How did you decide upon your goal weight?

2

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    I didn't have a goal weight...I knew how I wanted to look...body weight is comprised of many things other than fat, including muscle mass...so I wasn't terribly concerned about the number on the scale.
  • cb2bslim
    cb2bslim Posts: 153 Member
    Throughout the span of 20 years, I eventually found myself with 70 extra pounds by the time I turned 40. I never did pay any mind to my weight so I had no specific weight to aim for. Therefore, I aimed for the middle of what the BMI charts said was "normal". Once I met that goal, I set mini goals until I reached the final weight that had me saying "this is the size of clothing I want to be in for many years to come".
  • MommaLovesToLoseIt
    MommaLovesToLoseIt Posts: 271 Member
    Thank you all for the input. Some great food for thought
  • jesheckah
    jesheckah Posts: 33 Member
    I decided the mid of my BMI, around 10 pounds higher than my weight about 5 years ago. I know I will never be that weight again, but as short as I am, 10 pounds is a HUGE difference. My doctor said it's a good goal, so I'm happy.
  • billglitch
    billglitch Posts: 538 Member
    i was up to 355 and knew that was ridiculous. In high school I weighed 180. At first I thought that maybe 250 would be good, then rethought and decided on 220. Now that i am down to 250 I am thinking that when i get to 220 i might go farther. I would suggest make your self some short term goal.....say 20 pounds down, then make a long term goal and perhaps some intermediate goals too.
  • jessicarobinson00
    jessicarobinson00 Posts: 414 Member
    I set a goal based on a healthy BMI and then once I reached that point I fine tuned my goal. Along the way I wish someone had told me: YOU WILL NOT LIKE WHAT YOU SEE WHEN YOU REACH YOUR GOAL WEIGHT. I wish I had started either a strength training or progressive lifting program DURING weight loss... I have seen more changes in maintenance through recomp than I have ever losing weight, so remember: it's not all about the scale.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
    At the beginning of this journey, I weighed over 270. Goal? What goal? Hmm. I looked up BMI ranges and figured that the middle of the healthy range for my height was a good enough goal to start with so chose 160. I'll stay in a calorie deficit as long as it takes to get to 160, and then I'll adjust my CI carefully to maintain 160.
  • MsRuffBuffNStuff
    MsRuffBuffNStuff Posts: 363 Member
    jessicarobinson00 wrote: »
    I set a goal based on a healthy BMI and then once I reached that point I fine tuned my goal. Along the way I wish someone had told me: YOU WILL NOT LIKE WHAT YOU SEE WHEN YOU REACH YOUR GOAL WEIGHT. I wish I had started either a strength training or progressive lifting program DURING weight loss... I have seen more changes in maintenance through recomp than I have ever losing weight, so remember: it's not all about the scale.

    This is so true. You can have a number in mind, but it's not likely that will be your ultimate goal. For most people, it's actually more of a size and "feeling" they are after. I do well at a size 5/6 with lots of muscle. That winds up being about 144 pounds. To get down to 115 pounds, I'd have to sacrifice a lot of that muscle and I don't like how that feels. I also wish I'd done more weight training during weigh loss. I was afraid of gaining muscle weight (which is stupid, because you can't gain muscle while on a caloric deficit, anyway...) but you can definitely keep and tone what you have. Weight loss tends to take some muscle with it, which sucks when you get to maintenance.
  • Snipsa
    Snipsa Posts: 172 Member
    edited October 2016
    I am experiencing this exact thing at the moment. Started just under 90Kg at the start of the year. Initially set a goal of 70 kg, as I was under the impression I was "bigger boned" and would need to be at the higher end of healthy bmi to look good/not sickly. Quickly realized I really was "just fat" and not big boned, thus changed my goal to 65kg. When I reached 70kg I could see that 65kg would still not be aesthetically where I want to be, so changed my goal weight to 60kg (a bmi of around 21.5).

    I have now reached that 60kg goal (whoop!) but still have some problem areas I want to change. Have thus decided to do body recomposition and just let my final weight fall where it wants to fall. I'll be happy with it in the 56-62kg range (approximately 20-22 bmi). But will let my fitness levels and the mirror dictate my final goal rather than a nr on the scale.


