How did you pick your Goal Weight?

TonyB0588

I set mine based on the amount the doctor told me to lose. Otherwise there are many charts around which suggest what is "normal" at a particular height or age or determined by male or female. Not much point aiming at something that's too far off the charts.

DEBOO7

I started out using New Atkins and their site calculator spat out 60.4kg (133lbs) - that made my jaw drop.My weight at that time was 95.5kg (210lbs). Well... I'm less than that now 59.1kg (130lbs) and my personal goal is 54-55kg (120lbs). I'm 5' 2" and in my mid 50's so getting to that as a target is going to be tough, but I'll get there. Haven't weighted that since I was in high school - and I may have weighed less by the look of the photo's lol

AnvilHead

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

My original goal weight of 150 was still overweight for my height (5'2"), but being older, I thought it was as low as I'd be able to get because I thought losing weight would be pretty hard for me.

When I saw how easy it was to lose weight, I lowered that goal to 130. When I hit 140, I knew 130 was too high and thought maybe 125.

Nope.

I'm 117 now and still not sure where I'm going to end up. Some days I decide I'm going to maintain and recomp, and other days I think I want to lose a few more pounds. I still can't make up my mind.

...and the beauty of a Goal Weight is that it's not like you only get to choose once and you're locked into it. You can revise your goal weight as often as you like.

As to the OP, I don't have a goal weight. I'm going by bodyfat percentage and what I see in the mirror. When I'm satisfied with what I see, I'll know I've reached goal weight.

BeGrandLike

Like loads of people here, I started with a Goal and now I've got a series of milestones and a commitment to pay attention to how I look and feel at different levels.

I'm a little under 5' 3" (sounds better than a little over 5' 2"!) so my first goal is to get myself into that magical Healthy Weight category. At 5' 3" that's 140lb, so that's my first goal. But since I know full well that I'm not quiiiite 5' 3" tall (unless hair counts) 135 is where I know I'll be definitely in that Healthy band. So that's the second goal, and once I'm there I'm gonna move from health goals to aesthetics. I think that I'd ideally like to get to somewhere between 125 and 130 before focusing fully on recomposition- I wanna get strong, so even when I get to my goal weight I've got lots to do and even more goals to achieve!

But I think the biggest thing is: I'm only a couple of months into my MFP journey. At the beginning it felt like this huge, impossible task. Just two and a half months in and I feel great, I've adjusted to paying attention to what I eat and learned how to pick foods that make me feel full, started to relax about having a treat meal once or twice a week, and I feel like this is something I can easily sustain long term. Instead of feeling scary it just feels normal. Except, a new normal where I'm starting to like what I see in the mirror again for the first time in ages

fitqueenbess

I picked a BMI of just under 21, which is the amount I weighed for many years, and is right in the middle of the healthy range. BMI doesn't work for everyone but I'm a typical body type. Now my focus is to be stronger, leaner and more flexible. "Strong is the new skinny"

dragon_girl26

I asked the Deep Thought supercomputer, but 42 seemed a little low for my height...

Anyway, I don't think 139 is unreasonable for being 5'6". I am also 5'6" (well, 5'5.5", but I'm all about rounding where it suits me.) My SW was 241, and I had a goal of 180 at that point. Once I hit 180, I changed the goal to 150. I'm currently at 160, and the 150 is looking less and less like the final goal, but we'll see.
I think it's okay to have a moving target, as it's ultimately less about what's on the scale, and more about being happy with your overall body composition. Probably once you hit 139, I suspect you'll re-evaluate, too..

ladyreva78

SW: 115kg
Joined MFP: 104kg
CW: 87kg
GW: 65kg
170cm
(too lazy to convert...)

As an adult, I've never been at a healthy weight. I was always either overweight or obese. That made choosing a long term goal rather difficult (I've always worked on 5kg at a time and go from there). But it tends to help me to have an idea of where exactly I want to go.

I ended up asking the doctor what he thought I should aim for. His calculation put me at around 62kg. My dietician insists I shouldn't drop below 70kg (I would still be considered overweight at 72kg, so not so sure with that as it would give me very very little leeway. I gain about 2kg during menstruation, and I'd hate for a water weight gain to put me back up over the overweight line). My personal trainer just rolled his eyes and told me to aim more or less for the middle of the healthy range and see how I feel when I get there. Since I like round numbers, 65kg it is.

What they all agree on is that I have to lose more weight - my liver is still a work in progress and a bit touch and go some days. So I'll lose down to a healthy BMI and then go from there.

avskk

I don't have a true final goal, but when I think about it the number I keep coming back to is 150. That's how much I weighed in early adulthood, when I was naturally moderately active and ate more or less intuitively.

I don't know whether that number is realistic for me now, a decade and a half later, after having a child and massive weight gain. If I find I just can't get there but instead settle at 160-170, that'll be okay with me.

Madwife2009

savithny wrote: »

. . . than a weight I last was before I got breasts...

This made me chuckle. I actually am at a weight lower than before I got breasts as I was a very fat child. I cannot remember ever being the weight that I am now.

