So you know, I've been through almost the exact same situation as you (except I was about 50 lbs heavier and 2 inches taller), and done tons of research on the subject, so I'm not talking out of my ass when I say:
You've made some amazing progress! As for loose skin..you don't have any, lol. It's not loose skin until your bodyfat is in the very low double digits or single digit. (This means between 12 and 8% bodyfat). Until then, what you have is some remaining extra bodyfat and what appears to be the muscularity of someone who's been doing nothing but cardio for a year of weight loss.
What will do the most to make you look better now, believe it or not, is to gain some muscle mass with a nice clean bulk. You could drop your bodyfat even more, but chances are you will just end up being what we call "skinny-fat."
With a nice strong upper (and lower) body your tiny bit of remaining paunch and lovehandles will be downplayed. As you gain some muscle your metabolism will revv back up out of (what it's probably in now: ) starvation mode and start burning more fuel. Once you're satisfied with your muscularity, you can cut down to a nice low bodyfat that will show off your new muscles for that defined look you want.
Here are some valuable resources:
[Focus] said:
Then you'll want to use to calculate your daily caloric needs (the numbers used for losing weight are somewhat conservative, feel free to lower them, but do not go under your maintenance by more than 1000 calories, or under 1200 for women or 1800 for men..whichever is higher).Don't worry if you don't know your bodyfat %, if you do put it in and use the Katch-McArdle, if you don't use the Harris-Benedict.
Then you'll want to check out for the lowdown on what to do for exercise, as well as more resources on effective weight loss and nutrition. I recommend HGM for a beginner to strength training. It's tough, but fun. The stickies here are also an excellent source of information. Read, read, read.
Update:Just for reference, though it's in there...2-3 days of cardio and 2-3 full body strength training workouts a week, with cardio and weight training on separate days, is a good balance for a beginner.
Also, I just want to say that it's very encouraging to see someone in a situation something like mine, with a bodyshape very similar to what mine has been (and sortof is now, though over 70 lbs lighter, as a result of some backtracking -_-) get from "before" to where you are now. Outstanding work! Thanks for posting. Please take the time to read the linked info..you won't regret it. I look forward to observing your success.
