Is It Time???

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BooMonkeyButt
BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
edited July 2015 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
How do you know when it's time to starting maintaining your weight? I've lost 46 pounds and weigh 125 pounds at 4'11. Ideally, I'd like to lose another five pounds but I don't know if it's in the cards for me right now. Any advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.
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  • samantham425
    samantham425 Posts: 1 Member
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    My first advice to anyone with weight questions is to always ask your doctor, but if that's not an option then I can probably help you out. I weigh 98.4 lbs and I'm 5'1 and I have seen my doctor recently and she had told me that it's perfectly healthy, so since you're shorter than I am then it will definitely be okay for you to lose more weight. Just remember that if you FEEL healthy, then you probably are and there's no need for you to lose weight unless it's for your own happiness. Good luck!
  • artlover47
    artlover47 Posts: 76 Member
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    I am 5'2" and am just a couple pounds away from 125, and that is not going to be low enough to satisfy me. So I agree that long term, you could probably lose a few more pounds. However, if something is keeping you from continuing your weight loss and you need to just maintain a while before attempting to lose more, that's fine, too. Lose it at your own rate, and try to sustain the progress you have already made. Forty-six pounds is an achievement to be proud of and you don't want to undo all of your hard work by being too strict and bingeing or getting off the wagon. You are doing this for YOU, to make yourself feel good. If you need a break from your calorie restrictions, try maintence calories for a while, and when you get ready to lose more, switch back to a deficit. The other option would be to change your rate of loss goals to something less aggressive, and decrease your current deficit by getting more calories in a day but still be eating low enough to lose weight, just at a slower pace.
  • AsISmile
    AsISmile Posts: 1,004 Member
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    artlover47 wrote: »
    I am 5'2" and am just a couple pounds away from 125, and that is not going to be low enough to satisfy me. So I agree that long term, you could probably lose a few more pounds. However, if something is keeping you from continuing your weight loss and you need to just maintain a while before attempting to lose more, that's fine, too. Lose it at your own rate, and try to sustain the progress you have already made. Forty-six pounds is an achievement to be proud of and you don't want to undo all of your hard work by being too strict and bingeing or getting off the wagon. You are doing this for YOU, to make yourself feel good. If you need a break from your calorie restrictions, try maintence calories for a while, and when you get ready to lose more, switch back to a deficit. The other option would be to change your rate of loss goals to something less aggressive, and decrease your current deficit by getting more calories in a day but still be eating low enough to lose weight, just at a slower pace.

    Exactly this.
    I've read so many times that the last few lbs will be the hardest to come off, and a deficit of two lbs will not work for that.
    So it is your choice, but if you want to continue losing weight I'd suggest setting MFP to 0.5 loss a week.
  • BooMonkeyButt
    BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
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    Thank you everyone for we or your support, advice, and encouragement. It definitely helps and gives me things to think about. Thank you for your time. It means more than you'll ever know. Goodnight.
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
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    samantham425 wrote: »
    My first advice to anyone with weight questions is to always ask your doctor, but if that's not an option then I can probably help you out. I weigh 98.4 lbs and I'm 5'1 and I have seen my doctor recently and she had told me that it's perfectly healthy, so since you're shorter than I am then it will definitely be okay for you to lose more weight. Just remember that if you FEEL healthy, then you probably are and there's no need for you to lose weight unless it's for your own happiness. Good luck!

    You’re on the border of being underweight, based on BMI (for what it’s worth, 18.6). I wouldn’t use your stats as the reference point for other people.

    OP, I was recently in a similar situation, having reached my “goal weight”. What I ended up doing is increasing my calories and maintaining a much smaller deficit for about .5lb/week loss, and I’m thinking of going to maintenance soon at this point. How you feel is really all that matters once you’re in a healthy weight range. You can always go to maintenance and focus on other goals, like lifting weights or running or whatever other fitness-y things you might enjoy. I’ve discovered weight lifting not too long ago, so I always peddle that. It’s a ton of fun to have strength goals rather than weight loss goals :smile:

    Regardless, congrats on your success thus far :smile:
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    samantham425 wrote: »
    My first advice to anyone with weight questions is to always ask your doctor, but if that's not an option then I can probably help you out. I weigh 98.4 lbs and I'm 5'1 and I have seen my doctor recently and she had told me that it's perfectly healthy, so since you're shorter than I am then it will definitely be okay for you to lose more weight. Just remember that if you FEEL healthy, then you probably are and there's no need for you to lose weight unless it's for your own happiness. Good luck!

