It's been done but I'm doing it again. . .

 How did you decide on a maintenance weight?

Before surgery, I had the golden number of 130 in my head.  My psychologist thought I was being overly ambitious and said something in the low 150s would be easy to maintain.  I said I would not accept an overweight BMI as success but I would concede an original goal of 145-149.  I'm there.

I know I'd like to lose at least to 140, but I'm so bony in some places I can't imagine what I'll look like at 130! Weight is still coming off pretty easily, though at a slower pace, more like 1 lb a week now sometimes 2 rather than the 3-4 I had for a long time.  I'm fine with that too.  Let's me get a chance to be more comfortable in this completely new to me body.  Particularly my hips and shoulders are just a little bit of skin over bone, and can be rather painful sometimes!  I still feel fat because of excess skin on my stomach but if I could afford a tummy tuck I bet it's pretty rocking under the extra fluffiness.   

So I guess I'm just at a stage where I don't know.  I'd love to see 130, but I'm worried I'll look horrible, but I'm so used to always losing weight that I'll push to get there anyway.   I'm also a little terrified of Maintenance.  I've never been good at that, matter of fact I'm pretty lousy at it.  So maybe I'm just putting it off for as long as possible.

I don't trust my own perception at all, especially since the skin still really skews my view.  Who did you turn to, or did you just know when it was right?  My psychologist left and I haven't bothered to find a new one.  I am going to schedule an appointment with my nutritionist as I need help figuring out how to fuel my body for my races and training, not sure if she'd be any help with this.  My surgeon isn't an option.  1) he feels that I'm already a success if I've lost 60% which I lost ages ago and 2) I can't get an appointment with him.  Never seen him since I left the hospital.

Body composition testing.. at least it gave me a general idea. I had it done when I got down to 148ish and starting weight lifting. It matched up pretty decent with my scale at home, so now I just do a weekly average of myBF% and watch it. I may not go as low as I dreamed (21-22%) if I decide I look or feel better higher, but I had to take my cues from an outside source as my body image is skewed too. Some parts of me are incredibly bony- upper, and not so, lower..

 I keep saying I'm going to do that, then I don't.  Birthday is in a month, maybe I'll ask for that.  Honestly, I don't know where I'm still fluffy at because, the skin hides so much.  My arms are very muscular, if you could see them through the bat wings, but I can feel it, my calves are solid muslce and my thighs are pretty good when you get past the skin where butt meets thighs.  I guess the body testing will help me see past the skin to what is going on underneath.

Good question gurl. I met my first goal now on to the 2nd. I have a number in my head too but not sure if that is the magic number. I dont know if it's weird when I say I wanna be a size 6. I'm getting close; some of my size 8 pants are roomy but I haven't been shopping for a while. Sometimes I think I look pretty decent and other times I feel like I still have a ways to go. Honestly, I dont think I will ever be perfectly happy with my body. I will admit it looks better than I thought it would but ... still have flaws overall.
I also have the bony hip bones on the front but have fluff in other areas that I would love to tone down. I'm trying to exercise to tone up more; to see if I can see my body "look" stronger & more toned but I'm not getting my hopes up for that.
I'm trying to just take it 1 day at a time right now. I know it would be a lot easier to just put a number out there but for me also, as long as I'm in a normal BMI and the size I wanna be, then I will be happy.

You don't say how tall you are. 

I will say this, i stopped looking at what i looked like  because i realized i did not know anymore.  the mirror is not the judge i thought it would be.  people tell me that i look too thin but i weighed this for ten years and i always felt i had 10lbs to 15lbs to lose and i never lost it.  i see people on here who say they are too thin and i almost never see that.  so much for my lying eyes.

I always had a weight i wanted to get to and that's where I'm going.  i figure if i think i look too old (years make a difference) I've always been quite adept at gaining lol. 

Here's what i think. Sometimes i see people after big weight loss and they do not look well.  I see these people 4 months later and they look great.  Redistribution of weight? My view of them changing?  My getting used to them being smaller?  I don't know, what i do know is that the dream weight i kept in my back pocket all my life seems attainable.  If i don't like it, i can change it, but i don't want to settle into the thing I've done with other weight loss the "this will do" thing.

I also have to say my goal weight is what some of my siblings weigh, the same people who tell me whenever i see them that they are worried for me I'm too small.  Some of them are several inches taller and my goal weight, so i have to say that although some days i look at myself and think i look great, i always want to know what that other weight, that elusive weight will look like and if i don't find out this go around, i never will. So i keep going.

 I'm 5'5" with a med frame.  I guess that's a good point though.  Get to 130 then decide, it's not like I can't put it back on if I hate it.  Don't know why that didn't occur to me.

You know depending on how much skin, with plastics you may BE
in the 130's.

 I decided when I had surgery that I wanted to get down to 135.  However, I'm now a little over 2 years out and have been hanging at about 150-155 for over a year now without much extra effort or difficulty.  I'm pretty comfortable at this weight (size 6-8) and so if I lose more I'd be fine with it, but I've decided to not make it a priority in my life.  What has been more important to me is living a normal life......something I can sustain and be healthy without obsessing about weight or food (some of the things that brought on the weight in the first place).  

If I never go below 150 again (lowest I've been is 149.6) I'll be perfectly happy with that.  I still leave my goal weight as 135, but I know I probably won't get there and I'm okay with that.

ETA:  I'm about 5' 4.5"

I'm two years out and my head still plays games with me. What I found out, over the past year, is areas that were bony, have filled in. The fat redistributes and I have added some muscle through weight training for the past 19 months. When I read postings about the weight redistribution, I really didn't understand it, until it happened to me.

With time and some weight training, you may also see some redistribution of your body fat. I also recommend the body composition testing. That helped me to decide to stop losing any more weight. Plastics is in my future, because the loose skin obscures some of the hard work that I have done. I would love to see my abs.

Maintenance is challenging and requires constant mindfulness. What I have learned, is that I practice the same behaviors that helped me to lose the weight, but I can eat a few more calories. It is scary, when one hasn't been successful with maintenance in the past. I take one day at a time. I still measure and track my food, and weigh daily.

Gail

Sometimes you don't know till you get there. I got down as low as 133 (5'2") and people started asking if I was ok. My face got too thin and I didn't look as healthy as I do with a few more pounds on. I am more comfortable between 135-139 range. A small amount can make a big difference. I have photos of myself around 150-155 and I look great in them, but I'd rather be closer to the normal BMI range. Personal choice though.

If you get to 130 and don't like how you feel, increase your intake a little until you get where you are happy. Once you get there, don't let yourself get too far off track. I almost always still weigh/measure my food. I don't trust myself to gauge it correctly.