Query...
 

Is it harder to lose weight that you have had on your bodies for years? I mean I'm finding this last 14lbs so tough. Its so hard. Im running for 70 mins a night, burning about 1000 a time and doing it 7 days a week. I've shifted about a pound in the past week, altho I really do have to buy myself a new set of scales, the ones i have are pants. Im thinking digital scales would be best for me.

So yeah that was my question really is it easier to loose temporary weight than it is to lose weight that youve had for years?

Most often temporary weight, as you call it, is usually the fluids we accumulate from the day (food, water, coffee, pop, etc.). This weight usually is the first loss that we all see. The weight that we have had for years is the weight from cell growth or overgrowth of the fat cell, muscle and etc. Yes, it is harder for the body to convert the fat in our body to energy than it is to burn the fats that we have ingested during the day or for that matter to process the liquids and foods that we ate that day.

Well there are a lot of factors that weight loss can depend on.

1) Your age, the older you are, the harder it is to lose weight and also maintain your weight

2) How close you are to your goal weight. The closer you are to your goal weight, the harder it is to lose those last few lbs.

3) How overweight you were at one point. The more overweight you have been before, the more your body will want to return to that overweight state.

4) How long you were overweight. People that gain weight fast and lose it fast, tend to find losing it and maintaining the weight loss easier than those that were overweight for an extended period of time. Research on pregnancy weight indicates that there is a period of time where your body views the excess weight as temporary. If the weight stays longer than a certain period of time (9 months ? I can't remember what I read), then your body considers the excess weight permanent. This is why those that gained weight throughout their pregnancy, then lost the weight soon after find it easier to maintain their weight loss.

Nell is right on the button. With you body's internal control switches. If you keep your weight for longer periods of time then the body assumes this is weight that is necessary to survive and will fight you to give it up.

I don't know so much if it has anything to do with how long the weight has been there. What I am noticing, is that you have lost quite a bit of weight-and you are in the "last 10-15 pound" part of your journey.

The smaller you get, the harder it is to lose more. Why? Because your body at a smaller weight burns less calories per day doing everyday things, and doing exercise. A woman who weighs 300 pounds is going to burn a LOT more calories walking a mile than a woman who weighs 150-because she is carrying a lot more resistance with her.

When you weigh less, you have less resistance doing everyday things-housework, walking up a flight of stairs, and so forth. It adds up. This is why a lot of people lose the first few pounds by small diet changes and small amounts of exercise-but as you progress, you have to slowly get stricter with your diet, and more intense with your exercise. This is completely natural.

After my first baby-I started at around 200-205 and I lost the first 10-15 pounds at 1800 calories a day...but I was averaging around 1200-1400 a day by the time I was near my 150 pound goal. I started exercising 15 minutes a day-and was doing over an hour by the time I reached goal.

It is harder, you have to be more diligent with diet and exercise-and the weight often comes off MUCH SLOWER at the end-not a pound or two a week...more like a pound or two every month or two instead. Again, completely normal.

Congrats on the new one. And you are right too. The smaller the harder because it takes less calories to maintain your weight and therefore less calories to lose. Activity does help. Again, wonderful to have children.

The last ten to fifteen pounds are definitely the hardest. I lost the first 20 pounds in about four months. I've been trying to lose the last 15 since February.

You might consider trying to change up the cardio you are doing. Your body gets use to doing the same thing every day and it isn't as effective. I've found that when I change my exercise routine, it helps with the scale. Maybe do some sprints (and shorten you running time accordingly) instead of just running for 70 minutes. Or include a hill in your run. You could also try jumping rope, bicycling (if you have one), or swimming (if you have access to a pool). If you have access to a gym, try some of the other cardio equipment.

Have you taken your measurements? Even though the scale has been slow to budge, my measurements have continued to get smaller at a pretty consistent rate over the past year. It can be really helpful to have another way to measure progress besides the scale.

- Barbara

Are you eating more or less when you exercise like this?

I am eating the same amount.

It gets harder and slower the smaller you become. At 200 pounds the weight seemed to fall off if I told myself I was "cutting back" on goodies. At 180 I actually had to become more vigilant about what I was eating in order to lose weight. At 160, things slowed dramatically for me. Instead of 1 to 2 pounds a weeks, its been a 1/2 pound here and there. Some weeks I stayed the same no matter what I tried. My body has been in the 150 to 160 range many times in the past, this is the weight where I always seem to jump back up to after I've dieted down to 115. For me I've come to accept that maybe trying to be super tiny just isn't what my body wants. I am going to continue to eat right and get some exercise and see what happens over time. No more starvation diets just to see a tiny little number on the scale. If my body truly is where it wants to be now at 149, I will be happy.

I am going to push myself for 140lbs. I know I still have movement yet, as I have lost two pounds this week. I have been hovering about 11 stone for the past few months, with nothing really having any affect at all.

However, I am going to take up swimming and maybe even buy a ab toner and hope that I can acheive the goal I have desired for so so long.

Those are good recommendations. Plus remember that you are buiding muscle when exercising and that weighs some too. Muscle comes from the conversion of fat cells into useful muscular cells. So you may not notice the change on the scale but more in your body's tone and muscle mass. Good luck. P.S. better to have muscle because it takes less oxygen to when exercising or working and makes more effective use of calories. It is better for you.

Muscle is not built from the conversion of fat cells into muscle cells. They are two different kinds of tissue, and not convertible. You can lose fat without building muscle and vice versa.

Muscle is built when we stress the fibers of the muscle enough that they must respond and grow larger. That means lifting weights that become progressively heavier.

Fat loss occurs when we eat fewer calories than we burn. This can happen through diet or a combination of diet and exercise or activity.

Back to the original question, yes it is much more difficult to lose the last 10-15 lbs for the reasons people have already said.

You are absolutely right. But you have to burn the fat to give the muscle cells energy to expand.... Sorry for the confusion. Your explanation is more detailed and easy to follow. Thanks.

Also, it sounds like you are exercising a lot. If you are comfortable with this level of exercise, that's fine, but if you wanted to cut back a little, you probably could and still lose weight. I definitely recommend swimming. I added one day a week of swimming to my exercise regimen (in place of my regular cardio) and it's just such a nice break from the treadmill and elliptical. :goodvibes

If your level of exercise has increased, you might need to increase your calories. I started at 1200 calories per day, then after a few months, when I had worked up to exercising every day, I increased to 1300. Then a few months later I ramped up my exercise again (increased both the time and the intensity). At first I did not increase my calories and that was a big mistake. I completely stopped losing weight, I was hungry a lot, and it really affected my outlook. Because I was hungry and not losing weight, I was also really frustrated and depressed. Finally, someone here told me to increase my calories. I added 100 per day to my diet, almost immediately started losing weight again, but more importantly, I just felt so much better.

You can always add some calories and if it doesn't help, drop back down again. It was that thought that finally gave me the courage to add those 100 calories.

- Barbara