I'm about 5'5 and 172 lbs and I think I'm just going to stick to maintaining. I'm worried I would start to lose my boobs and butt and I like having both of them. Is my health at serious risk by being about 25 pounds overweight? I honestly think I look fine..My waist to hip ratio is under .8 and I dont have a lot of excess fat anywhere. I'm trying to focus on maintaining. So far I've stayed at the same weight for the last two months.

So what do y'all think?

You look great you carry it well. Im actually one who doubts I will go below 170 my lowest adult weight was 165 and right now i dont thinnk i want to get that low. Once I break the 200lb mark it will be more about how I look and feel in my cloths and everyday

thanks for your advice! I'm leaning towards just sticking. I seem to be able to maintain this weight.

You look great! BMI isn't really supposed to measure individual health, but large population trends.

You've lost over 60 pounds and that is an amazing accomplishment!

I'm so glad you started this thread as this has been on my mind lately. I am
5'3 and I remember looking and feeling good at 170-175 although to some that would be out of the question but for me it was good.

Like you I don't want to be riddled with lots of loose skin, saggy boobs and butt. Coming from 282 to 217.5 they have already shrunk and I'm sure they will some more as I get down to 170-175 but I am in no way trying to get to
115-135 which is what the "charts" say.

I feel as long as I'm healthy, look and feel good then I'm happy.

BTW I think you look great and yes you do carry it very well you actually look smaller than 172. Congrats and good luck to you!

For over a year, I've been maintaining at a weight that's just a few pounds above the highest weight in range listed for my BMI; that is, at 142-145. This is due to my choice to "eyeball" my portions, rather than measure, and to make good choices, rather than strictly count calories. If I weighed, measured, and counted, I believe I could go down another 20 pounds. But I would not be able to sustain those behaviors over several years' time. So I'd be inclined to support your choice to stay at a weight that "feels" right.

I do, however, think you may want to check other aspects other than aesthetics. Have you had blood work done lately? How was that? And are you able physically to do all you want to do; that is, can you participate fully in activities you're invited to, if you want to? What I'm talking about here is health aspects. If those are okay, that would reinforce that the weight you're at is good for you.

I'd also be interested in hearing about your personal history & what weights you've experienced before. The reason being that, in the past, I've been at 107 and 125, and so I know what it feels like to be both those weights, and what effort it takes, and how they feel as opposed to being where I am. So I think I've made a fairly informed choice. If you've been lower in weight, and found you didn't like it or maintaining was too stressful, I understand. But if you've never experienced what it's like to be lower in weight, you might want to try it. You can always let yourself go up a little if you find it's too much of a slog.

With almost 5 years in Maintenance after a large weight-loss,
I strongly disagree with this statement.
I think it is far, far better to accept a particular weight and stay at that point,
than to lose an additional 20 lbs or so and then regain it.

I believe for the vast majority of people who have lost a great deal of weight,
a regain of 20 pounds or so...even intentionally...is psychologically traumatic,
and...for many...it is almost impossible to stop, or even pause, the weight-gain momentum.

Bright Angel, I agree that a 20-pound regain would be hard to cope with. Probably I minimized that by saying "go up a little."

I do see maintainers who maintain at weights that average out to be slightly higher than their historic low, that is, the lowest weight they ever attained. To my way of thinking, they accepted the slight regain as they worked out for themselves what was right for their bodies & their lives & daily habits.

Not everyone worked out their optimal weight range in that manner, but I know I'm not alone in having been lower (in my late 20s) & deciding that higher than my lowest (now that I'm in my 40s) was more sustainable over time.

I personally am not on the "in the healthy bmi range must mean Im at goal" line of thinking...

- bmi/weight are suboptimal measurements as they dont account for body composition
- carrying "extra" weight does actually have health consquences. (ex: for every 11lbs of weight you carry you increase your breast cancer risk)
I encourage everyone to analyze their overall fitness and nutrient level eating, in addition to how comfortable they feel at a certain weight.

The boob comment made me chuckle. I too decided to stop losing and maintain to try to keep the girls in tact. I did this at 148 and bounced around between 148 and 153 for about 6 weeks. I found that this was too high for my comfort so I decided to start losing again. I'm down to 145ish, still bouncing around because I'm not too commited to losing, and I've have dropped an entire cup size! The girls are officially gone. So I decided, well I might as well go for the dream goal now and am gearing up to go for 135.

I will say that I am actually a lot happy at the smaller size. It's not much smaller but this last 5 lbs has made a pretty big difference and I image the last 10 will be a perfect weight for me. Anyway, my point is, try out your current weight for a while, if you feel good and are happy great, if not there's nothing saying you can't lose more later. Good luck!

This is what I always think of, especially given that my mom is a breast cancer survivor. Her doctor actually told her that she should be as thin as possible without being underweight. Unfortunately, she hasn't heeded that advice. People speak of fitness levels and how they feel and all that and I can't get this female cancers/being overweight connection out of my head. But that's just me.

To the OP.

I do wonder how maintenance and actively trying to lose will vary for you.

We were actually talking about taking maintenance breaks on another thread. MAybe that would be something you would want to consider.

Again, this is just me, it's all such an individual thing, but aren't you a little curious as to how you might feel if you were to lose another few pounds? First of all it might be easier to achieve than you think. You may feel better about yourself and your health concerns (you did indeed bring that up).

And I personally see nothing wrong with trying to get there, getting there and not thinking it's worth it to remain there and therefore putting back on a few. Again - individual thing.

For me, I didn't want to be healthier, I wanted to be health-iest. But that was the reason I started this journey - I was terrified of dying from the excess weight.

Of course I had felt wonderful pounds earlier, but I didn't think just because I started out so high that I didn't deserve a shot being in the normal (and granted not always the best indicator) weight BMI category,. Though lord knows I am just under the healthy BMI myself. And still wondering if I should try to get it lower (like my Mom's Dr. suggests). And of course there are no guarantees at a *healthy* weight of being disease free.

There is no right or wrong answer here. And your decision doesn't have to be set in stone. You always have the right to change your mind and than change it back again.

I'm more likely to consider goals in terms of body fat percentage, particularly because my build and muscularity pretty much ensures I'm always going to have an overweight BMI.

My body fat percentage is squarely in healthy range for a woman my age (26%). My BMI is "overweight", and if you plug it into calculators to find the "average" body fat percentage for someone with my BMI, you end up with something like 38%. So I carry less fat than most people my height and weight.

When I lost to a normal BMI, my body fat WAS a bit lower, but mostly I lost muscle. And I looked sick and my hair fell out, and I was eating so little that I couldn't get through my workouts. Not sustainable, not for me, and in my opinion, not the healthiest FOR ME. I do not believe I would be any healthier eating so little that I had no energy, and to get to a "healthy" weight, that's what I have to do. I gave it a shot, I got to that healthy BMI, and decided that MY healthy weight was a good 10 lbs heavier. And that's where I have chosen to maintain.

It's a highly personal decision, in any case. But that's my experience.

I'm kinda at the same point as you right now, elleohelle.

The only reason I keep going is I'm not completely happy with my body yet. I want to lose more in the tummy area. I know at 145 I'll be a healthy bmi, but if it wasn't for my tummy I would just stop now because I feel the way I should.

Do what you think is best as well as take from other's experiences. Obviouslly we can't answer this question for you, but maybe our own experiences will give you some insight for yourself.

Best of luck!

Now you see if I was loaded with muscles, very little fat and OVERweight, that wouldn't bother me a bit. But I clearly do not fit into that category.

And if I felt miserable and sickly in order to stay a healthy weight - out that healthy weight would go. Hands down. No second thoughts, no regrets.