When will i look the way i want to

I am 6' 2" and way 170 lbs right now. I have a medium build and a bmi of 21.8 i think. I my current target weight is 160 lbs. So far i have lost 80 lbs. It has been lost over the course of about three years. 
It seems like every time i reach a target weight i still need to lose more weight. My original goal was 200lbs, but i still didn't look good. then it was 185 lbs, then 180lbs, then 170lbs. I just want to get rid of my spare tire.
Am I not doing something right? Do I need to start working out or something? for a awhile i was running for 30 minutes every morning, but now i am just dieting. Is anyone else going through this? Has anyone gone through this and finally looked the way they wanted?

First, congratulations on the 80-lb loss.

Unfortunatley, diet alone will not help you with the spare tire. You need to watch the fat intake (not knowing what that is for you - just sayin') and exercise is key. Absolutely key! You can get thinner and thinner but the padding kinda hangs on unless it's forced away.

I'm sorry to see you have stopped running. Are you doing any weight training?Lifting, what ever it is men do - I'm assuming youof course, that you are a man?

BTW - you do know that you are now thin enough? Again - I suggest the working out and toning up. Sounds like you're dieting and dieting to get rid of the tire.

yes i am a man, and i am not doing any weight training at this point

i was under the understanding that the way to lose fat on the body is to burn more calories than you take in a given period of time. And that exercise speeds your metalbolism up, which make you burn more calories in a day. But if it all comes down to the ratio of calories burn to the amount of calories consumed, why does it matter if i exercise. Im not try to justify my lack of motivation, i just want to make sure i have my facts straight.

You do actually have your facts straight where burning fat is concerned.  However, that is only half of the puzzle really.  It could well be that you are at a weight that is perfect for you, but if you aren't exercising then you have no muscle tone.  That muscle tone is what REALLY gives you that attractive appearance.  You can continue to burn fat and burn fat and you wind up what they call "skinny-fat". 

You need to add some exercise.  In particular, at this point, strength training.  You need to develop your muscles to fill out in the appropriate places.  As your muscles tone, you may find that you do not actually have a spare time at all.

My suggestion would be this.  Raise your calories a bit, preferrably with some lean proteins, and add some strength training.  Check the site here for the calorie burn for strength training and increase to cover for that.  The lean proteins will help your body build healthy muscle.

would that explain why the fat around on belly has become less dense as i have lost more weight. its seems like it stays about the same size, it just gets more flappy. I assume exercise (while still dieting) is the key now to a flat, spare tire-less mid section?

  "Your current Body Mass Index (BMI) is 21.8.

BMI is a standardized ratio of weight to height, and is often used as a general indicator of health. The "normal" BMI for an adult man of your height is 18.5 to 24.9. This translates to a healthy weight range of 144 to 194 lbs.However, BMI does not take body composition into account. A weight above this range could still be considered healthy if your percentage body fat is less than average. For more accurate determination of body fat levels, consider using a body fat caliper."

yes. ive dealt with it. what i do is maintain and let my body rest as my skin shrinks up. this preserves the metabolism. lets you learn your new way of eating slowly. also as you slowly increase your cals to maintain level your body starts to burn mostly fat which results in a lower body fat. which means less flapperys going on.

i did minimal exercise on my bike while upping my cals and re-kicking of another diet phase. i have a small frame and really only noticed a major fat improvement in around the same bmi numbers you were at. its around the time i started to maintain. which made my body fat go lower while staying around the same wt.

like you know how someone who works out can look great at 200 but if your dont it can be not so good? like that.
think christain bale in batman. he worked out and pulled off i think it was 215-220. hes about your ht.

ask yourself what fits your personallity. do you want to work out all the time? do you want to just lose the flappies?

i DONT want to workout all the time so i just did it a little bit while upping my cals to maintain. this got rid of my flappies but i had to go to a lower wt than if iwas to workout. so that means less food intake. that suits me.

ask yourself what suits you>>

workout = more food but you have to workout but can stop cutting cals

nonworkout = not as healthy, lower body wt for the non flabby look, less food

If you want to tone up and loose that spare tire, ALL you need to do is add strength training, without it, you will never be happy with the way you look. Low calories is not the key to loosing weight and looking good it's muscle building. Do intense strength training 3-4 times a week and eat ton of protien and you will have a sexy body in no time. Muscle burns WAY more calories than fat so once you begin to build the muscle, the fat will naturally begin to melt off. That is your answer. MUSCLE MUSCLE MUSCLE!!! It's a man's best friend. Calorie restriction is for little girls, be a man!

