How much weight can I ACTUALLY lose? HELP!

kacieluzier · May 2012

Hey ladies! I got a question...
So, my original weight goal was 130, but my husband and I are re-thinking how I'm going to LOOK at 130... Probably pretty sickly, lol. I'm 5'6", and I'm 211 right now. (Yay for babies! lol)
So, I'm thinking it would be a better goal to be 170, and tone myself from there... My husband's saying I will look scrawny at 170, but I'm thinking I would look toned, muscular, fit, but not scrawny.
So- ladies who are 5'6" or around that height, would you mind telling me how much you weigh? I want a rough guesstimate of how much weight I CAN lose before looking like a drowned cat. If it helps, I can post a recent side view pic of me...
I workout almost everyday (at least 6 days a week) with Turbo Fire, and I do pushups, some light weight training and ab work...

qtiekiki · May 2012

Not 5'6", but your goal weight isn't set in stone. You can change it any time you wish. So as you start to lose the weight, you can stop once you get to a point when you are happy with the way you look. Everyone carries their weight differently, so you won't know if that's how you will look once you get to that weight.

japruzze · May 2012

I started at 320 lbs. I'm 5'6". My original goal was 160 lbs. I got down to 139 lbs and looked sick. My "perfect" feel good, look good weight personnally is around 150 lbs. I like myself there. I can maintain that (for the most part) without killing myself. But most of all I feel great! I'm a bit over now (weighing in at 157 this morning). Add me as a friend if you need more!

uxbridgeheli · May 2012

Well I'm not 5ft 6" only 5ft 3" and my target is 8st 8lb (120) - I'm 8lb over that now and don't feel entirely happy so want to get a bit more off.
I think when you get to where you are comfortable you will just know.
H x

super_star_27 · May 2012

I'm 5'6" and weigh slightly less than 130lbs. Although I want to lose a few more pounds and get to 120ish I'm pretty happy with how I look now and I'm not super skinny. It probably depends on your build and how you want to look.

sweetbaker77 · May 2012

I too am not 5" 6", but I will just say every body is different. I went to a healthy weight calculator and it said for your height the range for healthy weight would be 117 - 154. Sometimes it helps to set goals in increments, and reassess as you go! Wishing you all the best!

KikiD22 · May 2012

I'm 5'10" and 145 in my profile pic. You're not going to look scrawny at 5'6" and 170.

kacieluzier · May 2012

Thanks ladies!
I tend to overthink things...
With my training, I'm thinking ya'll are right.

janetb21 · May 2012

I'm 5'5". I started at 255. I'm down to 165. My original goal was 150, but I'm starting to think 140 might be better. I figure I'll see what I look like at 150 and go from there.

Jugie12 · May 2012

Lose the weight and just get down to a size where you're healthy and happy with the way you look. 170 is higher than the recommended weight for a woman your height.. that's actually on the high side for someone 5'9".

Lozze · May 2012

Just have 170lb as your first goal. Once you get there reevaluate.

emnk5308 · May 2012

Set your goal to 170 and then go from there.

Figure out what a healthy weight is for your height too. If 170 is healthy and you are happy with how you look then stay there.. if not set a new goal and keep going.

sarahrichards81 · May 2012

Numbers are so relative so, as other people have said, have an idea of what you want to look like rather than how much you want to weigh. I'm 5 10 and started out at 168lbs but even then I didn't look massive (was a UK size 10/12, US size 6/8) and have a vague ballpark of 147lbs but going to stop once I can get comfortably into a UK size 8 (US size 4). I know other girls my height would are 168 and are more like a UK 14/16 so it just depends on you and your body.

My advice would be to find a picture of the internet of someone whose body you aspire to and work towards that.

You sound as though you have a really supportive hubbie who is taking an active role in your weight loss journey which is fantastic.

yoovie · May 2012

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/brewster26.htm

^ go here and take all the measurements and do all the little calculations to find out what your lean mass weight is and how much of your weight is fat. Then see how much of that You could lose before getting down to about 30% body fat. Then work on getting to 25%. THEN decide how many pounds you want to lose or if you just want to get down to a certain about of body fat % alone.

Its a way that not nearly enough people use to figure out what they would be happy with - pound-wise AND 'how much my muscles show"-wise.

yoovie · May 2012

PS - Im 5'10 and 170. I think 130-140 would actually put you in a size 7/8 or so.

cls_333 · May 2012

haha I guess all people are different, I've always been thin, so 134 felt heavy for me, I like low 120s. Plus I am quite muscular. Different strokes for different folks. Do I look like a drowned cat?? lol

cls_333 · May 2012

haha I guess all people are different, I've always been thin, so 134 felt heavy for me, I like low 120s. Plus I am quite muscular. Different strokes for different folks. Do I look like a drowned cat?? lol

P.S. I am 5'6"

nikkiprickett · May 2012

maybe focus more on something like body fat instead, goal weights can be tricky especially if you're strength training, you may not lose any weight but you're losing fat and gaining muscle.
I recommend getting new rules of lifting for women to every woman

strikerjb007 · May 2012

Hey ladies! I got a question...
So, my original weight goal was 130, but my husband and I are re-thinking how I'm going to LOOK at 130... Probably pretty sickly, lol. I'm 5'6", and I'm 211 right now. (Yay for babies! lol)
So, I'm thinking it would be a better goal to be 170, and tone myself from there... My husband's saying I will look scrawny at 170, but I'm thinking I would look toned, muscular, fit, but not scrawny.
So- ladies who are 5'6" or around that height, would you mind telling me how much you weigh? I want a rough guesstimate of how much weight I CAN lose before looking like a drowned cat. If it helps, I can post a recent side view pic of me...
I workout almost everyday (at least 6 days a week) with Turbo Fire, and I do pushups, some light weight training and ab work...

