How do you know when to stop losing?

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victoria_1024
victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
Hello everyone! I can't believe I am so close to being here. I am down 74.2 pounds, my goal being 75 pounds. My question though is about knowing when to stop losing weight. I picked my goal weight because it was the very top of a healthy BMI, and because 75 pounds sounded like a nice number! Also, this is what I weighed in college and when I got married and when I look back at the pictures of myself I feel like I looked amazing. Now that I am less than a pound from my goal, I DO feel amazing. When I see pictures of myself, I think I look great. I'm wearing a size medium/8. A far cry from my size 18/20 that I started in. But of course I'm still noticing all the fat on my tummy and thighs. The weight is still coming off pretty easily for me but I don't want to get to a weight that is hard for me to maintain either.

How did you all decide to stop losing?
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Replies

  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,345 Member
    edited October 2015
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    congrats on your loss, you've done great :smile: Its great to feel amazing and you're wearing a size 8 which is awesome :smile: Only you can decide how much more you need to lose. You can work on the wobbly bits by incorporating a mix of strength training and cardio now, you'll be amazed and how your body starts to change shape.

    I got to my goal and then thought I'd lose a few more pounds, then I thought maybe a few more....except when I would take them off they weren't easy to keep off/sustain so I settled on my happy weight, which for me is a range between 130-134lbs :smile:
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
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    Thank you so much! Yes I'm already doing some strength training. I've had 4 babies so I have a lot of loose skin on my tummy that may never go away. I just want my weight to be something I can maintain for the long-term. I am probably someone who will need to always log to maintain and I am ok with that, but I'm only 5'2.5" so I can't eat as much as a taller person and I don't want to be starving forever.
  • vivmom2014
    vivmom2014 Posts: 1,647 Member
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    Congratulations on your loss! Thank you for posting the question. I reached my goal weight but then it seemed like I wanted to go ONE more pound (nonsensical, I know) and that last pound has decided to stage an all-out war with me.

    I hear you on the tummy woes, too. The standard answers are that belly fat is often the last "to go", and that heavy lifting will "solve" the problem. I know that I will (probably) never be a heavy lifter. I do what I can with light weights and body weight exercises. There's a point where you really just have to say: good enough!
  • BikeTourer
    BikeTourer Posts: 191 Member
    edited October 2015
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    Congrats on your weight loss. My suggestion is give you and your body time to adjust to your new weight and work on firm up activities. After you've done that for a while then you can decide if going a bit lower is right for you. Everyone has level of food and activity level that is sustainable. No reason to drive yourself to a "suck all joy out of life" weight.

    I'm with you on the logging even in maintenance. It keeps me honest in terms of what goes in vs. out. Also it is amazing just the thought of having to log something gets you to think twice if you really want something.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
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    Congratulations! I just got to a point where I was completely content. Happy with my body, happy with my exercise level and happy with my way of eating and I didn't want to get any smaller.

    I didn't have a goal weight (I did have a goal dress size in mind though) so my experience might have been different.

    I still continue to plan and track my meals. It worked well for me during weight loss mode so I have not plans with stopping.

    Good luck to you!

  • krithsai
    krithsai Posts: 668 Member
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    Maybe you want to start focusing on recomposition now - increasing lean body mass while dropping body fat percentage, which btw, may help with the abdominal area. I have no personal experience with it because I'm not at goal weight(or even close) yet. But this is something I keep reading in the forums.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    I got to my goal (fairly random favourite adult weight) so stopped.
    After a few months I reassessed and then made a few adjustments in a series of small steps.

    What you decide now doesn't have to be forever and your body continues to change at maintenance if you work at it.

    Work on enjoying maintenance and making it sustainable.
  • rhtexasgal
    rhtexasgal Posts: 572 Member
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    My weight goal was 125 pounds but for some reason, my body blew past it and settled at around 118 pounds. I have been fluctuating a pound or two around 118 for over six months now so I listened to my body and decided this is my new maintenance weight. While I am now at 18-19% BMI, I still have a little buddha belly after two C-sections. I have been weight training and while it has really leaned me out, that tummy is the only holdout and I may have to keep it! (It has been the same measurement for six months) Right now, my new goal is to be able to do chin-ups/pull-ups and if my weight training flattens out my belly a bit, I won't complain. However, neither am I going to stress over it. I am just enjoying where I am out right now!
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    I got down with 7 pounds of my goal weight and started the recomp... best thing I could have done...

