Deciding when to stop losing & start maintaining
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scotrunner
Posts: 92
Hello, I wonder how people decide to stop losing weight and start maintaining... I have lost a stone (14lbs) and am now the lightest weight I have been in my adult life. I know I am now slim and people keep telling me I look great (which is lovely!), however, I am slightly pear shaped and I still don't love my legs. I run a lot (20 miles a week), do vinyasa yoga & body pump so they are toned but still bigger than i'd like. I'm not sure if losing more weight would help me, maybe I'll just have to learn to love them. I remember a quote from Courtney Cox years ago about how she had to put up with a gaunt looking face to get her legs how she likes them. I don't like that idea, my upper body is already thin. Does anyone have any experience of this problem?!
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scotrunner, I am i the same boat. I HATE HATE HATE my thighs. If you have toned but they are only too big for your likes, you are lucky. Mine are riddled with cellulite. ug. Embarrassed really to wear shorts or anything but culottes.
My strategy, and I hope it works is to lose a little extra and then build back up with weight training.
Not quite at maintenance yet, but joined this group to reply and put is "on my list" for hopefully the near future.0 -
Always good to know someone else feels the same as me!! I am pretty sure you are exagerating at how bad your legs are, you look great in your profile picture. I have decided since I posted this question that I am going to keep trying to lose very slowly with a small deficit and just keep up with the toning. I'll start lifting heavier weights at body pump. We can do this!! Soon be at maintenance I hope...0
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I think your decision to loose on a slower pace whilst toning up is a good one. I'm currently trying to not be glued to the scales and just make sure I exercise and I can see that I've getting leaner.0
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With a healthy self-esteem it's easy to stop. Or you can wait until you 'bottom out' at a healthy amount of calories. If you're like a lot of people you'll keep finding problem areas and well that's where eating disorders stem from. I'm 5'7, down to 120, and I would love to loose another 10 pounds. But I'm pretty sure that's considered to small by most standards. Instead of 'loosing weight' I've stopped worrying about it. I don't even care about 'loosing inches' anymore. Looking at my progress since I started exercising with 0 inches lost and 0 weight lost, I still think I look a ton better, time to focus on muscles i suppose0
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"Or you can wait until you 'bottom out' at a healthy amount of calories."
This is what i did.0 -
This is my issue, too! At 118 lbs, I'm exactly what I weighed when I got married and 2 lbs. above my "perfect BMI" weight, so really, I'm quite happy with the number itself!
As you say, everyone exclaims over how I look, but, I'm very aware of the problem areas and wonder if a few pounds would make a difference or if it would be chasing after the wind.
I've been tempted to drop a few more just to see how I look and feel. I had to make myself stop losing weight, so it seems my body wasn't really done, although I got to the number I had envisioned.0 -
Use body fat %0
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@scotrunner - I think you look great in your photo so I wouldn't stress too much as all our bodies are different shapes and sizes. You look like a good weight to me0
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@scotrunner - I think you look great in your photo so I wouldn't stress too much as all our bodies are different shapes and sizes. You look like a good weight to me
^^^ I agree!! You look fantastic!
I've been at a weight of 125 lbs (5'6"-ish here) when I was in college 5 or 6 years ago and looking back at those pictures, I know that number is too small for my frame size...so now I'm in maintenance, trying to figure out how to not get that low, but still exercise and eat right because I want to
It's hard...I'm still slowly losing, but also slowly building up my healthy calorie intake and I'm sure I'll find the right weight soon
Everyone's bodies are different....do what feels right for yours 0 -
I just found this group. I've been dieting for about 18 months (started well before I joined MFP). Altogether I lost 30 pounds, which was half of my long term goal, but I hit a wall, not only in terms of weight loss but also in terms of motivation. I found a large number of people who were posting that when you hit a plateau you need to raise your calories. I tried increasing my calories to the level MFP said was my maintenance level, and I gained 5 pounds! So I decided to find my real maintenance point, which appear to be about 1350 net calories. I've read several articles about how our bodies pump out more appetite hormones and slow our metabolisms for more than a year after we've lost weight. So I've decided to stay on a maintenance diet for a while, maybe a year. I'm actually having a hard time with that. My appetite has gone crazy. I will finish a meal and feel like I could eat a second one. It seems as if once I started letting myself eat a little more, the dam broke on my appetite control. I'd love to hear any suggestions on how to deal with this.0
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One of the great things about weight is that you can keep on changing it. If you lose and dislike it, you can gain!
When I reached goal my face looked gaunt, my arms looked scrawny, i was going down to an A cup and people kept asking if I'd been ill! I gained some weight, and while my stomach looks worse, my face looks better, and that's what everyone sees day to day
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