The wake up call has arrived... But help is really needed.

xkitxkatxkaix · October 2017

I've been on and off of here for a long time now. You'd think that I would have this in the bag at this point. I've been on the boards, I've received solid advice, I've heard it all and done it all. If only I were ever consistent.
But the one thing I severely lack is will power. I will 100% admit to that.
I finally checked back in today to realize just how much I need to lose... and boy was I shocked. Definitely need to start paying attention now because the longer I sit and wait for something to magically happen the harder this weight is going to be to lose and that is something I REALLY do not want.

Ever since day one I've always had my goal at 150lbs (I'm 228lbs currently) and thought that would be a good weight for me. I've always been on the thicker side, even as a super active blonde blur of a child that I was! But when I did some research on what the appropriate BMI is for me... omg I'm still dumbfounded.
At 150lbs I am at the literal borderline of being at a normal weight. 151lbs and you're considered overweight. In fact when I looked to see where I should be exactly, the results read 125-132lbs. I was 135lbs in the 6th grade! That just seems way too tiny for me as a 27 year old! (Note: I'm not trying to knock anyone in any way at this current weight, simply put for me this just seems very unrealistic).

Am I reading too into this? Should I ignore this and just be at what I deem comfortable with or is this really something that I need to be paying attention to? I'm so confused.
(I may have been reading stuff on weight loss all day long so my brain is beyond fried).

If anyone can offer advice I'd appreciate it.
Thank you

Maxxitt · October 2017

If it was me, I would set a goal at 150, but I would be focusing on the 5# increments between now and then. When you get to 150, you can decide what to do then. I would also encourage starting resistance training sooner rather than later - you'll like what you see at 150 better, plus you will be strong

ashliedelgado · October 2017

I set my goal for the top end of "healthy" for my BMI - 145lbs. I'm going to re-evaluate once I get there, or if that ends up being unrealistic for me, once I realize that. I think if you have a "feeling" or a "look" that is more important to you than that number, you'll be better off.

ashliedelgado · October 2017

Remember, even if 151 is overweight, it's a lot better for you than 228.

TavistockToad · October 2017

How tall are you?

I agree with start with 150 and go from there.

skigal303 · October 2017

I'm 5'3" and muscular. I ski and hike and have always been...dense. My lowest sustainable weight was about 150. I was healthy, active, had a healthy body fat % according to my doc and wore a size 6. The BMI said I wasn't in my healthy range. That's why there are so many ways to measure health-not just the scale

skigal303 · October 2017

Oh and I'm 207 right now, fighting to get back on track.

xkitxkatxkaix · October 2017

ashliedelgado wrote: »

I set my goal for the top end of "healthy" for my BMI - 145lbs. I'm going to re-evaluate once I get there, or if that ends up being unrealistic for me, once I realize that. I think if you have a "feeling" or a "look" that is more important to you than that number, you'll be better off.

True. In a way I equate that to being the size of a child because that was me as a child. You do have a good point though.

xkitxkatxkaix · October 2017

TavistockToad wrote: »

How tall are you?

I agree with start with 150 and go from there.

5'5''

xkitxkatxkaix · October 2017

skigal303 wrote: »

I'm 5'3" and muscular. I ski and hike and have always been...dense. My lowest sustainable weight was about 150. I was healthy, active, had a healthy body fat % according to my doc and wore a size 6. The BMI said I wasn't in my healthy range. That's why there are so many ways to measure health-not just the scale

That is a good point. Thanks for that.

GottaBurnEmAll · October 2017

I'll tell you my story and see if that helps you.

I'm a lot older than you, and I'm short. I started at 210, which is Class II obese for my height. Except for a time when I was really ill with celiac disease, the lowest weight I had ever achieved through dieting after getting married and having kids was 150, which is still overweight.

That's what I set as my goal weight when I started here on MFP, because I thought even that was a pipe dream since I'd always had such a hard time losing weight.

As time passed and I buckled down, I just kept focusing on building habits, and things kept snowballing. And the weight came off.

It was only as I remained compliant and habits formed that I realized a lower goal was something I could possibly achieve, and gradually, I kept lowering my goal weight.

I'm now in the normal weight range for my height and I'm just fiddling around with vanity weight.

Bottom line? Set your goal weight for... whatever. Pick a number. It doesn't matter at this point. Pick something that doesn't intimidate you.

What matters is that you start taking small steps toward consistency.

sijomial · October 2017

Worry about getting under 150 when you get to 150 and maintain there for a while.

My original goal weight turned out not to be low enough so I dropped a few pounds in a series of steps of maintenance then spells of weight loss over an extended period of time until I was happy.

kenyonhaff · October 2017

I've lost 46 pounds.

I started by losing 20 pounds. I met my goal. Yea. Down to a weight I hadn't been in years. Cool.

Then I looked at the BMI chart. I was not obese anymore, but now in overweight. Yes, BMI is imperfect. But since I'm not a densely muscled athlete, it did indicate I was still not quite in the optimum weight range.

I had to consider my own sense of what's a healthy weight for me was not entirely rooted in fact. I was lighter, yes, but maybe I wasn't actually at what's considered healthy. Logically, I had to conceede that I should consider the fact that my "healthy weight" was actually still lower.

So I picked a number mid-range of a healthy BMI for my weight and aimed towards that.

