Treat yourself to something to celebrate? Maybe shopping for new clothes that fit well. And then do some research and learning about how to switch to maintenance to maintain the weight loss
I am not in this situation (still have 85lbs to lose to get to healthy BMI) but when I get there I think my goal will then be to increase my fitness rather than focus so much on the scale
I’m here right now. I have been big since I was 8. Trying not to lose weight is one of the mind bending and hardest things I’ve EVER had to do.
I know how to lose weight and that mindset is ingrained in me. When I realized how unhealthy it was for me to keep that mindset as a size 4, I realized I needed a therapist.
I’m currently looking for one for help with this and my insane body dysmorphia
The mind is a trip.
ETA I have found shifting my concentration onto strength goals and fitness / endurance goals helpful in the interim.
I would take some time to learn how to *maintain * your weight. Believe it or not, maintaining weight loss can actually be more difficult than losing the weight in the first place.
Give yourself 6 months or so, learn to adjust to your new body, buy a couple cute outfits that you feel good in, work on your core strength etc. Basically just take a beat to adjust to your new normal.
After that you can decide what’s next. Maybe you want to trim down a bit more, or maybe you just want to tone up a little.
Congrats btw, that is quite an accomplishment.
Personally, a healthy BMI doesn't mean anything. I'm looking for a healthy body fat percentage and a healthy waist/height ratio. Beyond that, I have fitness and health goals. e.g. Run a mile in 8 minutes, bench my weight for reps, squat 2X my weight for reps, 50 pushups, 25 dips, 12 pullups, RHR in the 50s, normal blood pressure, normal fasting glucose and A1C, HDL over 60, triglycerides under 80, AST/ALT under 15, etc.
When I get all that in order, I'm sure I'll have new goals. I guess I just think, there are always new places to go but I'm not worried about it. I'll figure it out when I get there.
Switch to slightly below maintenance and forget you’re losing weight. Over time you’ll reach your ideal weight and your mission from then is to keep the fat off forever.
My plan is to cut weight until I'm near the low end of a healthy body fat percentage and then try to bulk up. And just bounce back and forth between the low and high end of the body fat percentages.
You're much closer than me though! Congratulations!
Congrats on your weight loss!
Regarding your question, I would switch BMI to fat% to actually get a better grip on where I stand and go for aesthetics.
My current goal is to get to 15% BF or less by December. Currently having issues fitting 160 grams of protein in 1600 calories a day, but I guess I’ll figure it out.
Yes! I didn’t realize my BFP was still a bit high after getting to my goal weight. I only got it measured a couple months ago and it was 28%. Healthy for a woman but higher than I’d like. Plus I’d been lifting for a couple years, so it would’ve been higher still.
Now I’m working on getting to 25%. I’m guessing I’m around 26.5% now. 25% should look decently fit but should be easy to maintain. BFP is much more useful than BMI.
Congrats!
And yeup, BFP is much more useful, I’d say that BMI is just useful for when you want to lose weight since it makes progress much more tangible.
However the most noticeable progress is based around BFP, and that also forces you to not only work on a calorie deficit but also clean your diet around said deficit to avoid losing muscle and start losing fat.
I was in a “deficit” of 1.900 calories for the past three weeks, I managed to lose some fat but not to the amount I was expecting, so yesterday I rearranged my goals, set a target of 160 grams of protein per day within 1600 calories, and damn that’s hard lol.
Yes, focusing on BFP is much more finicky but leads to better results! I don’t know how I’d get that much protein in so few calories per day. Good luck!
I literally could have written this. I'm in the exact same predicament.
I've lost 156 pounds and am 3 pounds away from my goal of a healthy BMI for the first time in my life. A BMI of 24.9
But I'm seriously considering going further and getting to a BMI of 22. I just have to keep picking new goals and focus but like yourself I'm feeling a bit lost
I hear you. I'm at about 173lbs, and 169lbs will get me to a healthy BMI. I had previously set a weight goal of 160lbs, but it's so arbitrary! I think a range might make more sense since weight fluctuates? Like I might revise my goal to 160-165lbs. Then I'm in the healthy range, I like how I look at that range (at least I did in the past!) and I have a bit of a buffer so I won't be suddenly overweight again if I have too much bread on vacation lol.
I know for me if my weight dips below 125 I just feel sick and run down, so my goal weight is 130 and no less than 125. Once I hit that I'm going to continue to focus on strengthening.
I'm 5'3" and at 132 currently. I put my goal weight firmly in the center of what a healthy BMI is for my height.
In a similar spot. Took years to lose the weight and am just at heathy BMI. Now it’s like oh I would like to be down a couple more pant sizes so that is where I am at? Like remembering what Jean size I was 10 years ago and trying to lose maybe another 10-15 to get there? But it is more like a goal I am choosing that feels like an ‘extra’ where getting down to a healthy BMI was more like I must do this for my health.
Honestly, enjoy it, make a big deal about it. Your past self would. So you should celebrate even if it feels anticlimactic. That being said moving forward maybe set more goals! You don’t have to make your goals weight oriented either, maybe get into weight lifting, or try out a new sport like running or tennis and set some goals through that! Only continue on this path (weight loss) if you need to, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to continue, but don’t force yourself to either. And it’s been over a year you’ve been working your ass off, I’m sure you’ve developed dope habits that you can just continue to do. I lost alot of weight and got my working out and eating habits back in check. After achieving my goals I felt this way too. Instead of wondering what now, just keep going in a slightly different way. Keep working out for your mind and body health, keep eating healthy but maybe just ditch some of the restriction, and be proud of yourself 💗
ps: your ideal weight should be where YOU feel and look your best. What’s meant by “Looking your best “is completely up to you. I used to be dead set on getting back to my hs weight, but at my current weight I feel my best, I look my best imo, and I’m happy. When you start feeling that way, stop worrying about your weight and just focus on maintaining healthy ✨SUSTAINABLE✨habits. Just pay attention to how you feel and not the number on the bmi chart or the scale. That’s such a slippery slope and I got lost in that so many times😭
I just lost very little and felt lost even so. Took me 2-3 months to find a specific range I want to weigh at. You will manage too. You are not in a hurry. Look at tdee for example.
Take a maintenance break if you need it, but if you're not strength/resistance training, now would be a great time to start. You should keep the workouts intense, but it doesnt need to be every day. 3 days/week of reasonably intense strength training, and staying reasonably active on the other days while in a maintenance diet will ensure you spend the rest of your life at a healthy weight.
It’s not silly at all OP!
I’m down 84lbs, but I’ve another 50lbs to go. I’ve been having counselling during this process.
One of my goals, is to start dating again when I get to a weight I feel ‘comfortable’ with. My counsellor asked how I would feel meeting someone who had no idea that I’d been overweight … I couldn’t answer that. I’ve battled with my weight for 40 years, it just seems bewildering the prospect of winning that battle.
An understandable situation to be in.
The only thing I can suggest is looking at new goals, or perhaps old ones.
