How did YOU determine your ideal weight?

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  • lesley1981
    lesley1981 Posts: 329 Member
    the BMI calculator has my ideal weight below 147lbs, and before checking my BMI I said I wanted to get back down to 140-147, it's a weight I was happy with 6 years ago.

    My weight has fluctuated for about 10 years due to many factors... at 130lbs I felt I was too skinny, at 198lbs I was seriously unhappy and at 140lbs I was confident, happy and energetic. THAT'S what I want to get back to :smile:
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
    I'm in a similar boat, BMI charts are completely useless for me. So I just go by appearance & feel. When I can see my abs & don't have much to pinch around the middle that's when I know I'm good. Even though according to the BMI I'm still at the upper end of over weight.
  • jmathews
    jmathews Posts: 196
    I am 5'4" and weigh128...I was shooting for 125 but can't get there. My doctor told me that my body will decide where it needs to be and that my weight loss will level off...boy was he right! I have been maintaining since September and can't get the scale to move. I weigh more than I did in high school (muscles) but wear a smaller size. I feel great and am loving this lifestyle.
    BTW-I lost 55lbs from Feb '09 to Sept, '09 all by eating right and exercising (6 days/week)...no pills, no programs...the old fashioned way.
  • 00trayn
    00trayn Posts: 1,849 Member
    Since I've never been happy at what I weighed in the past, I'm not shooting for what I weighed in high school or something. At the moment, BMI is my rough estimate that is telling me that 140 is the transition from overweight to healthy. I'd like to get there, but that's not a concrete goal. I just know I'd really like to get to 150, see how I look and feel and then possibly set a goal past that. It could be 140, it could be higher or lower. I really just want a weight that looks good on me, I'm comfortable in, and that I can maintain without having to spend hours in the gym every day and keep eating 1200 calories. I'm taking it 10 pounds at a time at this point. So far, I'm down to what I weighed in Senior year of high school, I'll take that :) Next goal, i want to look good enough to wear a bikini. Maybe by the end of the summer.
  • questionablemethods
    questionablemethods Posts: 2,174 Member
    I am 5'4" and weigh128...I was shooting for 125 but can't get there. My doctor told me that my body will decide where it needs to be and that my weight loss will level off...boy was he right! I have been maintaining since September and can't get the scale to move. I weigh more than I did in high school (muscles) but wear a smaller size. I feel great and am loving this lifestyle.

    Ditto to that! We sound almost identical. I'm 5'3.5 and I think 115-120 would be awesome. I've been hovering around 125-126 for several weeks now and my body seems to want to stay here. I feel great and I can wear a bikini comfortably. I'm not quite as "cut" as I would like to be, but this is also a good place to maintain.
  • drvvork
    drvvork Posts: 1,162
    Interesting question! I'm anxious to see what people say. I know the old "trick" was 100 + 5 lbs for every inch over 5'........which would mean I should weigh 135. YEAH RIGHT.

    I have a goal right now of 160......but honestly, I kind of pulled that number out of you-know-where :laugh:

    I started out shooting for a healthy part of the BMI chart then someone sent a link for a body fat calculation [http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator] and thought I would check this out, feeling pretty confident only to find out the body fat % had me at obese... 'sigh' so I'm back on the losing issue. So this calculation figures close to the body fat % for me that they want me to be at... 123 to have me healthy as far as body fat... and using the 100 + 5 would put my goal at 125... very close... Anyway... I think goal weightt is personal and between you and your doctor. I weighed 122# before getting pregnant with my daughter.... (she's 23) so it seems impossible but I'm awfully close - still questioning if it is right (Body image - you know...).
  • BbNuke
    BbNuke Posts: 82 Member
    I also picked a weight from the past where I was happy with myself. I have never exercised before (as an adult) and I'm really starting to like it! I have a lot of toning to do, so think I might try to go 20 lower than what my goal is now.

    However, I don't want to go too low, as I am 60 yrs old and don't want a lot of loose skin as a result of losing too much body fat. I'll play it by ear after I get to my current goal.
  • jackpotclown
    jackpotclown Posts: 3,275 Member
    Well I'm 34 5'8 170lbs, BMI says I should be around 160 for my height....I was there once, and it was a bit ridiculous for me....it was wintertime, and believe me, I was cold all the time. I picked my weight based on how I felt, what looked best, and what is most maintainable for me. Also, I'm 5-10 lbs lighter than when I graduated high school....placed a 3 lb limit both over and under where I am now....and it's working pretty good so far. All the body fat estimators have me at 13-15% body fat, which is good for me.
  • MysterriGal
    MysterriGal Posts: 52 Member
    My ideal weight is 5lbs over where the BMI says I'd be in a healthy range. I chose this by looking back, in high school I was always a bit over weight, and the least I can remember being is 170lbs. Figure 20lbs less than that would be good for me now. Alot of people seem to think going less than that I'd be pretty sickly with my build, so I felt thats a good number. The number is only that though, a number, my real goal is feel healthy, and be able to shop in regular size stores, when ever I reach that I'm good.
  • princessxena
    princessxena Posts: 2
    I agree I am supposed to get to 138 pounds!!?? I am 51, can't see me that thin. Also could I maintain it?
    On related topic how did you add all the info ?
    Thanks
    PrincessXena
  • krislew
    krislew Posts: 46 Member
    I haven't set an end goal weight. I just have an idea of what size clothing will make me happy...and I don't know what weight I need to be to fit into that size. It's been soooo long. I've been setting mini goals for myself so I see an obtainable end, and once I meet that goal I will just move on to the next and go from there. I haven't really been able to wrap my mind around a long term goal yet.
  • ccgisme
    ccgisme Posts: 239 Member
    WOW!!! Looks like I hit a chord I can't believe the response to this. Thanks everyone!

