How did you decide upon your goal weight?

Snipsa

I am experiencing this exact thing at the moment. Started just under 90Kg at the start of the year. Initially set a goal of 70 kg, as I was under the impression I was "bigger boned" and would need to be at the higher end of healthy bmi to look good/not sickly. Quickly realized I really was "just fat" and not big boned, thus changed my goal to 65kg. When I reached 70kg I could see that 65kg would still not be aesthetically where I want to be, so changed my goal weight to 60kg (a bmi of around 21.5).

I have now reached that 60kg goal (whoop!) but still have some problem areas I want to change. Have thus decided to do body recomposition and just let my final weight fall where it wants to fall. I'll be happy with it in the 56-62kg range (approximately 20-22 bmi). But will let my fitness levels and the mirror dictate my final goal rather than a nr on the scale.


Ps. Most probably there will be many friends/acquintances saying that you should stop losing weight/stop dieting/start gaining again even before you reach your initial goal. Ignore them! If you are in a healthy weight range, and still have some parts of your body you want to improve, go for it! As long as you do it in a healthy way there are no issues. People are just not used to seeing you thin/healthy/fit and feel the need to comment either out of misplaced worry or jealousy...

sgt1372

I chose the weight at which I think I look best and that I know from experience that I can most easily maintain.

Evamutt

by being in my BMI healthy & to lose the 50lbs i gained over the last 15yrs

zenxray

I dreamed of being a welterweight again(147). It was also exactly high school weight. It's an easy weight to remember as a boxing fan. I can't believe I'm here

charlenegrichard

I had a goal of a certain size. I didn't really care what the weight was. When I got down to my goal size and then within 3 weeks went down one more size I started maintenance. My BMI is in the healthy range and so is my weight.

Ammey68

I picked my pre-baby weight, which was the same as my high school weight: 125. I remembered that I always felt really confident and received a lot of compliments when I was that size, but I still had curves, which made me happy. (I'm 5'4"). I'm halfway there now; only 20 more pounds to go...

b3achy

I chose my ultimate goal of 120 lbs to be the mid point of "Ideal Weight: 115-126 lbs" from one of the TDEE calculators I was using - https://tdeecalculator.net/ .

For me, I'm trying to lose, not only for my health, but because I race paddleboards, and the lighter I am, the faster I can be. My biggest competitor this year is a lady who is an inch taller than me but only 105 lbs, but I don't want to go that low because I want some more muscle since I plan to move up to longer races.

When I joined the site, I thought my initial goal of 130 (from ~150) was going to be a lot since all my friends were telling me that I didn't need to lose (but I felt like crap all the time). However, when I looked around here, girls my height were saying they wanted to be 100 - 115...which frankly, I think is a bit too low at my age (over 50). So I eventually embraced dropping to 120 lbs; however, I suspect that will be my upper bound, and I might settle into around 115-117 lbs, with muscle and a range for the typical fluctuations.

As I'm hovering just over 130 right now, I do know that I need to for sure drop about 10 more pounds because my body isn't where I want it to be yet. But I'm also doing some more weight training now, and we'll see how the body recomp goes and what I actually end up at. I know I was around 115-120 lbs when I left the Army about 25 years ago, so I know I can have muscle and still be 10 pounds lighter than I am now.

Cmgred

Two things I wanted.
First was to get to a healthy BMI. The second was clothes that were a common size After hitting my first goal I bought some size 8 jeans and was happy. Then hubby and I started weight lifting and lost another 10 pounds which caused me to go to a size 4. BMI is 21.5 and I could easily drop a few more pounds but I don't see any size 2 clothes so I am done!

JoshD8705

I based my goal weight at the highest Lean Body Mass I could have naturally at 15% body fat. which is around a 25 on the FFMI measurement. So eventually between 185-195lbs.

crissy976

I'm aiming for a weight that I was at a few years ago and felt comfortable in my skin. It was also the low end of my recommended weight for my height (5'10"). That's when I felt my absolute healthiest and had sooo much energy. You'll know what yours is when you feel that sense of happiness with yourself.
I recommend what I did, which was set a goal of 10 lbs to lose, and when you get to your goal, see if you feel you should lose more. Keep going in increments of 10 lbs until you feel you've met your "real" goal. Otherwise, I think you'd just be shooting in the dark for a number that may or may not be real for you. You're in charge of your own body.

vingogly

This is the lowest I've been since the late 1980s. I've gone from a 44 inch waist (257 lb) to under 36 (185 lb), and when I can wear 34 inch pants I'm done. I suspect this will be another 10-15 lbs (around 170). So I'm gauging more by current and past clothing size than actual poundage.

170 will BTW be right in the "normal" range for my height/age/frame.

KyleGrace8

The number 125 is honestly just a weight of some girl my height that I thought looked amazing. But that's her body and not mine so currently looking for 135 bc that was what I weighed at 18 and felt comfortable in my skin there. I'm 5'3 with an uncertain frame. I took the wrist and elbow test and wrists said "medium" and elbow said "broad".

karl317

I picked the very middle of my "Normal" BMI range - which for a 6'3" person is around 180lb. I overshot it by like 5lb and I look a little on the thin side, but it's fine. Everyone's just used to seeing me fat.

tahxirez

I never thought I was capable of lowering my weight to where I am now 123-125 depending on the day. I assumed I was just "large." So I started around ~195 at my absolute largest, lost about 30lbs without tracking and just living life. I hovered in the 160s for a few years without tracking then discovered MFP and started actively working at it. Once I hit my stride I aimed for 130 never believing that was a possibility for my body. Once I hit 130 I just kept plugging along and when I got to my current weight I took a look at myself and weighed the pros and cons of having more bones sticking out to bump into things (ick) and buying smaller clothes (again--double ick.) So I decided it was time to move to maintenance. Pretty much trial and error like everyone here has said, listen to your body (and your wallet, clothes are expensive.)

boromirdoesnot

I took my healthy BMI and allowed for a 15 pound overage based on the fact that I am a large build person with a good deal of muscle mass....yeah, that's about all the science I used.