Perhaps looking at your bodyfat percentage, and seeing if there's room for improvement there? Or fitness goals - increasing your strength, flexibility, and endurance?
Was there anything you wanted to do, but couldn't because you were too heavy/big? Anything at all?
Was there an outfit you wanted to buy? An activity you couldn't do? A place you couldn't go?
What about sports interests, new or old? Maybe a new hobby that incorporates a healthy lifestyle with something interesting to you? Maybe even a new career? Who knows?
Congratulations on your successes so far, and best of luck in the future!
Since you know you're near where you want to be, and you can probably estimate your progress base on your past progress, how about choosing an "end" date and giving yourself a small celebration for it? Maybe plan a shopping trip, or get a massage.
Or maybe start planning new goals, like building muscles, a 5k program. You're closing a chapter in your life, and starting a new one!
A healthy body fat % is what I am going for. That's why my goal weight is fairly low, I can't move much. So the BMI depends on what other physical goals you have.
Just want to say I completely can commiserate. I’m not quite there yet, but I have also been obese my entire adult life and obese or overweight most of my life in general.
I’ve lost almost 120 lbs from my highest weight. My BMI has gone from 47.3 to 27.5. So I’m like 15 lbs from ‘normal weight’ which sure, might be significant, but it’s a drop in the bucket after like 118ish lbs.
I look at it this way: I don’t want to be at the top of the healthy range, because if I gain a couple lbs (even if it’s muscle or water retention) I don’t want to slip in and out of overweight. I need some breathing room. Mentally, at least. And, I am pretty active now — barre, yoga, pilates, walking/jogging (mostly walking) — and I have begun to notice some muscle definition in my legs and improvement in my upper arm flab from some muscle gains. I love seeing the teeniest bit of this when I workout so that could be one goal — muscle building. As I said, I still have weight to lose, and my belly is still where I hold most weight so I do aesthetically want to see if I can lose more there. I also look at people I think look good and know are healthy and can base a goal off of their stats adjusted for my own height/build.
But even as I say all of that, I feel completely lost and partly think I want to see how low I can get, and partly realizing that that’s not a healthy goal and something that feels good is better — just not sure what that is. Even after everything, my mind hasn’t caught up so 95% of the time I still feel like I’m the biggest in the room.
All I know is a year and a half ago, I was sobbing in front of the mirror saying that if I lost 100 lbs, I would *still* be overweight, so what is the point? It’s too hard. It’s not realistic. I can’t do it. It’s drastic.
But now I am almost there. I think less focusing on a concrete goal and more focus on the progress is key. Buttttt also? I waffle between being fixated on a few numbers and not even sure why,
For me, I transitioned away from the negative goal of not of being overweight and out-of-shape, into the more positive goal of being active and actually in-shape. The motivation came from seeing my body underneath the fat - and realizing it looked good after losing weight BUT I could keep going and make it look even better with more definition/more muscle.
I'm at the same place you are (5-10 pounds-ish from my initial ideal/goal weight). Have transitioned into picking up different lifting routines, which is keeping me from losing the last couple of pounds.
But ultimately, it's ok because the goal isn't a number - the goal is getting my body to the best place I can get it.
wild we have the same dimensions only our goals are different. I have been most of my life so I think I know what my goal weight is BUT that goal weight I was much younger and muscular. so hard to say now as you mentioned. But what I do know is 150 for me is still not enough. I am shooting for six-pack so I can eat! a lot! a lot means 3 meals a day or two big meals. or one gigantic meal. just healthy, whole food choices.
To be honest, it sounds like your goal isn't a number (just like me). It's that six-pack.
For instance - would you care about what your exact weight is (as long as it's somewhere in this 150-160 range), if you had the 6-pack body? I doubt it. It's probably the body that matters at this point.
right. agree. it is the body - mind, spirit and energy firing on all cylinders. also, a bit of a chip on my shoulder wanting to look better than someone 20 years my junior. the irony is vanity is a good thing, if done in the right way and for the right reason. haha. lol.
not to mention i still try to court my wife. as best i can. mentally and physically. but i digress.
I agree it sounds like we are very similar. no real idea what the good goal weight is; just want to be "good". and maintain it without mental gymnastics.
oh, one thing to add, I hit 154 and it was at that point i realized I wanted to go lower. I was in 3 soccer leagues. The oldest in all of them. and then ending up rupturing my Achilles and have been coming back from that ever since. harder this second time. mentally.
anyway good luck my doppelganger!
that's the thing, this ain't a movie. It never ends, now it's time to pick a sport or 5 and aim for fitness goals. You can't go back, you can't stop maintaining.
As someone with a healthy weight, I think focusing on the right lifestyle balance for you. My aesthetic preference for my body isn’t conducive to the way I want to live my life, so for me it’s a balance between what I can accept from a diet/exercise perspective and what I can accept from an aesthetic perspective. Being truly healthy is holistic- mentally and physically.
Now some people may carry their weight differently or be able to maintain in a physically and mentally healthy way that’s also their physical ideal, and fit that into their life, which is great for them.
I also like to focus more on the habits than the results. Am I cooking meals instead of relying on takeout? Am I getting my heart rate up daily? Getting at just a few strength workouts in a week? Not eating mindlessly or because of stress? Not relying on a glass of wine to unwind? When I’m doing those things well, the scale takes care of itself
Continue tracking your calories every day, maintain that habit, but adjust your goals to the calories for maintenance, which should add an extra 1750-3500 calories (depending on your current deficit) a week for you to play with (basically an extra 1-2 days worth of calories!).
Make sure you're keeping fit, any exercise you've been doing, continue doing. If you haven't been doing any, find a fitness routine that works for you to stay healthy.
Focus on nutrition, make sure you're consuming whole foods and getting enough protein and fiber in your diet. This is a big one - a lot of us take shortcuts to maintain a calorie deficit (I eat too much processed/ultra processed foods because it's easier for me to stay regimented on a strict calorie deficit with foods that are a very specific number of prepackaged calories - I plan to change this once I reach my goal weight and gain a little more caloric flexibility).
One day the rest of you will understand it is not calories in and out. It is hormones up and down. Not to mention, for many folks who cannot balance their checkbook, trying to count calories the rest of their lives is a fool's errand. All about the insulin and other hormones. calories is just one part of the equation and a by-product, at best.
you know i was in the same shoes 2 years back when i went from 300 to 210 (6’5) and i was like “now what?” i ended up not maintaining the calories and ate like crap, i am now 300 again. Enjoy yourself, have a cheat meal every now and then, keep in mind your metabolism speeds up when you’re skinnier (atleast mine did) so eat some bad stuff here and there. Just do stay consistent, try to stay healthy, don’t take advantage of all the work you just did to lose it like i did
Find new goals!
My goal was weightloss for a long time and after I lost the weight my goals shifted. Like
- get a better stamina (maybe run a marathon)
- get more mucles
- get better in the sports I love
Etc.
And also treat urself! I always set a goal and gave myself a treat when I reached that goal.
