Goal Weight advice

First, I know it's my bad that I don't really have a goal weight from my doc, but after you read you may understand why.  I'm just wondering where I should aim. Currently I'm down 200 lbs since my highest (June 1, 2007).  I'm hearing from most of my friends "you don't want to lose anymore weight do you?"  Ideal BMI is 20 pounds more to lose, BUT I've got skin.  I'm still running and biking nearly daily and the end of next week will be the last of my long days at school, so I'm looking to up the miles on both.  I figure I can knock another 10 off, but I'm not sure how much lower I should go.  At this point I'm done 'working' to lose weight and am  learning to eat properly and attempting to get my nutrition in off from food rather than strictly protein bars/shakes.   Thoughts on goal weight -- I'm 6'4 and ideal is 205.  By the way, I'm in normal Large shirts and sometimes medium (again, on a 6'4 frame) so that's telling me that I may be good.  Like DetroitGirl, still have a hard time seeing myself as not the huge person I once was.  It's been an amazingly fast journey for me and I've worked hard.  Feel healthy and the tests all come back good, except for iron.  I'm running 5+miles 5x a week and adding biking into the regime.  Thus when I've talked to the doc about things I haven't seen a need to think about goal weight.  But now that I'm close just wondering where I should 'aim' for.  Figure it's going to take thought to stop losing weight.  Next surgeon apt. is in early June and I'd like to be able to say "hey doc, I'm at goal aren't I" and wear a big ole' grin Thanks for the opinions --Sax

Sax -  I honestly HATE that stupid number on the scale and the whole BMI - ideal weight number.  Those charts are not a true science -- it's simply a guideline for determine good health.   Your surgeon considers you a success when you've lost 50% of your excess body weight.  The average for RNY weight loss is around 70-80% of excess body wieght lost.  So technically you're already a success in the eyes of your doc and in the eyes of the statisticians. But the more important factor you need to worry about is HOW YOU FEEL.  Are you comfortable with the weight you're at right now?  Are you happy with your health improvements?  Can you live with this weight?   Your mind takes a while to catch up.  The psychologist who works with my bariatric center says it takes 5 years for your mind to catch up with your body.  Yep, that's 5 years of looking in the mirror and still seeing a fat person even when you're wearing a size medium shirt.  So you can't really take body image into account when trying to figure out if you "look" good where you are.  You need to go by how you feel - healthwise.   My surgeon calculates my excess body weight based on my ideal weight being 132.  According to the BMI charts my normal weight ranges between 115 and 154 -- so the average would be right around that 132 mark.  I don't plan to get that low.  I'm shooting for the 160's right now and once I get there I think about where I want to go from there.  So, sorry I don't have a more cut and dry answer for you.  Just thought I'd share my thoughts on the topic. Pam