Those last. Ten. Pounds.
What in the world is it about the final leg of our weight loss journey that’s so insufferably difficult?
It should be a victory lap! A symbolically gentle, successful, and reassuring touchdown following a tumultuous journey through turbulence-ridden skies.
But no!
Those last ten pounds are, for many of us, a seemingly unscalable – and unpenetrable – wall which we fight against, claw upon, an otherwise combat with equal measure brute force and sly (often self-defeating) cunning.
So, it’s not just you. Seriously. Take a moment and Google “Last ten pounds.” Wait, open a new tab; don’t close this one!
Feel that? It’s the warm and welcoming rush that accompanies the understanding that your last ten pounds are difficult to lose for a reason. A handful of reasons, honestly. And working off those last ten is tough for many of us on a weight loss journey. That explains the thousands of results to that Google search you just performed.
So, what’s the deal? And what can we do to overcome that unscalable wall?
Here are what we believe are the most common obstacles associated with losing those last ten pounds.
Diet Fatigue
Let’s face it, at the point in a weight loss journey that your last ten pounds become a concern, you’ve likely been on this train for a while. You’ve found a diet and exercise plan that’s led to some great successes over an extended period of time. And it’s common for us to get a little complacent as we become more accustomed to seeing the pounds melt away. Over time, we may become less conscientious about entering meals AND SNACKS into a food diary, we may allow ourselves to trade in one morning at the gym for a few minutes more sleep, or enjoying a glass of wine with inner instead a bottle of water.
They are small things, indeed. But it seems to be things like these we can easily overlook after a few months of successful dieting. And they may be just the kinds of things that are making those last ten pounds feel a lot heavier than the first ten.
The solution: refocus.
Stand on your bathroom scale and look just about an inch to the left. THERE’S YOUR GOAL. It’s right there. Refocus on the little things that worked for you, the meal planning and journaling. The adherence to your workout schedules. The stairs instead of the elevator. The salad instead of the cheeseburger.
Need some help getting over the hump? Call us or click the Schedule an Appointment button above and let’s talk about shaking off the diet fatigue and reaching your goals.
Time to Recalculate
Maybe it’s not about your last ten pounds at all. Maybe it’s about the first fifteen, forty or so. The diet and fitness plan you’ve been sticking to may have been absolutely perfect for your body and your lifestyle back when you began losing weight.
And that plan has clearly served you well. You’ve lost all but ten pounds of the weight you once dreamed of losing!
However, your body is different now. Your metabolism has been altered, your muscles work differently, and your brain is even altered in very real and measurable ways.
It’s a very real possibility that you may need to evaluate and perhaps recalculate elements of your weight loss strategy to adapt to your leaner, healthier body.
Thinking of it that way and it almost sounds like a good thing: you’ve out-dieted your diet plan and your body is just TOO AWESOME to benefit from the old way of doing things.
Contact us and allow us the opportunity to devise a plan just for you that will break through your 10-pound wall and deliver you results!