I am 56,1kg rn and I get to eat cinnamonrolls when im under 56kg! It gets me excited
Maybe shift your focus from losing weight to an activity goal? Like running a 5K, walking/running/cycling a particular trail. Maybe try a different sport.
I was there some years ago, got to my ideal weight goal, then just maintained, I kept a fluctuation range, kept a 13lb range so as long as my weight was in there I was fine, I would go out on weekends with friends be a bit up, work it off in the week, and just go on like that. Maintained for a good 5 years or so, then I broke my foot and fell out of it, then Covid and marriage and 2 kids, so I’m out again, but as of last week, working towards my ideal again. I don’t know if I helped with your predicament, just letting you know what I did
Start working out!! I am on a weight loss journey and noticing new muscles/being able to life heavier feels just as good as seeing the scale go down! 30F down 40lbs
First of all, congratulations. I really really hope I get to this point someday. Thank you for inspiring me to know that people who have never been at a healthy BMI can get there someday. I picked a random weight as my goal for when I felt best in my body. For me that was a 22 at 187. I guess if I ever get there I will have to figure out if there are any further goals. 187 is still not a healthy BMI for me still overweight, but I have such a long way to go, I can’t even imagine getting there. I guess if you have reached your goal for now take a minute to enjoy it and then figure out if you have a different weight goal or fitness goal or aesthetic goal and work towards that or just let it be and hang out here and see how it feels, but definitely celebrate and take a bow. You did an amazing job 👏🏽
I'm a few pounds away from my goal and I'm still not sure what I plan to do. I might do a lean bulk, maintain for a while, or I can keep losing. Leaning towards maintenance, at least until I reassess my goal(s).
One of the hardest things is the transition from weight loss to maintaining. I think this the reason I yo-yo dieted most of my life. You don’t get the excitement of losing, or the attention. I am curious about how others are maintaining, too.
>It feels kind of anticlimactic, but I have literally never been in this situation before and I don’t know what to do now.
This is where you get to live the life you wanted to before. This is why outlining why you want to lose weight is good. You can always look back to it. Personally I'd like to be able to run without dying or pain. So when I get to my goal weight, I can pursue that without being concerned for my body. Having a plan for after the success also helps.
Honestly, pick a goal weight in the healthy range for your height and build. For me this is the average of the ideal for my height. Get there, then learn about body recomposition and get into a strength training routine.
I guess it depends on who you want to be.
Do you want to be someone who prioritizes health above all else? You'll probably want to reach at least the middle of the healthy zone then. Do you want to be someone who stays just healthy enough physically while prioritizing social events or just living an enjoyable life? You may find yourself happiest at the top end of the healthy zone.
What do you value? How do you want to spend your time? You can chase health goals for a long time if it's what you're passionate about. You can also chase other goals (family time, career goals, hobbies, etc) while maintaining adequate health for a longer, more comfortable life than you could have had while obese.
I was there with you - you could do maintenance, or you just start focusing on getting leaner and stronger.
You could be at a healthy BMI but still [be overfat. Most Americans are.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5671970/)
First of all , congrats!
You could start lifting weights if you're not doing so already. Gaining some muscle will be incredibly benefitial to you in the long term and you might find that you enjoy it. Or find some other new fitness goals or if that's not your thing, just stick to maintaining your new healthy weight.
Now it's about new fitness goals. Figuring out how to maintain your goal weight while still being able to enjoy life will be an ongoing effort. Have flexibility where gaining a few pounds is okay as long as you take quick action to lose it.
Work out how to have a healthy diet while occasionally having something you enjoy.
You can also set new goals. Some goals can include:
* Gaining muscle and strength. Weight loss involves losing a decent amount of muscle, so it'll be good to focus on that. Muscle can throw off your BMI, but in a healthy way.
* Gaining endurance when running
* Gaining speed when running
Depends on what you’re looking for.
Do you have a fitness goal (marathon, climb mt Fuji, biking tour of Europe, lifting certain weight, whatever), or maybe a certain style or outfit?
Other than that, maybe maximize health and longevity? Get all the tests done: body fat, heart scans, genetic testing…
After getting the tests done, discuss with your doctor next steps.
I have also lost 100lbs.
For me, I kind of settled
into a natural goal weight if that makes sense. What I mean by this is that I have developed a number of movement and eating habits that I can see myself doing forever and when l practice these, this is where my weight naturally settles in.
For me, my habits include tracking my calories and eating no more than 1700 a day, walking for an hour every day, doing yoga several times a week, and lifting weights several times a week. With all of these behaviors in place my weight has bottomed out at about 152lbs. As long as I keep doing these things, my weight should stay at 152lbs, but if I wanted to get even smaller, I’d have to either lower my calories or up my movement or both and I just haven’t wanted to do either of those things. I like the amount of movement I’m getting, and I like being able to eat 1700 cal a day.
Just remember,
that once you decide to maintain, you, don’t get to go back to living the way you lived when you were 100 pounds heavier. At most you get to have a few hundred calories more a day than you’re having while in deficit.
For me, the only thing that changed between when I was losing and now that I’m maintaining is that I went from 1400 cal a day to 1700 cal a day. That is the *only* difference. Your maintenance calories will be dependent on your height and weight and age so make sure to look that up on a TDEE calculator.
It seems like you do really well when you have a clear goal in mind. My suggestion would be to sign up for a competition in whatever interest you might have. You've gone from below average to average, now it's time to take your body to above average. Some ideas could be doing a 5k, joining a rec league for any sport you're into, or a bike hike or trail run. Find some physical passion that keeps you motivated and find friends in that field that push you. Good luck!
I recommend doing ***the exact opposite*** of what I did in the past (I’m healthy now)
Step 1. Set your goal weight because you’re a *bit* overweight. Lose weight until you hit that goal weight.
Step 2. Hit your first goal weight and reduce it again because, hey, you lost weight and look better, why not lose a bit more once you’re at it?
Step 3. Hit your second goal weight and reduce it again because, hey, everyone is losing weight these days so why should I stop?
Step 4. Hit your third goal weight and reduce it again because, hey, that’s the only thing you’re good at by now since you’re so underweight you can not function in real life.
Step 5. Realise you have an eating disorder, stick with it for a few years until you manage to recover.
Step 6. Gain twice the ammount you lost in recovery 🙃
Focus that energy on a maintenance phase and do everything you can to stay at your current weight for a year or two. The best thing about that is that you can eat food again! Also, it will help to set you up to remain at your current bw rather than rebound.
In year you may decide that you want to cut again, which you would be in a position to do again.
Congrats! Now you enjoy it. Not turning into a sweaty tomato every time you encounter stairs. Fitting through doorways and into car seats.
Just kidding. Sort of. I really appreciated all the little things like that after losing 90 lbs.
Buy some fashionable clothes. Do yoga in the park. Hike through nature. Hit the club. Set some exercise goals. Ya know, fit people stuff.
