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.

[juicysgot]

Deficient calories mean deficient energy. Eat nutrient-rich, calorie-sparse foods. Organic fruits and vegetables are all you need. Many plants have protein. Add nuts, seeds, proteinous grains, (quinoa, amaranth). Eat LOTS of low-calorie, high-nutrient foods!
Move! Move to make your heart beat harder, and challenge your muscles.
That's the recipe.
Pretty simple, really. 🙂

Joycelyn Scott
Personal Trainer

[Mermaid3011]

I personally like shakeo a lot. I am using the chocolate vegan shake every day. Even in recipes like protein apple muffins or pancakes to mix things up (literally). 

PGX is definitely very gritty - even if you mix it in a blender. 

VegaOne tasted o.k. but didnt keep me full long enough... 

It's hard to find your personal favourite... but once you do, you don't go back! LOL That's at least my experience.

[juicysgot]

Agreed. 😃

Moderator Edit: Removed signature.

[Heybales]

Only if you have more than a bit of fat to spare to lose.

If the deficit isn't extreme.

If eating enough protein.

And progressive overload routine that is quickly tapping out the existing muscle for strength and there wasn't much to begin with.

That's about the only recipe for gaining muscle while in a deficit, and about half what you'd get at maintenance, which is about half what you'd get in good surplus diet.

Puts a whole new spin when people think they are being encouraging by stating "you probably didn't lose 2 lbs that week because you gained muscle" - ya, not.

But, it does show why it's important to do the strength training while you lose the fat - might as well gain what you can for a bit, maintain what you got for rest of the way, and then be ready to transform when at goal weight eating at maintenance.

[Mermaid3011]

Hi everybody! 

So apart from finding a protein shake that may work for you - not everybody is a fan of that and I totally get it! 

Last night I was looking up my favourite black bean burger recipe from the blog "Oh she glows" and stumbled on something I hadn't heard before. The "GREEN MONSTER MOVEMENT".

Have you heard about it?? Intriguing!! click click click and I learned that it's all about green smoothies (and juices) to get more vegetables in your diet! (www.greenmonstermovement.com)

So today... I had a really tasty GREEN MONSTER on the run since I had to tide myself over between a late breakfast and a coffee (and strawberry pie) date with a friend. So I definitely needed something decent and healthy that wouldnt stall my weight loss! 

AND IT WAS DELICIOUS!!

What's in it? 2 cups spinach, 1/2 banana, 1/2 scoop shakeology vanilla, 1 cup almond milk unsweetened and ice cubes. 

[C00381817]

Daniel Fast- using prayer with fasting. this fast includes veggies and fruit, to help cleanse you. it is a 21 day challenge, and it was the only way i lost the stubborn last 15. Plus, i felt cleansed inside and out. Also, i feel awful and groggy when i have dairy or wheat bread and such. My stomach literally feels fat and bloated when i eat those items. 

you can add in whole wheat rice and such if you say you are working out. Beans are great too. 

Good luck

[MTBer_Lizy]

I think you should focus less on what the scale says and focus more on your diet, and I don't mean count calories, you need to check your macro portions? For fat loss you need only 20-30% of you daily calories from carbs, 30-40% healthy fats and the rest on proteins, eat clean avoid processed foods or foods with bad fats and stay well away from anything with a high glycemic index
Weight training is fine but if the diet doesn't match then you will probably burn more muscle and that is never good, let interval training with walk/jog and then light weights high reps and well proportioned clean diet will sort out that difficult to shift remaining fat in no time 🙂

[xenia]

CARDIOOOOOOO!!!  The only way to truly burn fat is cardio along with a good diet, try to keep your carbohydrate, calorie and sodium intake low.. Avoid processed foods, cook your own instead of ordering lunch and exercise regularly, and I mean 4-6 times a week.  If running is difficult like it is for me try an elliptical, once you hit that goal weight start using some weights to tone your body if you haven't already.  I lost 20 pounds in 9 weeks.  My example diet is: EAS protein shake for breakfast, zone perfect protein bar for a snack, a handful of almonds for lunch, another protein shake for a snack and then a healthy dinner.  My gym workout contained gradually increasing cardio and gradually increasing weight training.  Good luck!

