Strategies for those elisive last 10

[LC Sponge]

This is a topic that is dabbled in and complained about periodically, but no real examination or analysis is done. As said in another maintenance thread, people reach “goal” (or nearly) and then move on (either to regain or maintain) and the “secret” is never fully discovered!! There’s got to be some real solid thoughts about this out there.

Those elusive final 10 pounds are a double edged sword for many people – and why is it so? I've got some ideas and hopefully others can add to the list. I see people struggling (literally for years) over this last few pounds. WHY??

Are they:

Getting sloppy in their program and have more days where they are “happy” where they are. Let’s face it we’ve worked hard, we know now what little indulgences we can get away with and we are helping ourselves to them. Continually "retstarting" and not achieveing.

Not readjusting their intake to the new them. If you were starting to try and lose from where you are right now – what would you be doing? What would your program look like? Sometimes we cling too long to old visions of ourselves when we should be readjusting that vision to work with the slimmer us. Using old strategies that just don't work anymore.

Too focused on food and not enough on exercise. The last 10 pounds IMO are meant to be sculpted off, not lost through diet. That means an education on what muscle needs to grow and sustain. Get the mind off the body fat, and onto the body lean. that also means to divorce oneself from the scale to a certain extent.

Unrealistic goal setting. No need to expand here.

Inability to afford plastic surgery. Ok, now I'm getting giddy.

Any thoughts?

[LC Sponge]

Oh yeah - then there is the theory of absolute terror of actually reaching goal.

Succeed? Us? After decades of failure?? Ha. Can't be. Success is in the losing when everybody is all gaga around us. The new people we meet now never new us as fat - they don't have the same view of us. We liked the praise while we were losing - that external praise and general support stops when we reach goal. ;) And it can be missed!

And what about those who can reward themselves by hearing "Oh no, you don't need to lose more - you look great!" every time we say "Almost there - still would like to lose 10 pounds." Is this a crutch??

[Kristine]

Excellent points, Spongie. :)

I think in my case, it's first thing you mentioned. Most of the time, I'm happy where I am. To get rid of "the last ten," I'd have to start seriously working out and give up some of the little extra carby things that I enjoy right now. It just doesn't seem worth it. I mean, what difference is it going to make in my life? Sure, I'd have that "sense of accomplishment," but what kind of accomplishment can I feel if it really doesn't change anything about my life? I'd be the same "me" at 125 lbs that I am now at 135, only I'd be forcing myself to work out when I don't want to, and missing eating stuff I enjoy. I'd probably be crabby and obsessed. :D I'm already as fit as I need to be and I'm not busting out of any of my clothes.

OTOH, I occasionally get tired of putting a C+ effort into health and fitness, and wonder what would happen if I put in an A+ effort. I could run a marathon or something. Hmmm.

...but those times are few, and they never last long enough for me to get started! :lol:

[SarahO]

For me the strategy is exercise, exercise, exercise. I'm not losing weight right now but I am getting smaller, so I don't feel stalled. Wish I could just throw the scale away but I still feel the need to step on it every morning.

[Kristine]

Heh... me too. Almost daily. It's a reality check for me. It's easy to toss the scale under the bed, and casually allow the carbs - and pounds - to creep back up undetected. :exclm:

[Seto Kaiba]

Buckling down on the exercise was key for me too. I could no long do the light exercise 1 day a week and that's enough. Once I buckled down to 4 days minimum a week that's what kicked my body back into gear. Now it's just staying off the whole "Well, I'm at goal now, and I've worked out so hard and my clothes are loose, so I "deserve" to eat 'X'. " excuse. :(

[lscoop]

:idea:

I started Atkins/Protein Power in May. I had already been at goal for a year (on Weight Watchers), but found that I had bingeing desires and was afraid that I might start to gain if I didn't regain control of my appetite.

I decided to research low-carb, and spent a month planning for the switch so that I wouldn't get bored. I went through two wonderful months of maintenance, eating something like 1950 calories or more a day, 300 calories more than my former maintenance level (I'm 5'2", 50 yr woman, 118 lbs, small build, some exercise but not that much). I had no problem staying on plan and maintaining. I carefully counted both carbs and protein grams, because I discovered that excess protein also put weight on. Fortunately, things like sugar alcohols did not appear to cause me to gain weight, so I also was able to eat a fair amount of sugar-free candies and desserts.

In July I went to Europe for 2 weeks. Although I kept my carbs low, I didn't count or weigh my food, and realized that I was probably eating way too much protein. A stop in NY on the way back to CA didn't help, and when I returned I had gained 5 lbs.

So I went from my pre-Europe level of 1950 calories and 135 combined grams of carbs/protein a day (90-110 from protein, the rest from net carbs) back to 100-110 combined grams of protein carbs, and cut my calories back to my Weight Watchers Maintenance level of 1650. It worked like a charm. In 2-3 weeks I was back at 118.

Then I tried to increase my calorie level a bit but my body didn't seem to like that; I started to gain. So I decided to maintain at 1650 for a while. I was fine from about August until 2 weeks ago. Then I started to gain....there was one day where I think I had too many carbs, but nothing outrageous....too many cucumbers mostly. I had already moved up 114 to 118 just before starting atkins, then back to 116-118 prior to Europe, and later from 118 towards 120, but after that day I went up to 123 and have been unable to get below the 121.75 to 122.5 range for the last couple of weeks. I have totally stalled and have no idea how to get those 4 lbs off. I wasn't particularly happy with 118 even, but thought that if I could enjoy low carb with more than 1650 calories I'd be happy.

