Is my goal weight healthy?

155 is within the healthy range for your height, so, yes, I would say that counts as healthy . If you like the way you look at the upper end, rather than closer to the middle/lower end of the healthy range, that's simply a matter of personal preference, IMO. I feel best in the middle of "normal", but I have a med-small frame and am more pear shaped so at the upper end I feel like my butt and thighs are still too flabby. Also I like having some "wiggle room" - I can easily put on 5-7 lbs over holidays or while on vacation. If I'm close to the middle of "normal", that just puts me in the upper end of normal. But if I'm close to overweight to start with, those few lbs can push me into that overweight category, which probably shouldn't freak me out, but it does.

Anyway... I guess that's my long winded way of saying you should pick a goal you are comfortable with. Once you get there you can always adjust if you feel you would like to. Just getting into the healthy range is a great starting point. It's what I aimed for when I first started out!

tlflag1620 wrote: »

grinwithoutacat wrote: »

Thank you all for your response. I am also asking because I am happy with how I look now (which makes it super hard to stay motivated) So I doubt I will feel like 155 is somehow better. I just don't like the scale number. I have a thin frame and a chubby face (runs in the family, even had it as a teen when I was super thin) so I don't look over weight (except from the face up but I have gotten over that. Mostly) but apparently I am. I also find 1300 calories to be really hard to stick to so I CAN'T WAIT to move to maintenance.

My stats are similar to yours - I'm 36 years old, 5'7", currently between 145-150 lbs. My current maintenance calories are 1950 without exercise. I went from 195 to my current wieght on about 1600 calories per day (it was faster at first: 1.5-2 lbs per week, then slowed to 0.5-1 lb per week as I got closer to goal). Are you set to lose more than 1 lb per week? If so, you probably want to change that. Being only six lbs from your goal, you should only be shooting for a half lb per week loss. That will afford you more calories, making wieght loss less painful. While it may be slower, it has the added benefit of preparing you for maintenance. Just a thought!

Double, triple the above.
How fast are you losing now?
How much more do you think you will be eating at maintenance... and maintain?
How big of a range have you set for yourself for maintenance?
Are you using a weight trend web site or app to evaluate your weight level or are you reacting to scale weight numbers?

grinwithoutacat wrote: »

So I have it set to 1 lb a week. I have only been doing mfp for about 3 weeks and have lost about 2.5 lbs so nothing crazy. I weigh myself each morning but only record once a week. I have been wondering about the calories mfp gave me because just 5 years ago I lost most of my baby weight on 1500 calories a day. When I saw 1380 I was like wow, maybe it is my age? I have no idea what maintenance calories would be.

MFP goals do not include purposeful exercise. You are supposed to eat back 100% of your true net exercise calories in order to stick to your official goal. (figuring them out is a different story)

While nursing a baby your caloric expenditure was 300-500 Cal higher than otherwise.

1lb a week means that MFP is giving you a goal = "guessed at maintenance" - 500 Cal. Thus your "guessed at" maintenance is +500 Cal from your daily goal *

(*MFP bottoms at 1200. if your goal is 1200 then the above may not hold true).

You can always re-run the guided setup and say you want to maintain to see what your MFP maintenance estimate would be.

That's my goal weight too - or pretty similar. The charts I see for our height and my age are ridiculously low. I think around 150-160 is a lot more realistic.

grinwithoutacat wrote: »

I was done nursing by the time I started calorie counting. I will check and see what my maintained calories would be. On my exercise days I have plenty of extra calories to not be hungry by the end of the day. It's my non-exercise days that are tough.

As is often said around here, the person that eats the most and still loses weight wins. Try eating 1500 or 1600 - closer to 1/2 lb per week - and see how you do. If the scale doesn't budge drop it down a little, but hopefully it shifts. There's nothing wrong with losing the last few lbs slowly and sustainably.

Also, you can "bank" calories. If you eat 1300 on non-exercise says and 1700 on exercise days, split the difference and eat 1500 every day. Your weight loss rate should be about the same.

I don't think so. It's within your healthy weight range and, if you're happy with it, that's all that matters. I'm 5'6", and my goal weight is probably going to be between 145-150. Nothing wrong with being in the higher end of the healthy BMI range. Might be easier to maintain, honestly.

if it's in the healthy range that's great, but you obviously don't sound like you want to be just 1 holiday meal away from being in the overweight zone again.

So when you hit your current goal weight see where it's come from, and if it has not affected the curves to much try for a few more pounds of buffer space. It's always ok to set a new goal.

Christine_72 wrote: »

I just wanted to say how refreshing it is to see someone our height, I'm 5"8 too, aiming for a normal weight. I was expecting to read a goal weight of 130lbs or close too, that seems to be all too common these days I think 155lbs is just fine, I never looked overweight at that weight. I currently hover between 147-150lbs.

I'm also 5'8" and aiming for 145-150lbs. Woot woot!