[liliesinmycereal]

I basically have 37lbs to go on my 101lbs weight loss goal. I'm having a harder time now that I was when I first started. I don't know if I'm being harder on myself with what I want or if it's just how it works for some people. Do you have any tips for the last stretch of the weight loss?

[runningfromfat]

I'm subscribing to this to come back later but I basically have the same problem. My weight loss has slowed down significantly since I hit about 190lbs... now every little pound is a huge victory!

[linJber]

The less weight we have to lose, the harder it is to take it off. I know this is true with me, and I think 1% a week is on the heavy side of reasonable. Using that, it's easy to see how much that changes over time. When I was heavier, I averaged over 1% a week. Now it's a bit less than that. You have to look at the big picture, too. I was pretty steady for 6 months. Now I have weeks of tiny losses and then a whoosh of a couple pounds. As long as it's going down, we're doing well. It also gives us a feel for what "forever" looks like! Just keep up the good work and stay tuned into the final goal. It will happen.

I think we also tend to lighten up (no pun intended!) just a little when we acknowledge that we look "normal" in most people's eyes. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. We acknowledge it to ourselves and allow "normal" to come back into our eating and exercising, little by little. At least that's how I've been lately. We'll all get there.

Lin

Lin

[sontaikle]

It's become increasingly difficult for me to lose weight ever since I passed 180lbs. The first twenty pounds just came right off and unfortunately that pace has not kept up.

Most recently getting into the 150s was a challenge, and now getting out of them is equally as difficult.

I'm thinking the next few weeks and months are going to be difficult if I'm going to get down to my goal weight (IF I get there. I might stop sooner than 130lbs—my original goal was 140lbs). I've wrestled with the idea of maintaining for a while to take a bit of "break" or to give my body a break from weight loss mode.

[April Snow]

I'm not there yet, but I do think it can be smart to "practice maintenance" for a while if it gets to the point where it feels like too much of a struggle to keep focused on losing. It's much more important to keep the progress you have made already.

My diet plan actually specifically talks about that and says that it's very normal to run out the strength and commitment to keep on the stricter part of the plan and it's makes sense to focus on maintenance for a while until you are at a place where the timing is better (more energy, more motivation) to lose again. Plus I also think that at some point, once your body adjusts to the new lower weight, it can physically be easier to take off a bit more. Maybe not as much as it is when you are 200 lbs+ but once your body is used to being 160 or whatever, it won't fight as hard to keep every lb as it does when that 160 is at the end of already having lost a large amount.

I don't mean to discourage anyone who does want to just put their head down and keep slogging through, I think that's a very valid choice too. But it's definitely ok to take a break also.

If you do want to keep working, I'd say to go back to the very basics - weighing, measuring and tracking every bite. It's very normal for portion creep to set in, and esp. when your caloric needs lesson as your body gets smaller, an extra hundred or so calories a day can definitely make the difference even if it's from healthy food choices.

[liliesinmycereal]

I never did do the real tracking on my food before. I just threw out bad foods and tried to eat more foods on the low end of the glycemic index. Maybe I might have to do another refrigerator clean out and go strict or something.

[April Snow]

the thing is that your current 155 body requires fewer calories then you did at 220. So while your clean/lower GI eating may have ended up being the right amount of calories to lose weight on when you started off, you still need to cut back and/or increase exercise as you get smaller.

For most people, it ends up being a trade off on how strict (limiting both calories or types of foods) they are willing to go on food compared with the pace they are losing at.

[runningfromfat]

Ok, I have a chance to respond now.

Like i said before, after hitting 190lbs it's been a long, SLOW road for me! Not that it was ever that quick to begin with but it's been even slower. I had about a 6 week plateau thrown in there and after that I've lost about 2lbs/month (with the exception of when I'm sick because then I lose more quickly).

I'm thrilled to still be losing and I can certainly see the effects but I do wonder if it's just my body being tired of being at this so long (I've been working on losing this weight for over a year now). However, I'm not willing to take a maintenance break because we want to TTC once I hit a healthy BMI and I'm not exactly getting any younger here.

Recently, I started seeing a nutritionist. I'm lucky because my insurance covers it. If there is anyway you can see one, I highly recommend it!!! She didn't rehaul my entire plan but rather gave me ideas within what i'm already doing to improve the types of foods I'm eating and decrease the total number of calories. I haven't really seen my weight loss speeding up since I saw her BUT I don't feel hungry anymore like I used to. It's actually been easier for me to avoid trigger foods because i'm full and happy with what i'm eating.

I know some say to really measure and weigh everything. That certainly could help but anytime I go down that road it's pretty dangerous for me (I tend to overeat like crazy and obsess about food if I calorie count). Rather, I've had to work on my own patience and realize that time related goals just don't make sense. As long as I continue to lose and am happy with what i'm eating that's far more important.

[liliesinmycereal]

I could afford to up my exercising because during the summer i was working out 6+ hours a week. Now it's more like 4 to 6 hours.