How do you look all dressed up?

How do you look naked in the mirror?

How you do you feel physically?

How do you feel mentally/spiritually?

Seems to me that you are at a healthy weight for your height - so maybe all you need to do is tone your body? Yoga? Pilates? Weight training?

Don't obsess over some magic number on the scale - focus on how you feel and look!!

Post some pix, please!

Ever consider that you are at weight? Remember Atkins says in his book that your goal weight may be different than it was at an earlier time?

Your body KNOWs where it should be, maybe you can't lose any more weight because you shouldn't.

My sister is 5'3-5'4 and weighs about 118 - and she is TINY. She wears a size 4 and there's really not an extra ounce of weight on her. I think 113 is probably PLENTY thin enough for you. I also agree with everyone that says you're not eating enough for your activity level - I would drop dead if I tried to work out the way you do on 1000 calories a day.

My vote is for eating more calories. You need to visit a site that gives the amount of calories for your activity level. I could place a bet and win guess it will be more than 1000 calories. I am 5'6 and 132. When I was at 133.8 my caloric intake for doing nothing was supposed to be 1398, add all that I do in a day which is nothing close to what you do is 2306 (that i'm supposed to get) per day.

I use a website www.mybodycomp.com.

It does an accurate body fat percentage based on measurements as well.

I know it seems as though I should be eating more, but I'm pretty sure that it won't work for me. I have tried increasing my calories in the past and my weight almost inevitably goes way up along with it. Gaining weight is not an option for me right now. I have a very small frame, and I'm definitely not the lightest poster on this forum (some women are, after all, 99 or so pounds at and past goal), so I don't see why I should be an exception.

That said, I often don't go back online at night, where I typically pack on an extra 300 calories...I also haven't counted my coconut oil or mayo because I know that those aren't "carby" foods- I just kind of put the items in fitday that I am using to get my carb totals up.

I can try to be more accurate about that or just not link fitday.

I AM following Atkins, not doing some perverted version of it- but I don't like feeling like I'm so full that it's uncomfortable for me. I'm not a 'big eater' and I never have been.

The whoosh hasn't happened- if it would have, it had to have happened on a low-fat diet, which doesn't have whooshes, because I'm at my pre-atkins weight...

So...Yeah, I'm not going to defend myself or my ideals of beauty/ how I feel comfortable with myself. For me the fact is that I think I look and feel the best at around 110-111 lbs and I would like to get there...

if other posters are allowed to weigh that, then I dont' see why it' snot fair for me to say the same thing can go for me...

PS. I'm pretty toned- I do yoga and pilates already. For me this is about getting to my goal weight and staying there.

How do you look all dressed up?
I dunno- good I guess. I don't reflect much on this as long as my outfit looks nice.

How do you look naked in the mirror?
I dont' really make a habit of standing in front of it and surveying what I look like. I sort of get up and go.

How you do you feel physically?
Not so hot right now- trying to get back to goal.

How do you feel mentally/spiritually?
I feel mentally "smart".
I'm not 'spiritual' at all.

Seems to me that you are at a healthy weight for your height - so maybe all you need to do is tone your body? Yoga? Pilates? Weight training?
-I am toned, I don't want to be muscly. I really don't like doing yoga and pilates, it bores me to death, but I dislike weight training even more so i try to stick to pilates in order to avoid weights.

Don't obsess over some magic number on the scale - focus on how you feel and look!!
-->I know that it seems irrational to most people, that this 'magic number' is so important to me. However, that is the number that makes me feel the best mentally / spiritually / physically. It brings me to a place where my jeans fit perfectly and my suits feel great...and where i can feel comfortable having a piece of sf chocolate on halloween or christmas (yeah, it's an excuse to 'sin', kill me). Above that number I always feel like I'm teetering on the edge of "too much (for me)." I'm not objective, but then again, this is my body and I'd like to weigh 111.

Nope I'm too private of a person to put my pictures online.

Scotchtape, I can relate to your feeling that 110-111 is the right weight for you and that it is not "just a number". I'm 5'4" and weighed 108 until I had two children in my mid to late 30's. After that, I went up to 113 and stayed there until I was in my 40's, built a house, went crazy, drank and ate peanut m & m's for a year. Blew up to 180. I am very small framed and my clothes looked best under 113 and I felt comfortable. No one ever accused me of being anorexic, just thin, and believe it or not sexy, curvey thin. Anyway, I can relate and sympathize with your desire to get to the place where you are comfortable and don't find anything wrong with that.

