What To Do When You Just Can't Lose That Last 5 Pounds

This seems to be a common refrain among dieters... they've lost all the weight they want to lose, except for "that last five pounds" and although they've kept to their diet and their exercise plan, if any, that last five pounds just won't come off.

Well, they've hit a plateau. That happens.

The thing to do is stop obsessing about that last 5 pounds. If you weighed 200 pounds and your goal was to get down to 130, what does it matter if you're "stuck" on 135? You've still lost 65 pounds which is a major accomplishment.

And the hardest task is still ahead - KEEPING THAT WEIGHT OFF.

The sad truth is that most people who lose pounds like this, anywhere from 10 to 100 to even 200... regain all that weight within 5 years.

Why? Well, because sooner or later, they go off their "healthy eating and living" kick and return to what they used to do, which is exercise but not eat.

This is especially dangerous in the first year after a successful diet, because hte body wants to return to its original weight - that 200 pounds. If you start eating more calories than you burn, your body will delightfully seize on those extra calories in order to make fat, which it will store away in preparation for another attempt to deprive it of food for months at a time!

(Yes, I'm anthropomorphizing the body's functions, but trust me, it's true.)

Therefore, whether you're despairing of losing that last five pounds, or whether you have lost those last 5 pounds, now is not the time to celebrate.

Now you must be more careful than ever. Don't let the emotional reaction of having achieved your goal throw you off track. It's like a stretched rubber band, your nerves and your willpower have been stretched and stretched while you've been working toward this goal of losing weight, and once you achieve that goal, you want to throw your cap in the air. The rubber band snaps, and you go out of control,and all of a sudden you start eating and you can't stop it.

Better than to not celebrate at all.

Celebrating comes after you've lost the weight and kept it off for a year.

And again, with my program, this should not be a hardship, because you are not denying yourself the things you love, you are just eating them in smaller portions. It's a lot easier on your willpower to eat smaller portions, than to give something up entirely.

Continuing with the "last 5 pounds" theme.... after you've spent a year at your new weight, eating to maintain that weight, then cut back a bit to see if you can lose that final 5 pounds. After a year your body should be used to its new weight, and ready for another bout to lose some more weight - but only five or ten pounds at the most.

Gradual weight loss is the key to successful weight maintenance.