How did you decide your weight loss goal?

jen_092

Hi all,
When I started MFP I was right under 160 lbs and I made an arbitrary guess for my goal weight - 145. My height is 5'7. The lowest I've weighed as an adult was probably 135 right out of high school. I know this is a personal choice, but what kinds of guidelines did you use for your goal? BMI? Previous weight? I was recently thinking about pushing myself to lose a little beyond 145 because I already got down to 149 after one month and I still look basically the same.
I haven't started building muscle yet but would probably start once I got into the 135-145 range (which I suppose would bump up the number on the scale which is fine of course). Sorry for rambling...what are some thoughts you might have?

Blueseraphchaos

Since i started at 217 and 5'4", i picked the weight i was after i had my second kid, 150 lbs, which both my dr/nutritionist and i deemed was reasonable. Now that I'm down to 174 and I've also lost an inch of height (thanks to birth control causing me to lose bone mass), i think 140 may be doable, and that would put me in the normal weight range for my height according to bmi (which is still a pretty arbitrary number anyway).

The lowest i ever was as an adult was 125, right after i had my first son, but i just don't know how reasonable that would be for me now that I'm almost 12 years older.

arditarose

Hmm...At 163 I set my goal for 150 because it just seemed attainable. Then 145, then 140, then 135. I'm bottoming out now because I lift and as much as I'd like to get down to 130, I want to eat and lift. I'm working into maintenance to see if I can do a recomp. I weigh between 136-138 now.

I do know that I don't want to go lower than 130 though. No reason to. My fat is in my thighs and I'm not going to stress myself out trying to go lower for a number on the scale.

LoveLiveLife27

I'm 224 and 5'4 my goal weight is 150. The lowest I remember being was 170 which didnt look bad on me but I think I want to be 150 because I really dont want to lose all of my hips. When I get there i'll change it as I see fit.

arditarose

LoveLiveLife27 wrote: »

I'm 224 and 5'4 my goal weight is 150. The lowest I remember being was 170 which didnt look bad on me but I think I want to be 150 because I really dont want to lose all of my hips. When I get there i'll change it as I see fit.

I'm 5'4" too. I started with 44 inch hips. I don't want to lose mine either. But at 136 they are still 39 inches, which I'm happy about. I kind of don't want them to be any smaller.

jordanify

Hi. I like to focus on measurements and clothing size, the scale isn't worth stressing about.

Christine_72

I'm 5"8 and the lowest weight I've been is around 127lbs which was way to skinny for my frame. So I chose 132lbs, I'm 8lbs away and so far so good.

LoveLiveLife27

arditarose wrote: »

LoveLiveLife27 wrote: »

I'm 224 and 5'4 my goal weight is 150. The lowest I remember being was 170 which didnt look bad on me but I think I want to be 150 because I really dont want to lose all of my hips. When I get there i'll change it as I see fit.

I'm 5'4" too. I started with 44 inch hips. I don't want to lose mine either. But at 136 they are still 39 inches, which I'm happy about. I kind of don't want them to be any smaller.

I Hope I keep mine. And my boobs lol... Somehow I feel I wont be that lucky

arditarose

LoveLiveLife27 wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

LoveLiveLife27 wrote: »

I'm 224 and 5'4 my goal weight is 150. The lowest I remember being was 170 which didnt look bad on me but I think I want to be 150 because I really dont want to lose all of my hips. When I get there i'll change it as I see fit.

I'm 5'4" too. I started with 44 inch hips. I don't want to lose mine either. But at 136 they are still 39 inches, which I'm happy about. I kind of don't want them to be any smaller.

I Hope I keep mine. And my boobs lol... Somehow I feel I wont be that lucky

I didn't start with any. And they got smaller. But, we're all different.

Anyway, I'm not as much of a pear as I used to be. But being slimmer is more fun, even if my butt gets a little smaller...I'd never go back. I might bulk and build it up though

jen_092

Thanks everyone!! I want to keep my boobs too lol but I'm willing to shrink them if it means shrinking my gut which is my one problem area, of course.

