Okay,

This thread is for those of us who are having trouble losing the last 10 pounds to get to our goal weight.

We're not fat anymore, we're just heavier than we want to be.

My personal goal is to lose the last 10 pounds by Christmas - that's not even a pound a month, so it should be achievable. On the other hand, I've been hovering around the same weight for the last 3-4 months.

At times, it's so frustrating, especially if we're following whatever plan we're on (CAD, Atkins) faithfully. It's tempting to give up and "accept" that we are at the weight that our bodies' want us to be at. No way! The battle is on ... and together we can win it!

Hiya Slimmin'!! What a great idea for a thread! Thanks for getting it started.

As you know, I've been struggling with the same weight range of 155-157 since September. I realize that I'm not doing all I can to get that number lower.... I'm not even exercising!! So I've got some work to do on this ol' head of mine. I'm in that process. This morning I searched the Atkins website looking for articles on "goal weight" and related subjects. I found some good ones that I'd like to share here. I plan to read each of them more thoroughly and then come up with a set of new mini-goals. Stay tuned!

Anyway, I look forward to working through this next challenge of my weight loss experience....and glad to have you as my buddy!

Here's the Atkins articles:

Losing the Last 10 Pounds
http://atkinscenter.com/Archive/2002/4/29-347158.html

How to Establish a Reasonable Goal Weight
http://atkinscenter.com/Archive/2001/12/15-579108.html

How to do Pre-Maintenance
http://atkinscenter.com/Archive/2001/12/15-528567.html

As Weight Loss Slows
http://atkinscenter.com/Archive/2001/12/15-548964.html

Get off Your Plateau
http://atkinscenter.com/Archive/2001/12/15-144924.html

slimmin...count me in too ...I find the closer to goal wt..the slower it comes off....am determined to reach goal this year...I am lucky to lose a lb. a month but have upped my exercise and am drinking more water than I used to.. hopefully with these few changes I can get there ...B

Hi Slimmin, Teri and Bonnie, Today is my one year anniversary of beginning low carb. I am so happy to see this tread. We can do this!

In the past year, I got down as low as 127 lbs, but gained back. I now bounce between 130 and 135. I could not maintain 127 without constant exercise and without misery and worry about how much I was eating. No way to live and certainly not sustainable as a way of life. I want to figure out how to lose the rest of my weight, all of which sits stubbornly around my middle , now matter how long it takes. I know from past 'dieting' experience that I am lean and comfortable at approx. 125 lbs. I am willing to do anything, short of liposuction, 'dieting', or heaven forbid: giving up my beloved butter!

Hi Everyone, I'm part of the 10 pound gang too. I've been stuck for months (not that the last month has been anyone's fault but my own).

I know that I have to get back to being hardcore about this - less wine, more exercise (i've mostly given up walking my hour walk to work, what with the cold - although I'm trying to stairmaster to make up for it), more water, less cheese . I'm really happy with the way I feel in general, and very much like this WOE. But it surely would be nice to feel that I'm actually losing.

going to check out those links Teri gave us.

kiwi

Hey guys, diddo on the last 10. I started here in May at 136, I am now 129, and holding. AND I MEAN HOLDING.

I am only 5'2", and feel comfortable around 120. Hope to see that number again someday. Been awhile.

Glad to see there is a thread, great idea. Currently I have been doing quite a bit of lifting, but needing to up my cardio.

I know we can do it guys. Its been really hard being stuck for so long.

Hello everyone. Count me in! I'm new to this forum, but have found it a source of encouragement, which I wished I had found earlier. Special thanks to TeriDoodle for giving me the link to this thread (couldn't find a rose, so I'll send you the sun!)

Thanks also for all those links. I've copied them all into one long article - since I have a 1/2 hour train ride each morning & evening, I tend to print things to read on the train.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone. Gradually we'll have one after the other celebrating that they have reached their goal - - and others will join to take our place! Then we can start a new group - "the arrived ones"

DRUMROLL PLEASE...........

After 4 months, I'm changing my stats to 154! The drop of one whole entire pound!! Yipeeee!

What did I do to effect this change? Hellifiknow....except that the last week or so I have made an effort to drop my calories a little. I was getting a little too attached to this cocoa/cream/cream cheese thingy I was making.... It started of that I'd eat just a TBSP for a sweet treat after dinner, then turned into 2-3 ounces! I also started an aggressive supplement plan about 6 weeks ago and I think it's helping...I just feel better, y'know? FYI, I'm taking all the metabolism-boosters and blood sugar helpers: Fish oil, CoQ10, Lipoic Acid, Chromium, and L-Carnitine....along with my multi and cal-mag.

I've been taking a hard look at my goals and plan the last few days and dug a little deeper.... I'm starting an exercise program next week and committed to dropping calories and carbs. Reading an inspiring journal (Moremad13) helped me immensely to get off my duff and go for it.

For those of you that are stuck, I urge you to re-examine your plan, maybe re-read your book: Is there an area where you can improve or make changes...get out of your old routine? Can you dig a little deeper to find your old enthusiasm? Can you re-commit to your goals today, as if this were DAY 1?

Welcome to everyone who has joined this thread ... I had no idea that there were so many people who were only 10 pounds from goal! Together we make a powerful support group.

Teri ... congratulations on being able to move your stats down! I know how hard you've been working towards that.

