Could you always fathom reaching your goal weight?

I am not sure what my end goal is. My current goal is 180 and I do remember being that size when I was 14 yrs old, and I felt "chubby-normal" and liked my body a lot. Obviously I am 37 now and there are a lot of differences, some good (leaner face, neck, legs) some not so good (flabby arms from weight loss, droopier chest, some slight wrinkles forming) but I still think I'll like my body at 180. Whether that will satisfy me enough to stop there I do not know.

(FTR my HW was 307 and I'm currently at 204 which is the lowest I've been as an adult. Previous low weight was 227 at age 24)

I had been at my goal weight when I graduated from college and actually after giving birth to both my kids (nursing takes a lot of weight off you). But no, I couldn't 'see it' in my mind, because that was years ago.

What really got me was looking in the mirror and seeing my old self. The face I recognized from the picture in my mind. I thought I looked different because I was older. I actually looked different because I was fatter. Now I can still see the age - a bit of gray hair and that less than perfect skin under my chin. But my first impression is the happy and energetic person that I used to see stares back at me again.

I've never been at my current weight in my adult life so starting out I had absolutely no idea what I'd look like once I got there. I reached my original goal weight but honestly figured I'd look closer to how I wanted to by this weight and I now realize I have a little more to go (about 20 I think). That's okay though, the last time I weighed this little was in junior high so it was hard to judge where I'd be at this weight.

Starting out I did have a vague idea of how I wanted to look/feel at goal, I just didn't really know what my weight would be when that happened (and still kind of don't). I'm definitely getting closer though. :bigsmile:

I could envision it, but what shocked me was after I hit my initial goal, the weight kept coming off and I stabilized 11 pounds below my initial goal. Now I envision getting stronger with more energy!

There are some days I still can not believe I actually did it and mostly importantly have been maintaining with ease for almost one year! Other days I think to myself I have worked my butt off over the last 2 years and I feel fantastic. I'm still not used to be able to go in any store and buy cute clothes off the rack and not have to settle.

I did things a little differently though. I did not visualize, have a "dream celebrity body" visual, wanted to lose weight for an event and I didn't buy a goal dress or anything like that. I did that in the past and didn't want to set myself up to fail. This time I focused on fitness goals/eating better and being consistent with it and I continually got smaller and smaller.

It's not over though. I am working hard to maintain and stay focus and in control. Next year is my 20th year hs reunion and it feels great to look better and be in better shape than I was in high school.

Have a happy new year everyone!

I have been obese since I was a kid so I have never known what my body could look like. I'm extremely happy considering my previous size and it's sort of like getting a new present every day haha! I never thought I could look like this... it was always something I dreamt about but never truly believed it would happen. I thought so much weight loss was impossible & I would always look like Shrek... surprise surprise :laugh:

Still got more fat to lose and I'm excited to see the results

I'm the same.. I have always been a heavy adult. I started putting on weight at puberty, so I'm not kidding when I say that I haven't been this weight since I was 12. And I'm still 3kg from goal!

I feel like I spend an obsessive amount of time looking at my body in the mirror, as if I'm seeing it for the very first time. I've never had a defined collarbone, for example. I always dreamed of having non-jiggly abs, but never considered the other interesting changes that would happen to my body. It's a journey, and an emotional one at that. I feel like I'm just waking up for the first time, with a new outlook on everything!

Grumbers - I didn't notice anything much for the first 20 pounds actually (11% body weight loss) because I'd put those last 20 pounds on in around a year. It was my 'fat' self I found surprising. But when I got much under that, all of a sudden I kept touching my arms or legs or torso and noticing how much smaller and, eventually, bonier they were. Because I also had been very stable in my weight, except for the last year, for a 15 years or so, that came as a surprise every time. Even now after the weight has been gone for a year, I wake up every morning and touch my ribs and am surprised at all those hard bones and muscle. No celebration (and yeah, I could probably lose a lot more if I was more body- and less health-conscious). But surprise. Every day.

When I was 200lbs had you told me I'd one day be 125 I would have laughed for days then probably told it would be unhealthy for me to be that small lol. But I did see all my smaller goals. When I was 200 I knew I could get to 175. Once I was 175 I could see 155 I just kept going like that.

I always was and still am far more obsessed with proper nutrition and fitness. I never really put too much emphasis on the scale...it's just a number with many, many, many meanings. Dropping weight and getting to a healthy BF% (way more important than some arbitrary number IMHO) and re-gaining my fitness physique were just awesome bi-products of rocking my nutrition and fitness.

In my experience, ultimately, it has to be about more than just some number on the scale of fitting into some certain size...your health, nutrition, and fitness are lifelong endeavors so you're not "done" when you hit that number on the scale...in fact, that's just the beginning of forever.

I have to say I've never actually had a goal weight before. I was always a fat child, a fat adolescent, a not so fat but muscular teen, and an adult whose weight fluctuated between 190 to 135 pounds. Up and down, a steady, constant need to lose the weight, lose the weight. Even at my lowest I never felt comfortable in my body. This time, finally, I set goal weights (several times) and reached each. Now I am below goal which gives me the wiggle room I like and I FINALLY feel that I like the person look back at me. Maintenance is not easy but it is where I want to be for the rest of my life. My goals now are to maintain the weight loss, increase exercise and improve my strength. Being at goal is a good thing - everything else will happen over the course of the next few years. Good luck with your journey. You can get there!

No. I didn't think I could reach my goal. I didn't think that I could become a bodybuilder. I just had enough discipline and drive to keep working at it until I got there.

I wasn't always obese, so I knew what I would look like. I still didn't think dropping that much weight would be possible. The key was to never give up.

I wanted to be 10% body fat. This morning, I am 10.09% body fat. I wanted to dress better and feel better. When I started in late May 2012, I was 238 lbs and had a 41 inch waist. Those numbers compute to 23% body fat. Now, I am 209.8 lbs and have a 32 inch waist.

I feel much better and I can wear the clothing I want to. People sometime say my av with suit is lame. I bought that suit as reward for getting my body back to where it once was. I wanted to wear stuff out of GQ. I visualized what I wanted to look like when the goal was attained. This helped me strive for the goal.

The women in my life appear to like the new look. So, I guess I got what I wanted.

The truth is at the time I had no idea just how big and unhealthy I was!

It was only looking at what I ate and hitting some classes and seeing the results that I realised

9 lbs away from goal and nope, never thought id get there. It was just some fairytale made up place in my head. Ive always been overweight or obese as a teen and adult so no, i had no idea what i would look like either. But i'll say that i quite enjoy how it looks now!