What should my goal weight be?

sanriodes

I'm 4'6 and 90.4 pounds. I don't want to look overweight, but I don't want to look extremely skinny either. A little bit of weight on me always looks like a lot because of my height and the way it distributes. Is 95 a good goal? Or should I go up more?

GymBunnyPaige

It really depends on what your goals are. Are you joining MFP because you want to look better, feel better, both, other reasons maybe?
Gaining 5 pounds won't be noticeable in my opinion, even with your height. What I think a lot of people don't consider is how much the composition of your body affects the way you look, much more so than weight alone.
If you gained 5 lbs of just fat, you'd probably look the same. However, if you reduced your body fat by a few percentage points and focused on building strength and muscle, and that made the scale go up slightly, you would probably look a lot different.
If you increase muscle mass, even if also reducing fat, you definitely will not look extremely skinny. At least not in a way that appears unhealthy because muscle needs to be well-fed.
I'd say it's not important to focus on your weight alone especially because you are within the normal range currently. You didn't explicitly state what is is that you want, so this is a difficult question to answer with so little detail.

Lietchi

The same weight will look different on different people, even with the same height. It depends on how much muscle mass you have, your bone structure etc.

How do you currently and what is your goal/are you unhappy with the way you look now?

I second the idea that body composition will influence how you look, beyond the specific number you choose for your goal weight.

callsitlikeiseeit

Agreed that your frame/bone structure and how you WANT to look play a big part in this, and this is information we just don't know.

I'm a little bit taller than you, at 5'1, and with my frame size and build, I look better at the higher end of my 'ideal weight range'. every BODY is different, and what every person wants, is different.

JBanx256

Nobody but you can answer that question.

I personally am heavier than most people/women consider ideal for my height, but I also carry a lot more muscle mass (so I'm not as big as someone with a more typical body composition at the same height/weight).

But I'm OK (well, to be honest, BETTER THAN OK) with weighing "too much" in order to let myself chase jacked-ness and strength!

cwolfman13

You don't need a goal weight. I never had one. I lost weight until I was satisfied with what I was looking at in the mirror. Nobody can answer that question because the same weight is going to look different on different individuals. It will also depend on muscle mass...someone with decent muscle mass will often look lighter but actually weigh more than someone who weighs less with less muscle mass. For example, this is Stacy from Nerd Fitness...



In the picture on the left she is 131 Lbs. In the picture on the right she is 142 Lbs.

sijomial

I went with my favourite adult weight as my initial goal - what was your favourite weight and why?

springlering62

sijomial wrote: »

I went with my favourite adult weight as my initial goal - what was your favourite weight and why?

Mmmm, I would politely disagree. My favorite weight as an adult was 125, when I got married.

35 years later, I got all the way down to 127 before I finally understood I looked downright scary. Cadaverous and pipecleaner arms, despite regular weight training.

Permit yourself the grace to look in the mirror and say,”I look good, here, now”.

It’s very easy to fall into the lose, lose, lose mindset and overshoot. Been there, and made myself put a few back. That’s a hard place to go when you’ve worked so hard to lose.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

@JBanx256 said it all: No one can tell you the answer because there is no one answer. You need to figure it out for yourself. Your current weight sounds fine, for example. Maybe focus a bit on fitness instead.

sijomial

springlering62 wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

I went with my favourite adult weight as my initial goal - what was your favourite weight and why?

Mmmm, I would politely disagree. My favorite weight as an adult was 125, when I got married.

35 years later, I got all the way down to 127 before I finally understood I looked downright scary. Cadaverous and pipecleaner arms, despite regular weight training.

Permit yourself the grace to look in the mirror and say,”I look good, here, now”.

It’s very easy to fall into the lose, lose, lose mindset and overshoot. Been there, and made myself put a few back. That’s a hard place to go when you’ve worked so hard to lose.

@springlering62

Unlike yours my favourite all time adult weight turned out to be 7lbs too heavy (at that time).

I maintained a while, looked in the mirror and realised I had to drop some more fat, repeated the process in small steps until the answer to "lighter or heavier?" was neither.
Strangely my range many years on is exactly my "neither" at the lower end and my original goal weight as my upper end.

AnnPT77

springlering62 wrote: »

sijomial wrote: »

I went with my favourite adult weight as my initial goal - what was your favourite weight and why?

Mmmm, I would politely disagree. My favorite weight as an adult was 125, when I got married.

35 years later, I got all the way down to 127 before I finally understood I looked downright scary. Cadaverous and pipecleaner arms, despite regular weight training.

Permit yourself the grace to look in the mirror and say,”I look good, here, now”.

It’s very easy to fall into the lose, lose, lose mindset and overshoot. Been there, and made myself put a few back. That’s a hard place to go when you’ve worked so hard to lose.

It's going to vary by person, as others have said.

I agree with your basic point that it's important to (1) pay attention as you go, and (2) watch for and beware of inaccurate self-perception along the way.

I don't know what your young self's body composition was, but your current self is more muscular than average for our demographic.

My original goal weight in 2015 was 10-15 pounds heavier than my self-perceived best adult weight in my 20s, because "everyone says" we're better off heavier in later years.

