How did you choose your goal weight?

karmahunger
karmahunger Posts: 373 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have always been a bit bigger, a bit curvy...I think I still want that, I don't want to be really thin. How do you choose a good goal weight (obviously other than choosing a healthy range for your body)?
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Replies

  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Choose a weight. Get to or near that weight. See how you look and feel. Adjust goal weight.
  • sourmash1973
    sourmash1973 Posts: 149 Member
    Here is what I do. I pick the body fat percentage I want to achieve. In my case, it's 12%. Right now I'm 23% @ 213 Lbs. So, if I subtract 23% from my current weight, I have 164 Lbs of lean muscle mass. (This would be me with 0% fat, which is not possible.) I then add 12% to 164 to get 184 Lbs. That is my target at this time.
  • FP4HSharon
    FP4HSharon Posts: 664 Member
    What they said. ;-)

    But remember that if you get to a low enough body fat percentage, then your weight could actually go up a bit w/muscle. When I'm at 15.5% I weigh about 118, but when I dropped to 14.5% I actually went up 6 lbs w/muscle to 124, but looked slimmer.
  • lalaland82
    lalaland82 Posts: 176 Member
    Choose a weight. Get to or near that weight. See how you look and feel. Adjust goal weight.

    This - I picked my sisters weight as I think she looks fab, but I'm not happy with my figure as I'm curvier then she is (hourglass figure) so am re-evaluating. You won't know how you will look or feel at a certain weight until you get there :smile:
  • CoffeeLush
    CoffeeLush Posts: 46 Member
    I picked a weight that I was most happiest at. Granted, it is still considered overweight for my height/BMI, but I looked and felt great at that weight before. When I get there, I can decide then if I need to lose more...
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
    It's going to be about how I look and feel, not a number, but probably not less than 160 lbs. or I'll have to replace most of my clothes, which I cannot afford to do, nor would I want to.
  • Kristine7813
    Kristine7813 Posts: 19
    Choose a weight. Get to or near that weight. See how you look and feel. Adjust goal weight.
    This :)
    I weighed 135 after I had my first daughter and thought that was a nice, healthy - curvy, weight :)
    I am almost there and I like it!
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    My weight is just an estimate of how I look. I focus as much on BF% and the mirror as I do the scale.
  • SJVZEE
    SJVZEE Posts: 451 Member
    I chose a weight I had been at years ago, when i was at my lowest adult weight. I ended up passing that and I'm now in maintenance, 10lbs below what my goal weight was :)
  • 220Dani
    220Dani Posts: 198 Member
    Picked a celebrity who had the same body shape as me and decided I could reach that goal.
  • diannethegeek
    diannethegeek Posts: 14,776 Member
    It chose me. I've always been overweight/obese since high school, so I never really had any idea of what my body could look like. I had a goal set for 15 pounds less than the normal/overweight line for my height (150 pounds). But at my lowest weight last summer I couldn't get below 158. Finally I decided that I was happier maintaining at 160 than I would be trying to lose 8 measly pounds.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    A goal BF% is far more appropriate than an arbitrary scale value that is indicative of numerous things...i.e. fat, MUSCLE, water, waste, bone density, etc.
  • deb_137
    deb_137 Posts: 38 Member
    I am right there with those stating how you look in the mirror. I selected the weight I was at 5 years ago. 3 years prior to that I had lost over 40 pounds and actually got below my current goal. However, my body settled at 137 and stayed there without me killing myself. At that weight, I was not wearing the same pants size as I was in my 20's but still looked darned good in them....at least according to hubby :wink:
  • Gmtribble90
    Gmtribble90 Posts: 463 Member
    I went with the weight I was when I first lost weight and felt good, minus 10 lbs. I saw how much better I looked and noticed how great I felt, but could've stood to lost that little bit extra to feel even better :)
  • MommaChocoLatte
    MommaChocoLatte Posts: 389 Member
    I picked a weight range that I have been at before and felt very comfortable at. Just so happens it was my pre-pregnancy (x5) weight when I was 18 lol. But it's a good range for my height.
  • MSeel1984
    MSeel1984 Posts: 2,297 Member
    Well I was happiest at 135 lbs. I weighed 135 lbs until 2010 or so when I started to put on weight. It's also literally my ideal weight for my height.
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    A goal BF% is far more appropriate than an arbitrary scale value that is indicative of numerous things...i.e. fat, MUSCLE, water, waste, bone density, etc.

    Body fat is a great objective. It's also much more difficult to assess than weight. And losing weight while working out will lead to mainly fat reduction for people with significant fat, so weight ends up being a decent proxy in most cases.
  • zinatara
    zinatara Posts: 76 Member
    At the moment my goal weight is a few pounds under what I will weigh when I reach normal BMI. I think I will be content if I can get down to normal BMI, but I won't know before I'm there. And I'm free to change my goal at any point.

