Fitwell Training Solutions

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• 5 Tips to Lose the Last 10 Pounds!

  Posted on March 10th, 2011

  Here’s the scenario; you’ve almost reached your weight loss goal  and you have the last 10 pounds to lose.  All of a sudden, four weeks later the scale still hasn’t budged.  You’re doing everything right like eating well and exercising.  You may feel discouraged and even opt to settle on being a little heavier.  Where do you go from here?  As long as you’re not trying to get back to your high school weight (which is pretty unrealistic in your 40s), losing those last 10 pounds is a great goal.  However, it takes a lot of hard work and that’s why you don’t see many infomercial success stories with a tag line like this, “I lost 10 pounds in 6 months!”  Here are 5 tips to help you lose those last 10!

  1.  Check your nutrition - take a good hard look at your nutrition.  Are your portion sizes increasing?  Are you eating out more?  Have you increased your periodic wine glass to everyday?  Are you stress eating?  As you age, anytime you get out of sync with any of the above, your weight will either plateau or (God forbid) go up.

  2.  Manage your stress daily - as you age, managing stress becomes crucial to weight loss and stress is everywhere - daily commute, family challenges, and work issues.  This constant stress state can lead to the storage of cortisol which affects your weight loss efforts.

  3. Exercise the right way - the days are gone when you can casually read your magazine on the treadmill.  I call it “exercise that’s not going anywhere.”  In order to torch the fat you have to work out at the right intensity throughout the week.  Perform higher intensity cardio on 2-3 days per week and moderate cardio on your alternate days.  Listen to music and select a tempo that will keep you moving at a fast pace.  Focus all your energy into getting a great workout and you’ll burn more calories!

  4.  Lift weights to get lean - strength training has gotten a bad rap especially for women.  However as you age the only way to have a lean body and in this case lose last 10 pounds may be found in lifting some iron.  Aim to strength train 2-3 days a week for the best results.

  5.  Get the necessary tools to aid you - what good is a workout if you don’t know how hard you’re working or don’t have a mechanism to pace yourself?  Invest in a quality heart rate monitor watch and interval timer that will track your intensity and keep you moving through your workout to get the best results.

  It’s critical to lose those last 10 pounds and here’s why;  carrying extra body fat predisposes you to gain more weight over time.  If you’re just 10 pounds overweight now, a stressful situation, family tragedy, or job loss can put you at jeopardy for gaining another 10 pounds - which becomes a 20 pound challenge then a 40 pound crisis!  Carrying extra weight on your joints can lead to knee osteoarthritis, diabetes, and other conditions.

  I’d love to hear your challenges with losing those last 10 pounds.  What things have you done to reach your goal?  What did you learn during the process?

  Posted by valerie