Deciding on your goal weight

I have struggled with this same issue. I was overweight/obese pretty much my whole adult life. I have no idea what the "right weight" for me is. I have just entered the "normal" range (5'11, 179), but I do not feel that I am at the health and fitness level I want to achieve. I still feel like I have a spare tire (a bike tire, not a truck tire anymore! LOL) On the other hand, the middle of the range for me is around 160. I think that may be too low for me. I think I would look really noticeably skinny. So, for me it is a wait and see game. I guess when I feel my best and strongest without feeling like I have gone too far, then I'll be at the right place.

I'm aiming for about 10 pounds under the upper limit for my BMI. That way I have some wiggle room with weight. However, I will see what I look/feel like when I get there. I'm also planning to lift weights once I'm done losing which means I'll continue to change shape.

Basically, pick a number and see what you think when you get there.

Im 41, In my 20s my bmi was about 23, im aiming for 25 now which is the upper limit....I.dont think I could carry off the skinny look in my 40s. Everyone is different but this is just how I feel. Your body shape changes as u age I think bein the weight I was at 21 just wouldnt look right for me 20 yrs later. Just try to aim for a size u feel comfortable in.

I was 140 in my 20s. Now, at 47, I'll be happy if I'm simply a healthy weight, which would be 170. I don't think I even could get to 140, nor do I care to. It's funny because I remember in my early to mid 30s when my thyroid went bad and my weight crept up to 160 feeling like that was the most horrible thing that could happen. Now my goal is to be 10 pounds heavier than that. LOL.

I'm a 62 yo female 5'6" currently 196. I put 150 lb as my goal weight. I then looked this up on www.smartbmicalculator.com and 150 is right in the sweet spot for me at my age.

But here's the thing...I'm unwilling to eat less than I am now and unwilling to exercise much more than now. So, if my weight loss (now at about 1.25 lb per week) slows and then stops, I will just declare victory at whatever that weight is.

Edit: Unless of course I'm still losing when I get to 150. Then I'll look for maintenance.

I slowed down my weight loss rate intentionally, the closer I got to my initial goal. down to 0.5 pounds/week or less.

Finally, I knew I was getting close, but I wasn't sure how much further to go. I started thinking about some benchmarks I could use to know when I got there - these can be appearance, how one feels, whatever works. Finally, I just woke up one morning and decided I was "there" and started gradually adding back calories until my weight stabilized.

The "adding back calories gradually" thing meant that I lost a tiny bit more, but this was good for this reason: Many people, me included, set a maintenance range of some weight maybe plus or minus 3 or 5 pounds - something that will accommodate routine fluctuations. Overshooting goal by a tiny bit left me at the lower end of my maintenance range, which seemed like a good thing.

Some people see a bit of a water weight jump when they hit actual maintenance calories (not a lot; couple of pounds, maybe), so starting at the lower edge of the maintenance range lives some wiggle room for this.

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

I started with the middle of normal, got there, realized that I looked terrible, so started lifting again. My new "goal" is literally unobtainable, for a reason.

Same here