When you start any exercise and diet regime, losing the first few pounds is often very easy. It’s great to see those pounds start to melt away and it is grat for your motivation when you start to see results. But as you lose more, the amount of loss, and the speed with which you see visible effects, slows down. This can be a bit disheartening and it becomes hard to keep going when you aren’t seeing the benefits.

But don’t lose heart. It’s natural that your initial efforts at a certain level will get you only 80% of the way there. The other 20% is going to come harder. That’s just the way things are. There are techniques that can help you get that last 20% – and, more importantly, keep 100% of the results over the long term.

Sometimes when you lose your motivation or willpower it can become difficult, even impossible to lose that last 10 or 20 pounds.   After achieving so much, it can be easy to say ‘that is good enough’. If so, and you are happy then that is ok. You may choose to re-evaluate your goals and decide that it truly is good enough for you and you have reached a weight you are happy at.

But beware of long term effects.  One long term effect is the difficulty of maintaining staying power for other goals. If you develop a habit of giving up before the job is complete, it becomes that much more difficult to stick with it the next time. On the upside, if you do go that last mile, the positive morale boost is a great reinforcer.

The other possibility in giving up too easily and too soon can be a greater difficulty in keeping the weight off. The earlier you let go of your original goal without achieving it, the more likely you are to gain at least some of that weight back. Sticking with it helps keep those hard earned results permanently.

There are physiological reasons as well why that last 20% can be tough. Some bodies just reach a natural plateau. It can be just a stopping point on the way to a higher peak, however. It’s difficult to know for sure unless you keep climbing.

You may have slacked off on the length of exercise you have been doing, or you may need to adjust your exercise plan.  It may just require a longer period to get the same results. By analogy, it’s easy to scoop peanut butter out of a full jar, but getting those last bits is harder and takes longer.

If you’ve been doing cardio 30 minutes a day, three days a week, you may need to extend it to four or five days. That’s usually preferable to extending the length of the workout. You can begin to get close to the injury zone if you work yourself too hard during a given workout. But, you can up it to 45 minutes with minimal risk, if you judge that you still have that much more to give.

You may need to increase the intensity, at least for a while. Getting the heart rate up from 65% to 75% of maximum is one possible way. Here again, be careful of overdoing it. You don’t want to achieve those weight loss goals at the cost of serious risk to your overall health.

Remember your body and your muscles adapt, you get into a comfort zone, yes even exercise has its comfort zone! You may have to try some new exercises. Try a new class, or some jogging or cycling.  Anything that is new and takes you out of your comfort zone.

You may find it difficult at first, but it may just get you the results you desire and get rid of those last few stubborn pounds for good.