Now I'm really afraid. I have read about people who have cut back on carbs for long periods of time unable to process them without gaining a lot of weight, and also unable to lose weight. I'm afraid that I am about to become one of those statistics. Other than really going crazy about exercise (I have very little time with my schedule these days, although when it cools down I'll start using my treadmill more), does anybody have any ideas for reducing? My net carbs are already cut down to the bone (20 or less average). My calories are at a known maintenance level which I already felt was slightly restrictive but bearable. My appetite is under control, and I don't "cheat"....

Any ideas? Please help me!! Thank you....

[jaykay]

I think exercise is the key and concentrate now on inches not pounds. If your 118 becomes more toned then who cares if the scales say 118 not 114? They also sound tiny numbers to me - I'm taller than you, so they may not be, just asking. What's your lean body mass and body fat percentage? Are you actually trying to push your body past where it wants to be?
Hope someone else has some answers too, take care, Jay

[adkpam]

This is a very interesting post to me because I think I'm in the "last ten." But I don't know, because I didn't expect to get here!
One thing I can do is exercise more. Bounding up and down stairs 2-3 times a day (we live on the third floor...and yes, I always figure it counts more than it apparently does) is not enough.
I think, now that winter is coming on (and where I live it comes on like a downhill freight train) it's time to pull out the stair stepper and see what happens.
I haven't had to vary my habits much throughout my weight loss, just trying for a calorie/carb level where I feel comfortable. Now that I've found it, it's time to get serious about the exercise.
Thanks all!

[trisharau]

A GREAT thread!!!

I currently have a stack of medical journal on the subject but won't be able to read them for another month when my exams are over. Skimming through some of them though I saw there were three points for maintainers over regainers. First, maintainers tended to follow through with a healthy eating plan. Two, they kept up their exercise. Three, they kept a close watch on their weight. These were studies done on quite obese persons so they had a lot of weight to lose from the beginning. It will be interesting to see what other elements come up when I can do some further reading. I imagine there are a lot of psychological factors, along with the behavioral ones, that contribute to maintaining.

I believe exercise is the key for me as it is really flab especially on my tummy region that is what I need to lose or more likely firm up. I think we get to a point were body fat percentages are more relevant than the scale weight. Trouble is apart from the dunking method none of the others are accurate estimates of body fat.

[brobin]

Add my vote to the more exercise option. I really cranked it up and I am not only losing those, but I feel and look better too. I am a firm believer that normal weight but no muscle looks much worse then an extra five pounds on a nicely made frame. :)

Brobin

[adkpam]

If I could add a little something:

CLA

It's conjugated linoleic acid, and I've been taking it all along. May of 2002 I started taking 3.2 grams a day and I lost 15 pounds by my wedding in August (without changing a single other thing in my lifestyle). I lost maybe five more pounds, and reached the end of what just CLA could do for me, so when I went low carb, I think I got fantastic results because the CLA had helped my insulin resistance.

It's a natural substance that USED to be in our meat and cheese, back when cows grazed on grass. Now that they get grains and who-knows-what, it's missing from our food.

It's got a lot of fantastic properties, but the one that really compliments Atkins is its ability to reduce insulin resistance.

Here's a good site if you want to learn more:

http://www.cla-conjugated-linoleic-acid-tonalin.com/

I love it!

[Kathy54]

Hey thanks for the info on CLA I noticed it in another post of yours and was about to come ask you about it, lOL.

Cheers Kathy

[Frederick]

Enjoyed reading this thread.

I agree with just about all the views already expressed.

The biggest thing for me is the realization that as I grow older, the metabolism of my youth is truly a thing of the past. Henceforth as I grow older, I will need to make adjustments where I never had to when I was younger to keep my ideal weight.

In my view, the most important part of the Maintenance equation is regular physical activity. It really is the one we can truly control. There is always a pain of discipline or a pain of regret when it comes to making our planned workouts. On the other hand, our cravings for certain foods are more problematic to control, especially when you start hearing notions of, "oh, just avoid the food you crave most in the universe by avoiding it for the rest of your life until the day you die." I'll readily admit that my will is not strong enough now--nor will it ever be--to embrace any notion as rigidly inflexible and impractical as "lifetime abstinence."

Given my personal notions, opting to control the energy expenditure side of the equlibrium equation seems infinitely more practical when juxtiposed to the alternative of that delusional "just avoid your favorite food for eternity" (for Morgan, this would not be sweets, but rather pasta. LOL) rubbish.

The pain of discipline, making all my planned and scheduled workouts not only to further sculpture my physique but maintain my ideal "best looking" weight, and being able to indulge and savor the full flavor of my favorite foods. Or, the pain of regret where I start missing workouts resulting in weight gain spiraling once again into the bad habits which had lead me down this dreaded path of getting fat once before.

To me, a pretty easy decision to make.

Best regards,

Frederick

[kats1555]

I have one ? about the cla when you stop taking it are you at risk of gaining weight???