We are pleased to announce that as of March 4, 2025, an updated Rich Text Editor has been introduced in the MyFitnessPal Community. To learn more about the changes, please click here. We look forward to sharing this new feature with you!
Tools for determining a realistic goal weight?

Karlaki
Posts: 74
How do you determine what is a realistic goal weight. I used a healthy BMI, but that is sometimes not the most accurate depending on muscle mass, etc. At the moment I've chosen a weight in the healthy BMI range and will adjust later when I get closer.
Does anyone have any other recommendations?
Does anyone have any other recommendations?
0
Replies
-
Body fat %. Even if you just take measurements and use a rough estimate from an online calculator, it will be more accurate than BMI. BMI doesn't take into account your current body composition. It's intended for large population groups, for statistical purposes, not necessarily a good indicator for individual people. So figure out your current body fat percentage. This will allow you to get your lean body mass. From there you can pick a goal for body fat, and that should give you a pretty goal weight to shoot for.
For an example, I'm a 5'7, 210 pound man. According to BMI I should weigh between 121-159 pounds. I'm currently at 21% body fat. To get down to a reasonable body fat percentage of 15%, I'd weigh 190 pounds. In order to get to a healthy BMI, I'd have to lose roughly 20 pounds of lean body mass, in addition to dropping to 0% body fat.0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 394.5K Introduce Yourself
- 44K Getting Started
- 260.5K Health and Weight Loss
- 176.1K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.7K Fitness and Exercise
- 444 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153.1K Motivation and Support
- 8.1K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.4K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 4.1K MyFitnessPal Information
- 16 News and Announcements
- 1.3K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.8K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions