I wanted to start a thread to help me lose the final 20 lbs. Anyone is welcome to join in no matter how close to goal.

My dedication has wavered quite a bit over the past 6 months or so. I am closing in on 18 months of losing and feel like I am tired of the losing part and just want to enter maintenance. I am so thankful that I have had a huge support system in this website and people to help cheer me on and pick me up when I am feeling down.

Time to get it done!

SW: 159.2
GW: 140

Seeing this thread helped give me a motivation infusion.

It's time to slay the final 20!! I've been stalled here way too long. My game plan for the next month:
- Strict adherence to my daily calorie goal.
- Except one day a week. But on that day, I'll not exceed my maintenance calories. In the past (including last night), I've gone well over maintenance, anywhere from a few hundred calories over to 1,000 over. That's fine when I have no weight to lose, but it's holding me back from dropping this extra weight. So I've got to stop that.

I might add in more activity/exercise, but I'm not sure about that part yet.

Good luck, kfunk, and everyone in the final 20!

lunkah I am glad that you are doing this with me!!!

I love your goals, here are mine.

-Track everything and stay under my WW points for the week
-Increase activity level
-NO binging
-at least 80 oz of water each day

I am going to start wearing my fitbit to see if I can challenge myself to getting extra steps in.

Hi kfunk can I join you too? I'm hoping to only need this for a shortish time and I only have to get "safely" under where I am now so I can have some wiggle-room back up to where I am now. 3lb would be nice, but at the moment I've been stuck at my "target" for a couple of weeks, and I really want to shift past it (somehow). So from 123lb to 120lb. Or perhaps it would be exciting to see the teens, on one occasion at least, so maybe i'll try for 119...

My plan is to get strictly back to what I was doing to lose (had too many indulgences this weekend, and I don't want to keep doing that, yet). Maybe i'll try an extra 300calories once a week (eg two drinks on one of the weekend nights) and see how that goes. Hoping it's going to be enough to still lose a bit but transition to maintenance at the same time.

SW:123
GW: 119

ange Hiii! Of course you can! I really like your goal to get some wiggle room, brilliant idea!! How often do you plan on weighing yourself once you get down to 119? I think that your plan sounds great!!

I had a little bounce up today, but that was no surprise since I weigh in so much earlier during the work week than I do on the weekends. I also didn't sleep very well last night. Roasted veggies have caused me terrible stomach pain the last 2 times that I have had them. I had zucchini, onion, peppers and baby potatoes with parmesan cheese and a small amount of olive oil and some spices. I am not sure what the culprit is, but the stomach pain is unbelievable, feels like I am being punched in the gut.

I won my diet bet today and that means that I will start my 30 Day Shred DVDs tonight. I am actually kind of excited about it!

I hope that you lovely ladies are having a great start to the week!! Ange I think it might already be Tuesday for you!

I'm in. I figure it will take me four months to lose 20 lbs - maybe this will help me keep on track. I'm going to push myself to make goal by Labor Day.

Kfunk - did you have garlic with your veggies? I have issues with garlic sometimes.

My goals:

Drink more water
Limit sugar consumption
Stay on plan on weekends

Weekends are the toughest challenge for me.

SW: 147.6
GW: 127.6
CW: 147.6

Hey, guys!

Ah, kfunk, your water goal is a good reminder. I usually drink a good amount of water, but I want to bump that up a notch.
Veg of all sorts (especially raw, but all, really) gave me horrible gastro problems for a couple of years. For me, it was IBS. That's mostly cleared up for me. Nicoley mentioned garlic and that's one food that unfortunately still bothers me, but I'm ok with garlic powder, at least. Something that might help you is taking beano when you eat the veggies that bother you. You may lack the enzymes needed to digest them, and beano can help with that. I waited a couple of years before trying it and wished I'd done it sooner! It's not a cure, but it made a significant difference for me. What really helped me the most though was laying off almost all fruit and veg for a couple of months while taking probiotics. Hopefully what you have is much more mild and won't require all that, but just in case it could help, I wanted to pass that along!


Ange, I'm glad you got to enjoy some indulgences lately, but I get what you mean about not wanting to do that much yet. Your idea for a couple of drinks sounds lovely and like it won't stand in the way of carving out that buffer.

nicoley, weekends, ugh I know! I love them, of course, but I've been letting them keep me stuck in maintenance at a weight that is not my maintenance weight, grrr. I'm finally accepting that the way I can eat and maintain at my goal weight range is NOT the way I can eat and lose, even when 20 pounds higher.

I met my calorie goals yesterday. Things usually go fine there, though, so I haven't really been tested yet. It's that one day a week when I mess up my deficit, so we'll see how I deal with that challenge when I get to it! I'm determined not to exceed maintenance calories on that day for at least a month. A month isn't so long. I should be able to swing that. I think I'll brainstorm some lower calorie party foods to eat, since the "meal" I overeat is usually an evening when I socialize.

