Deciding on a goal weight

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  • Rusty740
    Rusty740 Posts: 749 Member
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    I've had several goals. The first one was 5 lbs loss, to see if I could do it. The next one was 15 lbs because I thought that might look good, then as I approached that I realized that I might actually be able to have abs, so I went for 40 lbs so I could get to a body fat goal, did that. Now I'm fluctuating between two body fat percentages (while I bulk and cut) rather than a weight goal. I'm gonna get me those abs...grrrr.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,978 Member
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    My starting wt this time around was 196.

    My initial goal wt was the wt I had maintained most of my adult life - 170.

    When I reached 170, I didn't like what I saw -
    - still looked overweight - - and reset the goal to 160, my college wt.

    Reached 160 and dropped as low as 154. Been mostly at 158 recently. Desired range is 155-160.

    Like the way that I look at this wt.

    Can wear 32" pants again, have a 6 pack and lots of muscular definition w/only 8.9%BF (measured hydrostatically).

    So, no need to do any more except maintain what it took 15 months to achieve.
  • KaroshiQueen
    KaroshiQueen Posts: 213 Member
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    Since I am barely 5'2", the normal BMI range for my height is 100 - 135 lbs. I recall being about 120 lbs at age 18 and I think I looked pretty good then - although maybe a little curvy. I have browsed the bodies at mybodygallery dot com and based on what I saw, I feel that I would probably look my best around 110. While this is certainly an ambitious goal since I am currently 206, I think it would be a reasonable and healthy weight for my frame. There is a certain "look" and "style" I am going for and I think I would need to be around 110 to successfully pull it off and be happy with my image.
  • anacline
    anacline Posts: 13 Member
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    I'm 5'5" and decided to get my weight down to 125 as that's what my doctor recommended to me when I was 18. Worst. Decision. Ever. At 125 pounds I was 14% body fat and felt like I was dying. I would faint nearly every day at random times. The doctor that requested I lost the weight completely ignored me when I told him this though. As did the 3 college clinic doctors I saw afterwards... Though I'm pretty sure they just assumed I was pregnant. So when I had the water submersion test to find my body fat 14% I immediately worked on gaining weight. I stopped fainting at arround 140-150 ish pounds but gained a bit more than I wanted... Ok a lot more. So for now I'm going to aim for 150 and work on slowly upping my calories until I find maintenance calories, whatever weight I happen to fall at while trying to find maintenance between 140 and 150 will be my goal weight. Probably 145. I was a pants size 4 at old navy at that weight last time I dieted. I may not be that size again as I seem to have gained a lot of my weight in my hips. But big hips are good in my opinion.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    I don't have a particular goal, but I have a rough BMI/number goal I believe might be appropriate based on how my mom and sister look since their build is close to mine, but I'll only know when I get there.
  • FeelingAlive
    FeelingAlive Posts: 117 Member
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    I have never been a healthy weight before so I have no idea what I prefer my ideal weight to be. I set my goal for 60kg (132lbs), which is on the higher end of the BMI spectrum (I'm 1.6m or 5'3''). I think once I reached it I will probably go for 55kg (121lbs), but it is still a long way to go and I don't want to feel discouraged with how much I still have to lose. Once I reach 60kg I'll slowly ease into maintenance and see how I handle things.
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
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    I am in maintenance now but on my journey my goals shifted as I lost weight.
    My initial goal was fitting back into my clothes, then it was a favourite skirt I no longer wore. The it was to log for 2 years and see where I was then. It turns out at that point I tuned a corner or something. I knew I was still overweight but also that the journey was going well and was relatively easy to do. Additionally my main reason for my goal better health/fitness was also happening as I felt I wanted to do more.
    It was then that I saw BMI enter as a goal. My first BMI goal was being in the healthy range.
    I started investigating it a bit more and my ultimate goal was and is to be smack bang in the middle of my BMI range. My BMI now is 22.5 and I am happy with where I am. My range is 1kg up or down from my maintenance weight of 56kg
  • Ree13x
    Ree13x Posts: 46 Member
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    I picked a time in my life when I was a healthy active adult (I was 22 at the time and was an extremely active archaeology student meaning I did lots of fieldwork. I am now 29 and work at a desk) I decided I wanted to fit back into the same clothing I wore during that period, so I approximated what I used to weigh. Because this was something that happened for me with my natural adult metabolism and simply lots of exercise and a good diet, it should be a reasonable healthy goal for my height and build.
  • LiftHeavyThings27105
    LiftHeavyThings27105 Posts: 2,086 Member
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    BMI is a less than an ideal indicator of overall fitness. It is antiquated. I am a 50yo male, stand 6'0" and weigh 212lbs. I am very fit, very athletic and very active. But, if you plug in my numbers to any BMI calculator I am essentially obese! That is a joke! Anyway, just my spin on that 'indicator'.

    Many people have given you a good set of guidelines. I would suggest that instead of picking a number on the scale (not an invalid way of doing this....just as good a starting point as any other, to be honest - I have an issue with using a number on a scale in general as it usually leads to a bad relationship with food and a "tied to a random number on a scale" feeling of success | failure....just my experience) that you go by how you feel.

    How is your energy level? How is your body composition? How do YOU think that you look?

    Do you feel like you are starving? Or, do you feel like you are constantly eating? Do you get "hangry"?

    Adherence is key. Mind set is more important. If you are forcing yourself to do something that you hate then you are likely setting yourself up for failure. Meaning, that you are going to stop doing this.

    How long have you been doing this? How has your adherence been? Would a little break be in order? Sometimes taking a break is a very very positive thing. And gives you that clarity that you need to successfully continue.

    And, I ask - how realistic is your current goal? Only you can answer that.....but it is a good question to ask yourself.

    Congrats on the great work....

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