How do you set Goal Weight?

[tractorlegs]

For those that are on Fitbit-aided diets, I'm curious how everyone has determined what their goal weight should be. Mine, which I am approaching slowly but surely, is simply the upper BMI figure for Normal for my height/gender/age. A 25 BMI for me would be 210.8 pounds (at 6'5", 63-1/2 yoa, male).

Some people may target an ideal weight they once had in the past, or what a Doctor or some other authority gives them as a goal. How do y'all set your goal weight?

[Ukase]

I think this is one of the best questions I've read. 

On the one hand, if you aim at nothing, you hit it every time. On the other - you can obsess until the stress makes you more unhealthy than the weight you were trying to lose. 

I started my journey with the goal of just losing weight because I was not liking what I saw in the mirror. Now that I do - the scale still tells me I'm too heavy - but the way I feel tells me I'm just fine. 

I'd love to get lean enough for a six-pack - but the amount of work that would take is more than what it's worth. Besides, the chicks dig me for my brain, not my abs, right? Or is it my money? Nah, don't have any, must be my sense of humor. 

[tractorlegs]

@Ukase, me too - There have been plenty of times in the past when what I've seen in the mirror, and the way I feel, is fine, but the scale says I'm too heavy. In those days I would just be happy and stop using the scale lol.

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Ukase wrote:

I started my journey with the goal of just losing weight because I was not liking what I saw in the mirror. Now that I do - the scale still tells me I'm too heavy - but the way I feel tells me I'm just fine. 

[A_Lurker]

That's an excellent question.  I'm not sure I ever had a goal weight, but my new GP gave me one today that is substantially higher than I expected.  In fact, looking it up would still have me solidly in the overweight category.  There was some discussion about age, frame, possibly excess skin, etc. so he might be right.  At the moment I really just set the target down the next 25 pounds.

[AuroraKat]

My goal weight is 125 pounds. I picked it because that's the weight I've been most of my adult life prior to being diagnosed with hypothyroidism and injuring my knee. For years, my weight only fluctuated +/- 5 lbs at any given time from the 125 lb baseline.

I am very comfortable at this weight. When I was in college, I tried going down to below 125 lb (way, way below... not healthy) and I felt awful. So, that's my goal. Once I get there, I will see how I feel and readjust if needed. Six years have passed since I was last at 125 lb, so my body may feel better at a slightly different weight. However, I don't expect the final goal to be much different than that. 

[AndyDandyPandy]

When I first started I had no goal weight because I've failed many times and I didn't wanna keep my hopes up so I decided to just do it and forget the rest. Fast forward half a year later I've hit many goal weights already. From 292 to 250,230,215,210. Technically I just need 10 more pound to hit my ultimate goal weight which was anything under 200lb but after being very successful I've pushed my UGW to 150-170 for a comfortable BMI. At my current lifestyle I feel I'll continue to lose weight slowly and not any faster no matter how intense the exercise is or how lean my meals are. 

Overall I want to be in the 23-26 range BMI. There's no reason to be anything higher or lower if you've already came this far. Why stop short when you can go all the way and see the best of you. I know health should be the #1 priority for a healthy BMI but honestly for me it is not. It never was, even when I felt like death was near. My main motivation is to look good, handsome, muscular, etc. All those good stuff. I'm younger than most fitbitters but I'm sure wanting to look good is ageless.

[emili]

you know what, I have no idea how I decided to be the weight I am. honestly it just happened. I was 197 pounds and so many things went screwy for me in my life (I am lucky enough to work from home if I want- at that time I hadn't left the house except to go food shopping in 2 months). I thought about the one thing I could control and that was me. So I did. And I started to lose weight, leave the house, get interested in things again, before I knew it I was 60 pounds lighter. And then I kept going until I got to my current weight of 134 and its a good place for me to be. I feel good, I don't look awful, my clothes fit well- so I am staying here. It's been over 2 years. My family asks me to eat a sandwich once per week, but I know they are proud of me and like me the way I am now. My kids are 13 and 17 and they hang out with me...with their friends. My son and I go to the gym together, my daughter considers my closet her mall. its a good time. didn't anwer your question though...:)

[tractorlegs]

@emili, actually you did answer the question. A very thoughtful response - thanks. It may be a wise decision to allow your own body to determine its ideal weight rather than targeting a specific goal weight. Myself, I prefer having a target weight. Maybe it's easier to attain a goal if it's more "defined" I guess, at least for me anyway. 

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emili wrote:

you know what, I have no idea how I decided to be the weight I am. honestly it just happened. I was 197 pounds and so many things went screwy for me in my life (I am lucky enough to work from home if I want- at that time I hadn't left the house except to go food shopping in 2 months). I thought about the one thing I could control and that was me. So I did. And I started to lose weight, leave the house, get interested in things again, before I knew it I was 60 pounds lighter. And then I kept going until I got to my current weight of 134 and its a good place for me to be. I feel good, I don't look awful, my clothes fit well- so I am staying here. It's been over 2 years. My family asks me to eat a sandwich once per week, but I know they are proud of me and like me the way I am now. My kids are 13 and 17 and they hang out with me...with their friends. My son and I go to the gym together, my daughter considers my closet her mall. its a good time. didn't anwer your question though...:)

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[Annabel398]

I have somewhat arbitrarily set my weight goal at 120# (which is 20# more than I weighed in high school, but I was ridiculously skinny back then)... but really I'll be happy when I have no bra roll and minimal tummy pooch.

