goal weight questions

ErinI5787

Curious. When I hear people talk about their goal weight, they often choose a higher weight on the healthy spectrum for their height. They've said that at their smallest, that's what they weighed so they want to get back to that. I'm 5'3" been chubby all my life and then got bigger. I was meaty and around 145-150 in highschool. Had a terrible idea of how to eat and never did anything to get healthier. 2009 I had a little boy and ended up being 213. Now I've lost over 35lbs and (am stalled a little actually) I weigh around 156-159... some fluctuation there. I was really hoping that if I worked hard and didn't give up I could weigh around 120-130. But with what I'm hearing from people, that doesn't seem realistic. They said you could go back to your smallest weight as an adult. Like I said, I'm 5'3", 120 would still be healthy for me. My BMI thing says anywhere from 104-141 would be healthy for me. So what do you think? Am I chasing an unrealistic dream or are the people I'm talking to don't quite know as much as they think?

KelseyDawn84

If you were never a HEATHY adult, then I think you can do it!

alhoward8

The healthy weight range is just that, a range.

I'm also 5'3 and right now I am at 159.5. My original goal was 150 (10 pounds more than I weighed when I graduated high school), but after taking a "break" from MFP while I threw myself a pity party over a plateau I'm back to counting calories. Now that I'm "fresh" again I am considering trying for 140.

My advice, as long as you are HEALTHY pick whatever goal you want. If you reach a goal and want to go further then do it!

LizKurz

Curious. When I hear people talk about their goal weight, they often choose a higher weight on the healthy spectrum for their height. They've said that at their smallest, that's what they weighed so they want to get back to that. I'm 5'3" been chubby all my life and then got bigger. I was meaty and around 145-150 in highschool. Had a terrible idea of how to eat and never did anything to get healthier. 2009 I had a little boy and ended up being 213. Now I've lost over 35lbs and (am stalled a little actually) I weigh around 156-159... some fluctuation there. I was really hoping that if I worked hard and didn't give up I could weigh around 120-130. But with what I'm hearing from people, that doesn't seem realistic. They said you could go back to your smallest weight as an adult. Like I said, I'm 5'3", 120 would still be healthy for me. My BMI thing says anywhere from 104-141 would be healthy for me. So what do you think? Am I chasing an unrealistic dream or are the people I'm talking to don't quite know as much as they think?

I think when it comes to losing weight, people should forget about "what they used to be" or "what they used to weigh". and let me tell you why.

Body composition is everything, and your weight depends on your composition. Models are stick thin, often weighing in at no more than 110-120 at heights of 5'10" and higher. However, they look sickly. No muscles. They could probably weight a bit more, and still be the same size, with very little body fat, if they added some muscles and changed their composition.

Now. for us normal folk, when you're obese, which I was, your body actually puts on a bit of muscle just trucking the *kitten* around. Seriously. So this is one reason it's super important to strength train. You want to keep as much muscle as you can so you can keep your metabolism burning the fat and the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism burns.

You want to throw out the notions of what you used to be, because your body composition is going to change. In college, I was 128lbs. I wore a size 8-10. Then I got up to 252. My body comp changed. When I lost the weight I got down to 143ish, and was a size 4/6. I also had about 22% body fat.

If I had tried to get down to what I was before, even though 128 is still in my healthy range as a five foot four and one half inch lady, I would have had to shed some muscle too.

Hezzietiger1

BMI is based just on height and weight.. it doesn't consider body fat %, lean muscle mass, etc. I suggest that you get your body fat % tested then shoot for a healthy body fat %..

I'm 5'2 and bmi says I should b under 115. As a Fit, Strong, Healthy, college athlete I was 145.

Today by bf % is 34. My goal bf % as of today is 25. That should be about 165ish lbs. Once I hit that goal.. my next goal will be 145. I don't really see myself setting a goal for under 145, unless once I get there, I'm still not healthy. Then, I will.

Make sense?

Figure out your body fat %, then check your goal weight at fat2fitradio.com\tools

It's not 100% but it'll give u a good idea

HEather

LizKurz

BMI is based just on height and weight.. it doesn't consider body fat %, lean muscle mass, etc. I suggest that you get your body fat % tested then shoot for a healthy body fat %..

I'm 5'2 and bmi says I should b under 115. As a Fit, Strong, Healthy, college athlete I was 145.

Today by bf % is 34. My goal bf % as of today is 25. That should be about 165ish lbs. Once I hit that goal.. my next goal will be 145. I don't really see myself setting a goal for under 145, unless once I get there, I'm still not healthy. Then, I will.

Make sense?

Figure out your body fat %, then check your goal weight at fat2fitradio.com\tools

It's not 100% but it'll give u a good idea

HEather

OMG, I have to know, as Im trying to lose body fat of course, what do you do to weigh 165 and only have 25% body fat, and only be 5'2"???

Im five four and a half, and at 143lbs, my bf% was 22%. So I had a lean mass of something like 110lbs. I had definite muscles and lifted pretty heavy for a girl.

Hezzietiger1

BMI is based just on height and weight.. it doesn't consider body fat %, lean muscle mass, etc. I suggest that you get your body fat % tested then shoot for a healthy body fat %..

I'm 5'2 and bmi says I should b under 115. As a Fit, Strong, Healthy, college athlete I was 145.

