Setting goal weight

Ericasweigh

Hi there! I'm fairly new to this. I started trying to lose weight in Dec 2015. At that time, I weighed 190 lbs and was 36 years old. (I'm a 5'7" woman). I lost 10 lbs in 2016, and after gaining almost all of that back, I started watching my diet again this December 2016 and started using MFP in February 2017. I now weigh 171.5 lbs and I am finding the MFP community, food logging, and blog inspiring. My first goal weight was 170 lbs. However, after just 3 weeks with MFP, I decided to change my goal to 150 lbs. (you all are so inspiring!!!). But, I'm just picking a number. Is there some sort of "method" for setting a goal weight? I appreciate any suggestions you can offer! Thank you.

Hello_its_Dan

Sounds about right.

RAinWA

You could just aim for something in the middle of the BMI chart.

But I honestly don't think it matters much - you'll know when you get there. I started at 257 and set my goal weight to 150 because I didn't have a clue what I wanted to weigh or where I should be. When I got to 150 I knew I wasn't done and kept going to 125 which I thought looked too low on me. Then decided to maintain between 130-135 and have been doing that for nearly three years. Now that I've maintained a while, I'm thinking of going down another 10 pounds or so.

KiwiAlexP

I set my goal at a weight that was in the higher end of a healthy BMI - 23.5 BMI or 59.5 kg (also to get under 60). I may change when I get closer

jadeh218

I honestly am picking a number. I went the top of my BMI but even if I don't get there I'm happy. I started at 140kg, and my health BMI is about 55kg, so not sure whether that amount of weight loss is sustainable. I'm 82kg atm, hoping to get to maybe about 65kg and then reassess

ccsernica

I'm going for the middle of the healthy BMI range myself. Although honestly, I don't look too bad with a slightly higher number than that, but I want to give myself some "room" to add some muscle back later.

AnnPT77

I think it's more of a question of what motivates you, and what you prefer, than anything else. It's not an irreversible decision, in either direction. The goal you pick doesn't change the course you're on, until the last few pounds anyway.

My initial goal was 130 (at 5'5") because I'd weighed that (and also slightly less) at full adulthood around 35-40 years ago. I thought going for my lowest reasonable past adult weight was probably not a good plan, because "everyone says" we should be a little heavier when we're older (I was 59/60 while losing, now 61).

But I fully intended to re-evaluate when I got closer. When I did get closer (somewhere between 130-140 IIRC), it became obvious that 130 was too high. I cut my loss rate way down, kept losing slowly, started identifying some ways I'd know when I'd hit the right point . . . then just woke up one morning and said "I'm there" and switched to actively finding maintenance calorie level.

Goals are not forever, not immutable. It's about the psychology of it, for you and you alone. Just pick one. No need to agonize.