    You will just know when you get to the "happy" number or close to it...By then you are already searching to try something else like get leaner and/or build a little muscle and get definition within your body... Mine was both.

  • giantrobot_powerlifting
    giantrobot_powerlifting Posts: 2,598 Member
    edited October 2015
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    Mirror and calipers. I was happy with what I saw and the calipers reported 10%. Once fall rolled around it was #teammarshmellow time.
  • RaspberryTickleChicken
    RaspberryTickleChicken Posts: 629 Member
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    victoria_1024 wrote: »
    Hello everyone! I can't believe I am so close to being here. I am down 74.2 pounds, my goal being 75 pounds. My question though is about knowing when to stop losing weight. I picked my goal weight because it was the very top of a healthy BMI, and because 75 pounds sounded like a nice number! Also, this is what I weighed in college and when I got married and when I look back at the pictures of myself I feel like I looked amazing. Now that I am less than a pound from my goal, I DO feel amazing. When I see pictures of myself, I think I look great. I'm wearing a size medium/8. A far cry from my size 18/20 that I started in. But of course I'm still noticing all the fat on my tummy and thighs. The weight is still coming off pretty easily for me but I don't want to get to a weight that is hard for me to maintain either.

    How did you all decide to stop losing?

    I didn't. I just let my body tell me.

    When I stopped losing weight and found that it was easily maintainable, I just came to the conclusion that my CW is where I should be.

    Have maintained 2+ yrs now w/zero regain.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    Congrats!
    First time I didn't know. I kept losing and losing, but instead of my body looking better, it just looked worse. I figured out the problem was my body composition. Second time around (after my bulk) I knew right away when I was done, just a hint of stomach definition without pronounced abs is my sweet spot.
  • Wheelhouse15
    Wheelhouse15 Posts: 5,575 Member
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    Congrats! It's not about a number so much for me but rather a look and feel. When you see what you like and feel great then you can start to maintain. If you feel like you would like to lose a little more then do that. Numbers on the scale are really not the best guide but just a rough meassure but I think when you get to where you want to be you'll know it.
  • Samm471
    Samm471 Posts: 432 Member
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    A few of you say go by mirror and calipers but I'm guessing when you want to reach maintenanace you will keep having to step on the scale to check your at maintenance and do this once in a while to keep check that your still sitting at maintenace? I'm also the same I'm at happy weight but not happy with my body fat % so thinking of working my way up to maintenace and continue to keep lifting heavy and some cardio
  • stillMR305
    stillMR305 Posts: 10 Member
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    This is how I see it. You will be reaching your goal pretty soon, which also happens to be a weight you are happy with. Key word: happy You had great moments at that weight, and your next step should be to maintain it. Sometimes people are so focused on slaying away at the weight they forget how challenging it is to maintain it once they reach it. Go on, enjoy your feat.
  • SCP0914
    SCP0914 Posts: 74 Member
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    I used this to help me figure out my final goal: http://www.calculator.net/ideal-weight-calculator.html
    But honestly I'd say whatever you're comfortable with and whatever's easiest for you to maintain. I agree that you may find that you're more unsatisfied with your body fat % rather than your actual weight, so that may be something to consider. You could maintain and incorporate weights if you feel like this is a maintainable weight for yourself.
  • stillMR305
    stillMR305 Posts: 10 Member
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    Samm471 wrote: »
    A few of you say go by mirror and calipers but I'm guessing when you want to reach maintenance you will keep having to step on the scale to check your at maintenance and do this once in a while to keep check that your still sitting at maintenance? I'm also the same I'm at happy weight but not happy with my body fat % so thinking of working my way up to maintenance and continue to keep lifting heavy and some cardio

    If you are happy with your weight, you will have to tweak your diet and your workout. Do some low intensity cardio along with that lifting.
  • lyttlewon
    lyttlewon Posts: 1,118 Member
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    I picked my weight because it was the upper limit on what was listed as a "healthy weight", I went a little below that, total of 60 pounds lost over 3 years. I decided to stop, because I was tired of being in weight loss mode. I have been on maintenance for 3 months now. I have gained about 5lbs in water weight, but in general I'm doing okay with it.
  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
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    Thank you all! Lots to think about. I feel like I would like to lose a few pounds still but slowly. I'm happy with where I'm at but I don't feel like I'm quite there yet. I'm a mom with 4 young children and honestly as much as I would love to have 6 pack abs I just don't think that's in the cards for me right now. And I'm fine with that. I may switch to losing a half pound a week and just enjoy a more relaxed weight loss mode while continuing with strength training. See what happens from there!!

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