How do we choose a goal weight?

Why not focus on getting to top of the healthy range and reassess based on how you look and feel?

I picked 125 because it's the weight I was when I was most fit. I've been 117, but I was skinny fat and looked it. If I hit 130 and am happy by how I look and feel, though, I'll just maintain that.

Just picked 155. Then through a BMI/BMR website, it turned out to be the optimum weight for my height, age and build. That was that.

As someone that's always been overweight, I've picked my goal based on the high end of the healthy weight range for my height. I figure once I get there I can re-evaluate and set a new goal or focus on gaining tone while maintaining weight.

At 5'7 I've chosen 150 as my goal to allow for a healthy fluctuation between 150 and 155. I've never been lower than 175 since adulthood though.

If you want a healthy weight range, check BMI charts and see what range is best for you. Personally, I would set my goal a little on the high side and then reevaluate it again once you get closer to your goal.

I'm 5'9.5" & the nurse at the doctors surgery put my ideal weight at 158 lbs !

For my height, a healthy weight range is from 99-123. My goal weight is 117 (which may be re-evaluated once I get close). I chose mine so that when I am fully dressed and go to the doc, I'm still in a healthy weight range. I'm sick of being told to lose weight. My fear is that I will get to my goal and the doc will STILL tell me to drop weight:/

IMO, "we" should not choose a goal weight. Scale weight has very little to do with how we look or feel. Scale weight is just total weight.

Men's sizes differ from women's. I wanted my waist size to be smaller than my length. Done that. As I gain muscle mass, my waist will not change. Happily, I can buy my pants in the boy's dept, much cheaper for same clothes, but shirts in the men's department. For the first time ever, I feel comfortable enough to wear fitted shirts, an my correct size is slim or athletic fit. That is a good feeling!

You want to be within a normal BMI range for your height, but I think it's realistic to aim towards the top for now. At 5'6", I should be no more than 154, so I set my goal to 145. I've been 125, but that was in eighth grade (and yes, I was 5'6" then), but I've been around 145 before and after that, so I feel like it's a healthy, sustainable weight for me.

155 is in the middle of my range. 132 is the low end. The pic in my profile is recent, I am not a big guy, 29 waist. I think I would look emaceated at 132.

I am 5'10 so when I chose my goal weight I picked a number on the high side of the height & weight charts. I think the range was 128 to 169. The number I picked out of the hat was 165. Before my weight gain (the last 2 years) I was around 164 for most of my adult life. Now I am just not sure. Does that mean my body liked being on the high range? Should I strive to go lower? Any input would help. Thank you!

Find out your lean body mass (you'll need to probably get it checked by someone experienced with calipers for an approximate reading).

Now decide what body fat % you want to be. Then use the formula:

Lean body mass divided by (1 minus body fat % desired) to get a goal weight.

IE: Lean body mass 100lbs.
Desired body fat - 25%

100/ .75= 133lbs

Hope that helps.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I just used my ideal body weight. My first goal is 150. Its higher on my ideal scalethen depending how the 150 pounds look I may keep going lower just depends really!

Setting goals shouldn't be about weight because not everyone is meant to be thin. At my largest, I was about 275lb, but I did not feel fat (with exception of the times that my family and even a friend or two made comments like, "Why are you walking like a pregnant woman."). Over the summer, I lost a lot of weight because my mother convinced me to go on a diet with her and I reached my personal goal, which was to fit back into a pair of pants I bought four years ago. As of today, I am 214lb and I feel great, but the comments have not ceased. Of course I expect people who haven't seen me in a while to say, "Have you lost weight? You look amazing!", but still my sister told me she thinks I should continue to lose weight "for health purposes". So while I have reached my personal goal, I have set another goal simply because I want the comments to stop. My three sisters are all thin (in fact, I believe one to be anorexic) and I have always been much larger than them. My driver's license has me listed as 5'11"; according to the BMI chart, the "healthy" range for someone my height is136-172. I set my goal at about 175-180, even though this is still considered "overweight" because I feel good here at 40lb more than that, but it hasn't stopped the comments, and I think that I wouldn't look like me at a "normal" weight. Who know, though. Maybe I'll continue losing and hit "average".
(Reading each post on this thread was a real eye-opener for me because so many of you claim that, at your heaviest, you weighed less than I have even weighted since 3rd grade. The first comment I remember was going to the doctor, stepping on the scale, and my mom saying, "I weighted 175lb when I got married!" And I don't mean to seem rude, but I would like you all to think about that and be thankful. I sincerely hope that one day I will be "average" and my family will hush.)