at what point I should stop losing weight?

ahousejump
ahousejump Posts: 12 Member
edited November 16 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello, wondering at what point I should stop losing weight? I’m 6’ tall 33 years old, started @ 292lbs, now down to 196lbs after 9 month using the app. I do 1h of exercise every day, half hour of weights & half hour on the treadmill, changing up the weight exercises every day to not work the same muscle groups 2 days in a row. Body looks good, feel great, still have a loose fat tire around the mid-section, not sure if fat or just loose skin. I want to continue my exercise, is it time now to switch to maintain weight and keep exercising to start building muscle and tighten up the loose skin? or keep going till I'm down to 180 or 175 before switching to maintain weight? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks,

Replies

  • CaliMomTeach
    CaliMomTeach Posts: 745 Member
    I have the same question for myself I went from 193 to 137 July to now, 5'6 female, but still have loose stomach (fat? skin?). People are starting to say "Stop losing weight", but I'm not so sure if I am done. My original goal was 150, but once I got there I decided to lose more. I am thinking I maybe should get under where I want to be in case I gain after stopping eating at a deficit. I've slowly upped my calories, and am now eating at .5 pounds a week because I am afraid of gaining it back. I would look at a BMI chart and see if you are in the normal range for your height/age.
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  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    ahousejump wrote: »
    Hello, wondering at what point I should stop losing weight? I’m 6’ tall 33 years old, started @ 292lbs, now down to 196lbs after 9 month using the app. I do 1h of exercise every day, half hour of weights & half hour on the treadmill, changing up the weight exercises every day to not work the same muscle groups 2 days in a row. Body looks good, feel great, still have a loose fat tire around the mid-section, not sure if fat or just loose skin. I want to continue my exercise, is it time now to switch to maintain weight and keep exercising to start building muscle and tighten up the loose skin? or keep going till I'm down to 180 or 175 before switching to maintain weight? Any advice would be helpful. Thanks,

    Well, you lost a good amount of weight fairly quickly so you probably have some loose skin.
    What rate are you currently losing at? You are the only one who can decide where you should stop but it would be appropriate to at least slow your rate of loss as you are much closer to the healthy bmi range for your height.
    You could switch to .5 lb a week loss now if you have not already.
    You could also maintain for awhile and see how you feel in 3-6 months about maybe losing another 10-15 lbs or staying where you are.
  • nygrl4evr
    nygrl4evr Posts: 196 Member
    At CaliMom - I am 5' 7 and 2 years ago I had gotten down to 135lb. I went for my physical and my doctor recommended that I should not loose anymore weight. I would suggest speaking with your doctor on what a healthy weight is for you. If you don't have a doctor then at least check your BMI to make sure you are not under a healthy BMI. It sounds like you shouldn't be loosing anymore weight. Just working on toning and maintaining at this point.
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
    I think if you were making yourself sick or looking and/or being dangerously under weight that would be a good time to stop.. however, between you now and a healthy weight is entirely up to you, people making comments arent you, you do you. If you are healthy, thats all that matters.

    However some things i've discovered since hitting goal weight and regaining 15 pounds, is that.. at 135 pounds i still had belly fat.. and while i could of tried to get some form of a flat stomach, i was 300 pounds and have a lot of loose skin so i couldn't really imagine my efforts being what i actually visioned in my brain.

    Also there isnt really all that much difference between me at 135 and the weight i am now... i lost some of those 15 pounds but the 6 that are left.. meh.. so this time i basically say.. if it comes off it comes off lol if it doesn't, it doesn't cause ive already been there, i know its not going to be victoria secret fashion shoot body

    Nice weight loss!
  • ahousejump
    ahousejump Posts: 12 Member
    I think my post has been hijacked by other folks...lol. Anyone have advice for me?
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    ahousejump wrote: »
    I think my post has been hijacked by other folks...lol. Anyone have advice for me?

    I would say go to maintenance for awhile. Even if you are not at your ultimate "looks" goal, taking time to eat at maintenance and get your strength up a bit more can do wonders for your body and mind. In several weeks or even months or even a year from now you may decide that you want to go back to losing a bit more fat. Your loose skin will benefit from time at (or above) maintenance as well.
  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
    6 foot tall at 180? really? i think its time for maintenance and heavy lifting
  • Nikion901
    Nikion901 Posts: 2,467 Member
    Uh ... stop when you like the way you look and feel?
  • duddysdad
    duddysdad Posts: 403 Member
    I got down to 179 at 6'5" and still needed to lose a bit more. Everyone's body is different.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,225 Member
    Keep in mind that you have other options, should they appeal to you:
    1. You could start gradually increasing your calories eaten, maybe by 100 daily, then waiting a couple of weeks to a month, and repeating, until you coast into maintenance calories and see your weight stabilize. This would give you some very slow additional loss along the way, and let you gradually learn how best to spend your extra calories at maintenance, rather than waiting and making a single big calorie jump later (which for some can be a splurge/binge temptation). I did this & found it helpful.
    2. You could take a maintenance break, eat at maintenance calories for your current weight, and see how your body responds. It's not an irreversible decision, so if you decide you want to lose a few more pounds, you just go back to a small calorie deficit.

    About the fat vs. loose skin thing, I wrote this on another thread:
    Loose skin is very thin - like if you pinch the skin on the back of your hand & pull that up, for most of us. It tends to hang in narrow wrinkly ways, almost like folds of a fabric like fine-rib corduroy or lightweight velveteen. Anything thicker is probably still skin with a subcutaneous fat layer, or possibly what I think of as "squishy fat".

    IME, fat cells seem not to politely deplete themselves from the outer layer on one's body to the inner layer, but often randomly through one's fat mass, leaving the remainder hanging out on one's body in a less-firm form, i.e., "squishier", maybe hang-ier. This causes thicker folds if it's hang-y, like maybe stuffed-comforter-sized folds or bigger.

    Personally, I decided to keep losing until I felt like the remaining fat on my fatter parts was not dragging down on the skin in those areas, under the influence of gravity. I think this might only work if you haven't lost massive amounts (I ended up losing just over 60 pounds,180s to 120s).

    I gather there's a good bit of genetics involved, but FWIW I did find that my loose skin has kept shrinking slowly in the bit over a year since I lost the majority of my weight, even though I am 61 y/o now. Or maybe being active helps with that, too - I am. But the bottom line is that there's hope for it to happen, even at an older age.
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