How did you pick your goal weight?

Originally (before I considered surgery) my goal weight was 180 when I was at my highest of 278. Now that I've had the surgery, I lowered my goal to 150, because that is on the high end of the "normal" recommended weight range for my 5'6" tall frame. I know I'll always have a curvy body, so I'm trying to be realistic. However, my husband says he thinks that that might be to low for my frame. He is not trying to pessimistic or a downer, but he thinks that the 180 is still what's realistic. So my question is how did you pick your goal weight? Did you tweak it multiple times? What are the goal weights for other female that are 5'6"?

Thanks!

Sandra

My doc set me initial goal weight at 160. I set mine at 150, to give myself some room to work with. Also, 150 is in the middle of normal for my BMI for a 5' 8.5"

Then I had a body fat test in a dunk tank, and doc set my goal to 20% body fat or less which equated roughly to 158. I changed my personal goal to 155. Then, as I lost, I began to rethink my goal because it seemed to be coming off of my face and I wasn't totally comfortable with how I looked. I set my goal to 158.8, which is 100 lbs lost exactly and close enough to doc's goal of 158. That is where I landed.

Also, along the way on my journey, I "grew" 1/2 inch. My theory is that the loss of weight from my belly allowed me to stand up straighter. So, I am at 5' 9" and maintaining at right at 160. My "redline" weight is now set at 164. If I hit that point, it is time for evasive maneuvers to get it back off again. Eventually I plan to have plastics so that will give me a couple of pounds back as well.

laurie

I set mine by being normal bmi and also what I in my head thought was the best weight for me ..... 

However my Dr's and my hubby say I'm nuts.  And the dr actually said he doesn't think it would be healthy for me I'm also 5ft 6 ...  I haven't changed it because I'm still not sure but I'll see what I decide as I get lower if I get to 150 and love it that's where I'll stay who knows... 

Fact I was 135 when I was 21 ... now I'm 46 my body is completely different I didn't have curves then and i do now I also love my curves.... good luck with your choice...!!! :-)

♡ Kelly

I used a few ideal body weight calculators and chose 120. I'm not sure if it's attainable, but that's what I'm aiming for. 100% EWL here I come!

(And I did this because I was thinking one day, "wait, what is excess weight based on anyway?"  I had assumed it was based on BMI but when I googled more, I found answers that it's based on ideal body weight.  So then I had to find out what ideal body weight was!  Apparently it's slightly different than BMI calculations.)

BMI..... High end, where I still will not be overweight... Also based on frame size, so the weight for me would range from the 140's to around 164... I didn't want to aim for an impossible outcome so I stuck with 160, and if I'm lucky and CAN get to the 140's, well awesome, but if not I'll be perfectly content with 80 pounds instead of 100.

I used BMI. At 5'3", the normal/healthy weight for me is 141 or below.  So my goal is 140.  My surgeon's goal is less daunting - he just wants me to not be "obese", and he'd be happy with anything less than 165. 

Hi,

I am 5'8" and I chose my goal weight arbitrarily at 180.  I don't think I ever thought I'd ever reach it.  But I did.  It is a BMI that is mid-range overweight - not Normal - but not obese.  I reached goal a few weeks ago and I chose to continue to lose weight but decided not to change my goal.  I don't want to be thinking in terms of pounds lost anymore. I don't want to feel like a success of failure due to the number on the scale.  I lost 208 pounds.  That's success by any measure.

Right now,  I am gauging my remaining need to lose weight by the size of my belly, and when I'm satisfied with how I look, I'll stop the weight loss. I think I'm within 5 to 10 pounds.   

Personally, I'd say not to worry too much about the goal weight now.  You'll know when you get there!

Carol

Originally I set my goal weight to 145 because I'd dieted down to that weight before and I had an idea of how much food it took to maintain that weight and I figured it would be hard to maintain but do able. I'd still be overweight but I wouldn't be horrible looking or doing that yo-yo dieting thing and risk going right back up.

