When do you know when you are done?
 

I started this journey just wanting to get out of the obese BMI category. I am still slowly losing but have no "goal" in mind.

When did you know when you were done? Was it a weight? Was it pounds lost? A feeling? Clothing size?

People keep asking me how much more I want to lose, and I honestly tell them, "I will know when I get there"!

Thanks for your thoughts!

I think you have the best approach in theory. So many people push themselves too far by trying to get to an arbitrary number- 120 pounds, or their weight in high school, or a size 2, etc. I don't have the experience to support this, though. It just seems to me like you will find a place where you are comfortable.

I have a vague weight goal, but to be honest? I just want to be able to fit into a size 8 US and lower, because my favorite stores stop at that size. I see so many dresses I want... and size 8 is the BIGGEST SIZE they have.

How awful does it feel that I'm a 14? Feels so far away. Pretty awful!

I want to be able to buy the clothes I want, in that size or lower. That's my ultimate goal.

It just sort of stalls out. That's what I have found.

To add on to this, I never had a numerical goal weight myself. I found that when I reached the low 150s, continuing to lose weight would have taken more effort than I was able or willing to put in - more calorie restriction than was comfortable, more time exercising than I was willing to devote. I was delighted with my body (in a realistic sort of way; I never expected to look like a 20-year old or a supermodel), and so it seemed like a good time to transition into maintenance, and focus more on body composition rather than weight loss.

By the way, transitioning into maintenance is hard - witness the 25-ish pound regain I am now struggling to work off. So in that sense, I don't think I'm ever going to be done.

I think when you get there, you'll know it. It's not just a number on a scale or a size. It's also how you feel, how comfortable and confident you are in your body. Years ago (back in the phen/fen era) I had lost about 80 pounds. I remember at one point thinking that I hadn't reached the goal I had set in the beginning, but I had reached a point where, if I stalled out and didn't lose any more weight, that was ok. Because, even though I wasn't perfect, I had reached a point where I didn't feel bad or embarrassed about how I looked.

What the others have said...

My weight loss just slowed down and I naturally just stopped. I could push for more weight loss, but keeping that loss would be a bit difficult.

Thank you all for your replies. Having a goal weight makes me nervous because I'm just now entering into the stage of weight loss where I have never seen my post-puberty body. I don't know what I look like at 160. Maybe I'll look bangin' at 150, or maybe I won't feel good until 130. Only time will tell I guess.

Thanks all! To be honest I am still quite shocked that I have lost this much! I wonder where this journey will take me?!?!?!