Greg's Running Blog

I’ve been losing weight, mostly fat, for the last 7+ months and I feel like I’m in the home stretch. I have lost 70+ lbs and I think I only have another 10 lbs to go. But this last 10lbs seems to be the toughest to lose. Why’s that?

I see a lot of people are fighting to lose that “last 5-10 lbs” and quite honestly most people could probably stand to lose that last 5-10lbs whether they admit to it or not. Even at my half marathon race most guys I have talked to said “If I could only lose that 10 lbs my time would improve so much!”. Yet, for some reason, they’re stuck at their weight. They run a lot of miles I presume, it’s tough to run a half marathon without running a lot of miles and they still can’t shake that last 10 lbs. I think I know why it is so difficult to drop that final 10 lbs and to be able to tighten the belt one more notch.

1. Weight loss fatigue.
   I’ve been losing weight for over 7 months. It is a very tiring process even in light of all the progress I have made. Counting calories for days on, writing down every single item I consume, worry every time the family goes out for dinner what I would eat and wondering just how many days having a slice of birthday cake and a beer with the friends would set me back can be a full time job. And after a while you reach a point in your weight loss where you get tired of it and you say “screw it, I deserve that piece of cake” or “I’m not going to count calories today”. I know that I’m pretty tired of it all myself, I even quit calorie counting completely a week ago. But with getting more and more relaxed with the diet comes the other problem.
2. Diet Complacency
   When you do something long enough you begin to master it. When you’ve been dieting for so long you start to learn how many calories are in a large egg (70) how much calorie is in a cup of rice (about 200-220) and how big is a 4oz portion of chicken (about the size of a deck of cards). These things start to become second nature. You feel like you’re in the groove and you’re in full control. But then you start to justify some not so perfect choices and you start to eat some things you know you shouldn’t. You would know that eating that third tortilla (140 calories) is probably not a good idea and it does not really fit into your caloric budget but you do it anyway because “I’ve already ran 4 miles this morning and that burned 400 calories”. You will look at the loaf of bread at the Italian restaurant on a Saturday night and you will think “I’m going to run my 10 mile long run burning 1,000 calories, what’s the harm in eating 300 extra calories tonight? I’m just carb loading for tomorrow”. You start justifying diet choices and rationalizing excess calories that you wouldn’t eat had you still been calorie counting. Combined with the weight loss fatigue you feel downright entitled to that piece of brownie “I’ve been dieting this long, I deserve that brownie!”. So you end up eating a 100 calories here another 100 calories there and before you know it you just ate an extra 200-300 calories on top of your daily budget. And that is a big issue when you combine it with the third issue.
3. Change in Basal Metabolic Rate
   It is no secret that the bigger is someone the more calories it takes to support that body. There are equations that can estimate your basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate (RMR). In the different calculators weight is one of the determining factors for BMR/RMR and it takes around 5 calories per lbs of body weight to maintain such weight. There are other factors involved, such as sex, age, height and how active a person is but weight is has an effect of about 5 calories per lbs of body weight. So if someone loses 10 lbs their basal metabolic rate would drop by 50 calories. Now 50 calories a day is not much. But I lost 70+ lbs which means my basal metabolic rate has dropped by over 350 calories. So if I started with a basal metabolic rate of 2,400 calories at 237 lbs now, at 165 lbs, my basal metabolic rate is down to almost 2,000 calories. So if I keep staying on my 1,800 calorie diet instead of generating a 600 calorie daily deficit, which would produce a nice 1.5 lbs weekly weight loss, I’m only generating a 200 calorie daily deficit even though I’m not doing anything different than I did at the beginning of my diet. If I would want to maintain the same rate of weight loss that I had at the beginning I would have to reduce my calories to about 1,400 calories a day. That is a huge difference!

So if you combine the fact that you’re only generating a 200 calorie deficit with an 1,800 calorie diet and that you’re complacency eating an excess 200 calories daily you can see how you can end up just maintaining your current weight and not losing any more even though, with the exception of the small indulgences, you are eating the same thing that you have been eating for the past 7 months. This can be a very depressing situation where you feel like you will never reach your goal and as if someone just keeps moving the finish line further and further. So what am I doing to make sure I don’t hit this plateau?

Nothing. I’m actually so close to my goal that I don’t care that I’m not getting there within the next two weeks. I’m taking a conscious break from my weight loss and I’m concentrating on other things. I’m focusing on my running goals and training while still eating healthy foods and making healthy choices. I’m paying attention to what I eat and I’m trying to maintain my weight without the daily drag of calorie counting. I’m hoping to be able to maintain my current weight and current physique without worrying about food. I’m trying to enjoy myself without getting fat again. And once I succeed in that I might concentrate on losing that last 10 lbs.