How To Lose Those Last 10 Pounds

Have you have been exercising and leading a fairly healthy lifestyle but you are still looking at the scale and thinking “How can I lose these last 10-15 pounds”? Does this situation sound familiar to you? It might sound surprising, but sometimes losing 10-15 pounds is the most difficult weight loss goal.

You know what I like to call those last 10 or 15 pounds that won't come off no matter what? Vanity pounds.

The term describes our desire to lose weight that, as far as our bodies are concerned, actually feels healthy. Today's society pressures us to want to look a certain way, or for aesthetic reasons we try to be thinner than our bodies want us to be. Personally, I have gained and lost the same 8 vanity pounds more times than I care to admit.

Losing your first 50 pounds might have been tough, but believe me, dropping those final few stubborn pounds is a whole different challenge. The body struggles to hold on to that last bit of fat for survival purposes.

There are a number of reasons why it is so difficult to get rid of those last stubborn pounds:
1. Weight loss plateau. If you’ve already lost a lot of weight then you have reached a plateau. Your metabolism is slower than it used to be (for every pound you lose your metabolism slows down by 20 calories a day) and your body is used to your current exercise routine and diet.
2. You need to change things up. When you eat and exercise the same way every day your body becomes accustomed to your diet and exercise routine, so you will need to change things up to reach your target weight.
3. Not enough emotional support. People who have to lose 30+ pounds usually have a lot of emotional support from friends, relatives and medical personnel. If a person is overweight then losing weight is the essential strategy that will help them resolve a lot of health problems.
4. “Anti-support.” When you want to lose pounds just to reach your ideal weight then you might hear these types of comments from people around you “Why do you need to lose weight? You already look great”.
5. Procrastination. You think that you can lose those last pounds at any time, which is why you indulge in special treats, skip workouts and eat out way too often. Your mind (laziness) tells you that losing those pounds is not critical for your well-being and that is why you always come up with a reason for why now is not the best time to do it.

Now, don't get me wrong — you can lose the weight if you want to, but it will require you to muster a tremendous amount of restraint and willpower. If you're really up for it, do the following for 30 days:

Plan of Action:
1. Now IS the time. Make a firm decision that you are going to lose the last pounds right now. Ready, set, go! Tell as many people as you can so you can be held accountable.

2. Eat more and eat right. If you only eat around 1200 calories a day and you are fairly active then your body does not get enough calories (1200 calorie diet is for people with a sedentary lifestyle). Your body is in shock and it starts saving fat and using muscles to get extra energy. You lose muscle mass, your metabolism slows down, you store more fat, so you don’t lose weight and you feel constantly hungry.
The most important step is to know what to eat. Follow these tips:
• Eat foods rich in water (vegetables and fruit)
• Eat a lot of lean protein (legumes, tofu, fish and seafood and lean poultry) and healthy fats (try walnut oil for sautéing vegetables, grape seed oil for high-temp cooking and olive oil in salads, rice and pasta.)
• Eliminate as much sugar as possible from your diet
• Cut your sodium to 1,000 mg a day.
• Drink at least 80 ounces of water daily.
• Cut out processed foods.
• Abstain from alcohol.
• Get your carbs from whole grain products rich in fiber.

3. Start interval training. Interval training burns more calories than any flat rate physical activity. Interval training is really simple: you add a short burst of high intensity activity (run as fast as you can, cycle as fast as you can, jump etc.) and follow it with a longer period of moderate or low-intensity activity. The best starting ratio is 1:3 meaning that you run as fast as possible for 1 minute and then you run at a slower rate for 3 minutes (you can change time to suit your current fitness level). Try to do this 5 days per week for 30 minutes per day and move up from there.

4. Stay active all day long. Being active throughout the day is more beneficial to you then just going to the gym 2 or 3 times a week. It won’t only burn more calories but it will make you busy so that you don’t have time to snack or overeat. If you buy a pedometer and use it to set daily goals (your goal is around 10,000 steps but you can start with just 2000 to get yourself going) then you will be more likely to stay active throughout the day.

5. Keep a food diary. A food diary is one of the most effective ways to lose weight. Losing weight is nothing but a mathematical equation and if you can figure out when and why you are eating more calories (or too few calories) than you should, then you will be able to make the right changes to your diet.

6. Change things up. Another way to try and accelerate your weight loss is by changing your workout routine altogether. For example, if you normally run to exercise, try doing some aerobics instead. Your body will have to adapt to the change and may start to burn calories at a faster rate. If your main exercise is running, you can either increase the intensity of your workout by running faster or by running farther. You may want to experiment with both methods, to see how your body reacts to the change in your routine.

I am sure that if you follow these tips then you will be able to get that scale moving in the right direction. You can do a lot in 30 days — in fact, I can pretty much guarantee you will lose at least 5 pounds.