I dont want to be to skinny

Your genes will dictate how you hold fat and curves. I'm a pear shape. My mom is a pear shape, my grandma was a pear shape, my great aunt was a pear shape... I'm not escaping it, and if I have a daughter, she might not either. None of them had a weight problem until they developed OTHER health problems that contributed to weight gain. But they were undeniably pear shaped.

You can look in my profile and see how I look now after losing 200lbs. I'm hardly skinny by any means and I do have loose skin. So while I may have the wide hips and flatter stomach you see on some models, I don't look like that naked! That's the reality of losing a massive amount of weight. Although I think I really lucked out there mostly because I don't NEED plastic surgery because of rashes, severe overhang, etc.

My suggestion is not to worry about it. If you happen to get to a weight you think is too small, gaining weight will still be easy for the majority of people post op. Go look at all the posts about regain and failed surgeries if you don't believe me! Get yourself to a weight you feel comfortable with AND can maintain for life. If you want a muscular body, start weight training. If you have a body type that naturally gains muscle easily, you'll probably enjoy it and see results quickly. I know I did.

I Work for/at lane bryant. and our models are in our smallest size (14/16) 

thats my Size right now. at 208

i to do not want to get to small either

My surgeon wants me at 140-145 ... i think at my height (5'3) 160-150 would be pleasant. 

my sister is 5'8 and 175-180 lbs she looks amazing.. not fat but curvy in all the right places

I am 5'8" 1/2 and weight 185 and I am a curvy size 12-14.  My husband like what he see's and I would like to lose about 30 pounds more to be between 140-160 as I am still classified as overweight. 

I have always been curvy with a little extra in my thighs as a teenager and someone in their 20's.  I didn't become overweight until I hit my mid 30's.  I have lose skin on my stomach and thighs and I wear a maidenform support for them.  Funny my daughter is 5'10 1/2" and weights 160 and my husband said I looked thinner than her.  She is a good 2 " taller than me and 25 pounds less than me. 

I totally understand where you are coming from as I don't want to get super thin either. Rather I want to get back to what I considered a normal weight for myself which is 160. When I asked the PA at my doctor's office what they considered my goal weight to be I was told 216 as they consider it a successful RNY if you lose 60% of your excess weight. However, as I am only 8 months out, we know I'm not done losing yet and she said I would more than likely get just under 200 pounds by my first surgiversary. In reality IF (that's a big if!) I were to get to 216 and THEN HAVE the plastic surgeries done that I want I would most likely end up around 160. The blessings for me so far are that I am off all of my high blood pressure meds, I can walk without oxygen insufficiency, my severe obstructive sleep apnea is gone, I can walk without a walker or a cane and I am no longer super morbidly obese! As another poster said... just because I'm 56 doesn't mean I don't have a little vanity going on! I still want a flat stomach, and these batwing arms got to go!

Good luck to you on your journey!

I am almost 5' 8" and weighing 165 to 170.  I think it is retained fluid at the higher point but what ever, I'm surprised that I don't look larger than I do.  My sizes are L or 14 in pants and 12 to 14 in dresses.  That isn't typical for a thin person but it looks fine to me.  I think I need to lose 10 to 15 pounds to be normal and that is fine with me also.  

It appears that you haven't had surgery yet.  My advice is to just be committed to making the diet and exercise changes and see what happens.  Your ideas will change as you make progress.  We all are still works in progress.

Decide when you start losing where you want to end up, because honestly you are clueless right now about how you are gonna feel when you get there.  Nothing is carved in stone and you can change goals as you go along.  My surgeons goal was 178, but I was still fat at that weight, I didn't have surgery to still be obese.  I lowered my goal 10lbs at a time until I hit the ideal weight for my height, 138lbs at 5'5, and I can tell you I am not thin, I am a size 6, 38d breasts with a perfectly flat stomach from a very impressive tummy tuck. I wish I had this body when I was 20 something and hadn't ruined it by 20 years of morbid obesity.  And I did ruin my body by being so overweight, I have painful debilitating arthritis that I live with daily, sometimes the pain is so bad I cannot sleep at all or the stabbing pain wakes me up.  MO does more then kill it maims also.  Now in addition to my hip, neck and hands I have developed arthritis in the knee I fell on 20+ years ago twice.  Yeah me, so honestly wait and see, no need to decide anything now.

August 2012 (140) currently 137lbs.

I totally agree!! I did not have surgery to be obese or even overweight. I think many people give up too easily...

PS You look awesome

Thanks Laura,

You know you have that smokin hot body that everyone is pea green with envy over and the nice muscle tone to boot.  I love to see your pics, I know you will never fail this **** we worked and paid way to much to **** it up.

Awwwww...... thanks, girly. I love seeing your pics, too.

You are correct. We have BOTH worked too hard to **** it up. We won't!!

DAMMMMMMMNNNNNNNN GIRL! You look good. I hope I can look like that one day.  You the the perfect hip curve.... I know this entire comment is weird but just saying you look good.