Help setting goal weight

shmulyeng
shmulyeng Posts: 472 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm well into losing the weight I've been carrying my whole life. My trouble right now is figuring out what should be my goal weight. I'm a 5'11" male and 39 yrs old. I know this isn't really enough to set a proper goal weight. I know there are different builds that will obviously affect my ideal weight. For what it's worth, I wear a size 13 shoe.

I know I'm not at goal because the weight loss, while it slowed significantly over the last couple of months, has still been steady. Following anyone here on MFP that reached goal weight, I constantly read that the last 10-15 pounds were a struggle.

The question is how do I go about figuring this out.

Replies

  • danrough
    danrough Posts: 30 Member
    I'd love to hear people's thoughts on this too, so I'm giving it a little bump.
  • danrough
    danrough Posts: 30 Member
    My, entirely unscientific way of doing it for what it's worth, was based on this chart provided by the NHS in the U.K.: http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/healthy-living/Documents/Adult_height_weight_chart_110411.pdf.

    As somebody who's 197.5 centimetres tall, it suggests that a healthy weight is somewhere in the region of 73 - 98 kilograms. (Sorry to the Americans in the audience, I'm working in metric for ease). That means that there is about a 25 kilogram range. Here's where the (un)science comes in... I took the 25, divided it by 2 which gave me 12.5. I added that number to 73, and arrived at 85.5. I rounded down and chose 85 because it felt like a nice number.

    I did get down to 85 kilos. I felt horrid though - light headed, devoid of energy, and I'd lost a fair amount of muscle mass which I wasn't too keen on.

    I've put some weight back on since and am now 93 kilos. Like I said, I'd be very interested to hear other people's opinions :) I don't think mine is a satisfactory method.
  • aneary1980
    aneary1980 Posts: 461 Member
    Set a goal weight at what the mid range for your height should be judged on your BMI, BUT as you get near that look in the mirror see if you like the way you look, jump up and down does anything wobble etc. Do you feel fit etc.

    Different people reach the right weight depending on frame, muscle mass etc, so set you goal to the middle of your BMI so you have something to aim at but you may find that your right is higher than that set weight.
  • amy_lynn007
    amy_lynn007 Posts: 48 Member
    My last few pounds were not a struggle at all...I think I was one of the lucky ones! I agree with shooting for being in the middle of a normal BMI. Also, whatever makes you feel good :) I hit my goal and then lost another five pounds because I was happy with how I looked, and don't mind a little wiggle room when the scale fluctuates :)
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I'm aiming at a certain body fat % to start with and then I'll decide if I am satisfied. I picked 25% because it is pretty much in the middle of the ideal category for women on the Jackson & Pollock chart for my age group. Then I used this calculator (http://www.fat2fittools.com/tools/ibw/) to back into the number. That comes to 151 for me. I rounded it to 150 because I like even numbers.
  • farway
    farway Posts: 1,264 Member
    My last few pounds were not a struggle at all...I think I was one of the lucky ones! I agree with shooting for being in the middle of a normal BMI. Also, whatever makes you feel good :) I hit my goal and then lost another five pounds because I was happy with how I looked, and don't mind a little wiggle room when the scale fluctuates :)

    Agree, I just picked low BMI, settled on a number [UK, 5 stone to lose] and aimed for that, then went on to give a bit of wiggle room
  • shmulyeng
    shmulyeng Posts: 472 Member
    My problem with going with BMI is that after losing 101 pounds I'm still overweight according to the BMI chart. I currently weigh less than what I weighed when I was 15 (I'm 39 now). My body fat % went from 36 to 20. I would have to lose another 30 pounds just to get to a healthy BMI. To reach the midpoint, I would have to lose another 45 pounds. I have a hard time believing that makes sense.
  • Insomniac8
    Insomniac8 Posts: 182
    Set a goal weight at what the mid range for your height should be judged on your BMI, BUT as you get near that look in the mirror see if you like the way you look, jump up and down does anything wobble etc. Do you feel fit etc.

    This ^^^^^^^^^
    I have set my goal based on my BMI, I want mine to be 20. Personally guess everyone with this BMI looks great.

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