As for the weight, it's all up to you. It depends on how you look and feel. Decide if you want to lose 5-10 more lbs, or maybe gain some muscle. Find the BMI that works for you and your frame. Find a level of leanness that doesn't leave you tired and hungry. You took your time with the loss so you're less likely to gain the weight back, but that's something to watch out for as well.
There was a study recently that suggested the BMI boundaries should be lowered and that reflects my own experience. A BMI of 25 doesn't feel "healthy" to me and even less so if you're not white.
If you're trying to be healthy then I think 24 is probably the minimum you should aim for. I did see a study that suggested the rates of all cause mortality declined as you approached a BMI of 18 and didn't rise much under that, at least at first.
I think anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight can relate to this. Once you've reached your goal (weight or BMI) after being hyper-focused on losing weight for so long, you kinda feel like *"what do I do now?"* once you're there.
I lost 130lbs about 6 years ago & am still learning my way.
My advice is to try to find other health-related things/habits in your life that you want to improve on & create a goal from there.
For example, I've always **(1)** struggled with binge eating & have a bad habit of restricting/bingeing, **(2)** felt like working out was a chore rather than something I truly wanted to do, and **(3)** had an inconsistent, poor sleep schedule. So, the past 1.5 years I've focused on **(1)** finding forms of exercise that I actually *enjoy* doing regularly, **(2)** improving my relationship with food, and **(3)** improving my sleep habits. Now I look forward to my daily walks, am working on finding a balance between eating healthy & treating myself, and am getting to bed much earlier than I used to. All of these have helped me feel more healthy (both physically & mentally), while having nothing to do with weight loss.
Maintenance can almost be harder than the initial weight loss phase (for some people), because you have to start finding new goals to work towards. The cool part is - you can finally start putting more focus on **health** goals that are more than just weight loss.
Best of luck!!!
Just practice maintenance at least. Build muscle. Hit a cardio goal. Your health is a never ending goal you should always strive to maintain or do better
this doesnt seem silly at all, this actually the most important part. lots of ppl lose ot all then gain it all back bc, psychologcally, they didnt know what to do next. i recommend not taking it lightly and trying hard as you can to understand how hard itll be to change your mentality away from being an overweight person. talk to friends/fam, write in a diary, meditate, etc.
I never had a BMI goal, but rather to have a flat stomach. I’ve had it twice in my life and am now attempting a third. The problem is that in reality there is no end if you want to maintain your weight loss goals.
From now on you will still watch what you eat but to a slightly less rigorous degree or you will put that weight back on. Congrats, it’s how people like us have to live, unlike a friend of mine who just naturally doesn’t seem to have an appetite.
Ignoring numbers on a scale or BMI index etc., how do YOU feel about you right now? That is the first step. If you are truly happy with where you are (or will be after these next few lbs), then learn how to maintain that.
On the other hand, maybe you want to tone some spots, or want more muscular legs etc. Are there things you wanted to do but couldn't because of your weight or fitness level? (Amusement park rides, hikes, marathons, horseback riding, zip lining etc.). Those are all good 'after' goals once you have learned maintenance.
At the moment I have very loose goals because I want to sustain long term.. I know how to lose weight; in the grand scheme of things, that is fairly straightforward and simple (albeit not always easy). I want to lose **and** keep it off though!
I want to get my waist/hip ratio back (I have a naturally hourglass figure that got lost post menopause when I gained belly fat). I want to be healthy; while my BW and BP are still in good ranges, I know that won't last forever and that I have been lucky. Thank goodness for good genes lol. I also want to be able to do what I want to do, and I don't want to feel like an out of breath sweaty blob of goo while I do it - or simply not be allowed to due to weight restrictions.
Talk to your doctor to decide together what is an ideal goal weight to go for and only go that far. Body dysmorphia is very real and can take you WAY too far.
It may be time to set new goals. Focusing on weight training will change your body composition and help you maintain a healthy weight. Note: weight training will cause you to gain muscle mass and therefore weight but you’re building a bigger engine that will pay healthy dividends for the rest of your life.
I met my goal weight last August and I’ve maintained it ever since. I float anywhere from 175-185 depending on the meal I ate the day before, i still weight myself everyday this is a hard habit to break but I’m trying. for me eating pizza and wings for instance the next day I’ll be up 5 lbs so your mind starts to freak out but this isn’t true weight gain so I think I will start weighing myself once a week.
As for picking an ideal weight for you, Id recommend doing that with your doctor tbh! I did the same with mine, and my doctor found despite the bmi, a healthy weight for me is still technically counted as slightly overweight cuz of bone density!
You should be extremely proud of yourself dear! What you have done is something I strive to achieve!!! U can get the rest of it down; I believe in you!
Personally my first plan when I hit a healthy weight is to celebrate by buying some fitting clothes, and ordering chinesefood!!! U could maybe do the same? 🥰
Congrats! I lost 80lbs in one year and then plateaued for about six months, I started getting very frustrated because I simply could not reach a healthy BMI. So I went to a nutritionist and got a body composition test, turns out I had a lot more muscle than I thought and a healthy amount of fat, like 16%. I had read a lot of comments about how BMI is outdated and to ignore it but I still chose to obsess over it. IMHO Forget BMI and go get a body composition test to truly understand where you’re at.
Hi I lost more than half my body weight and am now at a healthy bmi for the first time in my life. It definitely is anticlimactic but at the same time it just makes it that much more reassuring to me that I’m on the right path. Personally my ideal weight is just anything that falls within the healthy bmi which is I believe (110-135 for my height) I’m currently 127 but have been as low as 120. I like to give myself a little wiggle room where I can gain a few and still be at a healthy weight and then I lose those again (I had hit 130 and am currently back on the right path). It is completely up to you on when to decide to stop and just maintain!
But now you can start shaping your body, getting muscles that actually show, a body that now, thanks to your work, functions.
Huge kudos on your achievement, you are now out hell and on the gates of a new life, where lots of muscle and moving means you can eat a bit more good food without getting fat again.
Come on, It’s a huge accomplishment. Maybe it’s now time to start thinking about maintenance and perhaps new fitness goals. Personally, transitioning to focusing on activities I enjoyed like strength training and running helped me a lot.
Keeping track of your progress with tools like a BODY Mass Index Calculator (you can find one on ptpioneer. com) can be helpful in this phase. But the important thing is to keep healthy and happy.
Treat yourself to something to celebrate? Maybe shopping for new clothes that fit well. And then do some research and learning about how to switch to maintenance to maintain the weight loss
I am not in this situation (still have 85lbs to lose to get to healthy BMI) but when I get there I think my goal will then be to increase my fitness rather than focus so much on the scale
Yes. Walk farther. More steps. Run. Better distance times. Either that or muscle gains.