I guess it's okay to adjust my goals as I go, and see how I feel at different points along the way. I also just wanted to make sure I didn't set a goal too low because health is the priority. Along with the flat tummy haha.

arditarose

jenxbowers wrote: »

Thanks everyone!! I want to keep my boobs too lol but I'm willing to shrink them if it means shrinking my gut which is my one problem area, of course.

I guess it's okay to adjust my goals as I go, and see how I feel at different points along the way. I also just wanted to make sure I didn't set a goal too low because health is the priority. Along with the flat tummy haha.

145 makes sense as a first goal. You are on the taller side so it might be good on ya. You can reassess when you get there.

By the way, you mentioned starting to build muscle once you get to goal. I hope you are on a lifting program now to maintain the muscle you have?

Blueseraphchaos

LoveLiveLife27 wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

LoveLiveLife27 wrote: »

I'm 224 and 5'4 my goal weight is 150. The lowest I remember being was 170 which didnt look bad on me but I think I want to be 150 because I really dont want to lose all of my hips. When I get there i'll change it as I see fit.

I'm 5'4" too. I started with 44 inch hips. I don't want to lose mine either. But at 136 they are still 39 inches, which I'm happy about. I kind of don't want them to be any smaller.

I Hope I keep mine. And my boobs lol... Somehow I feel I wont be that lucky

My hips have always been huge (to me, anyway), even at 125 lbs....my boobs, on the other hand, were nonexistent before and are quickly becoming nonexistent again. hopefully, it will even out for me in the end, lol

mxmkenney

I picked my goal based on my BMI - it is right smack in the middle of the chart. My range is 135-165, so I'm going with 150. I have been that weight before, but it has been a long time... probably high school, so my goal may be a little low, but I think it is doable.

Christine_72

Omg what is with us and our flabby tums!!? It seems to be the bane of most womens existence

arditarose

christinev297 wrote: »

Omg what is with us and our flabby tums!!? It seems to be the bane of most womens existence

I know. I always keep my mouth shut because my tummy was never very round, even in the 160s. I have some seriously thick thighs and butt to make up for it though.

jemhh

I'm 5'6" and started at 202.5. My first goal was 154--the top of the healthy bmi range for my height. After that it's been "I'll know it when I see it" because my goal is to get rid of abdominal fat. I'm kind of an apple shaped person but moving into rectangle territory, which I think is a common progression. Im 149 right now and my waist is 31.5" at the smallest point and 35.875" at my navel with 38.5" hips. After seeing a model of what 5 lbs. of fat looks like, I think I'll end up going to somewhere between 137 and 142 before I'm done.

jen_092

arditarose wrote: »

jenxbowers wrote: »

Thanks everyone!! I want to keep my boobs too lol but I'm willing to shrink them if it means shrinking my gut which is my one problem area, of course.

I guess it's okay to adjust my goals as I go, and see how I feel at different points along the way. I also just wanted to make sure I didn't set a goal too low because health is the priority. Along with the flat tummy haha.

145 makes sense as a first goal. You are on the taller side so it might be good on ya. You can reassess when you get there.

By the way, you mentioned starting to build muscle once you get to goal. I hope you are on a lifting program now to maintain the muscle you have?

Thanks! As for the lifting, not on a program right now, no. Last time I lost weight I did a "Pump" class and used exercise machines. I can't afford that gym anymore so I've been going to the free one at my school. It's not as good as my old gym but has the basics - what would you suggest I start doing there?

jen_092

christinev297 wrote: »

Omg what is with us and our flabby tums!!? It seems to be the bane of most womens existence

Totally is! We will get there soon enough though!

jen_092

jemhh wrote: »

I'm 5'6" and started at 202.5. My first goal was 154--the top of the healthy bmi range for my height. After that it's been "I'll know it when I see it" because my goal is to get rid of abdominal fat. I'm kind of an apple shaped person but moving into rectangle territory, which I think is a common progression. Im 149 right now and my waist is 31.5" at the smallest point and 35.875" at my navel with 38.5" hips. After seeing a model of what 5 lbs. of fat looks like, I think I'll end up going to somewhere between 137 and 142 before I'm done.

