Goal Weight or Appearance

gcaracciolo2

Just curious how everyone decided what their goal weight was. Also curious about your thoughts on being a few pounds heavier than your goal weight but happy with what you see in the mirror. Would you go to maintenance at that point?

shadow2soul

I originally set my goal weight to the weight range I met my husband at. Once I got there however, I decided to go a bit lower. If I had my desired BF% before I got to my goal weight, I would have been fine switching to maintenance.

sarbu24

Being over 200 pounds most of my adult life made 199 lbs my goal. I'm 3 pounds away!!! And my next goal is 189. Short goals are easier to obtain for myself. And ultimately I would like to have a healthy BMI.

campbell3913

Close could be made work if I can firm up the flab. I'm afraid at 59 that even if I loose the weight/fat the skin is not going to be what it was when I was 40. I don't really have a lot to loose compared to some (under 20 left), and I was never that heavy but the DR was complaining, so we'll see.

chrlslove7

I'm definitely going by how I feel and look. If I hit 170 and feel good, I'm going to try and stay there. If I hit 140 and want to drop another 10, I'll do that. I definitely need to be under 190 though!

nishass

My goal weight is the lower end of the normal range for someone of my height and frame based on BMI. That's 130lbs. 145 is at the higher end of normal. I'd be happy at that point as well. As for whether I will go to maintenance at that point, I want to say no but realistically, I will be quite happy just to make it to "normal" and then decide from there how to proceed.

Nicklebee93

I went for what was considered an average/healthy weight for someone my height, which was 120. Though i will go by what i feel i look good as in terms of my size. Goal is to be healthy, i'd rather weigh more and be fit then be super skinny and brag "yeah i'm only 100 pounds!"

flippy1234

I think we are all so hung up on numbers. I know I was/am. But now I am doing my best to realize goals based on how I look and feel. How my clothes fit? Do I feel good? I think focusing on the number can cause too much anxiety and stress...which adds to weight gain, lol.

pebble4321

I don't have a goal weight. I know I need to lose weight, and I do weigh myself, but I don't have any end point that I MUST reach in order to measure my success or failure. There's already enough opportunities in life to face failure, I don't need to set myself up for another one.

For me it's about feeling stronger and being able to do things (run, get up off the floor, walk up hills, fit my rear end into various seats) more easily. And I'm not happy with my appearance at this weight, I want to fit into smaller clothes, so there is definitely a vanity/appearance factor too.

I'm also not on a "journey", that analogy apparenty makes sense to a whole lot of people on this forum, but not to me. This is not some activity that has a start and an end point, where I will just lose weight until I see a magic number on the scale and then it's time for the journey to end.

I've been there before... with graphs and charts and goals that I never met, or if I did, was not able to keep up for good. For me, this has to be about good habits that keep me healthier and feeling better on an ongoing basis.

marebear31485

I set my goal weight for the higher end of healthy for my height (5'7"). My goal weight is 150. The lowest I've ever been in adulthood was between 155-160 so I'm being a bit ambitious. But I was pretty happy with my body at 160 also.

paperpudding

My goal was to get within the healthy weight range. I now have a BMI of 23 and I am happy with that.

NealNH

For me the prime reason for losing is health and getting off at least some of my meds so I set my goal at the mid range of normal BMI which for me is 160. Since I weighed more than this in the 6th grade I have no idea what to expect when I get there but it should be interesting. I'm also planning on getting a Dexa scan done when I hit 180 so I will know where my BMI really is given that I am 64 and have been at a sedentary job most of my life.

jemhh

My goal is appearance based. I'd be absolutely fine stopping today at this weight if I liked what I saw in the mirror.

jandsstevenson887

I'm still trying to figure this out. I set my goal at 129lbs for now but I'm not sure if that's really where it should be.

JulieSlack

I'm aiming for 9st which is half a stone less than the top of my ideal bmi range. I've never been slim and I'm pear shaped I think if I aim too low I'm going to look ill. It is more about being happy with how I look and feel and increasing my fitness than what I weigh.

Heartlight441

I have little mini-goals but my first big one is to get to the top of the normal BMI for my height... so 140 lbs. Once there, then I will check-in and see how I'm feeling, how clothes are fitting, etc. I may decide to lose more or I might decide to hang there for awhile. As it stands for me now, this leaves me 28 lbs to go to get there. I'm keeping my focus on fitness and with weight loss as being great but secondary.

Furtado2

It's difficult to set a goal weight now. As a 5'9" female, I had a goal weight of 160 (started at ~185) and I surpassed that goal. I'm 153 now. My bf% is 19% and I'm trying to lean out more and go down to 15-17% bodyfat.

IGbnat24

Appearance > weight. Once you get to a weight where you're happy with how you look, give yourself +/- 3pbs on either side of that number as your goal weight range. Weight fluctuates (even daily for us lucky ladies!) so having a buffer is a good way to not obsess on a single number!