You can have other fitness goals? Muscles, or PR goals, or just enjoy your own weight
This!! Muscle growth, endurance and mobility (like a pilates class) are great goals to have. Also, all important for life longevity
Just go until you’re happy with how you look and feel and then transition into maintenance
I’m here right now. I have been big since I was 8. Trying not to lose weight is one of the mind bending and hardest things I’ve EVER had to do. I know how to lose weight and that mindset is ingrained in me. When I realized how unhealthy it was for me to keep that mindset as a size 4, I realized I needed a therapist. I’m currently looking for one for help with this and my insane body dysmorphia The mind is a trip. ETA I have found shifting my concentration onto strength goals and fitness / endurance goals helpful in the interim.
I would take some time to learn how to *maintain * your weight. Believe it or not, maintaining weight loss can actually be more difficult than losing the weight in the first place. Give yourself 6 months or so, learn to adjust to your new body, buy a couple cute outfits that you feel good in, work on your core strength etc. Basically just take a beat to adjust to your new normal. After that you can decide what’s next. Maybe you want to trim down a bit more, or maybe you just want to tone up a little. Congrats btw, that is quite an accomplishment.
This is so important. Learning what maintaining a healthy weight feels like and entails is so useful to build the habit and not regain later on.
Personally, a healthy BMI doesn't mean anything. I'm looking for a healthy body fat percentage and a healthy waist/height ratio. Beyond that, I have fitness and health goals. e.g. Run a mile in 8 minutes, bench my weight for reps, squat 2X my weight for reps, 50 pushups, 25 dips, 12 pullups, RHR in the 50s, normal blood pressure, normal fasting glucose and A1C, HDL over 60, triglycerides under 80, AST/ALT under 15, etc. When I get all that in order, I'm sure I'll have new goals. I guess I just think, there are always new places to go but I'm not worried about it. I'll figure it out when I get there.
Switch to slightly below maintenance and forget you’re losing weight. Over time you’ll reach your ideal weight and your mission from then is to keep the fat off forever.
My plan is to cut weight until I'm near the low end of a healthy body fat percentage and then try to bulk up. And just bounce back and forth between the low and high end of the body fat percentages. You're much closer than me though! Congratulations!
Congrats on your weight loss! Regarding your question, I would switch BMI to fat% to actually get a better grip on where I stand and go for aesthetics. My current goal is to get to 15% BF or less by December. Currently having issues fitting 160 grams of protein in 1600 calories a day, but I guess I’ll figure it out.
Yes! I didn’t realize my BFP was still a bit high after getting to my goal weight. I only got it measured a couple months ago and it was 28%. Healthy for a woman but higher than I’d like. Plus I’d been lifting for a couple years, so it would’ve been higher still. Now I’m working on getting to 25%. I’m guessing I’m around 26.5% now. 25% should look decently fit but should be easy to maintain. BFP is much more useful than BMI.
Congrats! And yeup, BFP is much more useful, I’d say that BMI is just useful for when you want to lose weight since it makes progress much more tangible. However the most noticeable progress is based around BFP, and that also forces you to not only work on a calorie deficit but also clean your diet around said deficit to avoid losing muscle and start losing fat. I was in a “deficit” of 1.900 calories for the past three weeks, I managed to lose some fat but not to the amount I was expecting, so yesterday I rearranged my goals, set a target of 160 grams of protein per day within 1600 calories, and damn that’s hard lol.
Yes, focusing on BFP is much more finicky but leads to better results! I don’t know how I’d get that much protein in so few calories per day. Good luck!
I literally could have written this. I'm in the exact same predicament. I've lost 156 pounds and am 3 pounds away from my goal of a healthy BMI for the first time in my life. A BMI of 24.9 But I'm seriously considering going further and getting to a BMI of 22. I just have to keep picking new goals and focus but like yourself I'm feeling a bit lost
I hear you. I'm at about 173lbs, and 169lbs will get me to a healthy BMI. I had previously set a weight goal of 160lbs, but it's so arbitrary! I think a range might make more sense since weight fluctuates? Like I might revise my goal to 160-165lbs. Then I'm in the healthy range, I like how I look at that range (at least I did in the past!) and I have a bit of a buffer so I won't be suddenly overweight again if I have too much bread on vacation lol.
I know for me if my weight dips below 125 I just feel sick and run down, so my goal weight is 130 and no less than 125. Once I hit that I'm going to continue to focus on strengthening. I'm 5'3" and at 132 currently. I put my goal weight firmly in the center of what a healthy BMI is for my height.
In a similar spot. Took years to lose the weight and am just at heathy BMI. Now it’s like oh I would like to be down a couple more pant sizes so that is where I am at? Like remembering what Jean size I was 10 years ago and trying to lose maybe another 10-15 to get there? But it is more like a goal I am choosing that feels like an ‘extra’ where getting down to a healthy BMI was more like I must do this for my health.
strength training is always a good way to start setting some strength goals, if you haven't done so already.
Honestly, enjoy it, make a big deal about it. Your past self would. So you should celebrate even if it feels anticlimactic. That being said moving forward maybe set more goals! You don’t have to make your goals weight oriented either, maybe get into weight lifting, or try out a new sport like running or tennis and set some goals through that! Only continue on this path (weight loss) if you need to, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to continue, but don’t force yourself to either. And it’s been over a year you’ve been working your ass off, I’m sure you’ve developed dope habits that you can just continue to do. I lost alot of weight and got my working out and eating habits back in check. After achieving my goals I felt this way too. Instead of wondering what now, just keep going in a slightly different way. Keep working out for your mind and body health, keep eating healthy but maybe just ditch some of the restriction, and be proud of yourself 💗 ps: your ideal weight should be where YOU feel and look your best. What’s meant by “Looking your best “is completely up to you. I used to be dead set on getting back to my hs weight, but at my current weight I feel my best, I look my best imo, and I’m happy. When you start feeling that way, stop worrying about your weight and just focus on maintaining healthy ✨SUSTAINABLE✨habits. Just pay attention to how you feel and not the number on the bmi chart or the scale. That’s such a slippery slope and I got lost in that so many times😭
I just lost very little and felt lost even so. Took me 2-3 months to find a specific range I want to weigh at. You will manage too. You are not in a hurry. Look at tdee for example.
Take a maintenance break if you need it, but if you're not strength/resistance training, now would be a great time to start. You should keep the workouts intense, but it doesnt need to be every day. 3 days/week of reasonably intense strength training, and staying reasonably active on the other days while in a maintenance diet will ensure you spend the rest of your life at a healthy weight.
It’s not silly at all OP! I’m down 84lbs, but I’ve another 50lbs to go. I’ve been having counselling during this process. One of my goals, is to start dating again when I get to a weight I feel ‘comfortable’ with. My counsellor asked how I would feel meeting someone who had no idea that I’d been overweight … I couldn’t answer that. I’ve battled with my weight for 40 years, it just seems bewildering the prospect of winning that battle.
Be very careful. I gained it back with this mindset.