[allanf]

Great advice

[xenia]

Keep up with the zumba if it gets you moving and keeps the heart rate high.. try to maintain a steady heart rate of 120 to 150, keep the carbs and calories low.. My breakfast shake is litterally EAS lean 15 pow and cold water.  Start doing weight training, zumba but also switch it up, your body does get used to the same routines.. good luck

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@Yani29 wrote:

I got my fitbit Charge last christmas, just started using it last week.  During holiday I gained some weights and my goal is to loose 5 lbs or more.  My daily exercise: Zumba for 1 hrs (4 times weekly) and speed walking for 2 or 3 times a week.  I drank a lot of water during Zumba.

Just wondering my weight is fluctuates up/down to 1 Lbs to 2 lbs.  I feel it is getting so hard to loose this 5 lbs.  I may need to go back to my indoor bootcamp or cut down on my calories.

I do my own protein-shake in the morning- not the SHAKELOGY since it is so expensive.  But anyone who think that it might help me to loose by taking this Shakeology- I might considerate it.

My friend did it - she looks so good. I want to tune up those belly.

Any suggestions I would be appreciate it

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[nkotblove]

Hello everyone, I have lost 3 pants size now from walking

[MarilynL]

what is a HSK prime #?

--
www.MarilynLJewelry.com

[missmia]

Is it really free and how do you use it with your fitbit?

[Trooper]

I gotta about 8 pounds to go before I hit my goal. It seems my weight loss has slowed down tremendously. Some of the posts said this would happen as I got closer to my goal. They were right! I am not doing anything different on my diet than when I started out last November. I figure I will keep on going at about 1200 calories a day until I reach my goal. Once I reach my goal, I know I am going to have up my calorie count to keep from continuing to lose weight. But I will cross that bridge once I reach it. Don't stress too much about it. "You have come a long way from what you once were, and now the prize is waiting for you at the finish line."

Best of luck on your journey.

[Heybales]

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@Trooper wrote:

I gotta about 8 pounds to go before I hit my goal. It seems my weight loss has slowed down tremendously. Some of the posts said this would happen as I got closer to my goal. They were right! I am not doing anything different on my diet than when I started out last November. I figure I will keep on going at about 1200 calories a day until I reach my goal. Once I reach my goal, I know I am going to have up my calorie count to keep from continuing to lose weight. But I will cross that bridge once I reach it. Don't stress too much about it. "You have come a long way from what you once were, and now the prize is waiting for you at the finish line."

Best of luck on your journey.

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Well, there is a difference to the body if the weight loss rate slowed down because you wisely made the deficit smaller as you had less to lose - compared to the body did what it had to with a big deficit and slowed itself down to make the deficit lower.

One way is more stressful on the body, and that effects how well the workouts make changes too.

Also, be very careful if it's slowed down this much already - if you just barely grind into goal weight barely losing anything - then your maintentance at that point isn't going to be much if anything more than what you currently eat.

Like if eating 1200 with your current routine causes you to slowly lose the last 1 lb over say a month - then that means your literal maintenance is about 125 calories more than you eat, so about 1325 calories.

And what's sucks is if you get sick and can't keep up current activity level - then you must eat even less to maintain.

You may recover a suppressed daily burn over the course of a year if you do several things right - so here's hoping to not sliding in to goal weight barely.

[Joy_]

I have lost close to 30 pounds since April. I am now well within the suggested range for my weight but I'd like to lose another 5 pounds, and maybe a few more even. I've found my weight loss has slowed down tremendously and I watch the date of weight loss achievement, on the Fitbit app, get further and further away.

I am thrilled at my accomplishment so far. I am wearing a size that I never thought possible. I continue to walk 3 to 4 miles every day and I feel more and more fit and healthy. So when I get on the scale, I am thankful for even a tenth of an ounce loss. I remind myself that my trend has been a losing one and I think of how far I've come. Even if it takes until April to lose the rest, that is fine with me.

I wish however, that the app could validate this. Yes, I look at the charts and see my loss, but I wish that there was more validation for how far I've come. I know it, but I wouldn't mind more of an app pat-on-the-back.

[Gatorredd]

Drink half your body weight in ounces of water or 80 ounces which ever is more and that should help your body bring your metabolism back up so you can lose those last 5lbs.

[bonesamon]

Does anyone happen to be in a situation where they take any medications that keeps their heart rate artificially low (such as beta blockers, channel blockers, etc), making it almost impossible to hit a peak heart rate?

[I-train-hard]

You are asking about serious stuff. Get professional opinion for your question.

Internet is not a reliable source unless you don’t care….

[bonesamon]

I didnt ask for medical advice, or expert opinion. I was just looking to my fitbit community peers to see if there were others who were in the same crappy situation.If I didnt care chances are I would not even be wearing a fitbit Charge HR.  But thanks for sharing.