Now I'm very close to that. I'm at a weight I haven't been at for nearly 30 years. I never even thought that was possible, much less what was actually what I could and should be.

So my takeaway: What worked for me was simply working at a smaller, intermediate goal because 45+ pounds would have just been too intimidating for me at the time. Losing that weight allowed me to get the confidence, skills, and faith to lose even more. But I also had to rely not just on my own sensibilities, but an actual fact-based (if imperfect) goal.

Psychgrrl · October 2017

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

Pick something that doesn't intimidate you. What matters is that you start taking small steps toward consistency.

This. Set an unrealistic goal and you may find yourself quitting before you really even start. ("Why bother? I can never get that low.")

Maybe set the first goal for 199. Not too far away and getting under 200 could be considered a big first milestone.

rainbowbow · October 2017

150 pounds is not "tiny" for someone at 5'5. Not by a long shot.

Regardless, don't worry about all of that for now. I would set your goal for the "healthy BMI range" at first and then once you've achieved that (which is, in and of itself most of the hard work) you can focus on optimizing your body fat percentage and fitness performance.

Weight loss doesn't have to be complicated and stressful. Just start implementing small changes each and every day and keep at it until you've reached your goal. If i can give any advice it would be to try and moderate your current focus on the end-goal and focus instead on making sustainable changes.

You have years to reach your goal and the time is going to pass regardless. It's not going to be very helpful if you're focusing on where you AREN'T yet (a negative mindset) instead of taking the steps to focus on the WHY you want this (the positive mindset).

*** I can tell you, however, that most people who have a lot to lose have very unrealistic ideas about how much they'll weigh when they reach their "goal". Actually, almost everyone I know who has lost a lot of weight reached their "goal" weight and realized they still needed to lose another 10-20 pounds to look somewhat like the mental image they had when they started. Again though, this is not really that important yet.

MegaMooseEsq · October 2017

My first goal was 10% of my body-weight, which at the time was 208 lbs (I'm 5'2", so healthy BMI is 135 lbs - UG!). But unless I've been misled by woo, that first 10% has huge health benefits, way more so than the last 10 pounds. I started out really slow, but managed to lose those first 20 pounds between January and August, and another 14 since then. I know for me, building up slowly made it much, much easier than it might otherwise have been. What I tell myself is that it doesn't matter that much how long it takes, so long as I only have to do it once. Maintenance has always been my goal. And no, I don't know what the future will hold, but it's definitely not going to be meal-replacement shakes.

SSpeakes · October 2017

Psychgrrl wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

Pick something that doesn't intimidate you. What matters is that you start taking small steps toward consistency.

This. Set an unrealistic goal and you may find yourself quitting before you really even start. ("Why bother? I can never get that low.")

Maybe set the first goal for 199. Not too far away and getting under 200 could be considered a big first milestone.

This is exactly what I've done. I started at 230. First goal was 199. Met it. New goal is 180. I will reevaluate when i get to that weight. For me, smaller goal increments work best. I can handle a 20 pound goal whereas an 80 pound goal seems intimidating. I'm down 36 so it's working so far for me.

spiriteagle99 · October 2017

Focus on right now, getting under 200 lbs. When you get there, set a goal to be 180. At 180, set the next goal. When you get down closer to your goal, then you can assess whether you are happy with the way you look and feel or not. You can choose to stop at 150, or to stop there for a while and then later lose more. You don't have to decide now. Just worry about now, not what you'll do 6 months from now.

jelleigh · October 2017

Just to share my story - I was (at your exact age) trying to lose weight and thinking along the same lines - that I would never be a small girl or smaller than X weight as I had always been chubby and bigger than my peers. I figured I'd would be shocked to hit a size 8/10. I followed some of the advice you were given above and just got into a sustainable routine and didn't focus on the numbers too much. Low and behold, I lost right past that size and ended up a size 4. I never , ever , would have expected I could get that small and feel strong and healthy.

Moral of the story - don't get too hung up on numbers and believe that you can be something you never before expected. Just start a routine that will lead you to a healthier you and let your results and the things you learn on the way form your new mindset.

AnnPT77 · October 2017

Probably you know this, but just in case not:

The goal weight you put in your MFP profile has zero effect on the calorie goal MFP calculates for you. It only affects a tiny bit of motivational/tracking trivia like the "X pounds lost, Y pounds yet to go" stuff on your profile page.

So, don't agonize about it. That's just borrowing a decision from a future date when you'll have better information on which to base it, namely how you feel/look at a lighter weight that's a step closer to your final result.

Life is complicated enough without unnecessarily advancing decisions to time points when you lack the info needed to make them.

AmmarMa626 · October 2017

First time uploading a picture of mine on Myfitnesspal (might make a thread on the success stories section later on)
But I was able to go down from 231.5lbs to 163lbs in about 5 months (I eat from 1500-1800 calories, so I wasn't attempting to lose weight that quick, it just happened)
My BMI still puts me at the overweight region (I'm about 5'5.5", so we kinda have similar stats) but everyone tells me that I look great, and I think I look fine
But I wouldn't mind losing a few pounds to make my belly look slightly better

Moral of the story:
BMI is just an approximate number, it's not set in stones, and you'll definitely look and feel great as you're approaching your goal! Babysteps! Focus on getting to the 200-ish region, then 190, and then forge on ahead because nothing can stop you!

The wake up call has arrived... But help is really needed.

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