Mythbusters - The last ten lbs?!?

[fatguy23]

Everywhere I go (almost) I hear people saying that the last ten lbs of fat on your body is the hardest to lose, and I've never found any science confirming or denying this. I think that it stands to reason that the "last ten lbs" should be every bit as easy to lose as any other fat on your body, by balancing your caloric intake. I was just wondering if anyone had any (factual) input on this or if we're all relying on anecdotal evidence to carry this along to other people..so, is it true or false?

 

[KaraCooks]

I think it's one of those things that is true in perception rather than fact.

It all goes back to the what's a healthy rate of loss and how many calories can you cut. If you weigh 300 lbs and you cut cut 30% of your calories, that means EVERY DAY you are in a deficit of 1350 calories. That comes out to about 1 lb every 2.5 days, which averages out to about 2.8 lbs a week.

So at 300 lbs, you can lose 10 lbs in 3.5 weeks, healthily.

If you weigh 140 lbs and you cut 30% of your calories, you're only in a daily deficit of 650 calories. That means you lose 1 lb about every 5 days, which averages out to 1.3 lbs a week.

At 140 lbs, it will probably take you more like 7 weeks healthily.

Add in the fact that if you've lost a significant amoutn of weight, you've probably been reducing your calorie intake steadily, which means your metabolism has reduced steadily. Even if you've been sensible about it, you will see some slowing of loss just due to the long term reduction of calories. So it can take even longer to fight your way through those last 10-20 lbs.

So it's not *harder* in the sense of being more difficult to do. It's harder in the perception - because when you get down to that last 10 lbs, it isn't coming off at the rate it was when you were 300 lbs.

Make sense?

 

[Jeanette401]

Disclaimer: I am far from an expert on this topic, and am mostly coming back with impressions from things I've read by people who do understand the details of things like leptin & insulin resistance.

The short version is that there are hormones & chemicals in your body that effect your appetite, how much of your caloric intake is stored as fat vs muscle, how much energy you expend (metabolic rate) etc. Leptin & insulin are two of the more common ones I've heard brought up. The higher your body fat, the more your body's chemical system favors getting rid of fat. The lower your body fat, the less these systems favor it. So if you're very lean it's much harder to lose 10 lbs of fat than if you're obese.

The essential reason is because your body's regulatory system is fighting against it because it wants to save those fat reserves for an emergency. The actual chemical & hormonal responses that implement that regulatory system are beyond my ability to explain

 

[fatguy23]

So it's not *harder* in the sense of being more difficult to do. It's harder in the perception - because when you get down to that last 10 lbs, it isn't coming off at the rate it was when you were 300 lbs.

so basically it's harder mentally, but not physically.

 

[Jeanette401]

so basically it's harder mentally, but not physically.

It's harder physically too - I don't understand all the nitty gritty details of leptin & ghrelin and insulin, but it's why you'll see the serious contest dieters and really lean people try all these whacky re-feeds and glycogen depletion workouts and stuff.

Just at a basic level - if your BMR is 15 times weight in pounds, when you lose 50 lbs, you drop your maintenance calories by 750. Already you have to eat even fewer calories for the same per week weight loss - and that's before you add in the hormonal and chemical changes.

I guess technically you could still lose weight at that point, but you'd be at risk of losing a lot more muscle than fat, and then left with trying to get rid of the fat with less muscle, and an even lower BMR.

 

[KaraCooks]

Ah good points about the hormonal/insulin/glycogen issues. That's true ... but I think that's more of a factor, like you said, for the serous body building types who are looking to really seriously minimize body fat (which I think might key back to our discussion with Guess Who in the other thread ).

I think when you're talking in terms of your average person who is looking to lose that last 10 lbs, it really is as much of a mental battle, although you're right - it does have some bearing.

As to harder mentally but not physically ... again I think that's a matter of perception or how you choose to view things personally. For many people (and I include myself in this group) ... "takes longer" sometimes does = "harder".

It's pretty easy to drop 1000 calories out of your diet when your maintenance is 3000 calories. Heck, eating on 2000 calories is really easy. And so dropping 1000 calories a day and therefore 3lbs a week ... that's pretty easy.

When you get down to where maintenance is 1800 calories, and you drop 600 of them a day - suddenly you're really having to work hard to figure out how to fill yourself up and be healthy on 1200 calories. Then you're eating much less, feeling more hungry, and only losing 1.5 lbs a week.

That's hard. Both in terms of mentally, emotionally, and ... to some degree ... physically.

 

[Jynus]

Everyone has a genetic level of fat thats normal for them. Don't quote me, but for men is around 14% and 20% for women. Normally when people are setting goals for their weight, their bodyfat % goals are below this, as you normally don't start seeing muscle definition until your below those levels.

It's VERY hard to get yourself below those natural bodyfat levels. Diet needs to be much more in check, with carbs watched very closely, and your exercise routine needs to be tip top. So depending on your goals, yes it can be very hard to get yourself to your goal weight if you're trying to lose bodyfat at a level below your genetic average. I'm also utterly convinced that to go below that bodyfat level to truely get a "toned" look, you need to do resistance training due to how the body oxidizes fat to fuel the atp-cp and lactic acid energy systems vs the cardio system. Seeing as most people do very little resistance training, this can be very hard to achieve outside of starvation.

 

[Beatlesboy]

I think it's one of those things that is true in perception rather than fact.

It all goes back to the what's a healthy rate of loss and how many calories can you cut. If you weigh 300 lbs and you cut cut 30% of your calories, that means EVERY DAY you are in a deficit of 1350 calories. That comes out to about 1 lb every 2.5 days, which averages out to about 2.8 lbs a week.

So at 300 lbs, you can lose 10 lbs in 3.5 weeks, healthily.

If you weigh 140 lbs and you cut 30% of your calories, you're only in a daily deficit of 650 calories. That means you lose 1 lb about every 5 days, which averages out to 1.3 lbs a week.

At 140 lbs, it will probably take you more like 7 weeks healthily.

Add in the fact that if you've lost a significant amoutn of weight, you've probably been reducing your calorie intake steadily, which means your metabolism has reduced steadily. Even if you've been sensible about it, you will see some slowing of loss just due to the long term reduction of calories. So it can take even longer to fight your way through those last 10-20 lbs.

So it's not *harder* in the sense of being more difficult to do. It's harder in the perception - because when you get down to that last 10 lbs, it isn't coming off at the rate it was when you were 300 lbs.

Make sense?

Just to add, when you can't cut very much in terms of diet to lose weight when you have 10 pounds left and you have the occasional weekend drinking sessions, it takes away your work in the gym. So instead if being at a 2000 calorie deficit for the week, you're now around an 800 calorie deficit for the week (just an example). So that would be around 1 pound a month. There's really just not that much room for error where there's a lot of room for error if you have a lot to lose.

 

[missfatty18]

Lol i think this is so true! I have like 10lb to lose til i get to goal & it just wont shift. grrrrr. i have stayed the same weight for like 3 months now, i dunno why!