10 Reasons the Last 10 Pounds Are the Hardest

Losing weight is never easy, but once you've set up your new habits in a way that works for you, the pounds may start to come off—which is motivating, encouraging and generally makes it all worth it. As you approach the end, things can often get more difficult. Shedding the last 10 pounds is often the hardest part of an already difficult endeavor.

There are a lot of reasons these last 10 pounds feel like the hardest pounds to lose. For starters, they just don't come off as easily. You're no longer getting after water weight and bloat—the pounds that seemed to disappear overnight when you first started.

Also, as you get closer and closer to meeting your weight-loss goals, you're weighing less and less. That means you burn fewer calories when you're working out and when you're at rest. Your metabolism has changed with your weight, so you have to work harder. When you're at the 10-pound mark, you have to work hardest of all.

When you're 10 pounds out from meeting your goals, you're also starting to feel the day-in, day-out slog of what you're trying to accomplish. Those last 10 pounds are like a mountain you have to climb right before the finish line.

With the restrictions—your firm workout schedule and your need to stick to a formula—you're probably starting to get bored. Sticking to calorie restrictions, hitting the gym even when you don't feel like it and drinking all that water can get mind-numbing, especially when the end is in sight.

The last 10 pounds could also be the hardest because they might also be pounds your body wants and needs. Is your weight goal the right one for your size, age and health profile? We all know muscle weighs more than fat, and if you're working out hard, perhaps you're safely lean but stronger. You don't want to lose muscle just to see a particular number on the scale.

It gets old, saying no. And if you've already lost a significant amount of weight, you might feel emboldened to stop saying it so much. That could mean you're undermining your efforts to get after that last 10 pounds—or at least making it a whole lot harder to get rid of them.

Remember, we haven't lived among this kind of abundance for very long in human history. Our bodies evolved to send hunger and eating signals in order to build up and store fat in times of famine. As you've restricted your eating, your brain has worked with your hormones to do whatever they can to get you to eat more—more sugar, more fat, more salt. Those last 10 pounds aren't going to come off without a physical—and mental—fight.

Your external motivators might have changed over time, too. When you first started losing weight, the compliments were frequent and encouraging. As others have gotten used to the lighter you, they've laid off the high-fives and support. Your will to get to those last 10 pounds has to come from the inside now.

Even you've gotten used the way you look in the mirror and no longer gasp when you see how much better your pants fit. Finding that internal motivation is more difficult the closer you get to your goals.

In the end, you might also find that the need to lose the last 10 pounds is less urgent, which makes actually losing them more difficult. We often expect weight loss to solve more problems than it actually can. And once we realize this—whether after the first 10 pounds or once we get to the last 10—doing what it takes to shed any more weight can make the whole thing more difficult.