Knowing When To Stop

Benevolay
Benevolay Posts: 18 Member
edited November 21 in Health and Weight Loss
Howdy. I've posted on-and-off on here since I joined last year, but despite doing well on my weight loss, I feel as if there is so much that I still don't know. I suppose I'm a rather... unorthodox case, but maybe you all will be able to help me out.

I started losing weight last June when my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The first time I weighed myself, on June 29th, I weighed 318 lbs. As of last Sunday, I weighed 178 lbs. I'm a 28 year old man who comes in between 5'10" and 5'11" tall.

I didn't see a doctor before I began losing weight. I don't have a doctor. All of my life, my doctor has been random emergency room visits. I don't have a nutritionist. I don't have a fitness expert. I've been flying blind.

I did a bit of research back then and figured 165 lbs. would be a good goal. It's the goal I have set on here. As it stands, when I use the various BMI calculators I've managed to find online, I'm still placed in the overweight category at 178 lbs. And I certainly feel overweight.

Parts of my body are skinnier than ever. The area around my neck and my shoulders. I'm feeling bones I didn't even know I had, which I'm sure is normal. When my collarbones reemerged, it felt like something so... foreign. It freaked me out for a few days. But at the same time, my stomach still has a lot of fat, as do my thighs and buttocks. The fat there is more noticeable when I sit down, as when I stand, I don't seem to notice it too much. Particularly my thighs. They don't feel that fat when I'm standing, but when I sit down, I can jiggle and wobble them just like I could when I weighed 318 lbs.

How will I know when to stop? I know a lot of people talk about recomposition - trying to turn your fat into muscle and maintain the weight you're at - but I have no idea what a good weight is. I still feel fat. I feel like I should keep doing what I've been doing. But I don't know if that's necessarily the best course of action.

I'll post my recorded weights in small text. As you can see, the numbers have been slowing down as of late, but I've been losing weight successfully.
June 29th, 2014: 318 lbs.
July 6th, 2014: 315 lbs.
July 13th, 2014: 311 lbs.
July 20th, 2014: 308 lbs.
July 27th, 2014: 303 lbs.
August 3rd, 2014: 298 lbs.
August 10th, 2014: 295 lbs.
August 17th, 2014: 291 lbs.
August 24th, 2014: 287 lbs.
August 31st, 2014: 284 lbs.
September 7th, 2014: 280 lbs.
September 14th, 2014: 276 lbs.
September 21st, 2014: 274 lbs.
September 28th, 2014: 272 lbs.
October 5th, 2014: 269 lbs.
October 12th, 2014: 266 lbs.
October 19th, 2014: 263 lbs.
October 26th, 2014: 262 lbs.
November 2nd, 2014: 258 lbs.
November 9th, 2014: 257 lbs.
November 16th, 2014: 252 lbs.
November 23rd, 2014: 249 lbs.
November 30th, 2014: 247 lbs.
December 7th, 2014: 243 lbs.
December 14th, 2014: 241 lbs.
December 21st, 2014: 238 lbs.
December 28th, 2014: 236 lbs.
January 4th, 2015: 233 lbs.
January 11th, 2015: 231 lbs.
January 18th, 2015: 228 lbs.
January 25th, 2015: 226 lbs.
February 1st, 2015: 225 lbs.
February 8th, 2015: 223 lbs.
February 15th, 2015: 220 lbs.
February 22nd, 2015: 219 lbs.
March 1st, 2015: 217 lbs.
March 8th, 2015: 215 lbs.
March 15th, 2015: 212 lbs.
March 22nd, 2015: 210 lbs.
March 29th, 2015: 207 lbs.
April 5th, 2015: 204 lbs.
April 12th, 2015: 202 lbs.
April 19th, 2015: 201 lbs.
April 26th, 2015: 198 lbs.
May 3rd, 2015: 196 lbs.
May 10th, 2015: 195 lbs.
May 17th, 2015: 193 lbs.
May 24th, 2015: 191 lbs.
May 30th, 2015: 189 lbs.
June 7th, 2015: 186 lbs.
June 14th, 2015: 185 lbs.
June 21st, 2015: 183 lbs.
June 28th, 2015: 182 lbs.
July 5th, 2015: 180 lbs.
July 12th, 2015: 179 lbs.
July 19th, 2015: 178 lbs.

Replies

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Edited
    Benevolay wrote: »
    How will I know when to stop? I know a lot of people talk about recomposition - trying to turn your fat into muscle and maintain the weight you're at - but I have no idea what a good weight is. I still feel fat. I feel like I should keep doing what I've been doing. But I don't know if that's necessarily the best course of action.

    Great success on the weight loss! :) It takes a while to get used to seeing yourself in your new body. Be patient.
    Re fat and muscle: they are two different things. Muscle is always muscle. Its properties do not change.
    Do start a lifting.
  • Benevolay
    Benevolay Posts: 18 Member
    RodaRose wrote: »
    Re fat and muscle: they are two different things. Muscle is always muscle. Its properties do not change.
    Do start a lifting.
    I didn't mean it literally. I know you can't turn fat into muscle. I meant to build muscle and eventually lower my body fat.

    It's hard to lift without access to a gym or good equipment. All I have are three dumbbells at 15-20 lbs.
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,771 Member
    I'm 5'6", 134, and I somehow feel even worse about my body than I did when I was obese. I'm stopping at my original goal weight (130) to see if my brain catches up. I know I have more than four pounds of fat to lose, but I truly don't know whether I will ever be satisfied with my body.

    There's no shame in taking an extended diet break right now if you're not happy.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Congrats on your awesome success to date!

    If you let us know what you're currently doing with your dumbbells, we can suggest more at-home uses for them. What else are you doing for exercise?
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    Personally I would stop within the next 5lbs or so.

    Then eat at maintenance and look into a decent body weight training programme. Whilst it is easier to increase load with barbells etc it is still doable with body weight depending on sensible progression.

    Assess how you feel in 3-6 months. I suspect you will be quite happy with your results.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    You're amazing! Some of the extra "fat" you're visually seeing is loose skin that will eventually tighten up. But if you haven't been lifting weights, really, then there's a good chance something like this happened.

    SW: 318
    BF%: 40
    Total lean mass: 191 lbs

    CW: 178
    BF%: 20
    Total lean mass: 142 lbs

    (I'm TOTALLY making these fat% up. Yours could be different.) While you lost an awesome 140 lbs, 49 of it was "lean mass" (muscle, tendons, blood vessels, bone, etc.). I'm willing to bet if you started a recomp program for a while at maintenance calories you'll be a lot happier with your body in a year. The skin will shrink, you'll gain some muscle, lose some fat and maybe lower that BF% number. Or, lose a little more before starting recomp.

    Body weight exercises like push ups and squats with those dumbbells can make a difference. Can you afford a chin-up bar? They often have them at Goodwill/thrift stores.
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