Goals?

foxygirl14

I'm a little confused about what my goals should be based on. Should it be by BMI or body fat percentage? Are those too based on the same scale or completely different?

How did you guys decide what your goal would be?

jemhh

I used BMI just to get an idea of the start (top end) of a healthy range for my height. Since hitting that point, I've pretty much just kept an eye on the mirror. I've had a general idea of an approximate amount of fat that I could still lose but nothing set in stone.

chimaerandi

Your goals should be for you, and your aesthetic, and your enjoyment. I think it's always a mistake to go off what you think you SHOULD want. For me, I wanted to be smaller, but I wanted to be soft, I am very into your sort of vintagey Marilyn Monroe in her white swimsuit look. Other people want a harder bodied physique. Other people simply want to be in a 'normal' BMI. All those goals are equally valuable and reasonable. What do YOU want?

TeaBea

BMI is very generalized. Someone with a lot of lean muscle could be classified as obese.......lean muscle is a good thing.

Body fat% is great....but how is this measured? Scales are VERY inaccurate. I guess at my "goal weight." Then tweak up or down as I get closer. If I have a low body fat%.....then I look good at a higher weight.

cwolfman13

BMI is a good starting point...but you also have to understand what the range is for...BMI is a range to accommodate various frames and body types, not so that you can pick and choose where you would like to be within that range. For example, someone like my wife who is 5'2" with an athletic body type and build would look ridiculous...and sickly at the lower end of BMI for her height. She looks rockin' at 120-125 as she is pretty solidly built.

I'm actually overweight as per BMI, but I'm a healthy 12% BF...so in my case, I go by my BF% and overall composition. At the very highest weight for my BMI range, I'd be very lean...like competition lean.

evildeadedd

BMI is a good starting point for goals for a lot of people because it is simple to figure out. Getting an accurate body fat % is much more involved. Right now at my goal I will still be in the overweight BMI for my height, but I fought at that weight so I have an idea what I want to look like at that weight.

Nicklebee93

BMI is a good starting spot, as everyone has mentioned. I'm finally in that zone. But i still have a lot more to lose.

I went for what was considered "average" for my height. Which was 120 for a 5'3 female.