Losing weight harder as you approach your ideal weight?

Yes, as you lose weight, your calorie intake should go down. And the closer you get the harder it gets. It sucks.

Addendum to question: as I lose more weight, I find that I eat less. For example, I now feel full even before I finish some plates. Previously, I could easily finish those plates when I was at 175 lbs.

Yea, but you need to eat a little less. One reason you were over weight was b/c you were eating more than your body needed. You are losing b/c you have adjusted to eat an amount equivalent to sustain your body weight . . . coupled with vigorous exercise you are losing.

So naturally you feel fuller off less b/c that “less” has now become your normal.

Another thing could be that you are cheating (obviously, I don’t know if you are), but in my personal experience, I found it very easy to cheat after losing 15 lbs with the mentality of “oh, well I can cheat this one time, I’ve lost weight and I’ll be faithful to my regiment after this one little cheat,” but then of course that isn’t your only “little cheat.”

Just another thought that came to mind. But I have a calorie counter it helped ALOT, and as I lost a significant amount (15 lbs) I noticed that my daily allowance also got a little smaller each few weeks.

@mrrich724: so from reading your answers, my understanding is that you consume less calories each week. Do you exercise more too? or do you exercise roughly the same?

I’m asking these so that I know how other people lose weight as I prepare to make the final push of shedding the last 10 pounds.

Thanks for all your inputs!

Here is the thing, a certain amount of calories minus exercise equals a specific weight. So lets say it is 2700 calories and 1 hour of exercise equals 160 pounds (I made that up for now, because I don’t have my nutrition book in front of me, I can get the calculations for you tomorrow). So, when you weighed 180 eating that amount and exercising that amount, you were losing weight. Once you get to 160, you either have to eat less calories or increase the exercise. It’s all math. This also explains why people quickly gain weight when they go off of a diet.

Also, your stomach is probably smaller, so you feel full sooner, and as your body gets used to the lower weight, the calories needed to maintain that weight are less than maintaing a higher weight.

Congratulations on the success that you have achieved.

But don’t measure your success on simply achieving you body weight goal. The goal that is also very important is reaching and maintaining a high level of physical fitness for the rest of your life. Don’t stop working out and eating right come November when the bathroom scale reads 150 pounds. It takes never ending hard work and perseverance in order to maintain good health.

Most people when they hit 60 years old are in a world of hurt health-wise because they never took personal responsibility for their health. Not because they don’t know to exercise, eat right, get adequate sleep and lay off the alcohol, drugs and tobacco. No, the reason they are sick and unhealthy is because doing the right and healthy things is HARD to do.

Keep up the great work and NEVER stop!

I’ve found, the first ten pounds are easily shed…then, it becomes tough. My problem is i cannot exercise until i get my hip replaced. Has to be both to lose weigh; increase your metabolism (done by exercising) and cut back on eating.

Keeping all things consistent, you can just curb your eating (i.e. you don’t have to work out any more than you have been). But you can choose to work out more, allowing you to eat a little more.

The main point is to burn EVEN MORE calories than you have been consuming. B/C the smaller you get, the less calories you need to exist.

Just an update that I’ve lost 1 additional pound since my last post. I start losing again after I increase my workouts from 1 hour to 2 hours.