Weight loss is a funny thing... There are so many variables..

[JohnRi]

10 1/2 months ago I started to change my life.  It has been a long and challenging job.  And I'm not finished yet either.  I have 27 lbs to go until I'm into the normal weight range, and I want to lose at least 10 more after that...

But my first goal is get to a normal weight.  Something I doubt I have been since I was around 9 years old...

So I've been fat for 40 years.  Not a cool thought.  But I'm changing this.  By the time I'm 50 in April, I should be in pretty good shape.

When I first started, I started slow.  I made simple diet change to decrease my calories.  Then I started changing what I ate, and how much I ate.  Then I started walking...

By the time I had lost 30 lbs, I changed my diet from a 1000 calorie deficit, to a strict 1800 calories a day diet.

I stayed thay way from January this year, until last month.  When I noticed something odd.  All of the sudden, my fat % started to go up, my fat mass was climing, and my lean muscle mass was dropping.

My wife had struggled to lose weight, and was eating one meal a day around 800 calories.  She was doing 20,000 steps a day doing just yard work and taking care of our animals.  So exercise was not the issue.   I got her to eat more into the 1500-1800 range, and she's lost over 30 lbs.

So I was wondering, am I not eating enough?  So what the heck, I've increased my diet to between 2000 and 2100.  My BMR is now 1900.  And on rest days I burn around 2200-2400 calories.  So 2000-2100 sounds good.

Well much to my surprise, I'm now losing close to 2 lbs a week, my fat % is dropping, fat mass is dropping, and lean mass is increasing.  While I have increased the speed of my walking from around 3.5 mph to 4.0 mph in the last month, I'm actually exercising a lot less.  I've decreased my distance from 4-6 miles to 3-4 miles.  Where as 4 miles used to take 1:10-1:20 now I can be done with 4 miles in just under an hour.  So my active minutes are falling.  I have added weight training to my program.  50 minutes every other day after 3-4 mile walk. 

So the weight training might account for the lean mass increase.  My arms are bigger, and I've had to add weight to my bar, and I've had to buy 10 and 15 lbs dumbells as the original 3, 5, and 8 lbs dumbells became not heavy enough.  So I'm getting stronger.

And that is the problem, our bodies are not machines.  And weight loss requires constant tweaking of diet, exercise, and a lot of patience.

Here are a couple of pictures from Trendweight.com...

I'm not far from being under 200 lbs.  I can't remember the last time I was under 200.  Maybe 18, my serior year of high school.  I think I got to 195 at the start of my senior year.

There is a lot of discussion on how to start losing weight, and very little discussion for what to do when you get to your goal.  I'm about 72% to my first goal  And I'm still learning more about weight loss.

So I'm curious for those that made their long term goal, do you have any secrets about losing the last 20-30 lbs?  How about the last 10?  How about maintaining your weight?

My weight loss journey will be over in the next 4-6 months. After doing this for so long, it's hard to imagine that I'll be done with losing weight soon.  What an odd feeling?  Much better than when I started and I needed to lose 98 lbs!  It seemed like I'd never get there!  Now it's just a matter of when, not if or how?

So what was/is your weight loss end game? Mine is to keep eating more, until I'm losing 1/2 a lbs a week, until I hit my final goal.  Then I should be able to increase my diet, or decrease my exercise to maintain my weight.  Then I will monitor my weight for the next 5-6 years at least, and keep it within 5-10 lbs of my final goal weight of 175.

[GershonSurge]

@JohnRi

John, 

The easiest way to get through the last 10 pounds is to raise your goal when you get there. I was aiming for 160 pounds because it is in the middle of the normal weight range for my height. My other option was 165 pounds which was my weight when I graduated from college.

Friday, my trainer said I look like I don't need to go below a body fat of 15%. He said injuries and illnesses happen more often below that. I calculated my target weight by the equation

Target weight = Lean Mass/(1-target body fat)

Target weight =145/(1-.15)

Target weight = 170.5

Current weight 173.0

Now, I'm essentially in maintenance. 

My plan is if my weight is a pound off my target, I'll use a deficit or surplus of 500 calories to head back towards the target. I'll do this by adjusting my eating and activity calories. I'll use weight lifting to increase my lean mass and get back to cardio as soon as my achilles tendon heals.

Now, I'm going to focus on making sure my health is good.

I bought a wireless blood pressure monitor on Amazon. It will link with my Kindle Fire or smart phone. 

At the end of this week, I'll get a blood test at Walgreen's to check my cholorestoral and other stuff. This will check if my diet is having the desired result. I'll get one about every three months.

In summary, I'll keep counting calories, but that shouldn't take much throught. I'll replace this activity with improving my health in other ways. 

[FitBeforeFifty]

I reached my goal weight in March of 2012 and have maintained that weight within +/- 5 lbs for 4+ years now.

Last 5 lbs

I lost the last 5 lbs just as easy as I lost the first 5 lbs. I know this isn't the case for a lot of people. The key reason I think I was able to do this is related to my calorie intake. Most people have to eat fewer and fewer calories as they lose weight. This triggers behavioural and biological adaptations to conserve energy. Instead, I ate more and more calories as I lost weight because I was slowly increasing my activity level and calorie burn. 

Maintenance

The key to maintenance are:

• Don't do anything to lose weight that you aren't willing to do for the rest of your life. If you eat low carb to lose, you better be willing to eat low carb to maintain. If you run 40 miles per week to lose, you better be willing to continue running for the rest of your life etc...
• Give away all of your old clothes and keep only clothes that are comfortable but don't have room to grow -- no stretchy or relaxed fit. If you keep fat clothes, you'll grow right back into them.
• Set a warning weight threshold (probably 3 - 5 lbs over your goal weight). Weigh yourself every day and if you reach the warning threshold, go back into weight loss mode until you get back to goal weight.
• For at least 6 months, continue tracking your calorie intake

[FitBeforeFifty]

Oh, one more thing.

It will be helpful to set more goals once you reach your weight loss goal. If you don't, you might feel lost. For me, I set fitness goals for running, weight lifting and body fat % etc...

[JamieS_Wisco]

Good Morning @JohnRi .

I am getting pretty close to my origial goal of 150, but as I went I have added new goals.   Trying to find new ways to stay active I found out that I really enjoy picking up heavy things and putting them back down...  Just to pick them up again.  Yup, weight lifting has become a thing for this girl.  To do that now I am focused more on my lean vs fat mass and the exact number on the scale isn't as high of a priority.  Don't get me wrong, I will be a really happy camper when I get to that 150 mark.  I am sitting at +-10 lbs from that first big original goal. 

There is some tweeking to be done for me as well.  I also found that I need to eat more calories in order to lose the weight.  I am also looking at macrodieting.  I have found it just a tad more fulfilling than a standard diet.  Just have to keep your macros and total calorie count in line.