When to stop

lisajamesmac · May 2020

Reposting on here as posted on the wrong forum,lol. How to people know when to stop? I’m a normal bmi now and fit in my UK 10 clothes which was the aim but I still feel like there is room for improvement and keep changing my goal weight, any advice would be appreciated

AnnPT77 · May 2020

Mostly subjective, but you could ask your doctor's opinion.

For most of us, there's quite a range of weights that are reasonably healthy, but aesthetics are very individual (and cultural). There's also, for some, the factor that low weights can be harder to maintain than a few pounds heavier, for some reason (possibly related to hunger/appetitite hormones)? That's pretty individual, too.

Personally, I kept going until I felt like the fat on my last squishy-fat zone was depleted enough that gravity wouldn't conspire with the remaining fat mass to keep that skin area stretched out.

If you're generally happy, but wish you had a more taut/lean/defined look, recomposition might be an option, if you haven't already considered that:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10177803/recomposition-maintaining-weight-while-losing-fat

Keep in mind that one option is to maintain weight for a while, see how that goes, then in a few months consider whether you'd be happier a little lighter for health, athletic performance or aesthetics; or a little heavier in order to maintain on slightly more calories, or for health, athletic performance or aesthetics. (Yup, same adjectives, but different weights for different people

).

I'm in year 4+ of maintenance. I still only have non-answers to this question. :drinker:

lisajamesmac · May 2020

Thankyou for the reply it had helped a lot, I still have a stubborn bit of fat right at the bottom of my stomach but I think there’s a good chance it’s more to do with having kids and it will never go even with more weight loss unfortunately.lol

AnnPT77 · May 2020

lisajamesmac wrote: »

Thankyou for the reply it had helped a lot, I still have a stubborn bit of fat right at the bottom of my stomach but I think there’s a good chance it’s more to do with having kids and it will never go even with more weight loss unfortunately.lol

Would it help to see some other women at varied goal (or near-goal) weights, with various kinds of exercise and childbirth histories and ages? If so, and you haven't seen it, this might be useful:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10689837/does-this-uterus-make-my-stomach-look-fat/p1

I think it was really started mainly to counter misimpressions some women get from posed/carefull-posed/professionally-lit/photoshopped IG-ers, influencers and "fitness celebs," but it can be useful in other ways, too.

lisajamesmac · May 2020

Thankyou

sijomial · May 2020

I stopped when I got to my chosen goal weight.
But it ended up being a pause rather than a stop - after some months I simply asked myself if my best weight was lower, higher or stay the same. I still ask myself the same question periodically after many years maintaining.

Maintaining at goal weight is a new skill to learn so maybe just be happy you have attained your goal, consolidate that loss and come back to that assessment later?

By the way you can still change your body while maintaining through your exercise and lifestyle choices and also if you have loose skin from your recent weight loss that can continue to recover.

sardelsa · May 2020

Do you mean stop losing weight?

In terms of when to maintain (or in my case sometimes gain) I usually evaluate by results. Am I actually starting to look worse with weight loss? Am I losing too much in places I would prefer not to? Is my workout performance suffering, do I feel run down and weak? If I feel like any of those are true I start to think about going back to the drawing board and maintaining or gaining depending on what my goals are.

And as mentioned you can always continue to work on fitness and body composition in maintenance. Find a proper resistance/lifting program, get adequate protein and keep at it.

lisajamesmac · May 2020

Thankyou guys, I’ve decided to go for around another 8lb just to get to a small UK 10 (I’m a big 10 right now) and then go on to maintaining.

jasmine_belle · May 2020

lisajamesmac wrote: »

Thankyou guys, I’ve decided to go for around another 8lb just to get to a small UK 10 (I’m a big 10 right now) and then go on to maintaining.

Good luck! I'm in the process of transitioning to maintenance. I'm still trying to get the balance but am determined to succeed! Well done on coming this far.

lisajamesmac · May 2020

Thankyou and you will smash the maintaince,you have already done the hard part x

NeahF · May 2020

I would say to check out what your fat percentage is and what your healthiest weight could be, meaning your weight at the best fat percentage for women. Hope this helps.

jugar · May 2020

I like the ideas about experimenting here - I have been maintaining for almost 8 years, but I have revised the weight zone I want to stay in 3 times now. I stayed for quite a while at one level, decided to go down another 5 pounds, stayed there for a long time, had a period of slippage where I was complacent about logging and exercise, buckled down and got back to goal #2, then another year or so later, headed for goal #3. Recently I made an experiment to go just a bit lower than that, and it was a no go. My blood pressure became too low, I had no energy, and I was hungry too much of the time. So now I know - my current "stay here" range (goal +/- 2 pounds either way) is working well. Body composition is really important too - muscle tone and strength maintenance are the focus of exercise, and then I just eat to have no calorie deficit (or surplus!) in CICO.

When to stop

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