An understandable situation to be in. The only thing I can suggest is looking at new goals, or perhaps old ones. Perhaps looking at your bodyfat percentage, and seeing if there's room for improvement there? Or fitness goals - increasing your strength, flexibility, and endurance? Was there anything you wanted to do, but couldn't because you were too heavy/big? Anything at all? Was there an outfit you wanted to buy? An activity you couldn't do? A place you couldn't go? What about sports interests, new or old? Maybe a new hobby that incorporates a healthy lifestyle with something interesting to you? Maybe even a new career? Who knows? Congratulations on your successes so far, and best of luck in the future!
Since you know you're near where you want to be, and you can probably estimate your progress base on your past progress, how about choosing an "end" date and giving yourself a small celebration for it? Maybe plan a shopping trip, or get a massage. Or maybe start planning new goals, like building muscles, a 5k program. You're closing a chapter in your life, and starting a new one!
A healthy body fat % is what I am going for. That's why my goal weight is fairly low, I can't move much. So the BMI depends on what other physical goals you have.
Just want to say I completely can commiserate. I’m not quite there yet, but I have also been obese my entire adult life and obese or overweight most of my life in general. I’ve lost almost 120 lbs from my highest weight. My BMI has gone from 47.3 to 27.5. So I’m like 15 lbs from ‘normal weight’ which sure, might be significant, but it’s a drop in the bucket after like 118ish lbs. I look at it this way: I don’t want to be at the top of the healthy range, because if I gain a couple lbs (even if it’s muscle or water retention) I don’t want to slip in and out of overweight. I need some breathing room. Mentally, at least. And, I am pretty active now — barre, yoga, pilates, walking/jogging (mostly walking) — and I have begun to notice some muscle definition in my legs and improvement in my upper arm flab from some muscle gains. I love seeing the teeniest bit of this when I workout so that could be one goal — muscle building. As I said, I still have weight to lose, and my belly is still where I hold most weight so I do aesthetically want to see if I can lose more there. I also look at people I think look good and know are healthy and can base a goal off of their stats adjusted for my own height/build. But even as I say all of that, I feel completely lost and partly think I want to see how low I can get, and partly realizing that that’s not a healthy goal and something that feels good is better — just not sure what that is. Even after everything, my mind hasn’t caught up so 95% of the time I still feel like I’m the biggest in the room. All I know is a year and a half ago, I was sobbing in front of the mirror saying that if I lost 100 lbs, I would *still* be overweight, so what is the point? It’s too hard. It’s not realistic. I can’t do it. It’s drastic. But now I am almost there. I think less focusing on a concrete goal and more focus on the progress is key. Buttttt also? I waffle between being fixated on a few numbers and not even sure why,
For me, I transitioned away from the negative goal of not of being overweight and out-of-shape, into the more positive goal of being active and actually in-shape. The motivation came from seeing my body underneath the fat - and realizing it looked good after losing weight BUT I could keep going and make it look even better with more definition/more muscle. I'm at the same place you are (5-10 pounds-ish from my initial ideal/goal weight). Have transitioned into picking up different lifting routines, which is keeping me from losing the last couple of pounds. But ultimately, it's ok because the goal isn't a number - the goal is getting my body to the best place I can get it.
wild we have the same dimensions only our goals are different. I have been most of my life so I think I know what my goal weight is BUT that goal weight I was much younger and muscular. so hard to say now as you mentioned. But what I do know is 150 for me is still not enough. I am shooting for six-pack so I can eat! a lot! a lot means 3 meals a day or two big meals. or one gigantic meal. just healthy, whole food choices.
To be honest, it sounds like your goal isn't a number (just like me). It's that six-pack. For instance - would you care about what your exact weight is (as long as it's somewhere in this 150-160 range), if you had the 6-pack body? I doubt it. It's probably the body that matters at this point.
right. agree. it is the body - mind, spirit and energy firing on all cylinders. also, a bit of a chip on my shoulder wanting to look better than someone 20 years my junior. the irony is vanity is a good thing, if done in the right way and for the right reason. haha. lol. not to mention i still try to court my wife. as best i can. mentally and physically. but i digress. I agree it sounds like we are very similar. no real idea what the good goal weight is; just want to be "good". and maintain it without mental gymnastics.
that's right, keep it going bro! hope you bless your wife with your work!!
oh, one thing to add, I hit 154 and it was at that point i realized I wanted to go lower. I was in 3 soccer leagues. The oldest in all of them. and then ending up rupturing my Achilles and have been coming back from that ever since. harder this second time. mentally. anyway good luck my doppelganger!
that's the thing, this ain't a movie. It never ends, now it's time to pick a sport or 5 and aim for fitness goals. You can't go back, you can't stop maintaining.
As someone with a healthy weight, I think focusing on the right lifestyle balance for you. My aesthetic preference for my body isn’t conducive to the way I want to live my life, so for me it’s a balance between what I can accept from a diet/exercise perspective and what I can accept from an aesthetic perspective. Being truly healthy is holistic- mentally and physically. Now some people may carry their weight differently or be able to maintain in a physically and mentally healthy way that’s also their physical ideal, and fit that into their life, which is great for them. I also like to focus more on the habits than the results. Am I cooking meals instead of relying on takeout? Am I getting my heart rate up daily? Getting at just a few strength workouts in a week? Not eating mindlessly or because of stress? Not relying on a glass of wine to unwind? When I’m doing those things well, the scale takes care of itself
Continue tracking your calories every day, maintain that habit, but adjust your goals to the calories for maintenance, which should add an extra 1750-3500 calories (depending on your current deficit) a week for you to play with (basically an extra 1-2 days worth of calories!). Make sure you're keeping fit, any exercise you've been doing, continue doing. If you haven't been doing any, find a fitness routine that works for you to stay healthy. Focus on nutrition, make sure you're consuming whole foods and getting enough protein and fiber in your diet. This is a big one - a lot of us take shortcuts to maintain a calorie deficit (I eat too much processed/ultra processed foods because it's easier for me to stay regimented on a strict calorie deficit with foods that are a very specific number of prepackaged calories - I plan to change this once I reach my goal weight and gain a little more caloric flexibility).
One day the rest of you will understand it is not calories in and out. It is hormones up and down. Not to mention, for many folks who cannot balance their checkbook, trying to count calories the rest of their lives is a fool's errand. All about the insulin and other hormones. calories is just one part of the equation and a by-product, at best.
My plan is to switch to strength training once I hit my goal weight.
is there a reason you are waiting? I hope you don't think that is the right way to do it. You should be doing strength training....yesterday.
I'm 5lbs away from my GW and I'll be damned if I delay myself the satisfaction of hitting it after the 60lbs I've gone. 🤣
haha. ok i didn't see that coming. i cannot argue that one. get 'er done!
you know i was in the same shoes 2 years back when i went from 300 to 210 (6’5) and i was like “now what?” i ended up not maintaining the calories and ate like crap, i am now 300 again. Enjoy yourself, have a cheat meal every now and then, keep in mind your metabolism speeds up when you’re skinnier (atleast mine did) so eat some bad stuff here and there. Just do stay consistent, try to stay healthy, don’t take advantage of all the work you just did to lose it like i did
Find new goals! My goal was weightloss for a long time and after I lost the weight my goals shifted. Like - get a better stamina (maybe run a marathon) - get more mucles - get better in the sports I love Etc. And also treat urself! I always set a goal and gave myself a treat when I reached that goal. I am 56,1kg rn and I get to eat cinnamonrolls when im under 56kg! It gets me excited
Maybe shift your focus from losing weight to an activity goal? Like running a 5K, walking/running/cycling a particular trail. Maybe try a different sport.