    Ps. Most probably there will be many friends/acquintances saying that you should stop losing weight/stop dieting/start gaining again even before you reach your initial goal. Ignore them! If you are in a healthy weight range, and still have some parts of your body you want to improve, go for it! As long as you do it in a healthy way there are no issues. People are just not used to seeing you thin/healthy/fit and feel the need to comment either out of misplaced worry or jealousy...
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,974 Member
    I chose the weight at which I think I look best and that I know from experience that I can most easily maintain.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,294 Member
    by being in my BMI healthy & to lose the 50lbs i gained over the last 15yrs
  • zenxray
    zenxray Posts: 14 Member
    I dreamed of being a welterweight again(147). It was also exactly high school weight. It's an easy weight to remember as a boxing fan. I can't believe I'm here
  • charlenegrichard
    charlenegrichard Posts: 24 Member
    I had a goal of a certain size. I didn't really care what the weight was. When I got down to my goal size and then within 3 weeks went down one more size I started maintenance. My BMI is in the healthy range and so is my weight.
  • Ammey68
    Ammey68 Posts: 65 Member
    I picked my pre-baby weight, which was the same as my high school weight: 125. I remembered that I always felt really confident and received a lot of compliments when I was that size, but I still had curves, which made me happy. (I'm 5'4"). I'm halfway there now; only 20 more pounds to go...
  • b3achy
    b3achy Posts: 1,971 Member
    I chose my ultimate goal of 120 lbs to be the mid point of "Ideal Weight: 115-126 lbs" from one of the TDEE calculators I was using - https://tdeecalculator.net/ .

    For me, I'm trying to lose, not only for my health, but because I race paddleboards, and the lighter I am, the faster I can be. My biggest competitor this year is a lady who is an inch taller than me but only 105 lbs, but I don't want to go that low because I want some more muscle since I plan to move up to longer races.

    When I joined the site, I thought my initial goal of 130 (from ~150) was going to be a lot since all my friends were telling me that I didn't need to lose (but I felt like crap all the time). However, when I looked around here, girls my height were saying they wanted to be 100 - 115...which frankly, I think is a bit too low at my age (over 50). So I eventually embraced dropping to 120 lbs; however, I suspect that will be my upper bound, and I might settle into around 115-117 lbs, with muscle and a range for the typical fluctuations.

    As I'm hovering just over 130 right now, I do know that I need to for sure drop about 10 more pounds because my body isn't where I want it to be yet. But I'm also doing some more weight training now, and we'll see how the body recomp goes and what I actually end up at. I know I was around 115-120 lbs when I left the Army about 25 years ago, so I know I can have muscle and still be 10 pounds lighter than I am now.
  • Cmgred
    Cmgred Posts: 3 Member
    Two things I wanted.
    First was to get to a healthy BMI. The second was clothes that were a common size After hitting my first goal I bought some size 8 jeans and was happy. Then hubby and I started weight lifting and lost another 10 pounds which caused me to go to a size 4. BMI is 21.5 and I could easily drop a few more pounds but I don't see any size 2 clothes so I am done!
  • JoshD8705
    JoshD8705 Posts: 390 Member
    edited October 2016
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    I based my goal weight at the highest Lean Body Mass I could have naturally at 15% body fat. which is around a 25 on the FFMI measurement. So eventually between 185-195lbs.
  • crissy976
    crissy976 Posts: 91 Member
    I'm aiming for a weight that I was at a few years ago and felt comfortable in my skin. It was also the low end of my recommended weight for my height (5'10"). That's when I felt my absolute healthiest and had sooo much energy. You'll know what yours is when you feel that sense of happiness with yourself.
    I recommend what I did, which was set a goal of 10 lbs to lose, and when you get to your goal, see if you feel you should lose more. Keep going in increments of 10 lbs until you feel you've met your "real" goal. Otherwise, I think you'd just be shooting in the dark for a number that may or may not be real for you. You're in charge of your own body.

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