9 months out. Stall or end of loss?

it has been almost nine months. I have been at this same weight for a month. It's not a bad weight, 147. I was kind of aiming for 135 though. What is frustrating is not knowing wheat is my body's goal weight, the weight it wants to end at rather than what I hope for personally. How do you know when you have hit that level? I stay mindful on my intake, and am going to the gym occasionally, more for health than weight loss, tho my goal is to go more frequently for being fit. Those of you who have reached or maintained at goal, how did you understand what that goal was? Did you have lengthy plateaus of a month or more on the way?

I think we all have that magic number that we want to be at! Personally, I went down to where I thought I wanted to be, but found out it was a little too thin (at least that's what everyone told me). So...I gained 20 back...dumb idea...and have now worked to get it back off. My body likes me about 10 pounds more than I thought and I've found it fairly easy to maintain. Yes...there were very lengthy plateaus in there! It was as if everything needed to settle down and adjust. For me, after about 9 months, the weight loss phase was a much more demanding process. I have to stay totally committed and focused for the weight to come off. Hang in there...you can do this!

Your "body's" goal weight is the weight you decide it's going to be. Your brain controls this. I'm almost four years post-op and still slowly losing weight because I'm not yet where I ultimately want to be. There is no "end of loss" that is somehow outside of your control. If you keep working at it, if you stay vigilant, you'll reach the goal you decide you want to reach.

Absolutely agree with what Gwen replied, I am 2 years out and am still loosing slowly to what my personal goal of 135lbs is. It definitely is not coming off as fast as the first year, and yes, I have had lengthy plateaus along the way!:-)

It's likely that you're currently eating the same number of calories as you expend each day, which will keep you in maintenance.

While you say you're "mindful of your intake," how many calories do you eat each day? How much protein? It's possible that you may need to cut back on your calories in order to continue losing.

It gets harder to lose the closer you are to that magical goal weight. The conundrum is you are physically capable of eating more but need to eat less if you are not losing. I always think if you're in s rut it helps to change up food choices and add some fat. We need that too.

Many of us previously obese people need very few calories to maintain, so even if you think your calories are low perhaps they are at maintenance level for your current weight. I need approximately 1350 calories on average to maintain my current weight. When I feel I am too high in my weight range (or above it), I drop my average calories under 800 and maximize protein/minimize carbs.

I do agree that a lot of it is within your control. I got down to 138 at one time, and my surgeon, my PCP, and the woman who did my DEXA scan all told me it was time to stop. I probably could have kept going, but I didn't - I started gradually adding calories so I'd level off. My weight has since drifted up c. 8 lbs. I'm tempted to say that's where my body wants to be (146-ish), but I know if it was up to body, it'd probably happily gain another 30 lbs. So I'm still controlling it...

you'll probably start losing again if you back off a bit on calories. You'll just have to decide if you want to do that. Depending on your height and build, 147 might be fine for you. But you do have a lot of control over where you want to be.