How did you choose a goal weight?

I talked to my dr, thought about what my 'real' frame size is, and we settled on right in the middle of the BMI range for my height. I'm also aiming for my body fat % to drop from 32% (as measured on my known-to-be-inaccurate home scale), to 25% or less.

I have my mother's family's tendancy to put on weight quickly & in large quantities.

But I have my paternal grandmother's tiny frame (I'm small-boned and barely 5'2").


For you, I'd still suggest you drop the 11 pounds, but build up muscle instead. Look at your body fat % rather than just your weight.

Personally, i think goal weights are misleading.

I picked a goal 'look'.

I am striving for a look and level of fitness more than a number on a scale.
I don't care if i weigh 190 or 210.
I care that my resting heart rate is 41 bpm.
I care that my body fat is around 12%.
I care that i can wear 32" waist jeans.

You get the picture.

Good luck!

I am nearing my goal weight and kind of reevaluating. I have been overweight/obese since my teens and now I weigh the same that I did in high school. I just slipped into the "normal" BMI category (woohoo!) and my goal is 11 pounds less than what I weigh now. However, I still have plenty of abdominal fat I want to lose, back fat rolls, arm fat, and upper thigh fat. I look at all of this and think, that can't be just 11 pounds of fat, and even if it is, it's not like it's solely going to come off of those areas just because I'm close to my goal weight! I originally set my goal weight at 150, and now I'm thinking I should go lower. Looking at the BMI charts, the range of normal for my height (5'8") is 125-164. So maybe 140? 130?

How do you set a goal weight when you haven't been anywhere near that weight for 15+ years and don't know what you'll look like when you get there?? Do I just constantly adjust it? Or do I hit a weight I'm happy with and then continue with strength training and other exercise to just get more muscle mass but lose fat - does that make sense?

i set mine based on how i feel at a certain weight, not how i look. people tell me i look fine right now, but i dont feel fine. it makes a difference

For some reason, I think once upon a time I remember weighing 160lbs right before high school. It's a healthy BMI and hopefully its achievable. We will see...

I chose 140 for MFP because I thought that it was a good starting point. Once I get to 140, I will see how I feel and what my Body Fat Percentage is. I may decide to go further, depending on my stats at that point. I looked at an online calculator a few days ago and it said that to reach my goal Body Fat Percentage, I need to weigh 130, so once I hit 140, that may be my next goal.

I set mine to 160 because i know that's the weight i was when i was happy with my figure been a good 11yrs since then but i'll see when i get there.xx

I would suggest getting to your goal weight, and maybe a pound or two under it (just so that when you fluctuate, as we all do, you are still happy with the number). Then I would take a good three/four months at maintenance, lifting, with a good plan, and see what you think after that. That's pretty much what I plan to do.

Guesswork. I think a good goal weight for me is about 160. If my skin gets baggy I'll stop before then. If I hit 160 and like the way it looks I'll re-evaluate then, maybe stop there, maybe continue. I'm 64, I'm married, I'm retired, I don't have to please anybody but myself.

First I figured out my body fat percentage, and from that my lean body mass - 135lbs (I'm a little guy underneath all the fat, apparently).
Then I decided how I wanted my body to look, and found the body fat percentage required to look that way - 15%
Then I divided my lean body mass by 0.85 (i.e. 1 - 15%) to find my ideal weight of 158lbs. Factor in a little LBM loss along the way, and I set my goal as 155lbs.

Once I reach that, I'm hoping to continue my current workout ethic and start a very slow and steady bulk, hopefully with minimal fat gain.

So far, I've gone from 220lb to 175lb. Twenty pounds to go!

My first goal weight was 139 (I'm somewhere between 5'1 and 5'2), because I didn't feel I could get any lower. I have been overweight since my pre-teen years so I was sure I could never maintain anything less.

But once I got to that weight, I realized that I wanted to try for a healthy BMI for someone 5'1, so my goal is 132. I have been down to the weight twice, but have as yet, figured out how to maintain that. But I keep trying!

I chose my goal weight of 130, since that's what I weighed when I first got married 19 years ago.

I got married 9 months ago and today I hit my wedding weight!

What a stupid thing to do gain weight straight after getting married - I'm still so angry at myself. But at least I am really on the path to getting back my early twenties body this time (thanks MFP!)

I chose 125 because it is middle of the road for my range. I can remember weighing 112 (I just won't tell you how many years ago that was - LOL) and I was too skinny. I can remember feeling all of the bones in my back and being able to see my ribs & hip bones. Once I get close to the 125 mark then I'll re-evaluate it and see if I want to stop there or continue. I don't think it's always about the "number" but the "how you feel, do you have energy, do you look healthy"? Isn't that more important?

Just try losing another 10 pounds and gaining some muscle. See how you feel then. You don't know until you're either close or there.

I know how I feel and look at my goal weight - I like myself between 160-170.

It's funny that you posted this and said what you did. I'm a little under 15 lbs from my goal and I know what my lean body mass is so I set my goal to about 20% body fat. I thought that I would look much leaner only 15 lbs from goal. I have some places that have very little fat (my abdomen and back) and some places that still have much more than I thought I would (upper thighs, butt, and upper arms). I'm trying to figure out if 15 lbs will actually get me to the look I want. It doesn't feel like it will but I don't really want to go under 20% body fat either (and my lean body mass is relatively high though I'm going to start using freeweights again which might increase my lean body mass by a bit, I've been strength training for a long time and only recently have been using machines instead of free weights so I'm not sure how switching back will affect my muscle mass).

I'm not going to adjust my goals right now because I'm not sure how much the 15 pounds will actually do (I just cannot decide) and don't want to shoot for an unhealthy body fat level.

I'm 5'7'' and 164 right now. Goal weight is at 150 top end of BMI is 159 and my lean body mass is around 124-126.