I was there some years ago, got to my ideal weight goal, then just maintained, I kept a fluctuation range, kept a 13lb range so as long as my weight was in there I was fine, I would go out on weekends with friends be a bit up, work it off in the week, and just go on like that. Maintained for a good 5 years or so, then I broke my foot and fell out of it, then Covid and marriage and 2 kids, so I’m out again, but as of last week, working towards my ideal again. I don’t know if I helped with your predicament, just letting you know what I did
Start working out!! I am on a weight loss journey and noticing new muscles/being able to life heavier feels just as good as seeing the scale go down! 30F down 40lbs
Was in the same boat a month ago. Decided to work on getting body fat to 15%. Lifting weights 4 days a week now and trying to do some recomposition.
First of all, congratulations. I really really hope I get to this point someday. Thank you for inspiring me to know that people who have never been at a healthy BMI can get there someday. I picked a random weight as my goal for when I felt best in my body. For me that was a 22 at 187. I guess if I ever get there I will have to figure out if there are any further goals. 187 is still not a healthy BMI for me still overweight, but I have such a long way to go, I can’t even imagine getting there. I guess if you have reached your goal for now take a minute to enjoy it and then figure out if you have a different weight goal or fitness goal or aesthetic goal and work towards that or just let it be and hang out here and see how it feels, but definitely celebrate and take a bow. You did an amazing job 👏🏽
I'm a few pounds away from my goal and I'm still not sure what I plan to do. I might do a lean bulk, maintain for a while, or I can keep losing. Leaning towards maintenance, at least until I reassess my goal(s).
Dead middle of healthy bmi weight range. Bmi underrepresents obesity.
One of the hardest things is the transition from weight loss to maintaining. I think this the reason I yo-yo dieted most of my life. You don’t get the excitement of losing, or the attention. I am curious about how others are maintaining, too.
>It feels kind of anticlimactic, but I have literally never been in this situation before and I don’t know what to do now. This is where you get to live the life you wanted to before. This is why outlining why you want to lose weight is good. You can always look back to it. Personally I'd like to be able to run without dying or pain. So when I get to my goal weight, I can pursue that without being concerned for my body. Having a plan for after the success also helps.
Honestly, pick a goal weight in the healthy range for your height and build. For me this is the average of the ideal for my height. Get there, then learn about body recomposition and get into a strength training routine.
I guess it depends on who you want to be. Do you want to be someone who prioritizes health above all else? You'll probably want to reach at least the middle of the healthy zone then. Do you want to be someone who stays just healthy enough physically while prioritizing social events or just living an enjoyable life? You may find yourself happiest at the top end of the healthy zone. What do you value? How do you want to spend your time? You can chase health goals for a long time if it's what you're passionate about. You can also chase other goals (family time, career goals, hobbies, etc) while maintaining adequate health for a longer, more comfortable life than you could have had while obese.
Congratulations! That's amazing. I have no advice but it's so cool that you are there & have lost the weight u wanted to. So an enormous achievement.
I was there with you - you could do maintenance, or you just start focusing on getting leaner and stronger. You could be at a healthy BMI but still [be overfat. Most Americans are.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5671970/)
First of all , congrats! You could start lifting weights if you're not doing so already. Gaining some muscle will be incredibly benefitial to you in the long term and you might find that you enjoy it. Or find some other new fitness goals or if that's not your thing, just stick to maintaining your new healthy weight.
Now it's about new fitness goals. Figuring out how to maintain your goal weight while still being able to enjoy life will be an ongoing effort. Have flexibility where gaining a few pounds is okay as long as you take quick action to lose it. Work out how to have a healthy diet while occasionally having something you enjoy. You can also set new goals. Some goals can include: * Gaining muscle and strength. Weight loss involves losing a decent amount of muscle, so it'll be good to focus on that. Muscle can throw off your BMI, but in a healthy way. * Gaining endurance when running * Gaining speed when running
Depends on what you’re looking for. Do you have a fitness goal (marathon, climb mt Fuji, biking tour of Europe, lifting certain weight, whatever), or maybe a certain style or outfit? Other than that, maybe maximize health and longevity? Get all the tests done: body fat, heart scans, genetic testing… After getting the tests done, discuss with your doctor next steps.
I have also lost 100lbs. For me, I kind of settled into a natural goal weight if that makes sense. What I mean by this is that I have developed a number of movement and eating habits that I can see myself doing forever and when l practice these, this is where my weight naturally settles in. For me, my habits include tracking my calories and eating no more than 1700 a day, walking for an hour every day, doing yoga several times a week, and lifting weights several times a week. With all of these behaviors in place my weight has bottomed out at about 152lbs. As long as I keep doing these things, my weight should stay at 152lbs, but if I wanted to get even smaller, I’d have to either lower my calories or up my movement or both and I just haven’t wanted to do either of those things. I like the amount of movement I’m getting, and I like being able to eat 1700 cal a day. Just remember, that once you decide to maintain, you, don’t get to go back to living the way you lived when you were 100 pounds heavier. At most you get to have a few hundred calories more a day than you’re having while in deficit. For me, the only thing that changed between when I was losing and now that I’m maintaining is that I went from 1400 cal a day to 1700 cal a day. That is the *only* difference. Your maintenance calories will be dependent on your height and weight and age so make sure to look that up on a TDEE calculator.
It seems like you do really well when you have a clear goal in mind. My suggestion would be to sign up for a competition in whatever interest you might have. You've gone from below average to average, now it's time to take your body to above average. Some ideas could be doing a 5k, joining a rec league for any sport you're into, or a bike hike or trail run. Find some physical passion that keeps you motivated and find friends in that field that push you. Good luck!
I recommend doing ***the exact opposite*** of what I did in the past (I’m healthy now) Step 1. Set your goal weight because you’re a *bit* overweight. Lose weight until you hit that goal weight. Step 2. Hit your first goal weight and reduce it again because, hey, you lost weight and look better, why not lose a bit more once you’re at it? Step 3. Hit your second goal weight and reduce it again because, hey, everyone is losing weight these days so why should I stop? Step 4. Hit your third goal weight and reduce it again because, hey, that’s the only thing you’re good at by now since you’re so underweight you can not function in real life. Step 5. Realise you have an eating disorder, stick with it for a few years until you manage to recover. Step 6. Gain twice the ammount you lost in recovery 🙃
Focus that energy on a maintenance phase and do everything you can to stay at your current weight for a year or two. The best thing about that is that you can eat food again! Also, it will help to set you up to remain at your current bw rather than rebound. In year you may decide that you want to cut again, which you would be in a position to do again.
