My average weight when I was in college and my twenties varied between 155 to 165 lbs. I was very athletic and healthy then and wore size 12.
Well, I finally gave away my size 12 clothes some years ago but I still have many size 14s. And the cutoff for 'misses' sizes in stores is size 14. So I simply chose my goal of 160 lbs so that I can be sure to wear size 14 again.
When I started this journey, I thought I was 5'8 so I picked the highest normal BMI weight for me (which was 163 or something) and rounded it up to 165. My lowest adult weight when I'd felt the thinnest in my life was 207 when I was 17 years old, so that wasn't my ultimate goal.
When I got within 10-20 lbs of my original goal, I kind of saw 165 was good, but it wasn't going to be the look I wanted. So I've re-evaluated my goal to the 140-145 range. I've been in the 150s for a while now and I like them and just want to see what 140 looks like.
The best thing about weight goal setting is that you can adjust up or down as you get closer to your set goals. And of course whilst ultimate goals are awesome to achieve, mini-goals make the journey go on.
I chose my ultimate goal weight by looking at a height/weight photo gallery, and choosing a size that seems reasonable for me. I have not ever weighed 175lbs as an adult, so as I lose weight, I may have to adjust that number to something higher, but for now, an ambitious goal is helping me stay motivated.
Even though I put 155 in my ticker as my goal weight, I'm not really sure that is where I'll end up. I just picked it because it's about 5 pounds less than the highest weight for normal BMI. I won't actually make a decision about it until I'm under 200 pounds. Then, I'll schedule an appointment with my doctor to figure it out. Given that I've been heavy or obese my whole life, 155 just may not be realistic for me.
As abstract as it is to me, 150 is my ultimate goal. And since it's so abstract to me, I'm letting it be flexible; I have no idea how I'm going to feel or look since I've never even been under 220 as an adult.
If I never make it to 150, no big deal, I just want to be at a healthy weight. I only picked the number because I've had a few doctors tell me it's my ideal.
My goal currently is 180. This is both my doctor's goal for me, knowing my body type (big boned, muscular) and something that seems doable for me.
Having said that...my REAL goal is more like 160/165. I want to be thin. I was down to about 174 the end of high school and wore a 12, and that was fine, but I'd like to squeeze into a 10.
For now....mentally...my goal is to get under 200. I will feel much better then.
I picked my weight of 167lbs because it's an even 120lbs down and I remember enjoying the way I looked at the weight; that said, I may stop before then as I'm taller now than I was then. For what it's worth, I think BMI is silly and I'll be judging where I ultimately stop by my body fat percentage.
Last edited by PixelatedTimeMachine; 09-23-2012 at 11:23 PM.
When I was in high school my lowest weight was 165. I looked DAMN good and I was still about 15 lbs from the highest range that is considered a healthy BMI for my height which is 110-150lbs.
After speaking with my doctor when I first started losing weight, we both decided that when I am at 180lb or less I am very healthy. I still have curves, which will always be there, but I fit happily into 12s. I would love to eventually be back at 165 or less, but I chose 175 as my happy medium.
My ultimate goal weight is right in the middle of my healthy BMI. Ideally i want to be 130, but i'm going to get down to 140 and see how i feel about it and maybe lose the last 10 lbs or maybe not. The lowest i've ever been as an adult was 177, and I was a size 11/12. Now i've gone from 270 down to 228 and have set myself mini goals to reach to lose the last 88 lbs, otherwise, i just cheat and i need a specific number to focus on. I want to reach Onederland and be at 190 by christmas.
I decided my goal weight based on the fact that I was 150lbs in my twenties (I thought I was fat back then)! If only I knew then what I know now! I would like to get back to that weight because it was a healthy weight for me. I was in a size 10 and hope to be there again. I may have to re-adjust as I get closer, because my almost 40 body is certainly different than my twenty-something body was!
The goal weight that I chose here for my "ticker" is a number that I have weighed before... but I'm not sure if it is "realistic" although I'm not yet willing to give up on it just yet, because I think that I should be able to weigh what I did back then because it wasn't a struggle and I wasn't doing anything extreme to maintain it...
So I'm not ready to just except an extra 20lbs. as an unfortunate aspect of getting a little bit older...
That being said... I think if I get within 10 or 20 lbs. of that number I'm sure I'll have the "look" that I want and fit into all the cloths that I want to wear and right now that's what I really want...
I started my journey at 252 lbs. I thought it would be cool to lose half my body weight, so I chose 126 lbs as my goal weight, which means I'll have to lose 126 lbs. That sounds fun lol. Not only that, it's a challenge to myself because I've never weighed that much as an adult and I've always wanted to know how I'd look at 126. Now, if, as I'm losing and getting closer to that number, I start losing my "assets?" I'll definitely stop! I cannot lose my assets! But my goal weight is more so out of curiosity and for the challenge of getting there.