    Nope. Most doctors only go by BMI. Mine told me to stop losing when I was 150 pounds. No way.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    edited July 2015
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    Everyone has a different ideal weight, so if you feel you are now slim then perhaps its time for you to maintain. For me I struggled to lose the final 3lbs to get to my ideal goal weight so I decided to maintain. I found I was much more content as I was getting to eat more and I must have still be in slight deficit as I did reach my goal.
    I'm 5ft 2" / 133lbs and am slim but I workout a lot - chest 33" waist 26.5" hips 35" :smile:
  • BooMonkeyButt
    BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
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    Thank everyone for your advice and input. I'm only thinking about maintenance because I can't seem to loose anymore as the scale isn't moving. I know I'm not gaining weight and it's frustrating not seeing it move because I don't understand why it isn't.
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
    edited July 2015
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    alissagorkin91 wrote: »
    Thank everyone for your advice and input. I'm only thinking about maintenance because I can't seem to loose anymore as the scale isn't moving. I know I'm not gaining weight and it's frustrating not seeing it move because I don't understand why it isn't.

    Well, if that’s the case, do you use a food scale to weigh all of the food you eat? That’s the #1 cause of no weight loss - inaccurate calorie tracking. And keep in mind that weight loss isn’t linear, so you can go weeks without any losses and then have one big loss (just had that myself today).
  • BooMonkeyButt
    BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
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    Yes, I use a food scale.
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
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    If you want to keep losing, you could open your food diary for people to look at, in case they notice some common mistakes. Otherwise, how long has it been since you saw a loss? It could just be the whole non-linear weight loss thing. I found that the less I had to lose, the less consistently I lost it.
  • BooMonkeyButt
    BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
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    I thought it was but I fixed it now. I think it's been maybe 2-3 weeks.
  • BooMonkeyButt
    BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
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    The last time I lost was on the 21st.
  • Emilia777
    Emilia777 Posts: 978 Member
    edited July 2015
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    If you’re confident your tracking is accurate, and nothing happens in another couple of weeks, then you might have a reason to take a step back and see where the problem is. In the meantime, it could just be a bit of a stall, which is normal. But that’s just my view. I know how frustrating it is to be doing everything you can and not see the results.

    Taking measurements might help too, btw. And I would definitely get onto a strength training program (though be mindful that there is usually some water retention weight gain as your muscles repair themselves at the beginning).

    ETA: Ok, so I looked through your diary, and I don’t think your logging is accurate. Some days seem incomplete, I see a lot of estimates for take-out (i.e. Chinese food), you don’t actually weigh most things (cheese, sour cream?). You need to tighten up your logging. Maybe read this:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1
  • galprincess
    galprincess Posts: 682 Member
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    I'm 5ft 5 and I weigh 126lbs and I just knew it was time to maintain so I guess you will know
  • BooMonkeyButt
    BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
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    I have logged everything correctly. I only use Quick Add when I have a bite of something or can't find the exact calories. So pl
  • BooMonkeyButt
    BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
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    How did you know it was time to maintain? What was going on?
  • BooMonkeyButt
    BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
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    Emilia777 wrote: »
    If you’re confident your tracking is accurate, and nothing happens in another couple of weeks, then you might have a reason to take a step back and see where the problem is. In the meantime, it could just be a bit of a stall, which is normal. But that’s just my view. I know how frustrating it is to be doing everything you can and not see the results.

    Taking measurements might help too, btw. And I would definitely get onto a strength training program (though be mindful that there is usually some water retention weight gain as your muscles repair themselves at the beginning).

    ETA: Ok, so I looked through your diary, and I don’t think your logging is accurate. Some days seem incomplete, I see a lot of estimates for take-out (i.e. Chinese food), you don’t actually weigh most things (cheese, sour cream?). You need to tighten up your logging. Maybe read this:
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

    I measure out the Chinese food in measuring cups and Sour Cream with measuring spoons. Tell me how you weigh these things when it tells you 1 TBSP or one cup. One cup is one cup. One TBSP is one TBSP.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
    edited July 2015
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    alissagorkin91 wrote: »
    The last time I lost was on the 21st.

    Ok that doesn't mean anything. It's very common to stall for a couple weeks. Just give it time.

    Besides, if you're really stuck and can't lose more (after a month or two), it means you're eating at maintenance anyway, so there's nothing to change.
  • BooMonkeyButt
    BooMonkeyButt Posts: 129 Member
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    I don't have it set to maintenance though.

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