I finally broke into the "last 10 pounds" barrier, but man has it been slow going in the last 2 weeks (2 pounds). I'm under 30 carbs per day, but probably not at the fat levels I should be (probably 45-50% fat, 40% protein, 5% carbs) - would upping fat again help?

Any tips for those last 10 (errr 9 now) pounds?

thanks

It was so hard and still continues to be a struggle everday... I weigh myself constantly. I believe when I got to my last ten I kinda stopped focusing... I spoiled myself eating a little more of this a little more of that not as strict as I had been before.. so all I can say is pretend your still 20 or 30 pds heavier and you will find yourself talking yourself out of this or that treats.,,, Good Luck your almost there and remember "nothing thats this hard is worth doing over again".. at least thats what I keep telling myself. Good Luck Mason

Pat yourself on the back that you are that close. Don't worry too much about the speed of weight loss. DANDR says at this stage you should not expect to lose weight every week. It is best if the last ten lbs go slowly.

I also experience a stall just before the last ten pounds (or so) and then experienced slow loss for those 10 pounds. I ate very little, no carbs, and exercised every day hard for that measely one pound a week.

I just kept at it and those 10 pounds were going, a week at a time. The cool thing is when I got to the last 2 pounds, I suddenly lost 4 pounds in two weeks! Needless to say, I have a new target (just 5 pounds less then the original target).

In any case, I guess I just want to let you know that you can do it, but you may have to ramp up the effort a little. Exercise really made the difference for me. I was exercising the whole diet, but added extra running days and ran farther.

I always told myself... Would you really give up this close to your goal? H*ll no!

brobin

I'm still stuck where I've been for weeks, but I don't care. Where I am is such a good place. I haven't fiddled with anything, I am in a place where I'm very comfortable with the way I'm eating so I don't want to mess with it.
My chin broke out this weekend...this usually means I have lost some. I will get to my mom's scale sometime this week and find out.
I think some of my pants are smaller.

The alst 10 pounds are the slowest on any way of eating.

This is the time you really need to sit down and reevaluate your goal weight. Has your lean mass gone up or down, is your body fat in the healthy range and you'll need more exercise to get any off?

It's also the time to start raising carbs. You will lose slow no matter what during these last few pounds. Worse yet water weight and small changes will be more noticable so you will probably yoyo up and down. Take this time to start upping your carbs and experimenting with new recipes and moderate carb foods. You may be suprised how high you can go with the carbs and still have a slow steady loss for the last few pounds.

Yes I agree 100%,
It is so very important, so that your don't get stuck in the 20 carb range, you mentioned you are under 30, does your daily foods include some fruit or berries? If not get in on some as well, during these last few pounds I strongly suggest you start, ( if you have'nt) having 1 slice of a good whole grain bread, once or twice a week then slowly work up from there.

The Maintenance thread has some good hints for eating in the last stage and on to maintenance.

Cheers Kathy

in relation to the last few pounds question, does any one have any tips to someone who only ever HAD the last few pounds...? i assume the same tips apply, but i just can´t seem to losethe only ten pounds i actually have to play with. its incredibly frustrating.....
i quess a factor is as well, that when you don´t have much to lose, its very much less noticable when it does go.

I too am in the same position. How does your body know that you are so close. It is driving me crazy. I have been stalled for over two weeks and I know the frustrations.

No, you are doing fine, it is supposed to take awhile for the last few pounds. What you should be doing is lowering protein and upping carbs, preparing for pre maintenance. Normally I would say lower fat, but since fat is already at 50%, and protein is 40%, it seems that you should be lowering protein first.

The last few pounds are not a time to hurry up the scale, this is where you practice maintaining for life. Lower fat and protein and up carbs until you reach a level where you lose veeeery slowly... this level is close to your cclm (critical carbohydrate level for maintenance). This is the max amount of carbs you can eat w/o gaining weight.

Read your Dr Atkins books he explains this so much better than I can .

BTW, the reason we lose slower when we are thinner is because your metabolism slows down (fat is metabolically active), and because there is less surplus fat so your body is more likely to want to conserve it. If you plateau at the end, increase physical activity or lower calories (if you are eating a lot).

A possiblity concerning the difficulty of loosing the last ten pounds is Leptin levels. Leptin is a horomone secreted from fat that controls other horomones and your metabolism. If you don't have as much fat then your Leptin levels are lower.

See http://www.theministryoffitness.com/mof/library/articles/article18.htm

Groggy60,
your link is not working. I would be interested in finding out how to loose the last few and to stop the down-up cycle I seem to be in.
Thanks

Thanks all, it's nice to know I'm not alone and to hear your thoughts. Sometime patience is your best bet as well. I'd been stuck for the last 1-2 weeks at 150-152 solid, every single day, night or day.

Suddenly this week the scale started moving. I hit the 149 and the next day it was 147.5 and I've stayed there (never saw that 148 and happy about it ). So, it is true; some times you're just losing those inches and eventually the weight will show up (or rather, disappear)

Thanks again!

I'll try againhttp://www.theministryoffitness.com...s/article18.htm

This site also has lots of information on Leptin