Why is it so difficult to lose the last 10 pounds?

You’ve committed to dieting, exercising and losing the weight. Maybe you had a health scare that prompted you to lose weight and regain your strength, or maybe New Years is rolling around again and this time you are committed.

Whatever the reason, you set your goal. You plan your workouts, what you are going to eat and you work this plan. And the weight starts to come off.

You lose 30, 40, 50 pounds or even more. You are only 10 pounds away from your goal.

And then you stall.

Why does this seem to happen to everyone?

There are a few answers. First of all, everyone plateaus if you do the same exercises over and over again. So you must make changes to your workout routine.

But it is more subtle than that. The reason why we have difficulty losing those last 10 pounds is physiological. Let me explain.

It is based around your Resting Energy Expenditure. I first learned about this when I was 60 pounds overweight and it one of the facts that changed my life. This is the amount of calories that we burn daily and it is solely based upon our bodyweight.

The formula to figure this out is:

REE = (11.6 X your weight in kilograms) + 879

So if you get on a scale and weigh 200 lbs, you convert that to kilograms by dividing by 2.2. You get 90.9 kg. Multiply by 11.6 and 1054.44 and then add 879 to this to get a total of 1933.44 calories.

That’s how many calories you will burn in a day not counting exercise.

And this was an epiphany for me. Eat less than that number and you lose weight. Eat more and you gain weight. It’s that simple.

This simple premise threw all of the fad diets out the window for me. I just calculated by REE (at 252 pounds it was 2208 calories) and knew if I ate less than that I’d lose weight.

And if you work out and burn more calories you end up losing even more weight.

But what happens after you lose 50 pounds. Your REE does down. For example, at 190 pounds now I no longer burn 2207 calories, I burn 1880 calories a day. That is 400 calories less a day.

This is why so many people can’t lose the last 10 pounds. They have been doing the things that enabled them to lose 40, 50, even pounds, and then they stall.

So here are some tips to break the barrier:

Refine your cardio – you will need to put more of an emphasis into your cardio routine, and especially interval training to your cardio workouts. Intervals are short bursts of high intensity activity mixed into your normal workout routine. This will enable you to burn the extra calories you are looking to burn during your cardio routines.

The timing of your cardio – try to do your cardio routine first thing in the morning. Not only are you sure to get it in but it will ignite your metabolism and keep it burning throughout the day.

Eat breakfast – Nothing is more counter-productive to weight loss than skipping breakfast. You are almost guaranteed to binge eat at some point of the day by skipping breakfast. One of the best breakfasts you could have is some instant oatmeal, which is loaded with fiber and will help keep you feeling full, and mix in a tablespoon of peanut butter to give it a protein kick as well. Throw on some blueberries and a little cinnamon on top and you have a healthy, protein and fiber filled breakfast that is just the right way to start your day.

Speed up your strength training – You should take no more than 30 seconds as a rest between exercises and repetitions when strength training. This will keep your heartbeat up and add a cardiovascular element to your strength training.

1. Prev:The Non-Diet Diet Solution Program
2. Next:7 Dietary Principles for Reproductive Health