I am not a lady so forgive me. But how do you know what your target weight is? it seems random to me.

cks3d1 · May 2012

Im 5'6 and currently around 140 within the healthy weight range for my height. Still have some areas that I need to focus on though, goal weight is 130, haven't been there since early high school years.

kimimila86 · May 2012

Hello! I'm 5'6" and currently at 203 lbs. I started out over 2 months ago at 218 lbs, and my current goal weight is 135 lbs. I remember what I looked like around 145 lbs and it was dang good... I guess it's really going to depend on where I am when I get there, honestly. Good luck!

susannamarie · May 2012

What everyone else said -- when you get to 170, get your hubby to take some pics of you, take a good look at yourself in the mirror -- and decide whether to keep losing or to sit pretty.

Laura8603 · May 2012

I say leave it at 170 and when you get there, you can reevaluate. I'm 5'7" and weigh 135. I think about losing 5 more, but I actually like how I feel at this weight. Hang in there!!

OSU_Sarah · May 2012

Hi. I'm 5'6. I started out at 172 in 2009. I ended up getting down to 118, which was WAY too skinny! My metabolism was in high gear. I am since up to 130 and am trying to get back to about 122-125 which I think was a good weight for me. So hope that helps. I'm 130 now and now that I look bad, I just got my belly bulge back and am trying to get rid of it!

susannamarie · May 2012

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/brewster26.htm

^ go here and take all the measurements and do all the little calculations to find out what your lean mass weight is and how much of your weight is fat. Then see how much of that You could lose before getting down to about 30% body fat. Then work on getting to 25%. THEN decide how many pounds you want to lose or if you just want to get down to a certain about of body fat % alone.

Its a way that not nearly enough people use to figure out what they would be happy with - pound-wise AND 'how much my muscles show"-wise.

I think this calculator may have been misprogrammed. It gave me a figure of 160 lbs lean, when other calculators tend to give 140-150 lbs. When I did the calculations manually, using the same numbers and the formula they posted directly above the calculator, I got 150 lbs.

I do agree that you should use body fat % to determine a goal weight -- I just think this calculator is off.

MikeInAZ · May 2012

At 5'6" and 170, your BMI would be 27, that is on the high end of "Over Weight". You won't look sickly, I'd say you might still look a little pudgy. (no offense). 150lbs puts you right at 24.2 which is the HIGH end of "Normal". In fact when you get down to that weight range, you may find yourself wanting to tone up and put on some muscle. 130lbs puts you at 21 and is right in the middle of "normal".

What you should concentrate on is BMI, Body Fat %, Muscle % and don't worry so much on weight. But 130-140 is a good range for your height and age. Get a body composition scale. I have an Omron, I got from costco.com for about $65. It's fairly accurate, I compared it to a dunk tank body fat test and it was only off by 1%.

When you get down to 170, do a simple blood work up. Check your cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar (fasting). Make sure your levels are normal. My guess is, most Doctors will recommend more weight loss to get those levels in better check.

Good luck, it's not easy loosing all that weight, but you'll be happy when you do!

- Mike

yoovie · May 2012

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/brewster26.htm

^ go here and take all the measurements and do all the little calculations to find out what your lean mass weight is and how much of your weight is fat. Then see how much of that You could lose before getting down to about 30% body fat. Then work on getting to 25%. THEN decide how many pounds you want to lose or if you just want to get down to a certain about of body fat % alone.

Its a way that not nearly enough people use to figure out what they would be happy with - pound-wise AND 'how much my muscles show"-wise.

I think this calculator may have been misprogrammed. It gave me a figure of 160 lbs lean, when other calculators tend to give 140-150 lbs. When I did the calculations manually, using the same numbers and the formula they posted directly above the calculator, I got 150 lbs.

I do agree that you should use body fat % to determine a goal weight -- I just think this calculator is off.

that's because its two different calculators and the difference is explained in the text part.

natalie412 · May 2012

I am 5'5.5" and just hit my goal of 135.

fittiephd · May 2012

I'm 5'8" and 130 and I'm just building muscle now that I'm at goal. I don't think that 130 is too low for you seeing how you are 2 inches shorter than me. Although it may take some getting used to that you will look a lot different!

I think the best way to decide what your goal weight should be is to aim for around the "normal/healthy" BMI category. For 5'6" that is between 115 and 155 lbs. Anything over 155 is considered "overweight". I think the best goal is to be healthy

spikefoot · May 2012

I find that "outsiders" always seem to be more advocates for less weight loss.

You can always reevaluate as you approach your goals.

I am of the belief that we can weigh a lot less than we accept.

The amount of muscle plays a big role too.

jamyrbz · August 2012

I'm 5'8" and I feel amazing at 155. I have a "normal weight" based on BMI at 164. Your "normal weight" BMI is 155. I would set that as my goal and then go from there.

170 won't be scrawny on you, by any means.

How much weight can I ACTUALLY lose? HELP!

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