How do you know when you're done losing weight?

Wow! You look great!

Ignore the scale and what people say! I got the same thing and I only lost 30 lbs, everyone saying I was getting too skinny. It was annoying.

It's really up to you in the end. I would say at 6'3 that seems 210 like a good weight because of your size. If in the pictures you think you look great then start maintaining for a few months, get comfortable with where you are, start lifting and maybe you will be happy at 210.

You look fantastic!!!! I am not saying you have more to lose but don't listen to people. Many are use to seeing you big and the smaller you may at first appear 'skinny' to them, or they may just like you heavy! I would do as someone else said and try to maintain while strength training!!! I understand the goal of 200, I want to be under 130, the magic number for me. If you hit it and then slowly resume maintenance calories you will probably add back 5 pounds anyhow (our bodies like to do that). Good luck and GREAT job! You really look awesome!

Congrats on your awesome progress!

Why don't you work your way to maintenance calories for a while and see how you feel. Sometimes it can take a little linger for your mind to catch up to your body. You can take a little diet break and see if you think you need to go back to losing later.

You are done when YOU say you are done. I have been told to stop losing weight as well. I however haven't reached MY goal yet so I am going to continue. I'm losing weight for me, not for any other reason. I'm close, but now there yet. What people have to realize is we are the ones living our lives and in our bodies. We shouldn't have to sacrifice our happiness and goals in order to please others...Unless you decided to lose weight for somebody else and not yourself.

I'll be done losing weight when I am within a healthy weight range for my height and my stomach is completely flat. I have to accomplish both before I stop.

Can't see your before/after pics as I'm at work...

I think it's certainly worth listening to your friends & family - you will know them well enough to know if they are genuine and concerned or having a touch of jealousy!!
BMI ranges, body fat percentage are all good ideas but in the end only you will know if your current look/fitness level/strength are what you are seeking to achieve. Weight is only one way to measure progress.

Taking a "diet break" (maintenance for a while) is a good idea as it lets you and everyone else get used to the new you.

My original weight target was based on my favourite weight in my 20's but after a while of maintaining there I realised that weight was too heavy (fat!) for an old fart who can't carry the same muscle bulk as when I was young, so decided to take a bit more off.

You look amazing. Congratulations on the amazing job :drinker:

As far as when do you know when you are done.... it's all subjective! Are you happy with how you look? Did you make it to the size clothing you wanted? Are you feeling better? Is there motivation to keep going?

You are really the only person that can say when enough is enough.

I agree with the poster who said you are never truly done, or at least I am not because it will push back to some of the habits that put me 75lbs overweight.

I have been sitting basically at the same weight since May, but I am pushing myself with strength now and reshaping my body. So I still track my food to keep my macros in shape for my workouts.

I had a family member tell me rather rudely I was too skinny, bordering on anorexic looking. I was so annoyed because I am finally at a healthy BMI and I look good, unlike the rest of my DHs family who eat VERY unhealthy and are not active at all. My DH and I have pushed ourselves out of the family norm and are setting a different example for our child.

You do look great. Congratulations!

You can look at BMI. Unless you're very muscly, it's a decent indicator of when you're in a healthy range. My initial goal was the 'ideal' BMI recommended for me (22). I wound up losing a little more than that, but that's a good indicator.

I also took into account my weight when I left college - full height, mature build, and I was a slim adult. That's where I am now. It was also the healthy weight I returned to after my kids were born and one I kept coming back to. It seemed like my 'natural' weight. That's where I am now.

I found when I got to those numbers all of a sudden I look in the mirror and 'recognized' myself. My weight loss slowed down. And that seemed like a good place to start. Now I'm focusing on exercising more not weight loss. Oddly enough, I have lost a little since then, but I was surprised to notice I've lost more inches than weight since going into maintenance. That seems like an indicator of muscle and a good tradeoff to me.

First of all, you look great. When I reached my original goal, my body did not look like I wanted it to, and I realized I had more fat to lose, so I kept going until a friend said, "Hey, you've done an amazing job, and you look great, but you looked even better a month ago!" When I examined myself in the mirror, I realized she was right as I was starting to actually look older as my face got thinner. I decided to gain a couple of pounds and have maintained +/-3 from my new goal weight (6 pounds lighter than my original). I think losing more and realizing it was a little too much helped me to know my "happy" weight. Had I just stopped at a number, I might still be wondering, "what if I'd lost a few more," or "should I lose a few more." By having lost those few more and realizing that it did not give me the look I wanted, I now KNOW what my "ideal" weight is, and I highly recommend going there first before deciding where to settle.

Long ago I got down into my "ideal" weight range and looked ill to most people. I was starting to look a little ill to me too! And I won't claim I felt all that great either. Plus, it was extremely difficult to maintain. And after about a year it was off to the races back to new highs. It's important to note that I did this almost exclusively through dieting and that throughout I technically maintained a sedentary lifestyle.

While I won't set a final goal until I'm much closer to it, I'm thinking I want to end up around 200lbs (I'm 6' 1"). I think (based on historical experience) that's a place where I'll be happy and healthy, and be able to maintain for the long haul. And I'll look exactly the way I want to look. So what that technically I'll still be "overweight". The improvement will be so huge that any increased health risk from not losing that last 5% will be dwarfed by the benefits of what I lost. Also, from a health perspective I will look to get my Body Fat Percentage down into the healthy range. So that's forcing me to focus on turning myself from a couch potato into a moderately active individual.

The thing for you is that at 200 (call it 199) you'd just be at the top of your ideal weight range and so it isn't like you are putting yourself at a health risk by going there. So if that's what you want why not give it a try and then decide if it works? You can always put a little weight back on if you decide 200 is too low, that's the easy part :-)

Well, according to this BMI calculator, http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/tools/bmi_calculator/bmi.shtml you've still got 15lbs to go to reach your healthy BMI - but even that's not foolproof! But it suggests your instinct is correct and you need to lose more weight. You maybe need to look into it properly to be sure what your healthy weight is. On the other hand, people who are overweight but fit are more healthy than people who are at a healthy weight and are unfit.

And I'd question what's more important - looking good or protecting your health? If it's just about looking good, you've done it! You look great now! If it's about being healthy, you might need to do a bit more work. But I'd suggest you need to talk to someone suitably qualified to get advice on that, which I'm not.

Whatever you do, do it because that's what's right for YOU not because someone told you to do it.

Congrats on your loss! You do look fantastic.

I actually came to this decision this morning. When I first started I set an arbitrary goal weight based on how I looked when I lost weight in the past. I did things differently this time around, and lifted more instead of focusing on cardio alone, I think I look much better at my current weight than I originally thought I would. Since the goal of 135 was pretty arbitrary I decided to just forget about losing the last 5 pounds it would take me to get there and instead focus on strength and recomposition. Plus I think the amount of work I would need to do to drop those last 5 pounds would be detrimental because how I'm eating/working out now are more aligned with how I would be doing things in maintenance.

So if you feel like you're in a good place maybe you just need a new goal. Good luck

Well, according to this BMI calculator, http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/tools/bmi_calculator/bmi.shtml you've still got 15lbs to go to reach your healthy BMI - but even that's not foolproof! But it suggests your instinct is correct and you need to lose more weight.

BMI has flaws. According to this he is now in a healthy BMI : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9816596/Interactive-calculator-do-you-win-or-lose-with-the-new-BMI.html