Thanks kfunk! i think i'd need to carry on weighing myself a couple of times a week really, once I get to target. At the moment it's pretty much every day unless i'm away somewhere. The danger (for me) would be too little not too much I think!
Well, my weight is just desperate to be 56.x kg at the moment, and i'm seemingly paying for recent 'treat' events, so I've adjusted my current weight (upwards )and put a new target weight on my tracker to include the wiggle factor, and lets see if I can get any progress from here. It seems like I have a long way to go again now!!

Great to see you other familiar faces here too

Welcome, ophelia, and congrats on your impending milestone!

So, going completely against my previously stated game plan , I'm considering dropping calorie counting for a while. I'm starting to find it tedious. Also, I feel like I'm relying too much on the numbers to tell me if I'm eating too much/enough rather than my own intuition. I don't like that feeling.

I needed to lose a similar amount of weight about 10 years ago. I was calorie-aware throughout that loss - kept some running estimates in my head about what I was eating each day. I barely ever precisely counted calories though and never used a food scale. Nevertheless, the weight reliably fell off. So I think I can lose w/o tracking every calorie I eat, and possibly even lose better that way. Rather than focus on the numbers, I'll focus on being active every day and eating reasonable portions of filling, healthy foods that I love with occasional treats.

Maybe I'll go back to calorie counting in a week or two, but I'm going to lay off the numbers for a bit. I'll still weigh myself though for feedback.

It's going to feel weird not tracking bc I've been doing it for so long!

chunks interesting plan, let us know how you go. I'm a strict calorie counter too, except when I've had to go away for work, or when I went on holiday. I found that I lost the same weight either way (i.e. whether I was counting strictly or not counting at all), but when I didn't count I spent more time 'worrying' about it! Trying to decide if i'd under-estimated something, or whether I should eat something more or whatever - so when I came back home again I started counting again, because once it was done and recorded I didn't have to second-guess myself. I get what you're saying about it getting boring though. I don't want to be doing this for ever either, and I also want to be a good 'eyeballer', on the other hand I guess I want to do whatever is easiest (and works!), but the question is, what is easiest?!!

I hate calorie counting. I've tried in the past but I really just hate it - it stresses me out and I find that I obsess over how many calories I have left instead of eating when I'm hungry. My most sustainable diet is intermittent fasting - it seems to work best with how I like to eat. I am somewhat calorie aware - I generally eat two 500-600 calorie meals a day, with sometimes a snack in between - but I don't stress too much about it.

Obviously, different diets work for different people and studies seem to show that results turn out the same regardless. It's about what you think you can do long term - which is the hardest part! I think they all get tedious after a while...

Hi everyone! can I join you guys as well? I just signed up for this community last night. I have a long weigh to go, and congratulations to everyone who is so close, must be really exciting!! My mini goal will be 20 pounds from now! I need this motivation. I actually made the decision last night to take my weight loss seriously... and this forum looks perfect.

CW: 198
GW1: 178
GW2: 158
Goal: 145

Nicoley, Ophelia, and fit!!

Nicoley- That is so exciting that you have a date in mind for hitting goal, I think that makes it more “real”. I didn’t have garlic with them, I think it might be the zucchini… ugh, roasted veggies is one of my favorite dinners!! Weekends have been VERY tough for me as well. I had a great one last weekend and I am planning on making it 2 in a row. I kind of want to seclude myself and not accept as many invites just to get this done. I loooove IF, having a shorter window has made such a difference because I actually have the opportunity to feel satisfied/slightly full.


Lunka- I don’t know much about IBS, but I had no issues with my bowel movements (sorry!) it was just the horrible pain. I will definitely look into probiotics and beano to see if that helps. I was thinking it might be the zucchini because I have had cooked peppers and carrots in other dishes and have been fine. I wouldn’t think the baby potatoes would do anything because they are so bland, but that might be it too. I hear you on the one day that messes up the deficit… do you like popcorn? Maybe taking a break from counting will be the break that you need!!

Ophelia- OMG, getting to the “normal” weight zone is such a big deal!!!! Go you!! I think I become “normal” at 144, so very close to my goal. I am almost positive that I will be adjusting my goal into the 130’s though. I guess a lot can happen in 20 lbs. but man, I am very chunky still!! I love all your tickers!! Glad that you are here with us!!

Ange - How much water are you drinking? Even if you drink a lot, I would drink extra to help flush out your weekend indulgences… I would think it should show soon on the scale because you were very reasonable in your choices and didn’t go overboard at all! I feel bad that you are stalling after having such a smooth sailing journey.. It will come off though, I promise!


Fit Welcome!!!! I am so glad that you found this forum. I have been yo-yoing since I was a teenager and have been successful in losing weight a bunch of times, but this has been the only time I have actually really succeeded. I credit this website 100%, it might be a coincidence but I really don’t think so. I spend almost every day reading old posts and these challenges help a ton. Do you have a plan to help you lose?

Yesterday I met my water goals, had a few left over WW points, and did the 30 Day Shred—nice trifecta!! Today I want to hit a full gallon of water and exert myself more for the workout DVD.. yesterday was kind of lazy, but I did it so I am still counting it haha!!