Goal Weight - Opinions Please

I have already passed my surgeons goal weight of 155, personal goal weight of 152 and am almost to my latest goal weight (thanks NUT) of 145. For my height (5'7") a normal weight is 118-157. I have been slowly losing weight without really 'trying'. My NUT felt 145 would be a good stopping point and she wanted me to start to 'experiement' with maintenance eating because I could possibly keep losing weight until I figured out the right balance to maintain. I have already been to a consultation for plastic surgery and the PS said he preferred me to weigh between 145-155 for the surgery, otherwise he felt any lower I would be 'too small' afterwords and not happy (based on the conversation we had, I dont care about size or being in a 2/4 just getting rid of the flub). Anyways, there is a question here I swear! I am wondering if I should just 'take advantage' of the fact I am still slowly losing and just keep on going as I have been and see if my body stops. Or should I stop at the 145 my NUT/PS suggested? (I would be a size 8) I know there is a possibility of the % regain/bounceback so I always ponder losing more so if I do regain a little I have more 'wiggle room'. Plastic surgery is a long ways away in my future... I am hoping *fingers crossed* that in the next 2-3 years I can possibly have the first procedure done so I dont want to really lean on what the PS said too much.  Opinions?

Jennifer, I have said it before...you are such an inspiration and absolutely beautiful... what could it hurt to just keep losing til your body decides to hit the brakes?...I thought of that too when i realized I am within a couple months of goal...I'm sure my body will find it's "sweet spot" and then I will have no choice but to work on maintainance...give it a try...lol...lord knows gaining isn't too hard...you can always "correct" if you feel too thin... I don't know if any of this makes much sense the way I wrote it...lol...so be sure to share whatever you decide! xxxBecca

Well if the PS is going to be a ways off and there is the chance of some regain between now and the PS I would say to keep going until you think you are to thin.  If you are losing why not!  Then if for some reason with trying to maintain you gain some of the weightback you arent going to be beating yourself up if you end at 145. Just my 2 cents! Barbara H

I have a few thoughts.... 1.  I don't think you should fight your body on this one.  Part of the reason we have this surgery is so we can stop being obsessed with weight.  So I would think just keep doing what you're doing and see what happens - unless you really want to move on to maintenence eating. 2.  How different would "maintenence eating" be from what you're doing now?  For me it was adding some carbs (from less than 80 to less than 140g a day), protien (from 60 a day to at least 70g a day) a day and calories (from 1200 to 1400-1600 a day).  I kept losing anyway for a few months.  So even if you do switch to maintenence eating you might still lose. 3.  And then there is that regain thing (every post-op's nightmare) expected, and a little bit of a cushion is definately not a bad thing.  I wouldn't worry about it until you start to get below 140-145 ish. 

#3...lol...good call! xxxBecca

#2... not really different... my NUT said to start by adding another serving of bread/starch carb - I do 100g total now so that would be around 120-130 total a day and add another 100-200 calories. I think you are right and it would take time for my body to regulate and stop losing even with the adding the extra. I find currently the only thing that stops the weight loss is to stop eating balanced (veggies sneak out) and too much fat (cheese sneaks in).. but my normal everyday eating keeps seeing the lower numbers!

I agree with everyone above. Having some Wiggle room, as Amy put is not a bad thing. I know that my goal is to get to the lower end of my ideal weight so that if I regain I am still under two hundred.

If your weight range is 118-157, then go for it.  I would just make sure you don't go under that 118.   Obviously if you felt that you were too thin, then it would be a time to stop before that 118, but otherwise, if you want to be closer to that, then go for it. My range is 122-164.  When I went in for my initial consultation, he said that with my bone structure I should be about 130 lbs...and that I could reasonably expect to hit 150.  (I am 5' 8").   My first goal is going to be 150 (well besides the gotta hit 250, then under 200)...then I'll go from there...now I would love to get to the 130 or so, but I will have to see how I feel at the 150 first.   As long as you don't go to the underweight side, then I think it's just fine to do what YOU want.

Hey Lady I say go for it.  Lose more weight if you can.  Wiggle room is good to have and if and when the time comes for PS, if you feel you're too skinny, put the surgery off a few weeks and hit Micky D's.  Best of luck girl.

Well, not too much I can say that everyone else hasn't already said....BUT..... I think that losing a little more couldn't possibly hurt...as long as you don't go overboard and try to be like 90 lbs or anything...that would be bad lol  And, I'm all about some cushion room just in case something happens.  You're doing awesome and you look great!