    I don't think I'll ever again be at the weight I was in my early twenties when I had a BMI of 18.7. My body has changed after 3 births and I think it would be really hard to maintain.
  • RetroSnowflake
    RetroSnowflake Posts: 168
    I looked on the BMI chart and choose a healthy weight according to my height. If I need to adjust it nearer the time, then I can do.
  • Jett_05
    Jett_05 Posts: 95 Member
    I'm with the "I-feel-the-best-at-this-weight" club.
  • nicolaturner1986
    nicolaturner1986 Posts: 45 Member
    I've set my goal to be at the top end of the 'recommended weight' for my height but my goal is actually to get to a UK size 12 or 14 so i'll adjust my goal when I get to a size i'm comfortable with, i've been a UK size 18/20 for a few years now so i'll decide when I get closer to my goal

    x
  • A_Fit_Mom
    A_Fit_Mom Posts: 602 Member
    I picked a weight that I looked great at before, but that doesn't mean that I won't lose more when I get there.



    Start with a weight, but know that you can change it later. :)
  • doc2zombie
    doc2zombie Posts: 16
    I'm shooting for my adult weight when I was fit and training in karate. I'll see how it goes when I get close to that; I may need to modify it because of body fat this go around. :glasses:
  • brit__2006
    brit__2006 Posts: 201 Member
    From someone who has been overweight since umm like kindergarten, you can't pick a weight goal that you had once felt comfortable with because well you've never felt comfortable with a weight. The last time I was at my current weight was probably 4th grade and about 7 ish inches shorter. I wouldn't use a BMI calculator because I know for a fact for my body type it's not right. I've always been told by doctors I should weight 130-159 pounds for my height. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine my body could take me that far. So I've never set a specific goal. I just started losing, and the more I lost the better idea I had of where I thought I wanted to be. Well now at my current weight, I've set a mini goal of 173 lbs. (reason being-that makes 125 lost and I just like that number) Once I get to 173 if I like it then I'll maintain. If not I'll set another goal for what I think I would like. I don't think you can be what someone wants you to be, and be happy. I say set a goal of getting healthy, and maybe just set a fitness goal for now. For example my fitness goal is to be able to do a pull up. Something I've never done before, but to succeed in that I will have to be healthier and stronger. Good luck finding out what and where you want to be when this is all said and done.
  • DonM46
    DonM46 Posts: 771 Member
    I chose the weight I was in college.
    My wife had a coniption fit, saying that she liked my appearance better with more mass; that I'd look too frail.
    I asked what SHE would choose.
    My original choice plus 10.
    So, we compromised at plus 5.
    I can live with that; my wife is happy; all is well.
  • SlinkyAndHerAmazingBunsOfSteel
    SlinkyAndHerAmazingBunsOfSteel Posts: 434 Member
    I chose my goal weight of 130lb because that was about he weight I was when I was a UK size 10 in clothes. I may need to lose more, I may need to lose less...as long as I'm a certain size/shape, I'll be happy! :smile:
  • WilmaDennis91
    WilmaDennis91 Posts: 433 Member
    I just wanna look good in clothes lol. And plus that my body proportion is so weird. I'm more apple shaped, so all my fat goes to my upper body and my lower half fits in everything size small. And bikini shopping is so hard that way lol
  • walleyclan1
    walleyclan1 Posts: 2,784 Member
    I picked the highest weight that would put me at a healthy bmi since I am very curvy and don't care to bee skinny, just healthy
  • alikonda
    alikonda Posts: 2,358 Member
    Here is what I do. I pick the body fat percentage I want to achieve. In my case, it's 12%. Right now I'm 23% @ 213 Lbs. So, if I subtract 23% from my current weight, I have 164 Lbs of lean muscle mass. (This would be me with 0% fat, which is not possible.) I then add 12% to 164 to get 184 Lbs. That is my target at this time.

    So...kinda. I agree that body fat is a good metric. Just be careful how you're measuring it. I had hydrostatic testing down a few weeks ago - a variety of BF% calculators that I found put me anywhere between 24-45% bodyfat :huh: ...the hydrostatic testing confirmed that I'm actually 23.
    Another thing to consider is that if you are going to lose weight, you will ALSO lose lean muscle mass because you can't JUST lose fatty tissue. My goal is to get down to 18% bodyfat. According to the calculations done above, I would make it at ~144 pounds...but in reality, I will have to go down to ~135.

    If you're able to, I highly recommend going for hydrostatic testing. It's the only way to really get an accurate reading of your physical makeup, and the people that run the test have a lot of helpful information regarding where you are, where you need/want to get -- this can all be incredibly valuable information as you set/reach for goals.

    If you're not able to go for testing (unfortunately, it does cost $ and is not necessarily widely available) you can definitely use BMI/doctor recommendations/previous experience/what-have-you to figure out a ballpark number, but pay attention to how your body feels as you head toward the goal and don't fixate on a number. Everyone's body is different, so no table can definitively tell you what your ideal weight is. (And even your body has changed over time. I was a bit of a late bloomer and didn't really go through puberty until college. In high school my athletic weight was ~118, nowadays it's ~135)
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