Somewhere along the way I figured out that having WLS is nothing like going on a diet -- that I wouldn't be battling intense hunger all the time -- and I lowered my goal to 140. Then I started thinking -- why not go all the way? If I'm going to have 80-90% of my stomach cut off, why not go for a normal BMI? So I set my goal weight to 132.

I figured even though that's normal on the chart, I have a small-to-medium frame and I'd probably be a bit pudgy but I was in uncharted territory. So I figured I'd get down to 132 and then I'd see what happened and what I looked like and pick a final goal weight from there.

Then at my 3 week checkup my surgeon said he had 115-130 in my chart for a goal weight. What did I think about that? I thought he was INSANE actually. But I said "okay, why not?" And that became my goal weight range.

It turned out to be pretty accurate. I got down to 112-113 in the end. Even saw 109 on the scale once or twice. At that weight I had 17-18% body fat and I was a lean, mean endurance athlete machine. It was kind of awesome. But it was a lot of work to maintain over the winter when I wasn't working out as much and I wanted more muscle too.

I also found that the first year of maintenance even though my weight didn't change much, my body continued to change. My face was pretty gaunt at my lowest but it filled out and my thighs and tummy got smaller instead without my weight changing at all. Then I deliberately put on a bunch of muscle and even though I ended up back at 125 pounds, I could still fit in my jeans that I wore at 112.

Then I got injured and couldn't work out as much. My weight went up at first but settled back down in the 119-125 range. That seems to be my sweet spot. What changes is how fit I am and how much of it is muscle and how much of it is fat. Right now I can't fit into my smallest clothes any more but I'm okay with that because I also got my boobs back. LOL I'm a little less bony in my chest too. I'd like to be less plump in my mid-section but that has been coming off as I get back into working out more.

So -- for me -- I found once I got down into a certain range of weights, the scale just didn't really tell the whole story. It's more about body composition. I also found that when I was in losing mode, I was able to get down to a really low weight but it just wasn't maintainable for me. Not without a lot more work than I was willing to put into and a lot more OBSESSION too. I have a tendency towards obsession about things anyway and the last thing I need is to be obsessing over everything I put in my mouth and every minor shift in the scale.

So I had to let that go and not hold my feet to the fire of "you got to that weight once. YOU CAN DO IT AGAIN". When I start thinking like that, I say to myself, "yeah, but why do would I want to?" Will I be healthier? Happier? Have a better marriage? Be better at my job? No. No. No. and No. In fact, in order to stay in that extremely low weight range, I'd end up less happy and my relationships and job performance would suffer. They did a bit the first time, to be honest.

I'm 5'7".  I started at 265 and my first goal was 160.  I remember hitting 170 when I was in my mid-20's and I felt great at that weight so thought 160 would be the ultimate weight!  I too am curvy and have always had an hour glass figure.  I liked having a bit of extra weight on me when I was younger.

Then I realized that didn't even bring me to a normal range on the BMI scale.  So I started looking to see what others were setting their goal as who matched my body type.  Next I chose 140 lbs.

As I lost weight and got into my 170's I realized that my 45 year old body is not holding weight where my 20 year old body did.  No more J.Lo butt...actually no more butt at all.  Or boobs! It's all disappearing.  I'm in my low 160's right now and am still carrying weight in my thighs and stomach.  

So as of now I'm more setting goals at 10 lb increments.  Right now I want to hit 160.  Then I think I'll get to 150 and see how that feels. I'll go to 140 if my stomach still refuses to let go of the fat but that may be too low for me.

So to answer your question I'm tweaking away as I lose.  Which is way better then twearking lol! I think you'll know when you hit the right weight for your body.  

Just have fun enjoying each stage...it goes so fast, enjoy the ride!

I intentionally did not set a goal weight!  I heat a healthy and "clean" diet, workout 6 times per week and I let my body decide for me. For me that is a comfortable 170-175. I am 5'9" male 2 years out and down 180#. It scares me when people set goal weights because of the possibility of setting ourselves up for failure...then what.  This is a very comfortable weight that feels healthy. Just be and live healthy and don't worry about a "goal".