Having a Hard Time Goal Setting

OvershareUsername
OvershareUsername Posts: 36 Member
in Motivation and Support
Good morning!! Hope you are all having a fantastic start to your week!

I have a question- how did you all come up with a goal weight? For me, this journey is mostly about health and lifestyle change, but I’d be lying if I said weight loss didn’t matter too!

At first, I didn’t set a goal weight, but now that I’m back down to my ‘settling weight’ (180ish- still solidly overweight, where my body likes to hang out), I feel like a target weight would be a useful motivator. I have run to gamut from 118 to 260 (preggo) and don’t even know where to aim!

I also have some fear about setting my goal too low- when I was younger I used to get lots of unwanted attention at my lower weights and it made me VERY uncomfortable. The hardest part of this is the psychological aspect!

Any insight is very appreciated!

Replies

  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,791 Member
    I didn't come up with a goal weight.

    I decided I would stick with this for 3 weeks and see how things were going. By the end of 3 weeks, things were going all right, so I decided to keep going for a couple more weeks. Great! Then I decided to keep going for a full 16 weeks. Wonderful!

    I took a 1-month diet break then while travelling and when I returned I stuck to it for another 16 weeks ... and decided that was enough.
  • Running2Fit
    Running2Fit Posts: 702 Member
    Looking at the body gallery website helped. I looked through pictures of women that are my height and picked a weight I thought I would be happy with. I’m also keeping it flexible. If I get to a weight that is healthy and I’m happy even though it’s above my goal then I’ll stop and maintain there.

    I also set smaller goals for myself. My first goal is 153 because that puts me under the obese BMI for my height.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,931 Member
    I just want to be in a healthy BMI range - and for me that's about a 25 pound difference from top to bottom. Right now I'm right in the middle of that.

    I would say don't borrow trouble from the future. Worry about that when you get there. For now, aim for the top of the healthy BMI and then reevaluate when you get there. This is about managing anxiety.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,931 Member
    https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm
  • 88olds
    88olds Posts: 4,462 Member
    Ok. So I just wrote you a response with all sorts of long range and short range goals and numbers. Then I deleted it for this-

    In the end, I joined Weight Watchers. Starting at 285 lbs I lost on my own to around 215 where I remained stuck. In desperation I joined WW. WW was just trademarked calorie counting. Highest acceptable WW weight for me was 184lbs. Never thought it possible when I started.

    This was my first and best WW goal- track every day for 3 months. Attend the meeting every week and weigh in every week for 3 months. See what happens.

    I’d have to go find my book to give the specifics, but at the end of 3 months it was working. No way I was quitting.

    Advantage being that meeting my goals was based on things 100% within my control. Maybe you don’t need a number goal at all. Please don’t tie a number on the scale to the calendar. It’s a bad idea.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I picked something kind of in the middle of a healthy bmi range. Once I get there, I'll re-evaluate and see where I want to go. It's more of a guide than a true goal. Getting my habits under control and learning to cope with issues without turning to food were more important goals.
  • OvershareUsername
    OvershareUsername Posts: 36 Member
    Thank you for all the feedback!! As always, I really appreciate the time you took to read and reply! I think I’ll go with a weight range and continue to reassess as I progress!

    Oh, and @cmriverside I wish I had heard, ‘don’t borrow trouble from your future’ YEARS ago!! Thank you!

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