Your advice about re-examining our plans is a good one. I've been looking at what I'm eating at my RM, and notice that it's become less balanced in the last while. So, before I truly panic and go back on Atkins Induction (heaven forbid!), I'm going to make a real effort to eat truly balanced RMs. Starting today.

With the start of a new Pilates session, my exercise levels have increased this week. My weekly routine now looks like this:

Sunday
long easy run - at least 90 min and covering about 8 miles
one set of upper body exercises with dumb bells

Monday
easy run - 50 min (4 miles)
lowerbody workout with ankle weights (10-15 min)
yoga class after work (hour and 15 min)

Tuesday
elliptical - 40 min
3 sets upper body exercises with dumbbells - 35 min
Pilates class after work - 1 hour

Wednesday
cycle - 12 min
tempo run - 40 min (30 min at 7.1 mph, 5 min warmup and cooldown)
lowerbody workout with ankle weights (10-15 min)

Thursday

elliptical - 40 min
3 sets upper body exercises with dumbbells - 35 min
yoga class at lunch - 45 min
Pilates+Ball class after work - 1 hour

Friday
easy run - 50 min (4 miles)
lowerbody workout with ankle weights (10-15 min)

Saturday
absolutely nothing

I've also started taking a comprehensive list of supplements. (And before you ask, I had a good reason for starting to take each one of them, but for the life of me I can't remember what all the reasons were )

Every morning I take:

L-glutamine before and after I exercise
multi-vitamin
Cal-Mag
Vitamin C
potassium
chromium
evening primrose oil capsules
flax seed oil capsules

Before bed I also take Cal-Mag and Vitamin C

Right now, I'm also finishing off the Xenedrine SFX that I bought last fall ... I figure it can't hurt, although I don't see it helping much.

And today, my weight remains stuck at 146 - meaning that I'm 11 pounds from goal and VERY FRUSTRATED!!!

Teri, congrats another 1 lb. gone forever.

Slimmin, I am in the same frustrating boat as you. The only way I have been able to get the scale to budge is to reduce intake to the point of hungry discomfort and to up my exercise to levels of freakish insanity. Indeed, I got down lower than goal this past fall, but the second I went back to eating normally and exercising at a comfortable pace, the weight came right back. This was as quick, if not even quicker regain than I used to experience after going off of my lowfat 'diets.' I don't really care so much about the number on the scale, in fact, I don't have a scale at home; I weigh only at my gym. But I do care that I still have what I call bra underhang and waistband overhang! I want to be able to sit comfortably without wads of fat spreading about.

I briefly considered doing an Atkins-style shake up thingy where I eat a lowfat, high carb menu for a few days. The problem is, I have no desire to eat in that manner and it is dangerous to me. I lost my appetite for pasta and I know that for me eating even one slice of bread is the fastest path to destruction. My present plan is to stick with my usual LC menus and eat only as much as I need to feel sated. My tendency is to eat huge servings of whatever LC substances please me. I don't count calories, but I know at times my portion sizes are enough to feed an army.

Also, does anyone have an educated opinion about cardio vs. lifting as the best method for getting rid of abdominal fat? When I am in the gym, I hear all these conflicting voices about which will work better, and I end up stressing instead of exercising. More cardio, at a more intense pace is supposed to reduce abdominal fat? Or is it lifting heavier weights for a short period of time? Or should I just sit on the floor and relax and stretch and pray that the weight will miraculously disolve?

Twiggy...how old are you (if you don't mind)?

Teri, I don't mind I am 42. Have had the very same shaped abdominal fatty blobs since I was 14. The rolls vary in size depending on my overall weight. At my thinnest, age 37-38, I lowfatted/starved/overexercised myself to a size 4 and had not one ounce of ab fat. When I gain, I gain almost all of my weight in my belly area. I have never had children and am verging on peri-menopausal, though still regular to the 28th day each month. Suggestions?

I just think that at our age (I'm 44) it's unrealistic to expect to be "flabless" and I hate to think that you'd be compromising your health and happiness by trying to make it happen. When I was doing my reading yesterday and in prior research about "realistic goal weights", I've concluded that a simple formula is to take the most comfortable weight from your youth and add 10#. (Adjusted of course, for whatever adjustments in lean body mass are needed). I'm not lecturing or anything, I just want you to be happy and healthy. If you're stressing out about having ZERO "flab", then you're gonna be stressing for the rest of your life from here on out! But if you don't feel like you're stressing and it's simply a goal you're trying to achieve, and you don't feel like your compromising your health to achieve it, then GO FOR IT!!

I'm sure you've though all this through before... but maybe not. I know that a light bulb went off for me when Razzle told me basically the same thing way back when ... and it made this entire journey so much easier for me. But that's me.

Teri, I wholeheartedly agree with you, but its hard sometimes to give up the image of ourselves as we'd *like* to be - strutting down a caribbean beach in a bikini without an ounce of flab.

I think I've been very realistic in my goals - heck, in my 20s I never got above 105 (i cant even imagine that now). But maybe I need to rethink them. I surely would like to lose that last 10 pounds though!

kiwi

Well, Kiwi, I don't think that's an unrealistic goal! Using my little quickie-formula, 105 + 10 (age factor) = 115. 115 + 7#(?) added muscle = 122. Sounds great!

I guess I'm thinking of a girlfriend here at the office. She's tall and beautiful and about 47 years old. She's always stunning and wears about a size 4 or 6. She was moaning the other day about how flabby she's getting and to demonstrate her point she grabs about 3/4" of said "flab" above her waist. Come on!!