Goal Weight or Appearance

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gcaracciolo2
gcaracciolo2 Posts: 130 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just curious how everyone decided what their goal weight was. Also curious about your thoughts on being a few pounds heavier than your goal weight but happy with what you see in the mirror. Would you go to maintenance at that point?
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Replies

  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    I originally set my goal weight to the weight range I met my husband at. Once I got there however, I decided to go a bit lower. If I had my desired BF% before I got to my goal weight, I would have been fine switching to maintenance.
  • sarbu24
    sarbu24 Posts: 129 Member
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    Being over 200 pounds most of my adult life made 199 lbs my goal. I'm 3 pounds away!!! And my next goal is 189. Short goals are easier to obtain for myself. And ultimately I would like to have a healthy BMI.
  • campbell3913
    campbell3913 Posts: 64 Member
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    Close could be made work if I can firm up the flab. I'm afraid at 59 that even if I loose the weight/fat the skin is not going to be what it was when I was 40. I don't really have a lot to loose compared to some (under 20 left), and I was never that heavy but the DR was complaining, so we'll see.
  • chrlslove7
    chrlslove7 Posts: 136 Member
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    I'm definitely going by how I feel and look. If I hit 170 and feel good, I'm going to try and stay there. If I hit 140 and want to drop another 10, I'll do that. I definitely need to be under 190 though!
  • nishass
    nishass Posts: 9 Member
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    My goal weight is the lower end of the normal range for someone of my height and frame based on BMI. That's 130lbs. 145 is at the higher end of normal. I'd be happy at that point as well. As for whether I will go to maintenance at that point, I want to say no but realistically, I will be quite happy just to make it to "normal" and then decide from there how to proceed.
  • Nicklebee93
    Nicklebee93 Posts: 316 Member
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    I went for what was considered an average/healthy weight for someone my height, which was 120. Though i will go by what i feel i look good as in terms of my size. Goal is to be healthy, i'd rather weigh more and be fit then be super skinny and brag "yeah i'm only 100 pounds!"
  • flippy1234
    flippy1234 Posts: 686 Member
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    I think we are all so hung up on numbers. I know I was/am. But now I am doing my best to realize goals based on how I look and feel. How my clothes fit? Do I feel good? I think focusing on the number can cause too much anxiety and stress...which adds to weight gain, lol.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
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    I don't have a goal weight. I know I need to lose weight, and I do weigh myself, but I don't have any end point that I MUST reach in order to measure my success or failure. There's already enough opportunities in life to face failure, I don't need to set myself up for another one.

    For me it's about feeling stronger and being able to do things (run, get up off the floor, walk up hills, fit my rear end into various seats) more easily. And I'm not happy with my appearance at this weight, I want to fit into smaller clothes, so there is definitely a vanity/appearance factor too.

    I'm also not on a "journey", that analogy apparenty makes sense to a whole lot of people on this forum, but not to me. This is not some activity that has a start and an end point, where I will just lose weight until I see a magic number on the scale and then it's time for the journey to end.

    I've been there before... with graphs and charts and goals that I never met, or if I did, was not able to keep up for good. For me, this has to be about good habits that keep me healthier and feeling better on an ongoing basis.
  • marebear31485
    marebear31485 Posts: 36 Member
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    I set my goal weight for the higher end of healthy for my height (5'7"). My goal weight is 150. The lowest I've ever been in adulthood was between 155-160 so I'm being a bit ambitious. But I was pretty happy with my body at 160 also.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,005 Member
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    My goal was to get within the healthy weight range. I now have a BMI of 23 and I am happy with that.
  • NealNH
    NealNH Posts: 106 Member
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    For me the prime reason for losing is health and getting off at least some of my meds so I set my goal at the mid range of normal BMI which for me is 160. Since I weighed more than this in the 6th grade I have no idea what to expect when I get there but it should be interesting. I'm also planning on getting a Dexa scan done when I hit 180 so I will know where my BMI really is given that I am 64 and have been at a sedentary job most of my life.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    My goal is appearance based. I'd be absolutely fine stopping today at this weight if I liked what I saw in the mirror.
  • jandsstevenson887
    jandsstevenson887 Posts: 296 Member
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    I'm still trying to figure this out. I set my goal at 129lbs for now but I'm not sure if that's really where it should be.
  • JulieSlack
    JulieSlack Posts: 25 Member
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    I'm aiming for 9st which is half a stone less than the top of my ideal bmi range. I've never been slim and I'm pear shaped I think if I aim too low I'm going to look ill. It is more about being happy with how I look and feel and increasing my fitness than what I weigh.
  • Heartlight441
    Heartlight441 Posts: 278 Member
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    I have little mini-goals but my first big one is to get to the top of the normal BMI for my height... so 140 lbs. Once there, then I will check-in and see how I'm feeling, how clothes are fitting, etc. I may decide to lose more or I might decide to hang there for awhile. As it stands for me now, this leaves me 28 lbs to go to get there. I'm keeping my focus on fitness and with weight loss as being great but secondary. :smile:
  • Furtado2
    Furtado2 Posts: 12 Member
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    It's difficult to set a goal weight now. As a 5'9" female, I had a goal weight of 160 (started at ~185) and I surpassed that goal. I'm 153 now. My bf% is 19% and I'm trying to lean out more and go down to 15-17% bodyfat.
  • IGbnat24
    IGbnat24 Posts: 520 Member
    edited April 2016
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    Appearance > weight. Once you get to a weight where you're happy with how you look, give yourself +/- 3pbs on either side of that number as your goal weight range. Weight fluctuates (even daily for us lucky ladies!) so having a buffer is a good way to not obsess on a single number!
  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    edited April 2016
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    My original goal weight was in the middle of a healthy BMI for me. When I hit it I reevaluated and lost more weight, down to the low end of a healthy BMI. Then I reevaluated again and purposely gained back a few pounds, until I settled in a 10lb maintenance window. The transition period from the weight loss phase to maintenance was about 6 months for me.

    Goal weights aren't set in stone-reevaluate as needed and adjust!
  • ilex70
    ilex70 Posts: 727 Member
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    It's flexible. At this point my upper limits are pretty firm.

    200 is the roof, because above that I feel like crap.

    175 is a good ceiling, not perfect, but in no way miserable, and that puts my waist in inches safely under half my height in inches.

    Last time I was at 165 that seemed to be a spot my body liked to be...was really tough to get under that.

    160 is the lowest I've maintained for a significant time at my adult height. That was high school and doing a LOT of exercise; more than most adults can fit into a regular week...5 hours aerobics classes, biking, 12+ hours skating.

    157 is the tip top of healthy BMI.

    25% body fat? Not exactly sure where that might fall.

    Supposedly the ideal weight for my height is more like 135.

    And I think it would be nice to be in a single digit size (8), just because. We'll see...

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    gcaracciolo2 wrote: »
    Just curious how everyone decided what their goal weight was. Also curious about your thoughts on being a few pounds heavier than your goal weight but happy with what you see in the mirror. Would you go to maintenance at that point?

    I am losing weight mainly for health. My goal is to be in the healthy bmi for my height. My ultimate goal is to be in the middle of that range. I have been there before and know that I feel good at that weight. If I reach the top of my range and decide I'm good then that is fine.

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