How did YOU determine your Goal Weight

SunnyDuckling

I'm 5'8". My long-term goal weight is actually a size. At my healthiest and fittest I was AUS size 12. I have so many clothes from that size that I've held onto and just can't seem to let go of. So, ideally, I'd like to get back there again. That was when I was 68kg (150lbs). Mind you, this was ten years ago when I was 19. *shrugs* It's quite possibly not going to happen again. But, I will aim for it.
At this point in time though, my first intermediate goal is to get down to 90kg (200lbs) from where I am now at 100kg (220lbs). It's when I can fit an AUS size 18 which is the 'smallest' of the plus sizes.

misslovely97

Initially it was using the classic formula of My_Height_in_cm - 110cm = Perfect_weight_in_KG, so for my case is 171-110 = 61kg.

Later on I had a friend who was the same height, relatively the same built as me and I asked her how much she was weighing as she had the body that I did wish I had - she said 59kg, so I decided that maybe at the result given to me by my old school formula I will look quite great.

But then again, in the past few years, I've realized that weight is not all that important because I might be at a greater weight but have the same body size as someone who is much lighter than I am due to difference in muscle mass. So, right now I'm semi-aiming at that weight, but also aiming at those skinny jeans size 6 that I bought many moons ago that I want to squeeze in and in which I know I will look quite alright :P

I used that formula, and for me it comes out left than 100 pounds!! :O Nuh-uh. Never

lilawolf

I did two things that agreed.
1. 100lbs + 5lbs*every inch over 5'. That gave me 145 at 5"9
2. Estimated my body fat (don't remember if I used my scale that reads it electronically or tape measure and calculator method), decided, picked the body fat level I wanted, and then calculated how much fat I would need to lose. This isn't real accurate and doesn't take into account muscle loss, but it's a start, and better than #1. This gave me about 145 as well.

I got to 145 and wasn't happy so I reset to 140. Now, I really like the way I look, but I'm pushing the envelope a bit to see if I can see abs at some point so I'm still losing really slowly. I don't want to go under 135.

Good luck!

kinmoratree

My current goal weight is actually ten pounds heavier than my original goal weight and twenty pounds heavier than I should weigh according to the "experts".

I picked it because what I really want to do is get to my current goal and hold it for a year while I work on getting stronger and more flexible. After a year maintaining that weight, I'll decide if I really need to lose another ten or not.

There's no magic number or formula and nothing is set in stone. I may change my mind tomorrow, but for now this is how I plan on proceeding.

PJPrimrose

Admittedly, I'm entirely lazy. The standard weight class a 5'9" female fighter is 140-145 lbs. The exact middle of the road weight for my BMI is 145. Viola! I now weigh 145.

Dtho5159

I have a large frame and my whole family is large (my dad weighed 350-400lb my entire life) and my dr gave me a goal of 180-190. I kinda want to prove him wrong and go less so I said 170 but like I told my husband last night, I will see when I get anywhere near there how I feel and if I want to lose more then I will work on it and stop when Im comfortable.

Preed1013

I picked my goal weight by looking at the height and weight charts online. Most of them agreed that a 5'11" female should weigh 160. I thought that was a little low, and I prefer the look of curvy women so I set my goal weight at 180. Additionally I remember a time my mom was 180, She looked smokin'! and we have the same body type and height so I think I'll look great at that weight. home this helps!

jcraig10

When I first started I didn't even have a goal weight. Once I was working out for a couple of months and saw the diffference on the scale, I thought WoW I can do this! Then I started setting attainable,small 5-7 lb goals. Once I hit the 30 lb lost mark I felt happy & confident so stopped losing. I maintained this for a little over a year, and now I'm ready to get moving again with a goal of losing 10. I've already seen 4 lbs come off so I upped it to 15. Atttainable, short term goals.

DerROK

I show clients asking the same question the Athlean-xx(TM) 'body fat range' images (there is one for men and one for women) and ask them what they would ideally like to look like (btw you can google them): regardless if they don't have an idea what they have as their 'target weight' and even if they think they know what 'target weight' they want. Aesthetically, most folk don't want to be either of the extremes they see!

Then I use pincers to take a body fat reading and take circumference measurements to use with the US Navy Circumference Method (comparing the pincer % with the circumference %). Some gyms may have machines that they can use for the reading instead of pincers, but I think its also worth tracking your circumferences as well, even though it is not accurate for everybody it is encouraging to track circumferences.

My client can now track progress using circumference changes (which they can also self measure) and not just by the weight scales, which can be misleading.

As over time I expect a few lbs of lbm increase (when you see how small a few lbs of muscle look like compared to fat this is actually a very small change and not bulking!), I like to revisit the pincer and target weight every month. If you think about it this way, a few lb extra lbm means you need to fine tune your target weight, but it can power off many, many lbs and lbs of bulky fat!

Often, the circumference changes are more encouraging than the weigh scale changes as you move closer to your target weight/Body Fat %.

Now, it's true that pincers are not 100% accurate and US Navy Circumference is not etc, but I find this a better method than wishfully wanting to be the same weight I was at 18 etc or the mad height calculation I have just seen given in this thread lol

Good Luck on your journey

sphkhn

I put 140 because that puts me in my healthy BMI range not that I think that matters all that much, but really I have a goal size I want to be a size 8 pant and a size 10 shirt/dress. I know when I was an adolescent with very little fat and no boobs I was still an 8/10 because of my frame. At a size 12 I can already see my hip bones (underneath my tummy) so I know I'm not going to try for a size 4 when that is not my body.