realistic goal weight?

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mathewsmom
mathewsmom Posts: 7
in Health and Weight Loss
I am 23 yrs old, 5'5 and 150 lbs.. before having my son and quitting smoking I always stayed between 125-130. After having my son 2.5 yrs ago I got down to 137 then a year ago we quit smoking (again) and I've been 147-153 ever since. I am un happy with my appearance and need/want to lose weight and tighten up. Everyone keeps telling me that I will never get 125-130 again bc your hipsspread etc after having children. I guess my question is how do u decide a good goal weight?

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  • Live4theLift
    Live4theLift Posts: 329
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    There are online calcs that will give you a healthy BMI and you could always shoot for that "Healthy" weight or you shoot for 5-10 lbs and keep going til your happy with yourself whether that's a "Healthy" weight or not
  • jenniferwoodweeg
    jenniferwoodweeg Posts: 45 Member
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    Really-hips spread?? too funny! I was way over-weight after second child and I am 5'7-weighed 210 pounds. Stopped drinking and lost 20. Stopped eating as much and got down to 150. Stopped eating as much AND working-out 5 times a week for one hour and now weigh 140. That's my almost gw of 135. Good Luck!!
  • jenniferwoodweeg
    jenniferwoodweeg Posts: 45 Member
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    PS-total weight loss journey after started working out was only 5 weeks compared to 5 years..
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Everyone keeps telling me that I will never get 125-130 again bc your hipsspread etc after having children.

    Nonsense. Well, your hips do spread but that has nothing to do with how heavy you are. I think 130 is a perfectly reasonable goal for your age/height. You can readjust your goal if necessary. My goal weight is now higher because I started weight lifting.
  • JenMc14
    JenMc14 Posts: 2,389 Member
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    I am 5'4.75". My highest non-pregnant weight was around 175, I believe. When I started my journey to lose weight and keep it off in April 2011, I was 165. I got down to 117 (lighter than even in HS, I think). I'm back up to 135 after a very dirty "bulk" cycle over the Holidays in 2012. I am having trouble shaking those 15 pounds back off, but it's mostly due to a mental block on going back to a sustained cut. Anyway, I digress. I arbitrarily picked 130 as my initial goal because I remember I weight that in college at some point, maybe that's what I weighed when I graduated HS, too. I was 142 before getting pregnant with my first at age 23, and 165ish (down about 8 pounds) when I got pregnant with #2 at 31. So, 130 was in the healthy BMI range, and it seemed realistic. Once I got there, I wasn't satisfied, I kept going. I then felt I needed to build some muscle, so I quit eating at a deficit, went overboard, gained some muscle and some fat, and I am where I am now.

    It's hard at first, but try to let go of a specific number and focus on how you look and feel and making choices you can sustain.
  • JerZRob
    JerZRob Posts: 68
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    Never heard of this hipspread thing from keeping you from loosing weight. My wife has had 2 and she got down below her before pregnant weight. Was 189 at 8 months and a year later shes in high 120's.
  • Woomytron
    Woomytron Posts: 253 Member
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    Yes hips spread, doesn't mean you can't get down to whatever you want (healthy weight of course), just means your body is going to look different then when you were a teenager. Your a grown women, love your new curves.
  • kittenful
    kittenful Posts: 318 Member
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    Your hips do spread, before giving birth, but I don't see how that would make you retain extra weight as long as you eat right and exercise. All it means it that your bones shifted a bit. You may have more defined hips, now. I know I do (helloooo, hourglass figure!!)
  • Woomytron
    Woomytron Posts: 253 Member
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    Really-hips spread?? too funny! I was way over-weight after second child and I am 5'7-weighed 210 pounds. Stopped drinking and lost 20. Stopped eating as much and got down to 150. Stopped eating as much AND working-out 5 times a week for one hour and now weigh 140. That's my almost gw of 135. Good Luck!!

    How long did it take you from start to finish? I was about 220-230 when I had my son (3 years ago). I finally got under 200 but I'm stuck in the 190s. I just changed up my diet to try and get past this point. I work out 5 days a week. Just wondering how long it took you since we almost had the same starting weight. I wanna get to 140. :smile:
  • Boogage
    Boogage Posts: 739 Member
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    I'm 5.4, 28, have 5 kids and weighed 167lbs after my last little one was born. I'd always been overweight and even dieting after each child previously I'd never been able to get below 150lbs. With MFPs help I'm now down to 123lbs and shooting for 117 so its definitely do-able. I'll still have a lot of toning and bf% lowering left to do once I get there but hips spreading shouldn't make any difference.

    Just start by trying to lose a little and see where you feel comfortable. Depending on your bodys make up you may find that you are quite happy at a higher weight.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    My wife weighs slightly less now than she did before she had our boys. She's more solid now too as she got back into weight lifting and she hits the weight room with me. She was around 130 when she got pregnant with baby #2. It's taken her roughly a year but she's down to around 122 and looks fab. I think a big thing for her was cutting dairy...my baby #2 is allergic so she had to cut out dairy completely for breast feeding...I think that's what gave her most of her calorie deficit because she doesn't diet and doesn't calorie count...she was just a dairy freak and probably cut a good 500 calories per day from eliminating it.

    She also started hitting the weight room with me and has been lifting for about 9 months now and we both run 5K races. She's doing fab. If she can do it, I'm sure you can get back down as well.

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