This is super helpful to me, thank you. I'd better start actually measuring myself! Great job on your weight loss !

arditarose

jenxbowers wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

jenxbowers wrote: »

Thanks everyone!! I want to keep my boobs too lol but I'm willing to shrink them if it means shrinking my gut which is my one problem area, of course.

I guess it's okay to adjust my goals as I go, and see how I feel at different points along the way. I also just wanted to make sure I didn't set a goal too low because health is the priority. Along with the flat tummy haha.

145 makes sense as a first goal. You are on the taller side so it might be good on ya. You can reassess when you get there.

By the way, you mentioned starting to build muscle once you get to goal. I hope you are on a lifting program now to maintain the muscle you have?

Thanks! As for the lifting, not on a program right now, no. Last time I lost weight I did a "Pump" class and used exercise machines. I can't afford that gym anymore so I've been going to the free one at my school. It's not as good as my old gym but has the basics - what would you suggest I start doing there?

I don't mean to be annoying or forward, I'm just saying this because you mentioned you wanted to build muscle someday. Which means you must have some interest in lifting.

If you lift or do some kind of serious/resistance training now, you will lose much less muscle along with the fat compared to not lifting. Especially since you want to build it someday, why lose a bunch first? Also, you might be happier with a higher weight if you keep muscle. If you lose a lot, you might keep needing to diet down to be happy with your appearance.

What do they have at your new gym? Barbells/free weights?

Christine_72

Are most apple and pear shapes on the short side in height?

arditarose

christinev297 wrote: »

Are most apple and pear shapes on the short side in height?

Not necessarily.

jemhh

I consider 5'4"-5'6" to be average height for a woman.

jen_092

arditarose wrote: »

jenxbowers wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

jenxbowers wrote: »

Thanks everyone!! I want to keep my boobs too lol but I'm willing to shrink them if it means shrinking my gut which is my one problem area, of course.

I guess it's okay to adjust my goals as I go, and see how I feel at different points along the way. I also just wanted to make sure I didn't set a goal too low because health is the priority. Along with the flat tummy haha.

145 makes sense as a first goal. You are on the taller side so it might be good on ya. You can reassess when you get there.

By the way, you mentioned starting to build muscle once you get to goal. I hope you are on a lifting program now to maintain the muscle you have?

Thanks! As for the lifting, not on a program right now, no. Last time I lost weight I did a "Pump" class and used exercise machines. I can't afford that gym anymore so I've been going to the free one at my school. It's not as good as my old gym but has the basics - what would you suggest I start doing there?

I don't mean to be annoying or forward, I'm just saying this because you mentioned you wanted to build muscle someday. Which means you must have some interest in lifting.

If you lift or do some kind of serious/resistance training now, you will lose much less muscle along with the fat compared to not lifting. Especially since you want to build it someday, why lose a bunch first? Also, you might be happier with a higher weight if you keep muscle. If you lose a lot, you might keep needing to diet down to be happy with your appearance.

What do they have at your new gym? Barbells/free weights?

For some reason I thought it was good to shed a few pounds of fat and then focus on building up muscle after that. I didn't realise I could be losing muscle right now! I know very little about all this, clearly haha. My goal for protein right now is 70g and I hit it most days. So I guess it didn't occur to me that I could be losing muscle. I definitely care less about scale numbers and more about appearance, I looked way better as a high school athlete and weighed the same due to having muscle. When I graduated I lost so much muscle weight and then gained the freshmen 15 in college.

Anyway, yeah, they have free weights and maybe barbells I'm not sure. To be honest I only go over to that area when the men's basketball team isn't there lol.

arditarose

jenxbowers wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

jenxbowers wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

jenxbowers wrote: »

Thanks everyone!! I want to keep my boobs too lol but I'm willing to shrink them if it means shrinking my gut which is my one problem area, of course.

I guess it's okay to adjust my goals as I go, and see how I feel at different points along the way. I also just wanted to make sure I didn't set a goal too low because health is the priority. Along with the flat tummy haha.

145 makes sense as a first goal. You are on the taller side so it might be good on ya. You can reassess when you get there.