ReaderGirl3

My original goal weight was in the middle of a healthy BMI for me. When I hit it I reevaluated and lost more weight, down to the low end of a healthy BMI. Then I reevaluated again and purposely gained back a few pounds, until I settled in a 10lb maintenance window. The transition period from the weight loss phase to maintenance was about 6 months for me.

Goal weights aren't set in stone-reevaluate as needed and adjust!

ilex70

It's flexible. At this point my upper limits are pretty firm.

200 is the roof, because above that I feel like crap.

175 is a good ceiling, not perfect, but in no way miserable, and that puts my waist in inches safely under half my height in inches.

Last time I was at 165 that seemed to be a spot my body liked to be...was really tough to get under that.

160 is the lowest I've maintained for a significant time at my adult height. That was high school and doing a LOT of exercise; more than most adults can fit into a regular week...5 hours aerobics classes, biking, 12+ hours skating.

157 is the tip top of healthy BMI.

25% body fat? Not exactly sure where that might fall.

Supposedly the ideal weight for my height is more like 135.

And I think it would be nice to be in a single digit size (8), just because. We'll see...

Lounmoun

gcaracciolo2 wrote: »

Just curious how everyone decided what their goal weight was. Also curious about your thoughts on being a few pounds heavier than your goal weight but happy with what you see in the mirror. Would you go to maintenance at that point?

I am losing weight mainly for health. My goal is to be in the healthy bmi for my height. My ultimate goal is to be in the middle of that range. I have been there before and know that I feel good at that weight. If I reach the top of my range and decide I'm good then that is fine.

AlphaCajun

I started with a goal weight of 175 but don't think I'll hit it. Considering I passed 175 in junior high, had no idea what a healthy weight would be for me. I'm ten pounds out but with my build id have to super lean (5% bf) to reach that lol so... about where I am now is where I'll stay and shoot for 10% bf. I'll still be overweight by bmi standards but that's irrelevant as I'm inside a healthy body fat percentage.

robininfl

Looks for me, or more properly, measurements in inches because the kids/man say I still have dysmorphia and think I'm fatter than I am. The best outcome of all, for me, would be if I could weigh this much or even 10 stone but be this size or smaller waist in inches.

rachelr1116

My goal right now is to get to a normal BMI, so 179 lbs. Once I'm there I'm pretty sure I'll want to lose more but I'll start going more by how I look and feel and not focus so much on my weight.

laur357

I last saw my goal weight of 143 when I was probably 12 or 13 years old - and 18 years later I have absolutely no idea when I'll look like, at all. I do think I might go by appearance as I get closer. I picked 143 because it's in the upper range of a healthy BMI for my height. I do think BMI is kind of arbitrary, but I didn't really have anything else to use as a frame of reference.

I'm at 201 right now, and I look a lot different at this weight now than I did when I was gaining on my way up to 260. Exercise and a different weight distribution are making me look more proportionate, and I might have a lower body fat percentage. If I get to 150 or 160 and really like my shape, I may start maintaining there - at least for a while.

puffbrat

My goal weight is a range within the middle/high end of the healthy bmi for my height, which was also my lowest weight as a adult. I expect to re-evaluate once I get closer to that point based on how I look and feel.

benzieboxx

I remember being 135lbs in high school and feeling pretty good about myself. I'm kind of a curvy girl so my weight would sit in the "right places" when I was at that size. So that's my goal, but if I get there and think I should go smaller, I will. Or maybe I might stop somewhere before if I'm happy with the results.

Ultimately, I focus on small goals right now. 5 pound increments help keep me motivated.

KareninLux

Originally wanted to lose 50 lbs before I turned 50 because it sounded good. Now, I think I might end up stopping about 5lbs short of that goal though... really depends on how I feel when I get there... likely in about six weeks or so. I have lost 35 lbs as of today so I have lots of time - birthday is not until August.
Love that using MFP to log/lose weight is so predictable for me - still blows my mind.

1CountryGirl05

Personally I have a goal weight which was a number I picked off some "ideal weight" charts but I'm not concerned about it really. I'm more concerned about how I look and feel. Mostly the way my jeans fit. Haha. It's more of a jean size for me than a weight.

Ready2Rock206

My goal is 150 unless I can really work on my fitness goals and build some muscle, then it is 160. So a fat looking 150 or a fit looking 160 is my ultimate goal.

hamstertango

Goal 1. Healthy BMI = done - now at 141lbs 5ft6 from 174 at New Year.
Goal 2. 139lbs = 2lbs to go
Goal 3. 136lbs = changed this goal-- now I think appearance is most important to me and will get there by strength training using bodyweight (at home no gym)

I changed this as I am struggling now with my deficeit at 1200 cals a day, I am diet weary and feel skinny fat and now have realised that I am more interested in appearance (and strength and improving my bone density at my age of 40) than weight on scales.
Excited to see the results and this is from a former couch potato, cardio suffering woman!
If it wasn't for this amazing community I would never have known about any of this stuff, feeling like a new woman!