12 pounds left to goal! Was your first goal your final goal or did it change?

carpe_vinum

The very end of my 110 pound weight loss is within sight and, wow, it's really keeping me focused during this holiday eating season.

I'm wondering how I know if my goal is my final goal or if I should keep going. I chose my goal of 137 rather randomly; it's the weight at which I got married - 25+ years ago. How did you/will you choose your goal and how do you know it's right?

LittleChipin

I'm 12 pounds away from my final goal as well! Taking a bit long since I kept falling off track lol but I know I can do it. I chose my goal weight of 130 because it was 30 pounds lighter than my heaviest at 162, which at 5'2" looks heavy and felt worse. And 130 is what I'm aiming for and I'll lose more if I feel the need to currently 142 and I plan on eating only one meal christmas and a small dessert so I don't fall off track again!

billglitch

you goal and mine are similar weight wise. I chose mine sort of at random. When i reach it I will be 40 pounds heavier than when i graduated 37 years ago. I have about 25 to go. I will decide then if thats good or if i want to lose more. As far as knowing its right...my crystal ball sucks, I will have to play it by ear

cwolfman13

My initial and very tentative goal was 165 because that's where I was when I graduated college and was pretty lean and fit and fit looking...I kept an open mind about it though as I knew that some of my 55 Lb weight gain over 8 years was muscle mass.

I landed on about 180 to have the roughly the same level of leanness (around 15%) that I had 8 years earlier...so yes, my goal changed...but it was higher.

crzycatlady1

I changed mine a couple times after I hit my first goal weight. Congrats on your amazing loss!

Susiefun

I chose to break my goals up, so I can feel more accomplished...I guess. Dieting is rough, so I broke mine up 3 goals. My 1st goal is a weight where I feel ok--not good, but just ok. My 2nd goal, which is 10 lbs under that is a weight I feel good at. My 3rd goal, which is another 10 lbs below, is where I'd look great.

There is a distinction between feeling good (2nd goal) vs looking great (3rd goal). The looking great goal is a weight where I usually don't feel well, likely because I'm not taking in enough calories. It's also hard for me to maintain. I'll decide when I reach my 2nd goal whether I want to continue or not.

The way I have it set up, I can maintain at the first or second goal and be ok or happy with myself. The third will be something to decide on later, pending how I feel physically.

SCoil123

My weight goal is 10lbs away but as I've gotten closer to it I have set a new goal for body recomposition and am focussing on decreasing body fat. I want to get to 20-23% bf.

fr33sia12

My first goal was 161lb before Christmas, which I reached at the end of November, so decided to try maintain till the New year and then my next goal is 147lb which will bring me to a healthy BMI.

LynnBBQ72

My goal has changed several times. I started the year at 234 lbs and thought 180 would be "good enough" for a final goal. I'm a 5ft 5.5inch female, so I quickly realized that 180 is NOT a healthy weight. So I decided on 150, which is at the very top of the Healthy range of the BMI chart. Now I'm rethinking 150. I'm still 38 lbs away from 150, so more than likely I'll get to 150 then focus on recomp and slowly get down to 140.

Rocknut53

My initial, totally random goal was 145 (starting weight 190). When I reached that relatively easily this summer I decided to keep going with my doctor's OK. Now at 130-133 I'm at a point where it's been extremely hard to lose any more so I think I'm there even though I was shooting for 125. At 63 years old, I weigh less than I did 35 years ago so I'm pretty good with that. I feel good, my blood workup is perfect, I don't look emaciated and I am going to work on recomp as soon as the holidays are behind me. This whole experience this time around has been a real learning experience for me. Through research and following many of the successful people on MFP I feel like I have finally figured this sustainable lifestyle thing out. I know what I have to do from now on, forever, to maintain a good weight.

Lounmoun

My first goal is to get to the healthy weight range for my height (about 107-145 lbs). When I reach the top of that range my next goal is to be somwhere between 125-145 lbs. 125 was the weight I felt the best at in the past but I will see how I feel as I get closer.

kschwab0203

My goal is set in 10 lb. increments...that way it's not so scary to me.

Proud to say I met my first goal on time...11 lbs actually.

kksmom1789

I'm currently 170.4 and my Goal is 125lbs I chose that goal because it's on the higher end of the healthy bmi scale
i'm 5ft even. I take it 5lbs at a time though

red99ryder

I was well over 200 . So my first goal is to reach onederland .. according to mbi scales I should be around 50 pounds from good weight . I'm thinking 30 to 40 more ..I'll see when i get closer..good thing is I can still wear old clothes there just baggy lol

Tacklewasher

My goal is to be overweight. So won't be my last goal, but I do need to hit it.

