I wish my body looked like what I was expecting it to :(

I have always wondered how people who lost the weight they wanted to but didnt like how they were expecting to look handled it? Anybody know of topics already covering this?

Like all the people who already said this - you need to lift weights. Heavy enough so that you can only do 6-8 reps before muscle failure meaning you can't lift with proper form any longer for that muscle group. I would recommend a weight-based fitness routine like the Beachbody DVD series Chalean Extreme - that will change some of your fat to muscle and give you more of the physique you are looking for. You need strength training with heavy weights to get the changes you want.

Some of the words they were said in here were very comforting and are also very motivating for me to hear. I have lost good chunk of weight and have been very discouraged with how my body is looking. It is awesome to see the scale go down and to feel the difference in my knees and back. I just want to see the difference physically as well. My wife told me that it is just going to take time and I know that is true, but I also I know I should start some kind of lifting program. I am just not sure where to begin. There is so much info out there and everyone has the "right" way of doing things.

Starting Strength, 3rd edition and The New Rules of Lifting (in my case for Women) have been recommended to me

Echoing heavy lifting. Been lifting with a trainer for the last two months. The difference in my body is astounding. They always say to find something you like and do it. Never expected it to be weightlifting - although I was a shot putter in high school so it's not like weights were a foreign concept. I've got another 8 pounds or so to make my initial goal of just not being overweight. Once there, the sky's the limit! Excited to see where my body ends up with the lifting.

/Good girls tone. Bad girls deadlift

I hit my goal of 147lbs and for 6 months I was happy but then I started noticing the jiggly bits and became less and less happy, I still was covering up but wearing a more figure hugging clothes, then I thought this won't be good in the summer, so I started my own toning programme at home.

Now I kept reading about people saying lift heavy weights but I wanted something I could do at home so I downloaded an app that did 5 mins on areas of the body and I used 1kg dumbells, then I moved on to 1.5 kg and then 2.5kg within 3 weeks, I now have a set of proper dumbells and I'm doing a 30 day dumbell challenge, I'm 2 weeks in and I'm see in changes in my shape now and my body is feeling tighter, my dumbells are at 3.8kg for upper body and 4.8 kg for a leg day, I log my exercises on an app called Jefit and I'm going to use this when the challenge is done.

Right now I do 2 sets of 10 reps and doing

Week 1 - Arms, back and shoulders ... Mon, Wed and Fri
Legs and Bum ... Tues and Thur

Week 2 - Legs and Bum ... Mon, Wed and Fri
Arms, back and shoulders ... Tuesday and Thur

Mon to Fri - I do a 5 min ab routine on an ab roller as I can't do sit ups as I hurt my neck but I do try them on my challenge and I'm getting better at them.

Now this is working for me and the proof is showing in my jeans and work trousers becoming a lot loser on me and this week I've lost 2lbs but I'm on 1660 cals a day I dropped 40 as I decided to lose another 7lb and I changed my macros to 45% carbs, 30% fat and 25% protein, that was all I've done differently.

I ent to have the body I wanted, a body I could be proud of, I didn't want to look skinny fat and so I'm doing what I can to get it, I'm never going to have a bikini body, I've had 3 kids but I know my jiggly bits are less jiggly and my arms have the start of some nice definition to them.

Hopefully my experience may help you, by no means am I an expert this is still all a part of my journey and I'm still in the process of learning and reading a lot of information and I'm doing everything gradually so I don't injure myself this is why I have rest days on Sat and Sun.

ETA ... Sorry for waffling on, didn't realise I'd gone on so much!

As others have said celebrate in what you have accomplished. I have lost the same amount so far and to my surprise my body has morphed into some strange lumps and jiggles and more importantly it seems to change every week. Where once there was a large padding of fat is much smaller, which seems to accentuate another area that didn't seem to be that noticeable before. And I swear I jiggle more now in some areas and jiggle less in others. Its a process and your body is in charge of where you loose the weight.

Learn to appreciate the change your body is going through. I don't mind the jiggle or the various pads of fat . . . its a process.

You have lots of options to firm up areas. Presently I have started Yoga to build strength and nothing is off the table for me to try. If I don't like the results then, I might consider weight training. Twenty seven pounds is not something to scoff at, you've done great so far.

Just Lift.

There is plenty of good advice here, and I can't add much except to say I know how you feel. 125 pounds down and I sometimes still feel the same as I did when I started. I think people assume that losing weight means your body will shrink, but really it's less like shrinking and more like melting. It also takes time for your skin to catch up, which can exacerbate the problem. Just don't give up, you will get there!

I can understand. I am down 43 pounds and while I wear smaller clothes I still have a ways to go. The thing I try to remember is I don't look the way I did several months ago. I know i don't look the way I want but I thank God I don't look the way I did.

Go to Bodybuilding.com they have pretty good beginner lifting plans..

You won't get "bulky" btw.. not unless you eat at a surplus ..