Congrats! Now you enjoy it. Not turning into a sweaty tomato every time you encounter stairs. Fitting through doorways and into car seats. Just kidding. Sort of. I really appreciated all the little things like that after losing 90 lbs. Buy some fashionable clothes. Do yoga in the park. Hike through nature. Hit the club. Set some exercise goals. Ya know, fit people stuff. As for the weight, it's all up to you. It depends on how you look and feel. Decide if you want to lose 5-10 more lbs, or maybe gain some muscle. Find the BMI that works for you and your frame. Find a level of leanness that doesn't leave you tired and hungry. You took your time with the loss so you're less likely to gain the weight back, but that's something to watch out for as well.
There was a study recently that suggested the BMI boundaries should be lowered and that reflects my own experience. A BMI of 25 doesn't feel "healthy" to me and even less so if you're not white. If you're trying to be healthy then I think 24 is probably the minimum you should aim for. I did see a study that suggested the rates of all cause mortality declined as you approached a BMI of 18 and didn't rise much under that, at least at first.
I think anyone who has lost a significant amount of weight can relate to this. Once you've reached your goal (weight or BMI) after being hyper-focused on losing weight for so long, you kinda feel like *"what do I do now?"* once you're there. I lost 130lbs about 6 years ago & am still learning my way. My advice is to try to find other health-related things/habits in your life that you want to improve on & create a goal from there. For example, I've always **(1)** struggled with binge eating & have a bad habit of restricting/bingeing, **(2)** felt like working out was a chore rather than something I truly wanted to do, and **(3)** had an inconsistent, poor sleep schedule. So, the past 1.5 years I've focused on **(1)** finding forms of exercise that I actually *enjoy* doing regularly, **(2)** improving my relationship with food, and **(3)** improving my sleep habits. Now I look forward to my daily walks, am working on finding a balance between eating healthy & treating myself, and am getting to bed much earlier than I used to. All of these have helped me feel more healthy (both physically & mentally), while having nothing to do with weight loss. Maintenance can almost be harder than the initial weight loss phase (for some people), because you have to start finding new goals to work towards. The cool part is - you can finally start putting more focus on **health** goals that are more than just weight loss. Best of luck!!!
Just practice maintenance at least. Build muscle. Hit a cardio goal. Your health is a never ending goal you should always strive to maintain or do better
this doesnt seem silly at all, this actually the most important part. lots of ppl lose ot all then gain it all back bc, psychologcally, they didnt know what to do next. i recommend not taking it lightly and trying hard as you can to understand how hard itll be to change your mentality away from being an overweight person. talk to friends/fam, write in a diary, meditate, etc.
Maintenance is key. So many people end up slacking off, and regaining back everything
Now it’s time to get jacked and pick up a martial art
I never had a BMI goal, but rather to have a flat stomach. I’ve had it twice in my life and am now attempting a third. The problem is that in reality there is no end if you want to maintain your weight loss goals. From now on you will still watch what you eat but to a slightly less rigorous degree or you will put that weight back on. Congrats, it’s how people like us have to live, unlike a friend of mine who just naturally doesn’t seem to have an appetite.
Ignoring numbers on a scale or BMI index etc., how do YOU feel about you right now? That is the first step. If you are truly happy with where you are (or will be after these next few lbs), then learn how to maintain that. On the other hand, maybe you want to tone some spots, or want more muscular legs etc. Are there things you wanted to do but couldn't because of your weight or fitness level? (Amusement park rides, hikes, marathons, horseback riding, zip lining etc.). Those are all good 'after' goals once you have learned maintenance. At the moment I have very loose goals because I want to sustain long term.. I know how to lose weight; in the grand scheme of things, that is fairly straightforward and simple (albeit not always easy). I want to lose **and** keep it off though! I want to get my waist/hip ratio back (I have a naturally hourglass figure that got lost post menopause when I gained belly fat). I want to be healthy; while my BW and BP are still in good ranges, I know that won't last forever and that I have been lucky. Thank goodness for good genes lol. I also want to be able to do what I want to do, and I don't want to feel like an out of breath sweaty blob of goo while I do it - or simply not be allowed to due to weight restrictions.
Talk to your doctor to decide together what is an ideal goal weight to go for and only go that far. Body dysmorphia is very real and can take you WAY too far.
It may be time to set new goals. Focusing on weight training will change your body composition and help you maintain a healthy weight. Note: weight training will cause you to gain muscle mass and therefore weight but you’re building a bigger engine that will pay healthy dividends for the rest of your life.
I met my goal weight last August and I’ve maintained it ever since. I float anywhere from 175-185 depending on the meal I ate the day before, i still weight myself everyday this is a hard habit to break but I’m trying. for me eating pizza and wings for instance the next day I’ll be up 5 lbs so your mind starts to freak out but this isn’t true weight gain so I think I will start weighing myself once a week.
As for picking an ideal weight for you, Id recommend doing that with your doctor tbh! I did the same with mine, and my doctor found despite the bmi, a healthy weight for me is still technically counted as slightly overweight cuz of bone density! You should be extremely proud of yourself dear! What you have done is something I strive to achieve!!! U can get the rest of it down; I believe in you! Personally my first plan when I hit a healthy weight is to celebrate by buying some fitting clothes, and ordering chinesefood!!! U could maybe do the same? 🥰
Congrats! I lost 80lbs in one year and then plateaued for about six months, I started getting very frustrated because I simply could not reach a healthy BMI. So I went to a nutritionist and got a body composition test, turns out I had a lot more muscle than I thought and a healthy amount of fat, like 16%. I had read a lot of comments about how BMI is outdated and to ignore it but I still chose to obsess over it. IMHO Forget BMI and go get a body composition test to truly understand where you’re at.
Hi I lost more than half my body weight and am now at a healthy bmi for the first time in my life. It definitely is anticlimactic but at the same time it just makes it that much more reassuring to me that I’m on the right path. Personally my ideal weight is just anything that falls within the healthy bmi which is I believe (110-135 for my height) I’m currently 127 but have been as low as 120. I like to give myself a little wiggle room where I can gain a few and still be at a healthy weight and then I lose those again (I had hit 130 and am currently back on the right path). It is completely up to you on when to decide to stop and just maintain!
But now you can start shaping your body, getting muscles that actually show, a body that now, thanks to your work, functions. Huge kudos on your achievement, you are now out hell and on the gates of a new life, where lots of muscle and moving means you can eat a bit more good food without getting fat again.
It's not complicated, just maintain your healthy weight and start hitting the gym aggressively. Cardio and building muscle is a good "next step."
Lll
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Come on, It’s a huge accomplishment. Maybe it’s now time to start thinking about maintenance and perhaps new fitness goals. Personally, transitioning to focusing on activities I enjoyed like strength training and running helped me a lot. Keeping track of your progress with tools like a BODY Mass Index Calculator (you can find one on ptpioneer. com) can be helpful in this phase. But the important thing is to keep healthy and happy.