Is this my body's "happy weight" or do I just need to work harder?

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beth0277
beth0277 Posts: 217 Member
edited March 2018 in Health and Weight Loss
I started using MFP about 11 months ago. In that time, I've lost 53 pounds (going from 213 to 160). I've been at 160 for a while now, really since around Christmas, but I haven't been great with my eating. I feel like maybe 160 is my body's "happy weight". I can maintain it pretty easily. I can treat myself and still hover around the same weight. My goal is 145, and I know I'm so close, so I'm not sure if just mentally I am not pushing (which I know I'm not) or if it's unrealistic to maintain a lower weight. I've been 160 in the past and have been able to stay there for a while. I'm a 5'4" small framed female. I am in a size 10 bottom (though a little roomy) and a small/medium top.

Should I just keep pushing to get to my goal or should I accept this weight? I think the reason it's been hard is because when I do lose weight at this point, it's very slow. So it gets frustrating to track so closely and work out when I know I could eat a bit more loosely and stay around the same.

Replies

  • krael65
    krael65 Posts: 306 Member
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    When I started losing this time around, my goal was 120. I kind of stalled out and was sputtering at ~127. I floundered about there for several weeks but stuck with it, monitoring my calories in and estimating my calories out. I thought maybe I was meant to stay at the mid 120s, as I'm older now.

    Well. I got myself a Fitbit and realized that I wasn't burning as much as I thought I was. So my presumed deficit was really my maintenance calories.

    For me, the Fitbit was a game changer. I already weighed all of my food to the gram, so I was pretty confident in my CI. The Fitbit helped me monitor my CO and realize that I needed to up my game. By that I mean to increase my NEAT - now I move more throughout the day. I don't do more "intentional" exercise per se, but I now average around 15,000 steps a day, which in turn increases my total daily burn.

    Long story longer, my new maintenance weight is 115. SO............ I believe if you understand your numbers (CI and CO) and they are more accurate, you don't have to "settle" for a "happy weight".

    And oh yes -- it was a slow loss, so I did need to be patient. (23 lbs. in 9 months). But what also helped was weighing daily and plotting the weights in a spreadsheet to view the normal fluctuations and understand that I was indeed losing.
  • pinuplove
    pinuplove Posts: 12,874 Member
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    I'm also 5'4, current weight 158, goal weight 140. Also in a size 10. So we're kind of twinsies :smile: I know for ME, it is not at all unrealistic to aim for a lower weight. I spent many years at 135, maintaining without much thought so I know I can do it (albeit with more vigilance, since I obviously didn't maintain forever :wink: )

    All that's happened is you've reached an equilibrium where your daily intake roughly equals your daily energy output. In order to continue losing you need to either eat fewer calories or expend more energy (or a bit of both). This last stretch is just a long, hard slog sometimes.
  • JMcGee2018
    JMcGee2018 Posts: 275 Member
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    I'm the same height and roughly the same weight. I suggest getting down to your goal weight, which is a healthy weight, and seeing how you feel then. There is no such thing as "set point" or "happy weight," but you might find that it is too hard for you to maintain at a lower weight and will end up choosing to maintain at 150 or 160. You won't know until you get down to 145 if it is sustainable for you or not.
  • bendyourkneekatie
    bendyourkneekatie Posts: 696 Member
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    There's no set point, it's entirely in your power to decide what weight you'd like to be
  • Running_and_Coffee
    Running_and_Coffee Posts: 811 Member
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    I'd try to mix things up--new exercise, tweak your diet a bit--and see what happens.

    BTW, I'll go out on a limb here and say I think there can be a "happy weight" or a weight you gravitate towards when you're not trying to lose or gain. I'm the same height and I am pretty certain that my body's happy weight is 143, and my mind's happy weight is 135. Meaning, I like how I look at 135 and that's the perfect weight for the clothes I own to be not too small or too big. But since my mid-20s, when I go long periods of time without working out and/or watching my food intake, I almost always see 143 on the scale. I think that's what my body naturally wants to maintain. No science here--this is just my own anecdotal experience.

    That being said, I've gone as low as 129 by being a really careful dieter and vigorous exerciser, so it's not like it's written in Sharpie that I have to be 143.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,972 Member
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    I'm well above my "goal" weight - currently 155, I'd like to see 126-131 based on where I was in the past.

    I don't want to hard diet at this point (nor can I if I want to keep up with my workouts, and fitness is more important than a few pounds for me right now) so I'm just doing a slow recomp.

    This means I'm eating at a very slight deficit, but we're talking SMALL - up to maintenance at my "goal" weight. It's not a fast way to lose weight, it's not the quickest way to do either (gain muscle or lose fat), but I'm finding it pretty "pain free" in terms of not feeling hungry, deprived, etc. I do still track my food pretty tightly most days, but took this week (which is my deload week from workouts as well) off from tracking - I have a pretty good idea of what I can and cannot eat in my plan now, I'm not going crazy on the eating, but I'm not weighing and measuring and tracking every bite, either.

    Some days I get frustrated, but other days (like this week) I'm super stoked at the progress I've made even though the scale has hardly budged - but I'm trimmer, there's zero doubt about that.

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