Ideal Weight

Everyone has a target that they want to reach. Either how far they can job, how fit they are, but mostly a target weight they want. I am pretty clueless about what I want my weight to be. I'm 5'8, 21 and am currently 188lbs, not sure what I should be aiming for.

How did you all decide what you wanted to reach for in terms of weight loss?

I used the goals set in a workout program I do. It depends on what your goals are but this is the healthy range for you:

Female 5’8” 127 – 160 Lbs. 145 Lbs is the mean.

Best of luck to you! -Bobbie

Mine is based on my personal history and what I think is sustainable. The time in my life when I was in the best shape was in college. I played raquetball 5+ times a week, was 128 and wore what was then a size 4 slim. After having my daughter, I settled in at 150 to 155 with very little effort, and think I was a size 8. I maintained that weight for years. Due to surgery, age, whatever, I slowly edged up the scale until one day I found myself over 200 pounds and in "womens" sizes. My current goal is to get back to the 150 to 155 range, and I'm about 1/2 way there.

Have a body fat percentage as your goal instead.

http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages

Have a body fat percentage as your goal instead.

http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages

this.

just get your body fat percentage under 33% (for females) and you will be fit.

http://www.healthyforms.com/helpful-tools/body-fat-percentage.php

Weight is not the most important thing. What matters is if you look good and feel good about your body. I don't actually have a goal weight--I have a goal size. I want to fit into a size 10. When I started trying to lose weight, I was 192 pounds, and fit into a size 16. I'm now 171 and fit into size 12 skinny jeans. Total weight loss is low, because I've added over 10 pounds of muscle mass. But I look much smaller. You can be 170 pounds and look seriously obese or super fit. It depends on your fat to muscle ratio, not your weight.

My husband weighs 250 pounds (he is 6 ft 5in) and looks great. He doesn't have much fat on his body, he is just very muscular and extremely well built. But almost all the height weight ratios classify him as obese. So don't pay too much attention to those charts and numbers How you feel and how you look should be what matters.

Thanks for that post, because that was something I recently learned. I would see people who weighed less than me and looked bigger than me. I have been working out A LOT and have really been seeing a change in my body. My thighs have gotten smaller and I am starting to get some nice muscles in my arms which is a PLUS. At the rate I'm going now, I know that at my goal weight (180 pounds), I will be considered overweight or obese, but my body will be toned for the most part.

Weight is not the most important thing. What matters is if you look good and feel good about your body. I don't actually have a goal weight--I have a goal size. I want to fit into a size 10. When I started trying to lose weight, I was 192 pounds, and fit into a size 16. I'm now 171 and fit into size 12 skinny jeans. Total weight loss is low, because I've added over 10 pounds of muscle mass. But I look much smaller. You can be 170 pounds and look seriously obese or super fit. It depends on your fat to muscle ratio, not your weight.

My husband weighs 250 pounds (he is 6 ft 5in) and looks great. He doesn't have much fat on his body, he is just very muscular and extremely well built. But almost all the height weight ratios classify him as obese. So don't pay too much attention to those charts and numbers How you feel and how you look should be what matters.

Can i ask? How long did it take you to add the 10lb of muscle mass?

Body fat measuring for me too. I'm still classed as overweight for my height. Bothered. Nope!

Re: How long it took to add the 10 pounds?

It took me a few months--I only have the funds and time to do strength training (at the gym) 2 times a week. My goal wasn't so much to get stronger as it was to lose the "baby fat" from four pregnancies. So it took me a little longer to build up the muscle than it would for someone focusing mainly on strength training. But I started losing the fat--first quickly, then the weight loss slowed down as I started to build muscle.

You must have cracking generics to gain that much muscle in a few months! Lucky you. Are you thinking of competing at some point?

My goal weight is just a rough idea and mostly arbitary - 130# at 5'2. It's what I weighed starting college. Looking back at pictures of myself then, what the hell was I complaining about?

But of course, 130# without context means nothing. That's why I'm trying to get to about 25% bodyfat. That's a better indicator for me. I've always been really muscular so it's not possible for me to dip below a certain weight, but I can definitely be trimmer.

There's a 6 pack somewhere under this cooler, but I could do with a little less insulation

The more weight I lose the more I have been lowering my goal weight. I started at 228, thought that 150 was a good goal, got to 150 and realized I need at least 20-30 more pounds off of my 5 foot frame.

I'm 146 right now and I'm thinking between 115-125 but I won't know until I get there.

My highest recorded weight was 275. I could have easily been pushing or slightly over 280, I had been so sick for a week leading up to going in the hospital and getting weighed in. Anyways, I set my goal as my 'happy' weight range, which is slightly above what I weighed in high school, but a weight range that I always felt good about myself and in my clothes. That range for me is 170-180 lbs. I decided to shoot for a loss of 100lbs, so I set my goal for 175lbs. When I get there, I might lose a little more because I will still be considered overweight BMI wise, but I don't think BMI takes into account measurements and body shape either.

Even at my minimum weight for my height, I always felt like women who weighed much more than I did wore smaller clothes. I'm assuming it's because I had small bones and a high body fat %. People with denser bones will weigh more, but it doesn't add on to your size.

I'm 5'4 - my first goal os 125 then i want to get toned...

I look in the mirror and measure my inches. The day I look in the mirror and see an athletic Ageless Goddess looking back at me, with a flat stomach, defined shoulders and no bulge on her outer thigh... well then i will record my weight and BF% and try to stick with it.