Keep reducing my final goal weight?

Hi everyone!

This is actually my first post so please be gentle!

I started losing weight about 17 months ago...although I had previously been very active, through injury and then an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, the pounds had been steadily creeping on over a period of 8 or 9 years, and my metabolism had slowed to the pace of a slug! I became more and more unhappy with my weight but struggled to find the belief that I could do anything to reverse the decline. Eventaully I started having some weight-related health issues, and also was diagnosed as having polycystic ovary syndrome.

I guess this was the catalyst I needed - I ordered a fairly extreme fitness DVD programme, GSP Rushfit, where you do 6 of the DVD workouts as well as 2 cardio sessions a week (so 8 sessions in total, 1 rest day a week). Rushfit is very loosely based on mixed martial arts but is actually a very balanced programme. It uses weights quite a lot, but in a functional way, ie focussing on smooth integrated movements. There are a huge amount of squats, as well as press ups, squat thrusts, burpees, etc etc, and plenty of core/abs work and stretching - so all in all, a great balanced programme. For my cardio I started running (although at first it was a case of jog for a few mins/walk a few mins!)

I must confess I hardly used MFP other than for a few weeks to get me used to calorie contents. But with the huge jump from 0 to 8 workout sessions a week, and simply being careful about what I ate, I reached my goal of losing 3 stone in 9 months (which I reached last July).

I cut the exercise back a lot (couldn't carry on at that level indefinitely) but carried on running a couple of times a week (10k a time) and doing the odd workout. This went down to maybe a run a week by the end of the year - but I still managed to maintain my goal weight.

Over Christmas I put on 4lb, and although I bumped the exercise up again ( 2 x 10k runs and 2 x workouts a week), I found it impossible to shift. So I came back to MFP, which has been brilliant in helping me get back down again. I lost the extra 4lb and decided to try to go a bit further to try to lose some extra body fat (it really seems to gather round my middle). So now I've lost another 8lb and have only another 1lb to go to reach the new goal I set. That would bring my total weight loss to 51lb and my BMI down from 30 to 22.

I'm really happy with how things have gone and how I look, other than that I still feel I have too much fat in my lower stomach. My waist itself is fine I think (27.5 inches with 38 inch hips - I am 5ft 7) but it's just that bit underneath! (I should also add that I have had 2 kids )

I'd like to try to lose maybe 4 or 5 lb more just to see what happens, as I feel that just recently the fat has finally been coming off my tummy/waist - it seems to be the last place it goes from/first it goes back on! But I don't want to lose what little bust I still have left - and also don't want to become obsessive/chasing impossible goals.

By the way, I fully intend to keep up the exercise, which has done absolute wonders for my fitness/toning me up. I'm doing 2 x 10k runs a week, 1 x weights-based workout and 1 x core/abs workout a week, and have just added a speed/interval training session to shake things up a bit and improve my 10k pace.

Any advice/anyone in the same boat?

Thanks for reading this long post!