Turned out to be false, for me. My wedding clothes fit in my 60s at about the same weight I was when I got married in them at 22. I'd guess my body composition is similar to then, though the distribution is different in minor ways here and there.

OP, no one can say.

I just had lunch with a dear friend, female, age 74, who's 6 feet tall. Her build is exceptionally narrow, delicate - but she's taaalllll. She weighs around 140, looks beautiful. If she were of average (not narrow) build, she'd need another . . . 15-20? . . . pounds, maybe more, to look good at that height, like another woman I know who's equally tall, but sturdier.

I think @Jbanx256, who commented up there a ways, is around my height - 5'5". She's slimmer (more muscular) than I, I'm lighter (but higher body fat). The difference in muscularity and bodyweight is pretty big, even though we're both at a reasonable point for our individual proportions and body composition.

It's individual. Ask your doctor, if anyone, about a healthy weight range for you. (Even s/he may be wrong, but friends/family are almost guaranteed to be a source of bad advice.)

Broad shoulders, wide-set pelvic bones, or larger breasts? You'll need a bit more weight to look your best, compared to a same height woman with narrow shoulders, hips, small breasts.

If you gain muscle - usually appearance enhancing, but slow - you'll want to be a little heavier to look good, compared to what looks right with less muscle.

No one else can answer how you like to feel and look, especially not without much more information about you.

pafinkssteffes

I am at my heaviest. I’m also 67. I don’t know my build is I’m 153. Not much muscle tone, having to start wearing looser fitting clothes, sporadic energy….all of this makes me sad. My ideal younger weight was 125, pictures show me as healthy & strong. When I got back down to that weight at 60. People were telling me I looked too thin even though I felt amazing. I’m kind of tired, I’ve worked hard with my diet and exercise all of my life and I’m kind of tired and feel like I’m losing my grip and can’t stop it. Everyone says it’s the natural aging process…..that’s discouraging. So, I’m here to try to take 1 day at a time, 1 pound at a time and see where I end up. The last 2 days have not been good as far as eating and exercising ☹️

AnnPT77

pafinkssteffes wrote: »

I am at my heaviest. I’m also 67. I don’t know my build is I’m 153. Not much muscle tone, having to start wearing looser fitting clothes, sporadic energy….all of this makes me sad. My ideal younger weight was 125, pictures show me as healthy & strong. When I got back down to that weight at 60. People were telling me I looked too thin even though I felt amazing. I’m kind of tired, I’ve worked hard with my diet and exercise all of my life and I’m kind of tired and feel like I’m losing my grip and can’t stop it. Everyone says it’s the natural aging process…..that’s discouraging. So, I’m here to try to take 1 day at a time, 1 pound at a time and see where I end up. The last 2 days have not been good as far as eating and exercising ☹️

@pafinkssteffes, you can do this. Sometimes there are bad days, but it's the average over a bunch of days that determines our long-term progress. Even at our age (I'm 66), we can have a lot of good days coming, if we keep experimenting, finding the things that work for us (practical, positive, doable), and work at integrating those things into more and more of our days.

Picking the most personally-suitable new habits helps. Practicing those habits helps. Hang in there!

As far as goal weight, some people can go back to an earlier-life weight and feel/look good, some need to be heavier or lighter. It depends, in part on body composition (mix of muscle and fat that makes up our bodyweight, mostly). That, too, can change. There's solid research showing people can gain muscle mass into their 80s, at least, if that's tissue that's become depleted via lower activity.

One thing I wouldn't give much credence to is what other people say about one's weight, after weight loss. There's a mix of things going on.

Some people are envious, wish they were thinner, but don't want to admit to themselves that it's possible or that they could do it, too, if they work at it (sour grapes rationalization, basically).

Some people are used to seeing us heavier, and are mostly just freaked out at the change - those folks will get used to it, with time. (My friends/family have: I've even talked with some about why they thought what they thought at first, whether they felt the same now after a few years - they don't.)

Some of us (I was for sure one) look a little drawn or haggard right after a major weight loss (partly it's loose skin that will tighten up some, partly just the effect of the stress of lengthy weight loss, I think); that will resolve in a few weeks/months, IME.

I would not listen to friends/family, personally, especially not when loss is still new. I figured the people who were entitled to an opinion were me and my doctor, and even his needed to be well-justified in order for me to credit it. 😉

I think you have a good plan: Take the weight loss side of it slowly, build up activity (such as exercise) gradually, give yourself enough fuel and recovery stuff (rest between workouts, sleep, stress management, stretching, foam rolling, nutrition, more). You don't have to do it all at once, just chip away at it. Patience and persistence is really powerful.

Age may have consequences eventually, but there's plenty of evidence that most of us can achieve improvements at most any age, with the right strategies. People saying tiredness is "the natural aging process" are, IMO, sometimes letting the tyranny of low expectations about older people overtake their willingness to be optimistic, or snuff out their ability make a wily personal plan and put in the work. I'm not saying every great thing is possible for all of us, but some good things are possible for most of us . . . including you.

Best wishes for success!