Although I'm now at a "healthy" BMI/weight, it's not right for me as I still have plenty of fat to shift and I don't like what I see in the mirror. So I shall continue until I'm happy with how I feel and how I look

Bearbo27

I am 5'3" and my goal weight is 130. I picked it because that was my lowest adult weight. It is also well within a healthy weight range for my height. I could go up to 140 and still be in a healthy weight, but I just want to get to 130 and go from there. I'm started at 258 though and am now down to 210, so I still have a ways to go.

ninerbuff

I take my current lean mass and then decide what body fat percentage I want to be. It works for anyone. You just need to know what your lean mass is, then apply the formula:

Your lean body mass divided by (1 minus the body fat percentage you want to be)

So say you're 120lbs lean body mass and want to be 20% body fat. Then apply the formula.

120/(1-.20)
120/.80= 150lbs

So 150lbs would be the target weight (approximate) to be at 20% body fat.

Now granted you may lose some lean mass along the way, but this is a good approximation.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

ksenya03

According to some ideal weight calculators I've found online my "ideal" weight is between 105-118lbs. My current goal is 130lbs. I chose that because it is well within normal BMI for my height, and because for most of my 20s I weighed between 120-130lbs. So I know it is an achievable goal. It is also the last weight I felt happy at as an adult before I started gaining weight. My lowest weight as an adult was 114lbs, however that was over a decade ago and I'm not sure it is still achievable for me with out more sacrifice than I am currently willing to make. I figure I'll get to 130lbs and maintain for a while and see if I still want to continue losing weight or if my health goals change.

SCoil123

My goal is actually a 20lb range. Given fluctuations a range seems more realistic to me. The range Im aiming for was set by my doctor based on age, gender, height, activity, frame size, and muscle mass.

vanmep

I am aiming for the top of the healthy BMI range. But I like the idea of losing 50 pounds because it is a nice round number And if I lost 50 pounds that would put me 7 pounds under the top of the healthy BMI, which would give me a little bit of room to play with if I ever was unable to exercise for some reason. So that's likely what I will do. But I will wait until I get there and make the decision then, I have chosen a lifestyle that is very sustainable as it is right now, so I could see myself just doing this forever maybe. Bottom line - it's all flexible

Meghanebk

My goal weight is not final - I do better progressing towards a small step goal than looking like I'm at the beginning of a very long road. I also don't have a set timeline. I'm happy to take the slow loss route, it's much less stressful for me.
I'm 5'0" and my starting weight was 171, and I picked 150 as my first goal because it shifts me from obese to overweight on the BMI charts. I will probably alter that to 135 at some point. I doubt I'll go much lower than that. I was 115 in my mid twenties and felt too skinny.

neldabg

I first set up boundaries of a goal within a healthy BMI range, which for my height is around 101-136 lbs. My highest weight was in the 170's, and I originally wanted to get to 120 lbs and then keep a range of 115-120lbs. I've never NOT been at the very least, overweight, so while yes, I had been 120lbs at some point in life, it was overweight relative to my age/height at the time.
When I got to 120lbs, I thought I looked good, but I decided to lose a few extra pounds for vanity reasons.
I now keep a BMI of 20 with a weight range of 108-114 lbs. I feel comfortable here, and everything works ten times better than when I was obese, so I'm staying put. However, I'm reading more and more about how elderly people could benefit from being on the higher end of a healthy BMI range, so when I hit 50, I *might* consider maintaining at my original 115-120lbs goal range, but idk. I'll see where life takes me and what doctors say when I get there.
At the end of the day, I just want to stay healthy and strong and never cross that border into obese territory ever again.

jamcdonel

I was given a target date and a goal weight based on an outdated USDA height /weight chart. There is an activity I have planned with my Scout Group next summer. The preparation materials state that you must meet the weight criterion for your height when you arrive, or you will not be allowed to participate, and be sent home at your own expense.

The requirement is not unreasonable, but it is rigid, and flies in the face of the "don't focus on the scale numbers, weight loss is not linear, weight is not everything, variations and fluctuations occur" mantras that get used here on MFP.

So I have set my goal weight 10 lbs. less than my assigned maximum. No way I am going to let a normal variation, water weight, or a wonky scale in the med-check tent ruin two years worth of preparation and two weeks in my happy place with my kids!

I Wanna Go Back To Philmont!

hiyaitschloe_x

My doctor told me I needed to lose 2 stone to be in a healthy weight range. So I decided I'd lose 3 all together to feel comfortable with myself.

JDixon852019

I aimed for the low end of the BMI scale (reached it), now I am building muscle.

sunny_d22

I've never been a normal weight by BMI so that was my first goal. I've reached that goal and see I have more to lose so I've a set a goal to lose another 7 pounds, to get to 148. I'm 5'6. It's hard to figure out where to set my goal because I'm now lighter than I was as a kid. I always thought I had a large frame with a lot muscle so I had thought a normal BMI was not for me. I'm finding that I am pretty strong but an average amount of lean body mass and frame size doesn't matter that much. I had a dexa test 3 months ago.