I'm almost exactly halfway there (weight-wise) after four months, and I can see mild changes in body composition, but my body fat percentage has not been going down nearly as quickly as my weight.

For me, weight is only part of the picture... as I approach my goal weight, I expect to go into high gear on exercise to improve my lean/fat ratio. If I can add a pound or two of muscle and lose a pound or two of fat each month, I would be fine with that!

[shipo]

Great thread; don't know how I missed it when it was first started.

For my part, I'm not sure what kind of a goal weight to set for myself; I started out at something north of 250 back in the spring of 2009, got down to about 210 by that fall, gradually inched back up into the 250+ territory (I'll never know how far above 250 because I was too chicken to get on a scale) over the next several years, and then started running again in the spring of 2013.  At the time my goal weight was something under 200, and given I'm only 5'8", 200 is the threshold between overweight and obese, so even at 200 I've never qualified as a skinny-minny.

The above said, I am now hovering a pound or three either side of 200, my waist size is between 34 and 35 inches, I am able to run a half-marathon in the 1:35-1:40 range, and all things considered I look pretty good.  The thing is, I'm turning 60 next year and will start racing in a new age group (I'm tired of racing against those young-punk 50 year olds 🙂 ); per conventional wisdom, for every 10 pounds one loses in weight, one picks up between 20 and 30 minutes per mile in speed.  So, my goals for next year are to break 20:00 in a 5K, and 1:30 in a half-marathon; working backwards into my weight, that would mean I need to get down under 180, all else being equal, and 170 would be even better.

Is 180 doable for me?  Probably.  Is 170 within the realm of possibility?  Not sure, the last time I was down to 170 was something like 35 years ago and I'm carrying a lot more muscle now then I did back then.

[HeartBiller]

Wow.. It is nice to read everyone's different thoughts on how they picked their goal. I guess for me I always say 125... Maybe because that's what I believed I weighed when I got married... Of course that was 30 years ago. I have never seen that weight since then. Even then I was not skinny. I am only 5 ft even so doctors say I should be around 105, my sweet husband says he doesn't want to sleep next to a stick... lol. He is precious. I have lost weight in the past on fad diets or even diet pills. Never got close to 125...BUT this time I feel its different. We are doing this together.. (my husband And I) and we are doing it, what I call the right way. Eating better and exercise. I set lots of small goals. I have one for Thanksgiving I am 6 ounces from... (praying)..lol. I have another for Christmas.. I have another for my Birthday in January,,, Etc... I do adjust each if I don't make one. But each one keeps in on the right train of thought for the next one.

These Thread are a huge help to me... I soo love reading the post and interacting with you all. I am one who needs to be able to encourage and get encouragement from others.

[tractorlegs]

@HeartBiller, two thumbs up for doing this with your husband! It is a lot easier when you can partner with your spouse to lose weight. Accountability, support, friendship - - it's vital.

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HeartBiller wrote:

. . . my sweet husband says he doesn't want to sleep next to a stick... lol. He is precious. I have lost weight in the past on fad diets or even diet pills. Never got close to 125...BUT this time I feel its different. We are doing this together.. (my husband And I) and we are doing it, what I call the right way. Eating better and exercise . . . .

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[HeartBiller]

It has been very nice to be able to do this together. We are both improving our weight and our health. ONE DAY AT A TIME...lol.

[MissPreston88]

Ya know, I set it at 145 just because that's the last time I felt really good about where I was. With that said, I am fully expecting not to get there. I have had 4 kids since then, my body just isn't shaped the same. I plan to maintain once I hit that spot where I feel good with how I look. If that's 145, great, if that's 175 that's great too. I'm not going into this with unrealistic goals. My husband likes to remind me he loves me now, but my weight loss isn't for him to love me, it's for me to love me. I would however be lying if I said I didn't want him to come home in August and say wow.

[HelenaFitbit]

I'm following my BMI chart as a standard; but reversing some pre-existing medical issues are my true goal. My goal is 135 pounds. 

[Annabel398]

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@Annabel398 wrote:

I have somewhat arbitrarily set my weight goal at 120# (which is 20# more than I weighed in high school, but I was ridiculously skinny back then)... but really I'll be happy when I have no bra roll and minimal tummy pooch.

I'm almost exactly halfway there (weight-wise) after four months, and I can see mild changes in body composition, but my body fat percentage has not been going down nearly as quickly as my weight.

For me, weight is only part of the picture... as I approach my goal weight, I expect to go into high gear on exercise to improve my lean/fat ratio. If I can add a pound or two of muscle and lose a pound or two of fat each month, I would be fine with that!

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(replying to myself)

I'm too hard on myself. I just looked, and my bodyfat percentage has gone down 4.4 points in a little over four months since I got my Fitbit. BMI is down 4 points as well (from top of Overweight to top of Healthy range). So while I'm definitely not buff, I am making real body changes. I encourage everyone who's been at it a while to look at the "All" tab, and not just "Week" or "Month." See how far you've come!

Also, I just dug out an old photo for a friend--it shows me holding her daughter (now a HS senior) when she was a kindergartener. And I looked at myself in that pic and thought "Hey, I could be THAT weight again" and ... I believed it. That, my friends, is motivating.

(We're not going to talk about the hairstyle, though, LOLOL.)