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How To Lose The Last 5 To 10 Pounds…
You’ve come so far in your weight loss journey, and you’ve been able to make some amazing accomplishments along the way. You’ve lost a lot of weight, and you’re so close to your goal. Unfortunately, though, you still have a last few stubborn pounds to get rid of. Well, you certainly are not alone. It is well known that it can be especially challenging to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds, but it isn’t impossible either. Check out the tips below to revamp your strategy and shed those pounds so that you can finally meet your ultimate weight loss goal.
Try These Methods to Lose the Last 5 to 10 Pounds
1. Eat More Food
Okay, we know that this may sound really strange and counterintuitive, but eating more might actually be the ticket if you want to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds at last.
How to eat more to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds:
At the beginning of your weight loss journey, you likely decided on how many calories you would cut from your daily diet to lose weight. To lose the last 5 to 10 pounds, though, begin decreasing the size of that caloric deficit. In other words, eat more calories. That’s it!
Once you begin consuming more calories, you might find that the number on the scale starts to go down again. You might finally be able to get over the weight loss plateau that often comes with attempting to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds.
How is that possible? Well, there are several reasons why you have been having trouble losing those last few pounds:
- Even though you think that it is a good idea to reduce the number of calories that you consume daily, your body thinks that it is going into starvation mode, so it will do whatever it takes—including slowing down your metabolism—to keep the extra weight on your body to use as fuel.
- When you restrict calories and, in turn, restrict energy by eating less, your body does feel the stress of it all. As a result, the stress hormone known as cortisol increases. Cortisol could suppress the hormone leptin, which helps decrease feelings of hunger. It could also boost the breakdown of muscle for fuel, while encouraging the preservation of fat. This makes it that much harder to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds.
How many calories should you aim for?
If you want to try slightly increasing your caloric intake every day to see if that will help you lose the last 5 to 10 pounds, do so modestly. For example, you could eat anywhere from 200 to 300 more calories every day. If you are currently consuming a total of 1,500 calories, you could increase that to around 1,700 calories. If that still doesn’t seem to help, you can then move up to 1,800 calories per day. Just keep in mind that you might need to keep adding calories in this manner until you reach the point at which you start to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds by overcoming this tough plateau.
2. Take Your Workout Routine to the Next Level
If you have been following the same workout routine throughout your weight loss journey because it has helped you achieve great results, it might be time to take it up a notch. This is especially true if your current workout schedule is making it difficult to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds.
In addition to calculating the number of calories that will get you to that sweet spot where you are nourishing your body and getting energy without starving yourself, focusing on the effectiveness of your exercise schedule is another way to overcome this common weight loss roadblock.
Here’s how to make your workout routine more effective:
When you increase the amount of physical activity that you participate in throughout the week, you might finally start to see some results, and you might finally be able to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds as well. That’s because the additional activity could burn even more calories, while also building up your muscles at the same time.
- Follow the FITT strategy, which stands for Frequency, Intensity, Type, and Time. The goal will be to burn an additional 100 calories every day, as doing so might be just what you need to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds.
Whether you increase the amount of time that you exercise, boost the intensity, vary the workouts that you do by adding in some new challenges, or you exercise on additional days during the week, the goal is to burn off at least 100 more calories. This could be as simple as walking for an additional 20 minutes at a faster pace. Easy, right?
Why does this work?
If you have hit a weight loss plateau and you are finding it hard to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds, it might be a sign that you have also hit a workout plateau. Put simply, when you do the same workouts all the time, your body actually becomes even more efficient, so fewer calories are burned overall. Therefore, if you can take your exercise routine to new heights with some surprisingly simple modifications, you could start to build more metabolism-boosting muscle, and you could burn more calories to help you lose the last 5 to 10 pounds.
3. Check Where You Can Make More Adjustments
Finally, to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds, you might just need to analyze what you have been doing to figure out where you can make additional adjustments. Small tweaks to your diet, supplements, and your daily routine could make a big difference in your ability to hit your target weight.
Here are a few adjustments you can make:
- Take a look at what you drink on a regular basis. Are you having a lot of juice? Consider how much sugar and calories are in a single serving. As another example, perhaps you like to have a large latte to give you a boost of energy in the morning. You might be surprised by how many calories you can cut by simply having a smaller serving or by using less cream and sugar. Little changes to the things that you drink every day could help you cut unnecessary calories and sugar when you are struggling to lose those last few pounds.
- Check your portion sizes to ensure that you have stuck with your ideal portions for every meal. Many people end up increasing their portion sizes without realizing it, and they may end up eating more than they realize as a result. So, take a look at the sizes of your meals. Do you need to eat from a smaller dish at dinner to help you consume fewer calories at night before bed?
It is no secret that attempts to lose the last 5 to 10 pounds can be tedious, but if you know what strategies to implement when you hit this plateau, you will be able to break through and achieve your goals. Just keep eating right every day and exercising throughout the week, but use the tips above to make it easier on yourself until you have reached your ideal weight.
