How will you know

I see a lot about goal weights and such on this site, but weight is just a number, so I'm wondering how will you know when you've "arrived" at your goal? If you get to your goal weight will you want to lose more? Build muscle? Maintain? Is there something aside from weight that you'd like to see happen with your body? Will you ever be "finished" or is fitness a never-ending process in which you always find another goal to meet? On one hand I'd like to reach a point where I'm totally satisfied with my body, but on the other hand I know that (barring plastic surgery) something will always bother me. So is it better to make peace with whatever "flaws" you see in yourself or is it better to always work toward improvement? Thoughts?

for me it's easy: when I can fit in that old pair of true size 2 pants and have room, that's the day.

My current goal is to get to my goal weight. My goal after that will be to maintain it. I'm really aiming for a lifestyle change, so I would like to hope that 10 years from now I'll still be maintaining my weight and not undoing all the hard work.

Most people will want to lose more when they hit their goal, because most people underestimate how much they need to lose to look like that picture they have in their heads.

When I wake up in the morning and look at myself and say "Damn! You look good."

I said I wanted to lose 20 pounds but, I'll see how I feel when I lose 10 or 15. If I feel good, I'll work on maintaining and getting fitter.

I think it all about how YOU feel.

Gosh I HOPE there is an end to it!! I reached my goal weight a long time ago, but honestly, I think it's never ending! I think it differs for each person; for me, plastic surgery would be the only way to be truly happy! Exercising and eating right doesn't get rid of stretch marks and loose skin! LOL But really, I think eventually fitness will no longer be a "struggle" but will simply become who I am!

I am VERY close to my weight goal. My body goal now is more about losing the jiggle. I want to fit into a nice pair of jeans and not have muffin top. I want to look in the mirror and be happy with what I see. Something that hasn't happened in 10+ years.

When I no longer have a muffin top over my dress pants and can throw all my Spanx in the trash!

Most people will want to lose more when they hit their goal, because most people underestimate how much they need to lose to look like that picture they have in their heads.

I agree eveyone looks diff. in sizes. my goal is weight yes but i look at inches.

I think I will be satisfied, but only with the scale, when I reach my goal weight. I believe then I will really need to focus on shaoping and toning. Then I will need to focus on maintaining. I believe that this is something that I will have to work at my entire life. I'm not sure what I will look like when I reach my "goal weight", so I'm not sure that I will want to stop losing when I get there, or I may be satisfied before I reach my "goal". My main goal is health. This is a lifestyle change, for sure. There will always be something to improve, but I think when I finally feel healthy, I can maybe overlook all of my other flaws and just be happy.

See I thought that too-- although not size 2!-- but now that I fit in my old clothes I still feel like I'm not quite "there" yet. Only now I don't know where there is yet.

How about setting fitting in old clothes as stage one goal？ once reached, we will talk about what's next. Good luck.

Actually it has been reached. lol That's what I'm thinking about now-- whether I want to keep losing weight, or just focus on building muscle, or what.

It sounds like for most people there may not be an ending point, so to speak.

Whatever makes you happy. Sounds like you want to lose a bit more as you said “not quite there yet".

I think you won't know until you are there. While I love how I looked with a six-pack, I thought the rest of me was too thin plus it was hard for me to maintain. I mainly did it just to see if I could but realized that was just too hard for me to maintain with the lifestyle I like to live.

The flaws part, well, it depends. I accept the ones I can't change. After 3 pregnancies with a lot of weight gain, my lower stomach skin will always be a little loose and other little things that unless I get surgery to fix (which the thought is nice but its not *that* important to me) I learn to accept them.

I never had "saddle bags" or lines in the back of my upper thighs until after my third pregnancy. That I have been working at to at least smooth out and improve as much as possible and have been seeing results.

Again, I think its just your own preference. My main goal is to have fun with life so while I still want to look good, it will never get in the way or be more important than getting out there and having fun.

When I no longer have a muffin top over my dress pants and can throw all my Spanx in the trash!

^^Amen!

Ya know, I was never REALLY unhappy at 184. I knew I was 'fluffy', and overweight, but my health was (and still is) very good. I think that, once I knew I was in the obese range, it was just a mind thing..........didn't WANT to be there, and remembered being thinner and how that felt.

So, once I started on this journey, my first goal was to get out of the obese category. Did that.
My next goal was to weigh what my driver's license said. Did that.
My newest goal is to get to about 145, and see how I feel there.

Life is good, though. This has actually been kinda fun, and I never ever ever thought I'd say that!!!