How do you go about setting your goal?

Staring at 250 I initially chose 50lbs as a loss goal just because of it being a nice round number but amended that to 199 after reading of 'Onederland' on these forums.

After much reading and some progress I now know upon reaching 199 I will reset my goal to 150 to get into the generally accepted 'fit zone'. I will then be able to *kitten* how I feel and set a final goal. Likely to be 170-180 with a reasonably defined muscle structure and level of strength.

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I kept to 1200 cals reccomended, put on 3 pounds. Also found it hard to eat so much. So now eat what I've always eaten, but less of it. I slice of bread instead of 2, substitute marmite on toast instead of butter, eat half a ready meal. Think about what you eat. My scales don't move much but my clothes feel much looser, had to buy a belt for 2 pairs of jeans to keep them up! Look slimmer, so I would say, don't beat yourself up, go easy on yourself, but think before you eat. Do you want that cheese or do you want to lose weight? I would say you have reached your ultimate goal when you feel happy with how you look and feel comfortable in your skin. However long it takes, it's not a race. Good luck

I want to get down to my high school weight. The irony is that when I was that weight in high school, I thought I was fat! Ugh.

GuitarJerry wrote: »

I will never reach it because I keep setting new ones. Once I lost the weight, then it was body fat, when I hit that, then it was endurance. Once I didthat, now it's strength. And, for that, I have to gain weight. So, the goal keeps moving around. I don't think I'll ever just say, "I'm done".

This is my approach. I started with a weight goal in the high end of the normal BMI range for my height. As I approached it and realized that I was still pretty flabby, I set a lower goal and focused on doing more strength training to maintain muscle mass. I revised my weight target again a couple of times. Now I'm about where I want to be, and I'm shifting my goals to maintaining my weight (to figure out the whole maintenance thing) while improving my running and rowing, and keeping up my ability to do long bike rides.

Weight goals are useful because weight is easy to measure. But once you're at a healthy weight, it's more useful to focus on body composition, strength, endurance, health, etc.

The smallest dress size i've been as an adult is 14 (UK), so my goal is to get to that again and see how I look/feel then. I might stop there or keep going.

I set my goal originally to be my pre-pregnancy weight (130) by the time I turned 30. When I reached the point I only had 10 more pounds to go, I knew I wasn't going to be happy with it, so I lowered it a bit more to 125. I'm at 136 now and know it was the right move to make, I may even try for 120 eventually. It's silly but I want to look like I'm actually the mother to my two skinny kids

sumnerfan wrote: »

I haven't set a long term goal. I've set plenty of short ones, but I don't really know what my ultimate goal is. So, how did you set yours? How will you know when you're there? Is it a number on the scale? The size of your clothes? An amount of time you run? The amount of weight you lift? I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Me thinks I'm making it too complicated.

In my early 20's I easily maintained 136, which also happens to be the highest weight that's "normal" for me according to BMI. So I just went with that. There was a time, with hard work and dedication, that I reached 118. So, when I reach 136, I'll be happy. If I can get lower, that'd be great.

I want back the body that I had 4 years ago. So 150-160 lbs. I loved that body but didn't fully appreciate just how smokin hot it was. Once there my goals will probably change in the way of body comp. so more muscles etc. After I drop the fat it will be all about everything being nice and hard. I miss my bikini body, I want it back.

I don't focus on the big goal though, 80lbs, or I'll go insane. I have my monthly goal of 10lbs so I focus on that. Then I have my short term goal of 30lbs by the end of the year. Then I'll probably set my second short term goal of 50lbs by June. By July if I havnt hit my goal I should be pretty freaking close. Right in time for bathing suit weather! Wooo!

sumnerfan wrote:

I haven't set a long term goal. I've set plenty of short ones, but I don't really know what my ultimate goal is. So, how did you set yours? How will you know when you're there?

For weight, I want to be in a healthy range as determined by BMI. That's about another 45 lb down from where I am now.
When I get there, I'll see how I feel, but might want to be as much as another 15 lb down, which would still put me in the upper 1/3 of the healthy range. I'm built big, so that's reasonable.
Here's a BMI chart: http://www.shapeup.org/bmi/bmi6.pdf

I want my waist to be under 34", because that correlates with lower risk of health problems. (I'm currently right at 34, as of last Sunday, so this will happen soon.)

I want my waist to hip ratio to stay under 0.8 (currently 0.79), again because that correlates with lower risk of health problems.
(For men, 1.0 is the goal, 'cause you don't have hips.)
http://www.healthyforms.com/helpful-tools/

I want to feel good, be happy with how I look, move well, exercise regularly (cardio & weights), and eat sensibly.
I want my resting heart rate to be less than 60 & my blood pressure to stay in a healthy range.

I don't know what size clothes I'll end up in, because it's been so long since I was anything but fat. But looking at a size & measurement chart, I'm betting I'll be around a 10-12, based on inches & pounds lost so far, and still to go.

And it would be a real ego boost if men noticed me (in a good way) and wanted to date me.

Originally, I set my goal weight so I could fit into my smallest pair of jeans in the closet. My goals have since shifted and I am now working on fitness goals. Oddly, this seems to have taken priority. I would rather obtain certain fitness goals and have the weight follow secondarily.