By the way, you mentioned starting to build muscle once you get to goal. I hope you are on a lifting program now to maintain the muscle you have?

Thanks! As for the lifting, not on a program right now, no. Last time I lost weight I did a "Pump" class and used exercise machines. I can't afford that gym anymore so I've been going to the free one at my school. It's not as good as my old gym but has the basics - what would you suggest I start doing there?

I don't mean to be annoying or forward, I'm just saying this because you mentioned you wanted to build muscle someday. Which means you must have some interest in lifting.

If you lift or do some kind of serious/resistance training now, you will lose much less muscle along with the fat compared to not lifting. Especially since you want to build it someday, why lose a bunch first? Also, you might be happier with a higher weight if you keep muscle. If you lose a lot, you might keep needing to diet down to be happy with your appearance.

What do they have at your new gym? Barbells/free weights?

For some reason I thought it was good to shed a few pounds of fat and then focus on building up muscle after that. I didn't realise I could be losing muscle right now! I know very little about all this, clearly haha. My goal for protein right now is 70g and I hit it most days. So I guess it didn't occur to me that I could be losing muscle. I definitely care less about scale numbers and more about appearance, I looked way better as a high school athlete and weighed the same due to having muscle. When I graduated I lost so much muscle weight and then gained the freshmen 15 in college.

Anyway, yeah, they have free weights and maybe barbells I'm not sure. To be honest I only go over to that area when the men's basketball team isn't there lol.

Yeah. It's okay. It's not too late! haha. Yes, you will lose muscle along with fat. Lifting helps you maintain muscle mass as you lose. You can do body weight stuff too but I honestly know nothing about that but I think there's some good stuff on nerdfitness.com. Take a look at your gym. If there are barbells and free weights you might want to start a beginners lifting program. It's seriously so much fun.

pjcfrancis

mxmkenney wrote: »

I picked my goal based on my BMI

Me too. My max BMI (24.9) is at 193 lbs, so I knocked about 10 lbs off that and rounded to the nearest 5 to get 185. (Best I've done in the last 20 years is 189).

jen_092

arditarose wrote: »

Yeah. It's okay. It's not too late! haha. Yes, you will lose muscle along with fat. Lifting helps you maintain muscle mass as you lose. You can do body weight stuff too but I honestly know nothing about that but I think there's some good stuff on nerdfitness.com. Take a look at your gym. If there are barbells and free weights you might want to start a beginners lifting program. It's seriously so much fun.

Thank you so much for the help! I've only been at this for a month and I'm happy with how it's going - this tip should give me a little boost.
When I did the Pump class I had soo much fun. It was like a lifting class set to crazy music, and really high intensity/upbeat/challenging. I had the smallest weights in the class but I definitely still felt it at the end.

Autumnfilly2005

I'm 5'5" @240lbs, and my goal is to lose 10% of my body weight. I realize that only puts me at 216 which is still overweight, but once I get there, I figure I can re-evaluate and decide on another goal (probably another 10%).

Christine_72

jemhh wrote: »

I consider 5'4"-5'6" to be average height for a woman.

Yeah it is. But being 5"8 I see that height as short.

arditarose

jenxbowers wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

Yeah. It's okay. It's not too late! haha. Yes, you will lose muscle along with fat. Lifting helps you maintain muscle mass as you lose. You can do body weight stuff too but I honestly know nothing about that but I think there's some good stuff on nerdfitness.com. Take a look at your gym. If there are barbells and free weights you might want to start a beginners lifting program. It's seriously so much fun.

Thank you so much for the help! I've only been at this for a month and I'm happy with how it's going - this tip should give me a little boost.
When I did the Pump class I had soo much fun. It was like a lifting class set to crazy music, and really high intensity/upbeat/challenging. I had the smallest weights in the class but I definitely still felt it at the end.

Yeah, you can PM me if you have any questions. I'm not sure about those body pump classes. Gots to lift heavy girl!

arditarose

christinev297 wrote: »

jemhh wrote: »

I consider 5'4"-5'6" to be average height for a woman.

Yeah it is. But being 5"8 I see that height as short.

Alright then