HaleCry

I also broke my goals down. I'm 5'3. I stared at 181lbs (currently 149) and my first main goal is 142lbs as that is the top end of the healthy BMI. I'm finding it difficult to choose a goal as I've never been this low so I don't know how I'll look at specific weights. I'm thinking maybe 125-130, but I'll see how I feel about my appearance the closer to my goal I get.

jennybearlv

Congrats on the 110 loss! Truly inspiring.

I set my goal at 140 pounds because it is the top of a healthy BMI range. I figure I can reevaluate once I get closer to that number. I was 120-130 through my teens and most of my twenties, but I'm more athletic and ten years older now, so I'm not sure where I'll end up. I guess I'm hoping I'll just know when I'm there. I'm focusing more on losing 5% of my body weight at a time. I'm also doing photos once a month. I get that thing where I see myself in the mirror differently than in photos, so I hope that helps me to figure out where I really am.

Christine_72

I change my goal all the bloody time, I'm flighty like that I'll know when i get there...

EmmaShazam

My goal like a lot of others I've seen in here was to a healthy BMI which was 50lbs at the very top... I'm now 62lbs down and don't really have a set lb goal anymore but I do have a waist measurement in mind of 24 inches. So that's my new goal I'm working on.

Forty6and2

My goal seems to be constantly changing. I pretty much gave up on landing at one number and being happy with it. Instead, I'm focusing on losing until I'm in a healthy weight range and then focusing on body recomp (also doing some now, but focusing harder on it then) I think it benefits me to have a range rather than a specific goal, but that's just how my brain works.

nowine4me

You're doing great! Keeping it off is where the real battle started for me. My goal is to not gain anything back. If I just accomplish that I'll consider it a win.

That being said, once I hit my original goal, I realized that my body comp is not the same as it was in college (20 years ago) and I need to be about 20 pounds leaner to get the look I want.

Meghanebk

Congratulations!
My first goal was tiny, only 5 pounds. Now I'm on the second 5 pounds. I do much better looking at that than scary-big-number goal (which shouldn't be all that scary, it's around 40 pounds, but that's a quarter of my bodyweight! The perils of being really short). I do have a ballpark weight to aim for, but when I hit that I may decide to lose more. We'll see!

If anyone wants numbers, 5 foot nothing, started at 171, now 165, headed for 130?

lkpducky

I initially thought my goal would be 115, because I was in the best shape of my life when I weighed that in graduate school (I'm 5'0" tall). However - that was over 20 years ago and at the time I was 15% body fat per hydrostatic weighing, 18% per calipers (measured in the exercise science department at Purdue University). I will not be anywhere near that % when I reach 115 now, and probably shouldn't try for lower than 20-22%?? (note: at the time I felt great and wasn't starving by any means, and running marathons in the 3:40s).

I'll go ahead and get down to 115 and decide what's next based on reassessment of body fat %, appearance, and how well I'm lifting and running.

JessicaMcB

Way to go closing in on that goal OP!

Initially my goal was 165 (5'9") because that seemed attainable at the time. Because I carry weight poorly and run distance I have since reevaluated several times and cut to my current range 128-130. Fluidity in goal is important imo

geneticsteacher

I am maintaining at 139 (5'6"). My original goal was 125-130; my doctor's goal for me was 155 because of bone loss (minor, age 60). We compromised at my current weight. The last bone scan showed an improvement in bone density.

GottaBurnEmAll

Congrats on your success, OP!

I set my original goal as overweight for me because I thought it would be hard to lose weight. When I found it would be easier than I thought, I lowered that. I keep lowering that number based on body composition. At this point, it's a matter of "I'll know it when I see it". Right now, I'm shooting for a tentative goal that's 40 pounds below my initial goal weight. I'm 6 pounds away from that, but with Christmas coming, I'm sure I'll be a little further away than that for a teeny bit.

peaceout_aly

My initial goal was to drop weight. I got to that point and still wasn't satisfied. I realized at 100 lbs. that no matter how much weight I dropped I was not going to have the body I wanted because I wasn't working on muscle. I switched to eating a bit more (now, a lot more) and weight training daily. Now I am 18 lbs. heavier but I have defined abs, legs, firmer glutes and back, in addition to having energy and strength. My goal completely changed!

peaceout_aly

Congratulations on all of your success even through the holidays!

SuzySunshine99

I started at 162 with a goal of 140. After I got to 140, I stopped logging, but continued healthy habits. I continued to lose weight and now maintain in the 125-128 range. For me, it helped to set a more easily achievable goal at first so that I would get a taste of success early on.