Is it time to stop lowering my goal weight?

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epadmeister
epadmeister Posts: 102 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hi everyone! :) I'm having a bit of conflict with myself about my goal weight.

I've spent the last 6 months losing at an average of 0.4 / 0.5kgs a week (1 / 1.3lbs). A few weeks ago I hit my initial goal weight of 58kg. Not being happy with that, I lowered it to 57kg... then 56kg... and now I'm almost at my new goal weight of 55kg / 121lbs.

How did you know when to stop?! I never thought, back when I was 73kgs heavy, I would ever be unhappy at 58kg... I know I should probably stop because it would be the sensible thing to do (My BMI is bang in the middle at 21.5, so I'm not overweight or anything!). Still, I can't help but wonder if losing an extra couple of pounds would help my appearance that little bit more :)

Current stats:
Height: 160.5cm
Age: 23
Weight: 55.5kg
BF% (according to scales..) fluctuates between 29% and 30.5%

My plan of action for maintaining is this:

Up calories to 1750 a day.
Focus on strength training: I want my body to change SHAPE. There's still quite a lot of fat everywhere *cough BELLY cough*.

Any suggestions on what my next steps should be? I've NEVER been this close to "maintenance" before in my life so this is all very, very new to me :embarassed:

Thanks :) Emma x
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Replies

  • Fatandfifty3
    Fatandfifty3 Posts: 419 Member
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    I think you look great. I think that you seem to be at the point where you can almost stop wanting to reduce the number on the scales and work on refining your shape. Muscle weighs differently to fat. Have a chat with your fitness trainers about where to go from here.
    Good luck and well done!
    :-)
  • cppeace
    cppeace Posts: 764 Member
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    yeah were it me, I'd begin major strength training if wanting to tighten and trim a bit more. But remember ignore the scale while doing so. Personally I think you look great. Congrats on making your goal and beyond.
  • kittyr77
    kittyr77 Posts: 419 Member
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    Emma you look freaking awesome!
    tbh Im not sure i believe the 30 percent fat , you don't look any more than 26 max?
    you have said a number to up your kcal to for maintenance - is this your tdee from a calculator like eg fitness frog? I know you are short and light but that doesn't seem a lot for the amount of exercise you do? Or are you planning on eating back your exercise on top of that 1700 or so figure?
    I think if you're looking to change your composition I would either eat at maintenance, high protein and do a heavy lifting program - there are loads of examples on the forums here. Or I guess your other option would be to try and bulk, like tdee plus 10-20% and lift - again there are loads of threads on this. You would be aiming to gain muscle but you may gain a bit of fat too and then have to cut a little again.
    also there is a danger that no matter what you achieve you won't be happy with it, and i guess there is some self acceptance etc to work on if that is the case.
    sorry for the ramble, Im not sure i've been very helpful, but i shall reiterate my point in- YOU LOOK AMAZE-BALLS!!!!!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    Yes it's time to stop losing, find your maintenance calories and get used to the new you.
    There's still quite a lot of fat everywhere *cough BELLY cough*.
    Actually no there isn't and I don't believe your BF number is that high either.
    You have done a great job to get where you are and now it's time to be happy with your new body and not look for problem areas.

    That doesn't mean you won't change at maintenance and it doesn't mean you stay at this weight forever. Time to replace weight loss goal with other goals such as strength, body composition, fitness.
  • Thesis_gut
    Thesis_gut Posts: 56 Member
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    Hey Emma, I think you look fab!

    Maybe as the others have said you could try to change your body shape through exercise rather than more weight loss if you're still not content with it.

    I'd be careful with lowering your goal weight more and more.. It's exactly what I did when (at the age of 15, so many many years ago) I first decided to loose some weight. In the end I ended up with an eating disorder (EDNOS, then bulimia), and even now 15 years later I have a difficult relationship with my body and food (although eating and weight have become normal). I'm not trying to scare you, you've probably got a different personality and in my case the diet wasn't the only thing that set the ED off. But it's tricky, you start thinking: Just one more kilo, and then just one more, and one day you wake up and find yourself crying over a weight that would have been heaven just a few months ago.

    So be proud of what you've achieved and if you find yourself feeling ****ty about how you look now, then maybe take a look at old pictures to remind yourself of how much weight you've lost and that you don't need to loose any more at all.
  • CassieReannan
    CassieReannan Posts: 1,479 Member
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    You're 55kg, I'd certainly be happy with that. Your BMI is healthy too and you seem pretty on top with your maintainence plans. I wouldn't lower your goal any further now, you'll barely have any fat to keep you warm :ohwell:
  • jbing07
    jbing07 Posts: 46 Member
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    I understand how u feel, I have been in the same boat for a while. What I did was in my goals, is change it to maintain, but left a goal weight in there, but not going to let the number bother me. So, I have been doing a lot of circuit training to help tone.
  • DianeinCA
    DianeinCA Posts: 307 Member
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    I think the two things to do right now are:

    1) Stop, and get comfortable with maintaining. Maintaining is a different beast than losing and requires a new set of skills (says one of the people who hasn't quite mastered that skill for herself).

    2) Begin strength training to change your shape.

    I also don't believe you're at 30% BF -- how did you get this measured?
  • epadmeister
    epadmeister Posts: 102 Member
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    I also don't believe you're at 30% BF -- how did you get this measured?