Occasionally when you lose a large amount of weight, especially when you lose it quickly you may be left with loose skin, which may be what your "spare tire" is mainly composed of.  Not a lot you can do about besides a tummy tuck.  Maybe you should speak to a doctor and get a fat analysis done.

A few things to note:

1) If you don't exercise, you will diet yourself into a smaller version of your same self. Only exercise - and particularly weight training - has the power to transform your body into a different shape. I am in the same boat now - even though I've been running, without the weight training, here I am at bmi of 21, 107 lbs 5'0" tall, and I still have the exact same shape, only smaller.

2) Your body will arrive at a new look, long before your mind realizes it. Make sure this isn't the case with you. Give yourself a few months at a certain weight, before concluding you need to lose more. Compare yourself to people who are the same height and weight, and really try to be objective. Take photos, measure yourself, try on new clothes, etc. It takes awhile to psychologically catch up.

3) At the end of the day - even with weight training and exercise and low body weight - we are who we are. Then we just need to accept. I'm female but maybe you can relate to this: I'd love to be a pear shape with tiny waist and curvy hips. Never going to happen!! It's just not possible, no matter what I do. Acceptance is wise.

4) Remember that a lot of the celebrities and models and actors we look at are NOT at healthy BMIs. Most of them are unhealthily *underweight.* Or, in the case of male body builders (to which you may be comparing yourself), only achieve perfection for a very tiny window of time, just long enough for the camera to flash. Lesson: make sure you are aspiring to something realistic for every day.

My DH is 5'9" and weighs 160. He has zero flab on him, and he doesn't lift weights. He'd scoff at the very idea. It's true that he bikes an hour every day - so he is very fit. But in comparison, I'd have to think 170 and 5 inches taller is comparable! So I would wonder if it's not #2, #3, and #4 you need to work on???

Hope that helps.

I had the exact thing happen to me when I was younger.  I went to one of those diet chains and they told me to not lift weights because I would lose more weight if I only did cardio.  So, I didn't.  I am 5'11" and at the time I started the diet I was 195#.  I reached my goal weight of 165# but it didn't give me the body I wanted, still flabby.  I lost another ten and another ten.  Finally, I was 144# but still flab, incidentally I could touch my fingers around my thigh.  Turns out I lost all my muscle dieting and what was left was fat.  As a result, and some years later, I gained all the weight back plus 15# because I didn't have the muscle to burn the fat.  Well, about a year ago I started a vigorous weight training program.  As of right now, I am pretty close to the body I want and have recently started this program to shed 10 to 15# and get down to 190 so that I can have a real defined 6-pack (yes, I'm that shallow LOL).  Right now it is there but it could be leaner.  (I know, I know.  Get to the point.)  I am 205# and have a better body than I ever did at 144#.  I attribute this to strength training.

 I would recommend that you start a strength training program.  I wouldn't lose anymore weight.  You are a tall guy.  For your height, 170lbs is thin.  In fact, if you strength train you will be able to lose the flab and still eat more.  I am currently eating close to 2450 calories per day.  My BMR is between 3200 and 4000 calories per day depending on what exercises I do.  I am currently losing about 2 to 3# per week.

so i assume that a strength training program will eliminate the flab, and not just put a harder larger layer of muscle underneath it.

This is something that an awful lot of people really don't understand.  Muscle and fat are two entirely separate elements.

As you have been losing weight, you have been shrinking the size of the fat cells in your body.  They will never go away (unless you have lypo)... they just shrink.  However, you have also not been feeding and growing muscle, so it remains flabby.  Muscle must be worked in order to grow or even be firm.

So, strength training will firm and grow your muscles.  I would suspect that a lot of what you think is "flab" isn't.  It's actually just under used muscle and will "go away" as your muscles firm.

YES! it will eliminate the flab and not just build muscle underneath it.

They will never go away (unless you have lypo)... they just shrink.

Actually, this has been disproven. It was only fairly recently that they discovered that fat cells can and do go away!! But it takes a long time. You need to maintain the weight loss for years before the cells disappear.

I'm still waiting for my shrunken belly fat cells to go away. :-(

how many years does it take?