How did you pick your goal weight?

Middle of the healthy BMI range for me, but I found out that I absolutely can't maintain that with my medium large frame.

I am male, 5'8" and have an average frame/bone structure so BMI is pretty legit for me. I set my goal as staying below a BMI of 25. 164 is 24.9 and I have been maintaining at about 160. Besides thinking the number is correct for me, I chose to use BMI because it is a firm number that I didn't come up with myself and cannot rationalize to make higher. I chose to set an upper limit instead of a goal weight because if I want to increase the size of my range I have to lose more weight, not give myself permission to gain weight.

summpear wrote: »

I'm curious how you picked your goal. I've seen women of my height here with a wide variety of goals for their weight so it made me curious how others chose.

Mine was simple - I looked at a BMI chart, saw where i went from "overweight" to "within normal" and picked a few pounds below that threshold. I figure once i get there I'll figure out if I'm happy, want to lose a few more pounds, or if i want to tone up even if that means weighting up too.

Just a sidenote: "overweight" on the BMI chart is "within healthy" by definition. Which is why my goal is the upper edge of overweight. Since I'm already relatively fast, relatively strong, etc. I just want to reduce the load on my joints a tiny bit so that I can get back to my acrobatic/gymnastic/inverted training.

CarvedTones wrote: »

stanmann571 wrote: »

summpear wrote: »

I'm curious how you picked your goal. I've seen women of my height here with a wide variety of goals for their weight so it made me curious how others chose.

Mine was simple - I looked at a BMI chart, saw where i went from "overweight" to "within normal" and picked a few pounds below that threshold. I figure once i get there I'll figure out if I'm happy, want to lose a few more pounds, or if i want to tone up even if that means weighting up too.

Just a sidenote: "overweight" on the BMI chart is "within healthy" by definition. Which is why my goal is the upper edge of overweight. Since I'm already relatively fast, relatively strong, etc. I just want to reduce the load on my joints a tiny bit so that I can get back to my acrobatic/gymnastic/inverted training.

I have seen studies that indicate that the low end of BMI, below 20, is not healthy for most people and decreases life expectancy in seniors. The best range was 21 or above to below 28 in one study I read (actually read an article about the study) recently.

You're right. And of course at different heights/shapes, a given BMI may or may not correlate to a healthy or unhealthy BF%.

Mostly due to the square/cube law and the fact that BMI is a straight line calculation. A 4'11" person at 24 may be unhealthy where a 6'3" person may be healthy at 28 or 29.

I did the same, I'm 143 lbs and 5'4 (normal bmi is 145 for my height i think)
but now that ive reached this... I've lowered my goal because I still think I look so fat.
but I kinda think it's a mental thing, I don't think I'll ever be happy with how I look. I remember being 120lbs in high school and thinking how fat I was.

I picked mine at around 120 because I liked how I looked at 120. And it's right in the middle of the BMI scale. That gives me room to be a little over or a little under while still being a healthy BMI. It's not a set in stone goal though. I remember at 120 I still had a small stomach pooch that bothered me. I also lost wieght once and was looking really good at 135. So when I get close to it I'll reassess. I'm going for more how I feel and look really. So that may be 115,125 or it may be 130-35ish. It just depends. I'll know when I get there I suppose.

I picked the highest BMI for my height. Also, I'm 56 and anticipated having more trouble losing than when I was younger, although that didn't happen. I've now lowered my goal weight since I think I can do it. I feel great right now but it's always good to be able to run and be lighter on my joints.

stanmann571 wrote: »

CarvedTones wrote: »

stanmann571 wrote: »

summpear wrote: »

I'm curious how you picked your goal. I've seen women of my height here with a wide variety of goals for their weight so it made me curious how others chose.

Mine was simple - I looked at a BMI chart, saw where i went from "overweight" to "within normal" and picked a few pounds below that threshold. I figure once i get there I'll figure out if I'm happy, want to lose a few more pounds, or if i want to tone up even if that means weighting up too.

Just a sidenote: "overweight" on the BMI chart is "within healthy" by definition. Which is why my goal is the upper edge of overweight. Since I'm already relatively fast, relatively strong, etc. I just want to reduce the load on my joints a tiny bit so that I can get back to my acrobatic/gymnastic/inverted training.

I have seen studies that indicate that the low end of BMI, below 20, is not healthy for most people and decreases life expectancy in seniors. The best range was 21 or above to below 28 in one study I read (actually read an article about the study) recently.

You're right. And of course at different heights/shapes, a given BMI may or may not correlate to a healthy or unhealthy BF%.

Mostly due to the square/cube law and the fact that BMI is a straight line calculation. A 4'11" person at 24 may be unhealthy where a 6'3" person may be healthy at 28 or 29.

I agree; that's why in an earlier post where I said my goal was based on BMI, I noted my height and frame size - 5'8" and average. It would be a major rationalization for me to say BMI wasn't reasonably accurate. However. once I got down here, it became obvious I needed some recomp. Not a lot, but some in upper body.

At first I picked 150. I’m 5’2.5” with a med/large frame (7”) wrist. That is overweight BMI but I felt pretty good at that weight years ago.
As I’ve been losing, and pretty painlessly at that, I’ve decided to get to 135 which is 5 pounds into normal BMI and reaccess at that point. I hit 145 this morning, so a ways to go yet.

summpear wrote: »

I'm curious how you picked your goal. I've seen women of my height here with a wide variety of goals for their weight so it made me curious how others chose.

Mine was simple - I looked at a BMI chart, saw where i went from "overweight" to "within normal" and picked a few pounds below that threshold. I figure once i get there I'll figure out if I'm happy, want to lose a few more pounds, or if i want to tone up even if that means weighting up too.

Am not scale validation conscious anymore, am focused on my body fat: muscle composition.

Phase 1 (2012): From being morbidly obese to my healthy weight range
Phase 2 (2013): From my healthy weight range towards 18 - 25% BF.
Phase 3 (2014): Changeover - Comfortably sat between 20 - 30% BF on maintenance, even 35% at one point, for I'm not fearful anymore with weight gain, now that I'm all too aware of how far up or down the BF% is enough for me to manage.
Phase 4 (late 2017): Fit-fem

Now, I'm working on getting below 90kgs. Then, below 85, then below 80. In lbs, that's 198-187-176. My healthy BMI would be below 165, but at the 176 mark I'm going to see where I am with things like muscle composition and body image, and get a feel of where I want to go next. I'm big-chested, fairly tall and have a large frame, and I care more about being healthy & strong than having a specific BMI.

I gained over 40 pounds a couple years back, so I’m working on getting back to my usual weight range, which happens to be in the middle of a “normal” BMI. I’m more than halfway there. I’ll probably stop at the higher end of my usual range and start on a recomp at that point. I’ve been about 10 pounds below my usual range in the past too, and I didn’t dig it (both aesthetically and the CICO balance it requires). So I’m pretty sure I’ll be satisfied with the range I have in mind and not tempted to drop lower.

I haven't picked an end goal. I started at 230 and my first goal was to get under 200. Once I got there, I set it for another 10 pounds. Once I got there, I set it for another 10 pounds. Now that I'm 179 and have lost 50, I will continue in smallish increments (10 pounds). I will know my ultimate goal when I get there by how I look and feel. I honestly don't put much thought into BMI charts and numbers.

I struggle with setting a goal based on what BMI says I should be. It feels unattainable (50 more pounds). I am setting a 10% goal right now (12 pounds to go for this). I will see how that goes and feels. Then I will reassess my goal again. Probably to another 10%.