking a lot, sure at first some muscle gain, maybe 1 lb in 6-8 weeks. But just increasing cardio doesn't require the body to make more.

You can never gain muscle so fast as to offset fat loss. First improvements from exercise all involve water weight anyway, bigger blood volume, more stored carbs with attached water, more hydrated cells, ect.

Despite the injury and cold, the lack of activity may have allowed your body to unstress a tad. And water weight loss is result.

Or you had some days of lower sodium than average.

Because ya, 2 lbs in 3 days if it was really fat would imply a daily deficit of 2333, and since you likely didn't even burn that much daily, you couldn't have eaten that much less either.

So when the numbers are too fast for fat, gotta see why for water weight.

Though it always feels good to come in for last 5 or 3 rather, and still feel like the rest will be easy enough and body is actually where you want it.

[BurdsNest]

All this info can be very confusing.  Muscle loss, gain, water gain, carbs, protein, calories in vs caloris out.  This is clearly not an exact science.  I am 5'3: and steady @ 131.  Scale simply won't move.  When I returned from the gym yesterday, 2miles on the treadmill, two classes totally about 600 burned calories.  Drank 24oz of water and decided to take my husband's suggestion and weigh myself.  He doesn't believe that you GAIN weight after you work out because of water in the muscles.  Doesn't make sense to him.  You sweat out more water than you gain.

Well, purchased a new ww scale.  Upstairs on hard word floor.  Weighed in at exactly @ 131, but my fat went down a few ounces, and my water went up a few.  

I took your suggestion Heybales, and decreased my deficit to 250 (0.5 pds a week) and I am always under in calories.  Just a tad.   I know you explained that cardo was probably not doing much of anything, but toning such begin to decrease the weight.  But boy is my body getting fit!  No weight loss, but nice and toned.  Who knows!!!

Sincerely,

Just 3pds to go.

[MarilynL]

In My opinion exercise keeps us healthy and toned but to loose weight its all about the food. I also dont believe a calorie is a calorie . Eating good nutritious food is the way to go.

Last April I hit goal of 135- I am 5'4".  Over the year I have slowly crept up 12lbs and since last Thursday have been on a quest to loose that **ahem** weight and be back at goal on April 25th. I am down 5lbs and so its 7lbs to go till goal once again. I suppose I am eating a Paleo diet mainly- no dairy , grains or white stuff basically.

I think once I hit that goal my ultimate goal will be 129 and toning up more.

[Heybales]

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@BurdsNest wrote:

@All this info can be very confusing.  Muscle loss, gain, water gain, carbs, protein, calories in vs caloris out.  This is clearly not an exact science.  I am 5'3: and steady @ 131.  Scale simply won't move.  When I returned from the gym yesterday, 2miles on the treadmill, two classes totally about 600 burned calories.  Drank 24oz of water and decided to take my husband's suggestion and weigh myself.  He doesn't believe that you GAIN weight after you work out because of water in the muscles.  Doesn't make sense to him.  You sweat out more water than you gain.

@well, purchased a new ww scale.  Upstairs on hard word floor.  Weighed in at exactly @ 131, but my fat went down a few ounces, and my water went up a few.  

I took your suggestion Heybales, and decreased my deficit to 250 (0.5 pds a week) and I am always under in calories.  Just a tad.   I know you explained that cardo was probably not doing much of anything, but toning such begin to decrease the weight.  But boy is my body getting fit!  No weight loss, but nice and toned.  Who knows!!!

Sincerely,

Just 3pds to go.

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Not an exact science unless you are in a research study and you are confined to premises.

Otherwise estimates. But the effects of what happens when is known, the degree and speed you happen to get such effects can vary, but you can usually discern easy enough.

The easy example is the 1 lb gain from one day to the next. If it really was fat, you would have to had eaten 3500 calories over maintenance/TDEE to cause that to happen. Not eating goal that has a deficit, but maintenance. So that's easy to discern it's obviously water weight, not fat.

