I've been eating maintenance for the past 3 weeks and have been trying to get back on the 'weightloss horse' again. I think I'm just kinda bummed because I thought I would look better than this once I reached 150lbs, since that's supposed to be the "ideal" weight for a 5'9 girl.

I'm still wondering when the flat stomach I really want is going to show up and how low I need to go to get there.
I've looked at a lot of photos of actresses who are close to my height and they're photos that get taken of them by paparazzi when they're offset so you can see what they really look like when they're not covered in makeup and pretty clothes.
The internets might be lying, but most of these 5'9 or 5'10 actresses' weight is listed in the range of 120-130lbs, which puts them right at the bottom of healthy BMI.
But maybe that's where you have to be to get a flat stomach. Also, if you look at professional model requirements for 5'9 or taller, girls are expected to be in that same range (120-130lbs) or even lower.
I don't want to be as thin as a model, but there are many actresses I think look pretty good: Not too skinny, but with a flat stomach.
If I get a flat stomach before 130lbs, I will gladly stop. cause yeah the internets could be lying about these actresses' true weight.

Charlize Theron looks good to me. She's a nice, tall lady with a flat stomach. She doesn't look muscle-y, just skinny.
I wish we could ask the celebrities to line up in their swimsuits and then jump up and down so we could see how much "jiggles" they really have. LOL
Hopefully, I've picked out some of the healthier celebs and not the ones that have spent thousands on surgery to alter their bodies.

Charlize Theron: 5'10
Julia Roberts: 5'9
Liv Tyler: 5'10
And yes, all of these ladies get listed as 120-125lbs by lots of websites, but who knows if that's really true. But judging from how fat I am at 147lbs, I can easily see myself at 130lbs or lower to get rid of the last bit of fat.

Go away midriff fat!

Your arms look amazing! As for the flat stomach, that might not even require you to lose much more weight - what's your fitness routine? You can really transform your shape through exercise (without getting overly muscle-y, if that is a concern).

When you figure it out please let me know

Thanks! I'm happy with the rest of my body. It's acceptable to me. But the gut is aaannooying! I'm doing zumba twice a week along with some strengthening exercises at home. But I think if I just get low enough, get the fat off, it will look better. Everyone has muscles even if they don't exercise a lot, its just the fat that hides them.

Well some of it is the cut of those panties, those are horrible for your body type

Some, too, is that for many women to have an extremely flat stomach requires lower than is typically healthy levels of body fat coupled wit higher than average lean mass from hard workouts. Are you hitting the weights and planks hard? It would never get rid of my pooch (because I have a body type that accumulates fat in my torso with lean limbs and I'm on kid #5) but body resistance workouts and strength training help immensely.

I'd stop trying to look like an actress - that's a fool's errand. But being the best YOU that you can be? That's an attainable goal. You look great, just some tweaking at this point in relation to workouts, I'd say.

Women who work out hard by and large never look 'muscular', they tend to look toned and tight. You do have some extra abdominal fat, sure, but nothing I'd personally focus on overly much. The right clothes and six months to a year of solid strength building and I think you'd look fantastic.

I agree with everything Arctic Mama says, especially about building up a strength routine and just giving it time. I think getting a flat stomach depends on a well planned/consistent fitness routine, time, bf %, and A LOT on body type and where your body naturally stores fat.

Your stomach may also be affected by loose skin, which may or may not go away--regardless of how much you lose. If I were you, I would focus on toning and dressing to flatter your figure. If absolutely nothing else were to change about your body, I still think you look great.

Firstly, you look great. Your hard work has paid off so focus on those positive results. But I agree with Artic Mama, the cut of those panties are not at all flattering on you, if you're buying a bikini try to buy something with a higher waistline that cuts off under your belly button. Clothes make all the difference in the world.

Why are you comparing yourself to actresses? These women have trainers, nutritionists, and get paid to look the way that they do. The comparison game can only bring on feelings of defeat. Also, the only difference I see between your pictures and their pictures is that you're squeezing and contorting your belly, why?

What is your exercise routine like? I don't know if you can get rid of excess skin, but building core strength benefits not only how you look but your posture, your overall strength and health too. Pilates is especially great for building core strength.

It looks to me like it might be loose skin?

First, holy cow you have made amazing progress in less than a year! Congratulations! You look amazing. Now, I've heard it can take up to two years for loose skin to shrink back. So I think you need to give it some time before you can really judge how your stomach is going to look. You lost a lot of weight in a short amount of time - it's normal that you've got loose skin on your stomach.

Second, comparing yourself to people who get paid to spend their spare time making their bodies look good will never make you feel satisfied. I think it's wonderful and healthy and aspire to improving your figure, but be careful with the comparisons. You'll drive yourself mad!

It sounds like now may be a good time to focus on maintaining your weight loss while adding some strength training. Recognize that it will take time to get to where you want to be, but to an extent it could be out of your control (loose skin). I wish you the best of luck in getting your body into the shape you want it to be, but don't forget the amazing progress you've already made

You can continue to lose fat but you may find that to get the stomach you want requires being a body fat percentage that is unsustainable.

Most women will have difficulty maintaining body fat percentages below 20%. If your body likes to hold fat in your stomach area (and it appears it does) you will have to get accustomed to the idea that you will never have a perfectly flat stomach.

On the other hand, other women out there carry their fat in their legs and would be quite jealous that you don't. (At least the pictures make your legs appear quite lean)

Final thought is this. Some of the fat in your stomach area looks like it would be stubborn fat. While I don't want to give you any false hope you may want to try a month or two of very low carb eating if you're not already. It could help your problem area.

Honestly, you're not fat I believe that's extra skin. I have skin left over from pregnancy that I know won't be gone unless I have surgery. I'm assuming you've had children too.

Celebs have millions of dollars and are usually in great shape before pregnancy which allows them to bounce back from it better. Don't compare yourself to them.

That is amazing result!!! wow!! really speechless!!))) Great job lady!;-) Stomach is problem for many women(( But maybe you really need to give your belly more time. Skin will tight up. also you need to add some exercises for abs that is for sure. It will help with your belly very fast

Agreed.
They have resources that almost no one has, plus their (likely) Narcissistic Personality Disorders may drive them to dangerous extremes.

A caliper test should be able to tell whether this is fat or skin. For occasional use you can probably make your own calipers out of plywood, there may even be a YouTube video on how to do this.

Liposuction is probably too dangerous but I am a risk-averse person. I don't get laser eye surgery even though a book on decision making says to do it because adverse events are at the 4% level, but some of those adverse events can be pretty awful.

If you want to get surgery or use drugs, you should understand payoff matrices and this book
http://www.amazon.com/How-Math-Save-.../dp/0470437758
will explain them. Most doctors have not even heard of this and that is not to their credit.

This is not loose skin, not even close.

Pinch the skin on the back of your hand. That is skin.

Looking at the photos you can see that this is subcutaneous fat. If you look at the before photos there is more subcutaneous fat and it appears plenty of visceral fat as well.

The good news about this is that there does not appear to be much (if any) visceral fat left. Visceral fat is the fat around your internal organs and will push out the subcutaneous fat when there is a lot of it.