Losing weight when you don't have much to lose

fairy_lights

As the title says, has anyone had any success in losing weight when you only have a few pounds to lose?

When I was younger I was a size 14-16 and over the years as I've improved my diet and started exercising the weight has slowly come off, but now seems to have ground to a halt. I'm now ten stone and am a size ten, I know in theory I don't need to lose weight and have a healthy BMI, but in reality I'm quite petite and carry a lot of fat round my middle making me lean towards being apple shaped. When I'm fully clothed I look slim but underneath I've got quite a bit of wobble! I would like to lose about half a stone - I'm actually not bothered about my weight but would like to shift the fat round my middle and am guessing that's how much I need to lose.

My diet is pretty good but I know I don't eat enough fruit and veg, and eat too much cheese and cook everything in butter So in a sense I do know what I need to do but it just seems a lot harder to lose weight now than it did when I was bigger. When I had more to lose I could just make my meals a bit smaller and it made a difference but now it feels much more difficult.

Has anyone got any tips or suggestions for losing weight when you only want to lose a few pounds?

broasis

sounds like you need to hit the gym to tone rather than lose possibly?

ruby_eskimo

I agree with broasis; it sounds like you're fairly happy with how you are overall it's just this one area. However you can't really spot reduce but with regular strength training and cardio you can definitely tone up.

Fluff15

What's your diet on average like daily and also how much weekly exercise do you do?

The obvious answers are switch red meats to lean protein and fish, eat more vegetables, increase intensity and mix up your workout schedules, cut out refined sugars etc etc, but will be able to advise better with a better idea of what you currently eat! It's little changes that make the biggest difference.

I find focusing on inches rather than weight will be better - I fluctuate between an 8 and 10 depending on how well I've been eating or whether I have been exercising regularly, but am still the same weight regardless.

cherryblossomzel

Unfortunately you can't really control where you lose weight from, your body will shift it in the order it wants to. It sounds like your body likes to hold on to fat around your middle.

It will eventually go, you need to lose the fat. Most of that is done through diet, really. While exercise is important and very good for you, fat loss mostly happens in the kitchen. It sounds like you already know what you need to do, but weight loss is slower if you've only got a few pounds to lose.

Maybe start with keeping a food diary? Everyone underestimates how much they eat, writing it all down will show you where you can cut down.

Edited to change to "underestimate" above. Oops.

fairy_lights

Fluff15 wrote: »

What's your diet on average like daily and also how much weekly exercise do you do?

Usually I either have porridge or muesli for breakfast or skip it if I'm running late.
Lunch is usually a sandwich, the fillings can vary, cheese salad and marmite are the most regular though. I have some oatcakes as an afternoon snack and sometimes some dried fruit.
Dinner is where I go wrong I think, I eat lots of vegetables but cook them quite badly, cauliflower or broccoli but drowned in cheese sauce, or roast vegetables but with loads of butter and salt. I have been making an effort to make my meals healthier though and have been making lots of 'a girl called jack recipes', lots of beans and lentils etc.
I have a real sweet tooth and if I have any chocolate or biscuits in the house will just binge, so I've been making an effort not to keep junk in the house and have cut down hugely on how many sweets I eat but I'm not sure it's made any difference.

fairy_lights

Exercise: I did the insanity workout earlier this year and didn't lose ANY weight which I think was because I didn't change my diet at all.
Now I do fitnessblender.com videos a couple of times a week and have been focusing on weight training exercises, which I'm hoping will give better results than cardio alone.
I always intend to exercise 4 times a week but normally I'm so tired when I get home from work that it's more like twice a week

JulieM

What about a hula hoop? You'd have to use it indoors at the moment so you'll need to allow enough space.

lulu_92

JulieM wrote: »

What about a hula hoop? You'd have to use it indoors at the moment so you'll need to allow enough space.

Or play it on the Wii Fit.

purpleshoes_2

fairy_lights wrote: »

As the title says, has anyone had any success in losing weight when you only have a few pounds to lose?

When I was younger I was a size 14-16 and over the years as I've improved my diet and started exercising the weight has slowly come off, but now seems to have ground to a halt. I'm now ten stone and am a size ten, I know in theory I don't need to lose weight and have a healthy BMI, but in reality I'm quite petite and carry a lot of fat round my middle making me lean towards being apple shaped. When I'm fully clothed I look slim but underneath I've got quite a bit of wobble! I would like to lose about half a stone - I'm actually not bothered about my weight but would like to shift the fat round my middle and am guessing that's how much I need to lose.

My diet is pretty good but I know I don't eat enough fruit and veg, and eat too much cheese and cook everything in butter So in a sense I do know what I need to do but it just seems a lot harder to lose weight now than it did when I was bigger. When I had more to lose I could just make my meals a bit smaller and it made a difference but now it feels much more difficult.

Has anyone got any tips or suggestions for losing weight when you only want to lose a few pounds?

You cant spot reduce fat, when it comes off you'll lose it all over. Cheese is ok in moderation and butter is better than low fat spread, its far less processed.

I cant speak from the perspective from only having a little to lose as I had a lot to lose, but what I did was clean up my diet, very little processed foods, ate a lot of veg and some fruit, cut down on alcohol. Lifted weights and did a few classes of HIIT per week. I cut down on white carbs and only ate wholemeal sparingly. Didnt eat bread (if I were going to have bread Id have rye). Swapped potatoes for sweet potatoes.

Took me around 18 months to lose 55 pounds but I didnt feel deprived and the exercise was knackering but if you really do want to sharpen your fitness up and get your metabolism going then its HIIT you want to do, that gives you an effect of something called EPOC which is exercise post oxygen consumption and thats what burns the calories.

Skipping is also a good calorie burner, and ropes are cheap, also a kettlebell, I get my kettlebells from ebay, cost me around £10 for the heavier ones.

Baby_Angel

fairy_lights wrote: »

Exercise: I did the insanity workout earlier this year and didn't lose ANY weight which I think was because I didn't change my diet at all.
Now I do fitnessblender.com videos a couple of times a week and have been focusing on weight training exercises, which I'm hoping will give better results than cardio alone.
I always intend to exercise 4 times a week but normally I'm so tired when I get home from work that it's more like twice a week

I am exactly like you. I have to lose fat around my middle. The entire year I have been doing Zumba and total toning kind of exercises 4 hours/week in a instructor led class and shifted absolutely nothing. So I have ditched the whole schedule and going to the gym for the last couple of weeks (4 x 1 hour per week). I feel like my middle is "softening" (can't get the right word for it), but still a long way to go. Either the gym is having a positive effect or it is my change in routine :undecided