    Haha, blame my "super duper body fat measuring scales", they seem to be drunk most of the time. Seriously, every 5 minutes it'll go up / down by 2%!

    Thanks everyone for your advice, it's going to be hard snapping out of netting a certain amount for weight LOSS... but what if I over-estimate and put weight on?! :embarassed: :frown: :sad:

    I will be sensible and eat more! :) I will also get into major strength training. How often (out of curiosity) do people do cardio when maintaining? I've grown to love running now :bigsmile:
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
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    Ha, I love the "drunk BF scale" comment! Agreed. Your scale doesn't know what it's doing (BF wise). As far as fear of gaining, I think you'd be safe to slowly up your calories, maybe 100 cals/day for a few weeks at a time until you find your maintenance.

    I definitely see the possibility of a recomp for you. It will certainly do a lot more for you than a few more kg's on the scale would ever do at this point (IMHO).

    As far as running, lots of people run while maintaining/recomping. If it's what you love, and as long as you eat to fuel those runs, and couple with a weight training program (again, fueled properly, i.e. eat enough), maintaining/recomping can happen.

    PS: I peeked at your diary. Um, yeah, you got great macros, girl! Keep those % up, and you'll go far!:flowerforyou:
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,089 Member
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    You look great!! I think your body fat measurement is off though. You look more about 25%~27% if I had to guess. Anyway, I would definitely raise your calories and begin a strength training program. Look up new rules of lifting for women. You may like it :-)
  • aedreana
    aedreana Posts: 979 Member
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    Unfortunately, I have found that I cannot pinpoint my exact ideal weight until I drop below it and see that I am too thin. Especially when I lose too much volume in my bustline-- that is my primary indicator that my weight is too low.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
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    Thanks for this post. I had been at maintenance and then decided that I should lose some body fat and get down to 125 from 130, but my sister-in-law and I just had a talk about aging and she cited a report (she's a nurse practitioner) that said three of the things that people who lived longer reported were 1. having a little fat on themselves, 2. drinking a small amount of wine or beer every day, 3. exercising.

    So, I have decided to stop losing and stick with my original range of 128 to 132 with my goal in the middle. I'm already at 24% body fat according to my own caliper tests, which puts me in the active range.
  • epadmeister
    epadmeister Posts: 102 Member
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    Thanks everyone for your awesome replies :smile: I'm going to bite the bullet and up my calories to 1800, with strength training in mind.

    I realise that this next part (maintenance) is all trial and error. If there are fluctuations above 1kg, I know to decrease calories until I'm back onto my goal weight :) it'll just be really weird getting into the habit of eating more and seeing higher "net" calories for the week.

    I actually ate (lol and accidentally went a bit above :laugh: ) maintenance calories for the day, just to see what it'd be like! Honestly? I feel really guilty about it. :grumble: silly Emma, I'll have to get used to it sooner or later!
  • DianeinCA
    DianeinCA Posts: 307 Member
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    If you're eating at much below 1800 now (say, 1500 or lower), I suggest you gently ease your body into a higher calorie count by upping your daily calories by about 100 a day / week. That way, you learn what the greater amount of food is, and your body doesn't go into "let me squirrel this away for winter" mode.
  • ScottDowell
    ScottDowell Posts: 95 Member
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    In this picture, you are looking quite good. I don't think you need to reduce more weight. If you will do, you will become too much slim. Now stop reducing weight and maintain your body shape at this level.
  • leadiax3
    leadiax3 Posts: 534 Member
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    I suggest just eating healthy and exercising regularly and focusing on staying strong and having good cardio endurance. since you are at a healthy weight it is okay to gain a couple or lose a couple. you have reached your goal and now it is time to enjoy life without being obsessive. I am only speaking from my own experience as I have allowed myself to become obsessive and have had totake a lot of action to stop.
  • Johnplusfour
    Johnplusfour Posts: 105
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    I say keep going!.
  • irenehb
    irenehb Posts: 236 Member
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    Congrats, you look great. Time for maintenance, I say.

    I kept on changing my weight loss goal, originally 57, than 55 and some how let my weight drop to 53.5. Which is still in the normal range for my height but not longer after I got seriously ill and dropped to a low of 49.8 (underweight), some of it was poor appetite but some unexplained ( GP seems to think hyperthyroidism, specialist appt pending). I so wish I had stopped changing my goal now, so I had more of a buffer. Live and learn :smile:
  • CariS001
    CariS001 Posts: 169 Member
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    Thanks everyone for your advice, it's going to be hard snapping out of netting a certain amount for weight LOSS... but what if I over-estimate and put weight on?! :embarassed: :frown: :sad:

    Go slow! Add 100 calories each week, and monitor (or every 2-4 weeks).
    I will be sensible and eat more! :) I will also get into major strength training. How often (out of curiosity) do people do cardio when maintaining? I've grown to love running now :bigsmile:

    Honestly, as much as you want!!! If you love it, stick with it. I do HIIT training 3-5 times per week, and walk a ton, because I love my walking time with my dog. Do what is sustainable and enjoyable for you!

    Good luck! Welcome to maintenance! I second all those that say focus on the weight training. It will do wonders!!

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