You can forget using a bodyfat scale for those stats after a workout - your hydration levels are messed up, invalid use. Especially in the legs, only place that is really being measured. You used up carbs with their attached water in the muscles, and liberated the water. But blood flow is increased to legs too. So sounds right water level would appear to be higher.

That's just as bad as weighing after you drank a bunch of water and thinking that's a valid weigh-in - it's not. Not unless you enjoy seeing numbers going up and down that have no bearing on reality.

Generally you do sweat/breath out more than you drink in, generaly, but not always true. Some people are not big sweaters, they may just overheat, or the body has other good ways of dealing with heat, or the workout isn't that intense to generate too much heat.

I've lost 10 lbs on a 4 hr bike ride despite drinking 6 lbs of water during that time. Meaning my net loss was really 16 lbs.

And some quick math shows what it was, and what it could not possibly be, in case I somehow think I lost a bunch of fat.

Lets say I burned 3600 calories on that ride, very realistic. And lets say 50% supplied by fat, 50% by carbs, 1800 each. Though that intense a ride would normally be less fat more carbs, but just for math.

1800 cal fat / 9 (cal/gram) = 200 grams fat - 7 oz

1800 cal carb / 4 (cal/gram) = 450 grams carbs - 15.9 oz

22.9 oz, or 1.4 lbs weight lost from energy stores.

14.6 lbs lost from water weight.

And most of those energy stores will be coming right back once I eat, like the carbs. Or at least they better, or a workout in the next day or two will suffer big time. 500 cal worth of carbs stores as 1 lb with attached water. So 3.6 lbs of ride lost that way, 3.6 lbs will be coming back that way.

The bigger or equal fat loss will frankly come after the ride after each meal. Normally insulin stays elevated and fat release is stopped while meal is dealt with, carbs stored or used, protein off to repair, ect, upwards of 4-5 hrs if eating at maintenance.

Well, with that much of carb storage used up, carbs going to storage means insulin is dropping faster than normal and back to fat burning mode much faster. What may have normally taken 4 hrs during which fat burning is disabled, is now 1 hr or shorter. So now 3 extra hours of normal fat burning mode. And it takes several meals to replace that many carbs, so easily 10-12 hrs in next couple days of benefit for more fat burning mode.

Now I am surprised you only burned 600 calories at gym, unless total workout was about 1 hr with short classes. And the more intense the muscle use, the more prone to holding water for repair.

So if you aren't a huge sweater, but it was intense muscle use - sure you could gain water weight.

Valid weigh-in to minimize known expected water flucuations is morning after rest day eating normal sodium levels, not sore from last workout. Otherwise just a bunch of noisy date that could take 2 months to really discern a pattern from, because as a woman, your BMR literally changes through the month.

At some point, your workouts won't have the effect of weight gain, and fat loss you may already be seeing will be by itself, so weight will drop too.

In meantime, just try to reach your eating goal, perhaps taking a diet break by eating at maintenance, let hormones reset.

[BurdsNest]

You can do it Marilyn!  Sometimes we slip and fall, but we get right back up.   It's so much easier to get there, but it **ahem** sure is harder to stay there.  They say that it's 90% of what you put in your mouth, and 10% activity.  I agree, healthy eating is the way to go, and I simply just love the gym.  I always feel so good afterwards.  

Most folks would say to me, "what are you complaining about Yvette"  You look great!  5"3", size "4" and 130pds......I still want to lose 4pds to get BACK to 126.  And guess what, I'll do it just like you will!

Sincerely,

Looking forward to my new challenges.

[MarilynL]

Hey Yevette 🙂 exactly. I am also a size 4 - 6 depends on the cut of pants:) But I need to tone up. Clothes do look good but as you said. We need to be happy with how we look even without the clothes 🙂

[roniart30]

Why dont you try a personal trainer.