Here's my easing into thinness, slightly freaked post..

Ok. It's finally started to happen in the last few weeks/lbs- I've been losing the last of the belly and thick feeling and feel like I'm starting to see the shape I like & want (skin not included!)

Now my ponderings, and these may come across more serious in type than I really feel about them.. I know I can pull myself out of the losing cycle if/when I need to.. so these are more curious thoughts to see where others have been and what they thought along the way themselves..

Been building muscle, and I can feel it and see it (yay!)- but I also still feel "slight" at times.. like from the waist up, with my shoulders/face/chest- I sometimes catch myself and think I look thin, and it trips me up and most other times I feel just leaner and healthy (which I am.) This has caught more more recently as I've been around friends that are moderately overweight/obese and where once I felt like I fit in, now I feel like a string bean in comparison. It's very weird.

Did anyone approach their goal shape/leanness and feel good and slightly disturbed at the same time by the rapid changes and shifts in the lines a few lbs can make? 

I'm aiming for under 25% BF and have been on the low 25.xx for a few days, but I take a weekly average to make it slightly more accurate trend wise.. Ultimately I was thinking I wanted to pu**** down to 21-22% if I could for health reasons.. but I have no idea how that would look on me. I feel strong, stronger now with the work outs, and physically feel great.. but wouldn't mind dropping another size..

For those ladies that know- what BF% did you feel you looked and especially felt best at? Just curious.


I think the rapid uptick in losing this particular month has gotten my head a little unsettled and image-confused. I had been plugging along at the same few lbs for a while, and now my metabolism has possibly decided to ramp up on me and I'm still trying to catch up.

Im right there with you!  I think this has been the most challenging part of the journey.  Sometimes I look in the mirror and say - I need to gain another 10 lbs, I look so old.  

Other times, I am like - Damn I have never looked so good.

I feel good, everyone says I look good.  I've got another surgery coming up - lord knows what that will change.

mainly right now, I am just trying to settle into all of the changes that being at goal bring - the new tools to develop and not overthink it.

 

 

If anything (besides the obvious) the surgery may bring about some more weight loss! 
I'm telling you, just a little filler in the over-thin areas of the face.. really works some wonders :) Doesn't take much!

Good luck with round 1 of your plastics (and not over thinking!)

It is hard when you start to hit the "too thin" point. I think I am there, even though my BMI is 25, my body fat was 18.5% and the surgeon said that I only had 1cm of abdominal fat, the rest was skin. Hard to wrap my head around that. I am sitting at 141 right now, 5'3"

It's a mindf*ck for sure!

You have an incredible hourglass figure (saw your measurements post) and it shows!
The skin trips us up- at least me for sure.. it messes with our size in a real way, without it- my waist would be an inch smaller at least.. 

Hope you are feeling well! Have you gotten back home since the clean-up started or are you still elsewhere?

 It definitely takes time for the head to catch up. I don't think we see ourselves as others see us. At least I don't. Since I have been stable, within 2-3 lbs, for about the past 17 months, I have seen and felt some changes in my body. I don't look as bony and the muscle has helped to fill in some areas. My body fat is relatively low, about 18.9 % at the last testing. I'm not a small boned person, so this weight seems appropriate to me. Even though I feel "fat" at times, I never have people tell me that, nor do I have people say that I am too thin. The first several months, I think I looked gaunt at times, but your body fat does redistribute and fills in some lean places. It is an odd phenomena and until it happened to me, I didn't really understand it.

Today, a plastic surgeon said that I didn't have much fat and most of what was bothering me, was mostly loose skin and he wouldn't recommend that I lose any more weight. I'm glad I waited for awhile, before seriously considering plastics, since there have some changes in the past year.

I think, it will take your head awhile to catch up and your "thin" areas may fill in, with more muscle and time. The fat that is left will redistribute, once you are stable for several months. Muscle may help to fill in the leaness that you see and feel in your upper torso. The weight training may help with that feeling of "slightness."

How tall are you?

It is definitely a mixed bag for awhile. I am two years out and still going through it.

Gail

5'6.5" at the testing facility I went to last mo.. I always said 5'7".. oh well. Lost some there too. 

My measurements are by no means overly tiny.. last time measured, a mo ago- the morning of my BodPod (which read 27.8%, but the more I read on it the less stock I'm willing to put into it's accuracy) waist was 30.5, hip was 39.5, underbust was 32. I know the waist/hip has changed a little, maybe 1/2" ea- but not enough to need the next size down in jeans, yet. I'm measuring again this weekend, so we will see..

I AM loving the muscles though, it is very nice to see the results when you don't have so much extra layered on top of them.. I'm just not used to seeing me this lean, and hanging with friends that are bigger really does make it more noticeable to me. Just having a little head trip today!

This is absolutely a mental adjustment. I have always, always been the fat one. Now I feel my upper body is too thin and in comparison absolutely scrawny. To me the difference from 150 to 140 has felt as huge as losing 50 lbs felt before in terms of changes in my body.

I had a Bodpod done at 146 lbs and was at 18.6% body fat. I thought I was a little too lean at that point, but guess I'd like to keep the same body fat percentage (between there and 20%) and put some muscle on to regain just a little weight. Still scared to do what I have to do to gain any weight though, which is a psychological barrier I've been chatting with my therapist about: I want to weigh a little more than I do, but gaining weight has such negative associations for me...

The metabolism ramp-up thing is very real by the way. Our metabolisms do slow down during the losing phase - why we're always sooooo cold. It is possible to bring them back with a gradual calorie increase and exercise/muscle building but how much mine came back really caught me by surprise.

I can only imagine what losing the next few BF% will do.. Thankfully my upper body has not lost much in the last 10lbs (bony enough thanks), it's been coming off my remaining reserves- belly, hips & butt/thighs.

I agree though- the last 5-10 has made a huge difference in the way I see myself.. and the same upper-body feelings at times. I think when my upper arms leaned out, that's when it really hit.

I also have noted I don't feel nearly as cold as often since I started heavy lifting (I've also experienced a huge energy surge- part of which may just be mental.) I have not upped my cals as high as I should I think though.. still trying to hold near 900 most days, with off-plan days being much higher at least once a week, but that was a jump from where I was during losing.. I'm taking that a little at a time.. going up to 1000 here now with the work thing coming up and longer hours. I'd like to get the rest off, but I also know I need to eat enough to keep seeing some gains in strength.. balancing act.

I totally know what you are talking about and I was tripping out, especially at the upper part of my body.  As a man I want to have a strong upper body and it was weird seeing how thin my arms and shoulders had become. I have broad shoulders and it looked like these bones sticking out. I started doing weights to build muscle. I don't really know what my BF% is and I'm not too concerned about it as my blood work is perfect. But building muscle for me is key, and a total pain.

Well that, and not gaining my weight back...