Perceptions about "ideal" weight are high?

davidpm

I am a 5'6" male and I thought that my ideal weight was about 160lbs. I'm approaching that goal and started to reevaluate and set new goals. I found this interesting study (http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm) that says that both men and women tend to overestimate their ideal weight. The more overweight you are, the more you tend to overestimate. For women, they also overestimate more as they get older.

There's several calculators that put my ideal weight between 142 lbs and 154 lbs so I'm readjusting my goal to 150 lbs.

I just thought I'd share so that you can reconsider what your "ideal" weight is.

janetb21

I followed your link and it says women tend to estimate their ideal weight LOW. And it turned out to be correct for me, at least according to their calculator. I've been aiming for 135 and it says my ideal weight is 146. Go figure.

Yanicka1

I agree. I had the same perception. The same for some of my friends. When they say they need to lose 20 pounds...usually it's more like 30

Amo_Angelus

Reasoning is: if you're 5'9 and 250lb, getting down to 170 is a BIG achievement and they'll be happy with it because it's a huge difference It' also more acheivable than getting down to the actual ideal weight of 153. If you're 175lb, getting to the actual ideal weight of 153 isn't a huge change and completely do-able.

That being said. I was 171 and went for about 140 as my ideal weight...which is 13lbs under ideal...

davidpm

I followed your link and it says women tend to estimate their ideal weight LOW. And it turned out to be correct for me, at least according to their calculator. I've been aiming for 135 and it says my ideal weight is 146. Go figure.

Oops. you're right. I guess my morning coffee didn't kick in fully yet Thanks for pointing that out.

Overall, it's still interesting to look at people's perceptions about "ideal" vs actual medical information.

L2M1D52

Wow, I didn't think it would say the ideal weight for my information would be that low. I looked anorexic at that weight when I was younger lol.

leynak

I'm going for 140 & it said my ideal is 144 so I was pretty close

lor007

I don't have an ideal weight, I just want to go until I feel/look good.

davidpm

Also, watch out. The first calculator on the site is what the study found people THOUGHT their ideal weight was. That's compared to the third and fourth that use different metrics to calculate what it should be.

davidpm

I don't have an ideal weight, I just want to go until I feel/look good.

Oh definitely. I was just interested in what the medically healthy definition of "ideal" was.

mea9

I followed your link and it says women tend to estimate their ideal weight LOW. And it turned out to be correct for me, at least according to their calculator. I've been aiming for 135 and it says my ideal weight is 146. Go figure.

Oops. you're right. I guess my morning coffee didn't kick in fully yet Thanks for pointing that out.

Overall, it's still interesting to look at people's perceptions about "ideal" vs actual medical information.

There are 2 weights listed under your information input chart. The first is the "people's choice" - the one most people guess. The second is the correct weight range.

Thanks for the great link!

thankyou4thevenom

I don't have an ideal weight, I just want to go until I feel/look good.

This. I may have an Ultimate Goal Weight but I'm not really focused on it. It's just a random figure on my BMI. I just want to look good.

brandiuntz

That's a great link. Interesting how different women and men are.

L2M1D52

Yes, the other one's were fine but the first one I was thinking... wow, people would want that? Noway lol! Interesting site. Thanks for sharing.

davidpm

I don't have an ideal weight, I just want to go until I feel/look good.

This. I may have an Ultimate Goal Weight but I'm not really focused on it. It's just a random figure on my BMI. I just want to look good.

I definitely did this too. My goal was to get out of the "overweight" range on the BMI, and that was my 160. It took getting close to that goal to find new motivators.