At 52, I've decided to shoot for a goal of 120 taking in to account age and menopause. But, if I find that that is not going to make me happy and comfortable, then I'll keep going until I get back down to 110. Ultimately it is all about where we feel good.

I'm glad to hear that you eat more calories than what is listed on your fitday. Strangely, I ate like a pig all of my life, a whole large pizza to myself was not unusual. It wasn't until that one bad year that my body threw in the towel, how could it not?

This is getting long so I'll end. Just wanted you to know that I understand. I probably don't have any good advice until I find myself in your position a few months from now. Keep your chin up.

Being so close to goal - you're two pounds away -means it's slow going. Even when the scale displays that magic number, it's just a snapshot in time. I'm sure you know this. Most of us fluctuate 2-3 pounds throughout the day due to eating, drinking, eliminating, etc. You'll hit 111, then be up a bit the next day and down a bit the day after, and so on. It's normal.

But I do get that you want to hit it. So, try cutting back on the endurance exercise. Do you ever take a week off? And weights won't make you some muscle bound freak unless you pop some roids and spend a few hours lifting every day. It just isn't that easy to become muscley. Switching it up a bit might shock your bod and shake things up. Just a thought.

Regardless, feel proud that you're basically at goal! You've shed a lot of weight, and that's a big accomplishment. Enjoy it.

I guess we were working with the information we have. If it is above 1K then good, we have that settled. Otherwise, as you get closer to goal it takes a lot longer to get the last few off and weight will fluctuate up and down for seeming no reason at all.

I was happy with being 135 and the weight is still coming off, but I started at the end of April and got to goal at the beginning of July (i think). Then I was stepping up the ladder. It's been about 1 lb a month with some days of me being up a lb or two and then down a 1 lb or two. Then suddenly I'm down to 132.8 every morning and 134 at night.

I'd say time is going to do it for you and probably nothing else if you'd like to reach that magic number. Be sure not to eat anything carby before bed and that number will probably show up on your scale in the morning.

i was going to agree with the other posters that you need to increase your calories, especially considering how much you work out... however, you know your body far better than we ever will. if you've tried increasing food intake and don't like how your body reacts, then that's your answer.

i will say this... what our mind thinks we should see on the scale and what our body thinks is an appropriate weight to function correctly are all too often two completely different things, and no amount of argument from one is going to convince the other to change. that being said, we're talking about a difference of 2 pounds here. i'm 2" shorter than you, even though i'm about 80lbs heavier, and i honestly can't tell the difference between 200 and 198.

i know how it feels to have your self-image wrapped up in a number on a scale. my digital scale recently went schizophrenic on me and had me dropping 20lbs in 3 weeks. i won't tell you how absolutely ecstatic i felt... though the longer it went on, the more i realized there was no way in hell my body was really dropping that much weight. i got a new scale, and whaddyaknow, instead of losing 20lbs, i'd lost 2. i felt like i'd just gained back every ounce i've lost since last year.

the one thing i have found is that the more you obsess over your weight, the more likely your body is to do exactly what you don't want it to. if you can stop stressing a bit (because look at this logically, we're talking about 2 pounds here that could EASILY be water weight), you might find that as you relax, your body responds by going down.

you're already almost underweight. don't force your body into doing something that's not good for it.

thanks for all your responses guys- i am not diligent about fitday, which i guess can be good because it means that i'm not as obsessed as i could be...however i don't give you guys the information that you need in order to evaluate what i'm eating. i'm glad you all think i should stick with it [so much easier than dealing with carb-eating ...which means low-cal,a nd since i like to eat the fat on my pork, doesn't seem possible]. I am very very close to goal- i think what makes it so hard is that I have been there before and maintained...but I am only human.

I'm trying to stay good humored about it.
I'm taking a few days off from running, my body could use the break anyway (and I'm in fantastic shape so that's not going away any time soon).

Weights...sigh...I know I should lift them. the only time I ever do lift them is if they are part of a class. I just get so bored- and I have no tolerance for boredom (I can't even watch TV without doing something).

Get some dumbbells and lift while you watch tv!

This blanket statement is false. Metabolisms vary; caloric requirements vary.