    So, here's what I did to set up MFP. I have an older Tanita scale that gives a body fat percentage along with weight. I've never trusted this number to be 100% accurate - but I have assumed that it is consistent in its inaccuracy, if you get my drift :wink:

    So, when I started at 282, I was probably somewhere in the high 30%s. I multiplied my weight by the percentage and then subtracted that amount to get a rough estimate of my lean weight, skeletal weight, and water weight - everything but the fat. I then multiplied that number by some percentage I can no longer remember and came up with 193 as a goal weight.

    Based on today's weight (254.8) and body fat percentage (29.6), I am carrying around 75.42 lbs of fat. That suggests a lean/skeletal/water weight of 179.38. If I multiply that by 1.15, my goal weight would be 206 pounds. That's about 30 pounds lighter than I was in high school, but seems realistic.

    Of course, there's a part of me that wants to see that number closer to 195, but that might be pushing it! I've stayed active, even at 282, and my thighs are like tree trunks. :laugh:

    I used to joke that I'd know I was done when I could get back into a pair of size 36 Levi's 501 jeans. Of course, they probably don't make them or make them to the same specifications they made back in the 80's... :bigsmile:
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
    I have been measured and I have a med frame and I am 5'6. I weighed 145 lbs 10 years ago and was still quite pudgy and I was quite unhappy with the thickness of my thighs and how big my butt and arms were. This time around I made my goal weight 17 lbs lighter and I am hoping that by doing tons of toning exercizes I can get down to less lbs and be thinner as well.

    However I'd settle for a higher weight if my measurements were smaller. I don't want to focus so much on an exact number. I want to be a certain size rather.
  • ccgisme
    ccgisme Posts: 239 Member
    I’ve been trying to calculate my ideal weight for some time now. BMI is not a dependable measure at all, while Body Fat is. Remember that weight consists of both lean body mass and body fat. Knowing your body fat percentage can help you determine if your weight loss goals are realistic. You can check yours at http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/.
    The American Council on Exercise considers a 25 - 31% body fat acceptable for women, 18 – 25% for men.

    When I go to this site, it calculates my body fat at 21.64%. If I shot for 15% BF, then my target weight would be 229. Which is what I weighed in high school.

    So, the two different methods result in a 23 pound range. :huh:

    So the matter remains unresolved and I'll continue to assess! :wink:
  • Barneystinson
    Barneystinson Posts: 1,357 Member
    I'm wondering if I should even give a rip about what I weigh. I weighed 126 and was a size 4 at some point last year. 126 is "overweight" for my height... (WTF!?) I'm 138 and wear a size 8 now.

    I'm aiming for that size 4 again, no matter what weight.
  • kwardklinck
    kwardklinck Posts: 1,601
    I picked a goal weight based on what weight I felt most comfortable with. It's right smack in the middle of my BMI range. The one thing to consider is that muscle weighs more than fat so even though my previous weight was 119 and I now weigh 128, I wear the same size as I did back then. If 165 doesn't seem feasible to you, try for 175 and see how far you can get toward that goal. You can always make adjustments later.
  • chandnikhondji
    chandnikhondji Posts: 136 Member
    Since we work with kilogram here that will most likely not apply to any of you but here it is height minus 100... so if i am 1.90 meters tall (which i am - that is 6'3'' for you) that would be that i should be at 90 kg (198 lbs).

    Seeing that it is maybe my height in pound plus about 10 lbs :)

    At least that is what doctors say one SHOULD weight.. personally i want to weight a bit more than that because i want to keep something to grab at, and not that my bf is afraid to break me *lol* And i rather go after when i feel healthy, seriously
  • Umpire57
    Umpire57 Posts: 389 Member
    Funny thing is I have been thinking A LOT about this lately since I am now 5 pounds away from what "in the beginning" I thought was my goal weight.

    I started at somewhere in the range of 333 (333 is what I always put as starting weight cause it is the last time I remember weighing before starting but it could be a bit more)

    The lowest I have ever been in my adult life before that is 240 but I was always one to try and set high goals for myself. I have coached both my daughters in softball and always told them "It is better to set your goals too high and just miss them than set them too low and blow them away" so I set my "goal weight" at 230 cause I really wanted to hit that 100 pound mark and I added 3 to that so I could have that +/- number people always say and also so I could say it was 100 pounds lost even if I was fully clothed.

    Monday (My weekly weigh in day) I am at 235 and while I have many friends who say I need to stop (I wont even get into how that annoys me), when I have my shirt off I see I still have a lot to lose so even though I am really near my goal weight and lower than I have been since junior high school over 25 years ago, I still am not happy where I am at so I need to set another goal but I don't know what that is.

    BMI says I am still obese so that is my first mini-goal. I want to get from the "obese" range to the over-weight" range and then see what happens from there. I have considered getting a session in one of those "BODY POD" things to see exactly what my body fat percentage is and I have an appointment with my doctor next week for a full workup and I am going to discuss it with him as well.

    I will follow this thread closely cause It really hit the nail on the head of what I have been thinking lately.

    Sorry for the long rant but once I started...... :)
  • megamom
    megamom Posts: 920 Member
    Personally right now I just want to be out of plus sizes. I will then make a new goal probably of getting out of large, LOL. Mostly I just want to be healthy and active.
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