Your Goal Weight (especially for those with a lot to lose)

I am 44, started this journey at 326. I have my ticker set to 159. I haven't seen that weight in over 25 years. I think I am going to aim for 175-180. That's the weight I was when I got married 24 years ago and I felt good and was healthy there.

Mine is a completely arbitrary number, because the last time I weighed 150 pounds, I was 13 years old (I am now 40). I'd still be well within the range of overweight for my height of 5'1" at that weight. I am pretty close to my "goal" now, so I am sure I will end up adjusting it, but hey, even if I don't, 150 wouldn't be such a bad place for me, I don't think, I am 164 pounds right now and just in a size 10 and feel better than I ever have. I just want to feel good, for the most part.

I have changed my goals three times since starting 3 months ago! I started off at what I would like to be, second reset it to the top end of my healthy BMI, third time, I settled at 175. I'm 5'9" and have an enourmous bone structure LOL!

5'9"
SW 224
CW 200
GW 175 (ish) may change my mind again LOL

Good luck, add me if you'd like I'm on here daily.

I'm 5'3" so the recommended weight for a woman my height is between roughly 104-140 lbs. My lowest adult weight was 120, my highest was 170 (before joining MFP). That would give me a total of 50 lbs lost if I choose to go back to 120, but right now I'm just working to reach 140 lbs, and then I'll reset my goal to 135 and then 130, and then see how I feel from there. I remember feeling pretty good when I was around 130 so I might stop there, but I feel like it's better for me to focus on smaller goals instead of always paying attention to the end goal which seems way off in the distance.

I started at 302 and now weigh 192 and the top of "normal" weight from the charts is about 159 for a woman who is 5'7".

I discussed this with my doctor recently and she felt that taking the excess skin that I have and that I once made it into the 150's and could not maintain that weight, aiming for 170 is a reasonable and attainable goal. I've gone from a size 26 to a size 12 and plan to stop at a 10 - it makes sense for my age and I know I will have to work harder than I ever have to maintain it.

I hadn't thought of that but it is a real factor to take into consideration.

I'm 5'9, with a very powerful build. My goal is between 200 - 180 (which still puts me in an over weight BMI...meh). But, my lean mass is roughly 138lbs, so 180lb is 20% body fat - 200lb is 25%. I was a size 12 when I was a slender pre-teen with smaller hips. I would love to, but don't expect to, be able to shop at "normal" stores (esp not for shirts... my shoulders are ridiculous.) LOL My husband jokes with his co-workers that he's afraid to start a fight with me 'cause if I wanted to I could throw him down the stairs... and he likes that about me.

I found a good body fat calculator... one that is more than just BMI. Once you know your body fat%, you can figure out your lean mass, and get a better idea of what your goal weight should be. Esp for muscular ladies, it may be higher than some height/weight chart that doesn't care that wear mens size 11 shoes.

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/

While looking at the forums and making new friends here the past few weeks, I have been checking out folks' tickers and their goal weights. I'm curious about how you all came to choose your goal weight. Is it doctor recommended? Dictated by governmental or other formal guidelines for someone your gender and height? Is it a weight you once were and were happy with how you looked or felt? For those with a lot to lose -- did you choose a weight that may still be in that category of overweight because it seemed a little less intimidating than what folks SAY someone your gender/height should be?

I am 5'9" and weigh over 400 pounds. For a female at this height -- I *should*, according to standards, weigh around 160. Even my doctor thinks that would be really thin for me. I have set my goal weight at 200. This would still be "overweight" by some guidelines -- but I remember weighing 200 pounds -- being a size 12/14 -- and I recall being pretty happy there. Doesn't mean I'll stop there -- but right now it seems attainable -- and I don't want to overwhelm myself with some unrealistic goal when I have such a long way to go.

Thoughts??

Some people will say 400->200 is a great goal... I don't think it is. I think the numbers are too distant from one another, and will result in you getting discouraged because you won't feel like you're making significant progress towards your stated goal.

Over on the FitDay forums folks try to set short-term and long-term goals (I'm sure it's the same here, but I haven't noticed anyone recommend such things yet.) A short-term goal might be "I want to be XXX by St. Patrick's Day", or "I want to be YYY by Columbus Day". In that way you can gauge where you're failing and when weight is getting more difficult to remove. One of my biggest issues is that I was losing close to 12 pounds per month for the first 7 months of my diet... after that the holidays hit and I didn't reset my expectations, but I completely adjusted back to my old eating habits because of the holidays (my family enjoys making gigantic portions of every food possible for Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthdays around that time.) I ended up gaining 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Years, rather than losing almost 15 pounds like I expected. It was a HUGE blow but I bounced back and lost a bunch more weight, eventually getting down to 230 pounds (from my start at 341.) Had I set more realistic goals I probably wouldn't have been so easy to say "meh, it'll only be 1-2 pounds, I'll eat more during the holidays", thus justifying my poor eating habits.

TL;DR: Try to set a short-term goal, and maybe a mid-term goal that you'll adjust as you meet 1-2 short-term goals, then have a long-term goal of 200.

Sorry, I didn't read many responses but I wanted to say I'm 5'9" and 160 would be very thin for my frame also. For now I have it set to 200 but I'm thinking 175 may be doable.