What is the right goal weight?

xmarye
xmarye Posts: 385 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hey there! :blush:

For those of you that have a little more weight to lose, I'm just wondering how you guys decided on your goal weight? Do you go with your ultimate goal weight, or do you chose some in between goal to reach for first to make it seem more attainble and sort of break down the bigger goal?

For example, I started at 186, and my ultimate goal would be 130lbs. I don't know if I would be able to/if it would be sustainable for me reaching that goal, but I definitely know that by 150lbs I would be quite happy with my weight. 150lbs also seems much more attainable right now than the 130lbs which I am not sure if that is a realistic goal or not.

What do you think? What is your experience with this?

Thanks ahead :smile:

Replies

  • Cassandraw3
    Cassandraw3 Posts: 1,214 Member
    I set my goal weight based on an estimation of where I wanted my body fat percentage to be. I started at 167 with an ultimate goal weight of 145. Along the way, I set mini 5 lb goals. The important thing is you find what works for you to keep going. You can set your goal now, and it can always be changed later.
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
    My goal weight changed along the way. I started at 183 and hoped to get down to 150. When I got there, I just continued on with what I was doing and am now at 130. I’m maintaining at the moment but at some point will work to lose 5 more.

    Maybe get to 150 (since you said you could be happy with that) and then decide from there? When you plug your stats in here, the goal weight you provide doesn’t affect your calorie goals.
  • JayFromThatOnePlace
    JayFromThatOnePlace Posts: 26 Member
    My goal weight is what I was as at when I felt the best.

    I know when I get there I won't feel as good as before due to being 10 years older but I'll feel better than I do now and that's the goal.
  • xmarye
    xmarye Posts: 385 Member
    workinonit1956 wrote: »
    My goal weight changed along the way. I started at 183 and hoped to get down to 150. When I got there, I just continued on with what I was doing and am now at 130. I’m maintaining at the moment but at some point will work to lose 5 more.

    Maybe get to 150 (since you said you could be happy with that) and then decide from there? When you plug your stats in here, the goal weight you provide doesn’t affect your calorie goals.

    Thanks for the inspiration! Also, I know it doesn't affect anything. I was just curious to see the thought process behind other people's goals :smiley:
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
    I didn't have a goal weight so much as I had a goal to get to about 20% body fat...and that landed me at right around 150...then, I decided to try to get down to 18%, and that didn't change my weight...now I'm about 158 and have jumped a bit over 18% so I'm trying to get down to 145 by the end of the year and I'm kind of curious as to where that will land me in terms of body fat...I'm definitely a bit fluffy in the middle right now.
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    honestly i just picked a number that got me out of the overweight range on the BMI index. i'm somewhat there now (hovering). may go for 5 more.
  • erjones11
    erjones11 Posts: 422 Member
    My first goal was just to get close to 200.
    Then I wanted to get and stay below 200 at every weigh in, as the scale always fluctuates.
    Then I went for 185.
    Then 175...
    Then 165...
    now I am on maintenance and hovering between 158 and 163 and trying to recomp.
    I'm good with that!
  • xmarye
    xmarye Posts: 385 Member
    Panini911 wrote: »
    honestly i just picked a number that got me out of the overweight range on the BMI index. i'm somewhat there now (hovering). may go for 5 more.

    That's interesting. For me 150 is still considered overweight, 145 would be just out of the overweight category. 130lbs would be in the middle of my healthy weight range! That gives me perspective! Thanks for the info!
  • HaleCry
    HaleCry Posts: 385 Member
    My first goal weight was the pound under a ‘healthy BMI’. From there I realised I needed to lose more. I lost another 15 and started feeling great, would’ve tried to lose another 10lbs after that and see how I felt, but I moved to Rome and put on 20lbs.
  • 88olds
    88olds Posts: 4,463 Member
    204
    190
    184
    180
    175
    170

    I started at 285lbs. My healthy BMI was 184lbs. 184 seemed impossible to the point of insane when I started. All anyone can do is try for something that sounds reasonable, see what happens. There is no finish line.
  • Keep_on_cardio
    Keep_on_cardio Posts: 4,166 Member
    My goals change, as my body changes. I’m not fully fixated on a weight. I feel healthy now. However,I have areas I'm working on and only estimating, that I possible have around 10-15 left to lose.
  • SabAteNine
    SabAteNine Posts: 1,866 Member
    I started out at 155 with a clear 125 goal in mind. I reached that goal, went down to 121, started weight training, went up to 129, looked better than when I was 125, and am now aiming for 132-135 for my first slow bulk. Looking back, hitting a number helped psychologically in the moment, but honestly? There is such a huge difference in look between two identical weight and height persons but with different body compositions, that the scale becomes pretty irrelevant after a certain point. This is a good read.

    Set interim goals, if it helps. Everything (healthy) is realistic as long as you trust the process :smile:
  • mountainmare
    mountainmare Posts: 294 Member
    So you are the same height as me. I'm 69 so my goal weight was based on what my maintenance calories would be. I picked 160--the middle of overweight but calories at 1400, I'm there, if I lose more yippee. Most of my younger life I was comfortable at 150, I once got down to 137 and was miserable and looked horrible. I would aim for 150--see how you feel, test drive maintenance there and then decide. Or get to 150, eat at the maintenance calories for 130 and naturally settle down to that weight, again seeing how you feel maintaining at that level as you lose.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    Initially goal was favourite adult weight (from many decades ago!), 175lbs
    But turned out to be not the body composition I wanted.
    Dropped in small steps of a few pounds at a time alternating with periods maintaining.

    Briefly went right down to 161lbs for a big cycling event but struggled to maintain at that weight and as I lost fat and gained muscle (recomp) it got harder and I got hungrier.

    Came back up to 168lbs and that's a happy compromise between my various fitness goals and maintaining relatively easily. Happens to be near the top of the BMI healthy range but that was coincidental.


    Long story short - you don't have to get it right first time and your best weight might not stay the same for ever.

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