Goal?

I read with interest the discussions on here regarding goals.  My surgeon has a flippant attitude toward goals.  He says to take your weight when you walk into his office the first time and subtract the high BMI range number from it.  Take 70% of that number and that is most likely where you will end up, and if you do, thats a success.  For me that is 325-170=155.  155 x .7=108.5.  So 325-108.5=216.5.  I'm currently 222.3.  I have my goal as 190.  I picked it because for about 5 years as an adult, I was 190-195 and I felt great.  The BMI thing is really in my head though.  To not be considered overweight, I need to get to 170.  I have really adapted to this life style so far and expect it to be this way forever.  I lost 2.7# this week and I'm still losing double digits each month (surgery 9/23).  How did some of you decide where you wanted to end up?  Thanks in advance.

Based on that formula, I'd land about 50 pounds above a "normal" weight and my own goal. Hope that's not the case.

It wouldn't work for me either bcuz I would still be overweight. I made my own goal.

The idea of goal and really mess with a person. Just prior to surgery I didn't think I had a prayer of making it to a normal BMI. Consequently, my goal related more to wanting to be able to move around better and be more physically active. I estimated that to be about 220 pounds for my 6'2'' frame. Then not so long after surgery I saw a slew of posts encouraging people to not be scared to go after a normal BMI, and realized that indeed I was selling myself short. Deep down, I truly did want that... I was just so accustomed to failing miserably at weight loss I was letting my fear of failure dictate my goal. I went back and forth with the goal for a time, but then set it at the upper limit of my BMI range and never looked back.  

A caveat to that number though- it is still a farily high weight for me. Yes, I feel like I look good and move great. But, my teenage daughter is my height and weights 40 pounds less than me and does not look emaciated. When I was younger I was at her weight, so I know I could stand to lose more. I have other health issues though, so I am comfortable where I am and 100% satisfited with my results.

Here is what I know. Once I hit my goal weight it became mentally excruciatingly difficult to keep going. Set your goal weight truly where you want it, because once you mentally switch out of weight loss mode it will start to feel more like the dieting we did prior to surgery than the lifestyle change it is during the weight loss phase. Just my 2 cents!

Thanks, that was helpful.  I suppose it doesn't have to be written in stone.  I think I'll make the 190 my first goal an re-evaluate as I get closer.

I used this ideal weight calculator to get an idea of where I wanted to end up -- http://halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm

And I also had the realization that I might not get there without plastics, depending on how much excess skin I have.  

That's probably HIS goal so he can report success to future patients and in any journal articles he writes -- which is fine.  That doesn't mean it has to be YOUR goal, though.  I think you have to balance what feels right to you without setting yourself up for failure in the future.  Maybe you split the difference and call it 190-205 as your goal "range" vs. an absolute number?  Widen your range a bit?

Yeah I did some research and that is the industry standard so he just repeats that information. 

HI! I had to reply to your post. There was no way I could NOT reply!

I got sort of all messed up around the whole normal BMI thing myself. I'm guessing you are 5'9"-5'10" right? Also guessing you are close to my age (early 50s) given your user name. So, here's the deal. The BMI works great if you are of a lean to average build and muscle mass - meaning you are a man with a light to medium bone structure and are not heavily muscled. (Think of celebrity guys our age - Robe Lowe, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp - that type). The minute you go outside that body type the validity of the BMI starts to waiver in my opinion (and several of my medical team member's opinions, too.). Think guys like Russel Crowe, Chris Brady, Tim Tebow - big, physically fit guys, but they most likely don't fit in the normalcy of the BMI charts.

I'm 5'7" and am supposed to weigh less than 159 pounds to be a normal bmi. Below is my goal weight pic and a pic a year later. Neither is at a normal BMI.The first pic shows me at a BMI of 26.6. The second 2 pictures show me at a BMI of 29.4 (which is borderline obese). I am happy at either weight, but actually prefer the lower weight. Many people did not like me at the lower weight, though. They found me to be too thin - even people who didn't know me as obese.

So my point of this long post with visual aids is to emphatically encourage you to do what you know is right for you. I let it bug the crap out of me that I didn't get to a normal BMI and let that eat at me. Yet, I got to a weight that was realistic for me, but maybe a little too low - even though I was still considered overweight. If 190 pounds is what you think you want to aim for do that with the idea that once you get there you can continue to lose weight, if that's what you choose OR you can very carefully under medical care and advice gain back to a weight that suits you better and one which you will be able to maintain over the course of many, many years.

I think you look great in BOTH pics....definitely a different look in each one. 

You're much like my husband.  He's extremely overweight but even when he's physically fit (high school soccer player) he was never a "normal" weight.  Just too much bone and muscle!