when to stop?

It's tricky to say - do you know why you're not happy with how you look? And how did you get to 20% body fat?

LisaDoyle80 wrote: »

How did you set your target weight - and when you reach it, will you be happy to stop there? I've lost 6kg in the last few months, taking me below my target weight - but I'm not happy to stop here so have set a new target. However, if I get there, I can't see me thinking my body is perfect, so how do I know when enough is enough and try to maintain?
FYI I'm 5ft5/1.66m, 131lb/59.5kg and pretty muscular - I'd say not much over 20% body fat - so I may not have a huge amount to lose but it still sounds quite heavy for my height, which probably doesn't help me to feel I'm at a weight where it's OK to stop losing more.

Why do you think this is heavy fo ryour weight? It is pretty much the ideal BMI.

LisaDoyle80 wrote: »

I did a body fat % test - just the ones on scales where you hold the handles, which I know are not that accurate, but it said 19%, so I assume a few more is more realistic.
With BMI - I guess since it gives you a range, I feel that the bottom end of the range is 'better' - and the bottom end of the range is 54kg!
I'm not unhappy with how I look, I just guess it could be better - maybe I'm being too harsh / competitive?! I've been thinner (though only a couple of kg) - so I suppose I'm comparing myself to my younger, pre-children top track athlete self!

If you are muscular, it's *very* unlikely that the lower end of the BMI range is "better"! I'm not one of them, but I've been privileged to spend a bit of time around some quite high-level competitive rowers (major collegiate program). These are young women who do weight workouts - I've seen them - with stacks of weight plates that each look like freight-train wheels to me, and do a few thousand calories worth of endurance exercise daily. I find their body weights, in many cases, literally unbelievable. Haven't looked it up, but I'm pretty sure they're "overweight" if not "obese" according to BMI . . . but they have lean, strong bodies that any sane woman would envy. The same has tended to be true - though perhaps not to the same extent - for the few high-level older rowers I've known.

To answer your explicit question: I had a brief period of healthy weight in my teens/twenties. I used my recollections from that time to set an initial goal weight (medium-high side of where I felt good), planning that that would be a preliminary estimate. Now that I'm close (couple pounds above that original goal weight), I'm looking at the fat stores remaining and planning a few additional pounds. I'm slowing my loss rate slowly, with the plan to pay close attention to those fatter areas, and to how I feel, to decide where to land.

To guard against body-dysmorphia-induced stupidity, I've been looking at scientific-research-based ideal body weight calculators, recommendations of various respected health-promotion organizations (governmental & otherwise), and the like. However, I temper these with specifics about myself that might affect recommendations (I'm a little more muscular than most women my age; I've had bilateral mastectomies so that weight is out of the equation; etc.).