We all know that fast weight loss does not work, it just comes back, and slow and steady is the way to go. But somehow this didn't ring true for me until i was talking to someone i know recently who is a very fit professional athlete. He said he worked with a nutritionist and lost 10 pounds...over two years. He said he worked extremely hard and lost less than half a pound a month....but he was truly losing fat, not muscle or water. I thought about this...and yeah, if a guy is an athlete and has less than 10% bodyfat, that might be like 15 pounds of fat on his entire body...there's no way to shed 10 of those pounds in a short time.

So...that inspired me. I'm going to stick with it this time. If that guy could be not discouraged by losing less than 1/2 a pound a month, i can do it too, and the results will be worth it.

Ugh...yes. Hearing that is good for those of us with just a few to lose. The last 10 are truly killer. How does my body know it's my last 10?

Yep I agree. In fact, my boyfriend (sporty) demonstrated it to me visually by showing me how big a lb of fat is. Then he told me to look at my body and think about how many lbs of fat I actually need to lose. Kind of brought home the message that there aren't as many as I think and they aren't gonna come off that quickly. If I lose quickly, it'll be the muscle that goes and the fat that stays (and multiplies)

I agree patience is of virtue...however, if it took me 2 yrs to lose 10 lbs..I'd hardly be actively trying! Sorry...but I need results...I think it reasonable to lose 2-3 lbs of fat/month during the last 10. This speaking from past/present experience.

Ummm...perhaps that dude was trying to get down to 1% bf? 2 yrs is a bit much...even for a bodybuilder...just sayin.

I think that obviously depends on how you define "the last 10." I'm now in the middle of a 'normal' BMI, but I'd like to be thinner (and yes, for vanity reasons). I'd hate to lose hard-earned muscle, of course... but yeah, it gets much harder to lose as you get smaller, your body seems to rebel more with unhealthy habits, and things can just generally be ugly. I think mostly it's just that it becomes a more uneven process, with lots of stalls and smaller losses and some 'relapses' of eating poorly.

Hmmm...I disagree. I have GAINED 6 pounds this month, when I was in my last 10, and for no good reason. I haven't fallen off the wagon. I'm eating clean, with the exception of chocolate. I have a personal trainer on my case now. She's trying to help me define my goals because apparently I can't both lift strong AND lose these last 10 pounds. Which do I want? A trim fit body? Or a low weight? I want both!

Eliana - let me start by sayin' I think you are a total DYNAMO! However, you by your own admission, do not count calories...and have been successful thus far to the tune of over 90 lbs! IMHO, losing the infamous "last 10" require detailed, meticulous (sp?) control over every facet of your nutrition (calories, macros, proper vitamin & mineral intake, etc.) AND exercise program. Winging it, or "estimating" may work for a few...but not for most. I think is crazy good how HARD to hit those weights...and admirable, to say the least...but IMHO...the last 10 requires more than just one variable...but that ALL variables work synergisticly to defeat the body's own natural defenses...to store fat...to preserve life!

Yeah, this PT is holding me more accountable. She's actually my spin instructor and not my PT. She's amazing! I just emailed her what I ate today and my week's workout.

With the diet though, I have been eating too much chocolate, yes. I've said that ALL along! But that can't be the reason for this, it can't. My calories are really low. No, I don't meticulously count, this is true. But I over-estimate because of this. So if I figure 1500 calories for the day, I'm likely coming in around 1200. I do always have a running estimate in my head. I measure my portions, I just don't add up the calories the way so many people do, logging each food. I do an approximate tally in my head for each meal. I really DO count calories. I think I just do it very differently than most people.

Eliana that is how I count calories too. I don't log either - just keep a running tally in my head. I definitely consider myself a calorie counter though because I never go over my limit (almost never, as I approach maintenance I have gone over by 100 or so here and there).

I am one who lost weight fast...but I was eating healthy and I certainly had tons of fat to lose, so maybe it's OK to lose fast when you start out at 230+ pounds. Now that I'm at my last 10 too, I have slowed down a lot, but that's OK. I'm in no hurry, but again that could be because I've been 200+ pounds for 15 years or more and every day in this body feels like I've won the lottery.

Yes, most of the time I feel like this too! It's been 10 years for me. Yes, I'm anxious to finally just be done with this, but my reasons are more vain. I want new clothes, for instance, without worrying that I will under-grow them. But really, other than that, I'm quite happy where I am.

I lost the last 10 pounds over 6 months, but yet I still gained it back, plus another 10. For me it doesn’t matter if I lose 10 pounds in a month or 10 pounds in a year, I’m still just as likely to gain it back.

The last time I lost a lot of weight, I did it very quickly, and then I gained almost all of it back (although it took me about twice as long to gain back as it did to lose). The other differences between that weight loss and this one were that before, I was doing a lot of really hinky things. I was chainsmoking cigarettes to cut my appetite, I was taking original recipe Dexatrim like it was candy, and then when that was pulled off the shelves, I took ephedra-based diet pills until those, too, were banned. I worked out up to four hours some days. I would often only eat one meal a day. And yes, I got really freaking skinny, but good grief, was I unhealthy! I don't know that I would honestly say I was consistently eating disordered, but I had really unhealthy behaviors and tendencies which I slowly managed to let go of. OTOH, I let go of any sense of healthy living and then ballooned back up to almost 160 lbs. at my highest weight.

This time, I have lost 30 lbs. first solely through slow, steady exercise, and then finally as I got closer to goal, I began to diet. And by "diet," I mostly mean clean eating, occasional forays into brief, formalized diet plans (e.g. I did the Amy's Kitchen diet a couple of times, usually for about 2 weeks at a time), and now all I'm doing is calorie counting, plus trying to fit in workouts almost every day if possible, with two hours being the most I ever work out in a single day. Most days, I average about 40 minutes, which is a far cry from 4 hours!

I don't smoke, I barely drink, I don't take anything but vitamin supplements, and I feel healthier now in my mid-30s than I did when I was in my 20s and doing all of that crazy stuff. Has this taken longer? **** yes. But this time, I have muscle definition, I'm strong, flexible, wiry, and have lots of energy. I sleep like a log most nights. I occasionally eat dessert. I don't feel deprived. And I feel like taking 10 months to lose 30 lbs. (so averaging just under a pound a week for the better part of a year) has meant that I never had a wardrobe emergency, never had anybody express concern that I was looking too skinny too fast, and never felt like death warmed over. No passing out or looking frail, etc. This is a manageable lifestyle switch now, rather than a crash diet.

Yes I'm a bit worried about clothing sizes too...we can't afford to rebuy my wardrobe again and again! I thought size 6 was absolutely the lowest I would ever go, now I'm comfortably in a size 4 and I am concerned I could conceivably get to a size 2 at the end...part of me actually just wants to call it done because I want to shop, darn it!!!

Haha, I saved so much money by not shopping when I was just over a size 6 and refusing to accept it... now that I'm approaching not really fitting into my size 4s, the temptation to go shopping-crazy is so great. I totally get you... it's frustrating to be mid-process. On the other hand, our in-between sizes would be guaranteed to last at least a whole season if we lose slowly enough!

Liz, I think it's okay to start shopping now -- even at your smallest weight you'll definitely have fluctuations of a whole dress size based on TOM water retention and just random bloating anyway. For example: I tried to go shopping today and looked 3 mos pregnant in the dressing room mirror because I hadn't peed all day, lol. Or buy stretchy jersey things that will keep looking good even when you're 5 lbs thinner in 6 mos or so. So much love for jersey.