Today by bf % is 34. My goal bf % as of today is 25. That should be about 165ish lbs. Once I hit that goal.. my next goal will be 145. I don't really see myself setting a goal for under 145, unless once I get there, I'm still not healthy. Then, I will.

Make sense?

Figure out your body fat %, then check your goal weight at fat2fitradio.com\tools

It's not 100% but it'll give u a good idea

HEather

OMG, I have to know, as Im trying to lose body fat of course, what do you do to weigh 165 and only have 25% body fat, and only be 5'2"???

Im five four and a half, and at 143lbs, my bf% was 22%. So I had a lean mass of something like 110lbs. I had definite muscles and lifted pretty heavy for a girl.

Haha.. I'm not. I'm 188 5'2 and 34% body fat. I'm hoping at 169 I will be around 25% body fat... that's what my trainer and I calculated and my goal is 145 lbs to start really looking lean.

We do circuit type exercises that get your heart rate up to burn fat and strength train at the same time.

LizKurz

BMI is based just on height and weight.. it doesn't consider body fat %, lean muscle mass, etc. I suggest that you get your body fat % tested then shoot for a healthy body fat %..

I'm 5'2 and bmi says I should b under 115. As a Fit, Strong, Healthy, college athlete I was 145.

Today by bf % is 34. My goal bf % as of today is 25. That should be about 165ish lbs. Once I hit that goal.. my next goal will be 145. I don't really see myself setting a goal for under 145, unless once I get there, I'm still not healthy. Then, I will.

Make sense?

Figure out your body fat %, then check your goal weight at fat2fitradio.com\tools

It's not 100% but it'll give u a good idea

HEather

OMG, I have to know, as Im trying to lose body fat of course, what do you do to weigh 165 and only have 25% body fat, and only be 5'2"???

Im five four and a half, and at 143lbs, my bf% was 22%. So I had a lean mass of something like 110lbs. I had definite muscles and lifted pretty heavy for a girl.

Haha.. I'm not. I'm 188 5'2 and 34% body fat. I'm hoping at 169 I will be around 25% body fat... that's what my trainer and I calculated and my goal is 145 lbs to start really looking lean.

We do circuit type exercises that get your heart rate up to burn fat and strength train at the same time.

Hrm. What did you use to calculate your bf%?

I used the site you mentioned and it calculated mine at 44%, though I have a larger frame for my height. I weigh 190, 2 more lbs than you. I won't be able to get down to 25% bf until like 154 or something, and I'm taller than you....now I'm wondering if the fat2fitradio site is whack..

michellekicks

The best way to find BF% is to get a DEXA test done. It's very accurate. I had one done in 2004 when I was 161 lbs and 29 years old and I just had another one done at 181 lbs a few weeks ago. Both show the same 120 lbs of lean mass. At 161 lbs I was 24% BF even though that puts me with a BMI of 25.something and technically overweight. There's no way I was overweight. Right now I'm setting my sights on the lower 150s but 150 lbs will put me at 20% BF and I'm not sure that's reasonable at my now nearly 37 years of age :S

But yeah... BMI isn't always right.

ErinI5787

thank you for the responses. I really appreciate it. And I totally agree with the body composition thing. I wore size 11/12s in highschool when I was 140-150 and I started fitting back into those same clothes this time at 170 lbs. Big difference in body compostion. I was VERY confused. But it does make sense. My body has changed a lot. I had a child, I gained a bunch of weight and then I lost some. I might fit in the same pants but my body is not the same as it was. Hopefully my weightloss kicks up again. And I guess I need to ask somebody at the gym if they could tell me what my BF% is.

Hezzietiger1

BMI is based just on height and weight.. it doesn't consider body fat %, lean muscle mass, etc. I suggest that you get your body fat % tested then shoot for a healthy body fat %..

I'm 5'2 and bmi says I should b under 115. As a Fit, Strong, Healthy, college athlete I was 145.

Today by bf % is 34. My goal bf % as of today is 25. That should be about 165ish lbs. Once I hit that goal.. my next goal will be 145. I don't really see myself setting a goal for under 145, unless once I get there, I'm still not healthy. Then, I will.

Make sense?

Figure out your body fat %, then check your goal weight at fat2fitradio.com\tools

It's not 100% but it'll give u a good idea

HEather

OMG, I have to know, as Im trying to lose body fat of course, what do you do to weigh 165 and only have 25% body fat, and only be 5'2"???

Im five four and a half, and at 143lbs, my bf% was 22%. So I had a lean mass of something like 110lbs. I had definite muscles and lifted pretty heavy for a girl.

Haha.. I'm not. I'm 188 5'2 and 34% body fat. I'm hoping at 169 I will be around 25% body fat... that's what my trainer and I calculated and my goal is 145 lbs to start really looking lean.

We do circuit type exercises that get your heart rate up to burn fat and strength train at the same time.

Hrm. What did you use to calculate your bf%?

I used the site you mentioned and it calculated mine at 44%, though I have a larger frame for my height. I weigh 190, 2 more lbs than you. I won't be able to get down to 25% bf until like 154 or something, and I'm taller than you....now I'm wondering if the fat2fitradio site is whack..

Yeh, that site had my bf% wrong. One calculator based on measurements said 28 another said 30 and another said 44. I had it tested at the gym ... I was talking about the calculator that determines what ur goal weight is.. when u enter ur current height, weight, and body fat percentage.