[Telly986]

I reached my goal 6 months ago buy counting calories using mfp and exercising.However, I lost an edditional weight without trying and I am okay with it.I have had at least 3 people from work telling me that it looks like I am still losing weight.

I don't count calories anymore but I just eat when I am hungry and get regular exercise. I eat everything but I watch my portion sizes and all.I now weigh myself every day and I flactuate between 122 to 125 lbs.I don't go lower or higher than those numbers.I feel it in my clothes too but the scale is still reading the same.I really don't want to get too skinny. Does weight loss show up right away on the scale? Has anyone had the same problem?

[JayEll]

I can offer a few ideas.

Weight loss or gain does not show up right away. Conversely, sometimes you'll see weight go up or down, and you'll have no idea why. Water is responsible for most fluctuations of 2 or 3 pounds, and sometimes more.

It's possible that you are being too "scared" of your portion sizes. If you want to stop dropping any further, you could try increasing your portion sizes a little bit at a time. Beware of increasing carbohydrates too quickly, however. Protein is a really important nutrient--most people don't get enough, so that's one place you could increase.

If you are doing heavy exercise every day, you could also cut back on that--either number of days, or amount you exercise each day.

Go slowly with any changes.

[saef]

Yes, Telly, other people have come here with the same problem.

When you've been losing weight for a while, it's hard to gauge what you have to do for maintenance. Generally, people worry that they just know two settings: The behavior that got them fat, which they're afraid to go back to, and losing mode, which is a restrictive place. They have to discover a new way to live. What is it? Well, it's going to look more like losing mode than the less-mindful, weight-gaining mode.

My advice is to start with your thinking and then look at the behaviors. Make certain the two are aligned.

Do you really *feel* done, or are you secretly kind of, sort of wishing to go even lower?

Your post gives me mixed messages, or maybe it's the way I am reading it: You lost additional weight without trying "and am okay with it." Then you say that you "really don't want to get too skinny."

What do you want? Be really honest with yourself.

And then turn to Jay's excellent advice on the behaviors that would support your choice.

[lin43]

The same thing happened to me when I initially reached my weight loss goal, and to be frank, it made me cocky. As a matter of fact, for a while there, it seemed as if I could eat almost anything and not gain. Unfortunately, that didn't last. Here I am, 3 1/2 years later, and I'm about 5-10 lbs over my ideal weight and am having a really hard time trying to get my eating on track.

The same thing happened to my brother-in-law: just getting on maintenance and seemingly able to eat and eat while still losing/maintaining. I have heard this from a number of people, and I really think it's that your body needs to catch on to your new, permanent habits. Eventually, it will equalize.

[HowlinAtTheMoon]

Telly, if you are doing enough resistance exercise (weights, etc) to maintain your muscle mass, then don't worry about going lower than your original goal. It's easy to gain back a few fat pounds if you ultimately decide you're too thin, but wicked hard to put back on the muscle. It might be worth it to get your body fat tested, too (by a BodPod or other accurate, professional method, not a body fat scale). Anything over 20% and you are not too low.

I think Saef's advice is excellent - take a hard look at what you really want. "Too skinny" is so subjective. I would think if you lost so much more that you had to buy all new clothes, that may be too much. Otherwise I think body fat % is a fair judge of too skinny if you are not an athlete. My DH (who is 50 lbs too heavy) said I was too skinny 15 pounds ago. I told him if he wants a plump woman he'd have to find a different one I think he's finally getting used to my new look.

It has taken me about 10 years to come down from 184 to 125 pounds. In all that time I never regained more than a pound or two, but there were long periods of time when I stayed around the same weight. My motto was "If I'm not trying to lose, I gain", and that was basically true but I came to realize that there are various levels of "trying to lose". Some actually work and some are just a form of maintenance with built in fogetful eating. Now my approach is to track everything, try to hit slightly under maintenance two days a week, and allow one day for over maintenance if my hunger level dictates. It's actually getting easier. I still have a fear of gaining, though, even though I'm not gaining.

[Telly986]

Thank you everyone for your answers