My goal is 140 pounds...the weight I was at 17. (When I thought I was fat.) That is up from my one-time goal of 115...the weight I thought I should be at 17. (A doctor told me that the weight I have carried has permanently strengthened my leg bones and muscles and I will also have larger thighs than I would have otherwise.
I'm a naturally curvy woman, big butt and hips, large breasts. Looking at my mom and sister, who are thin, that probably won't change.
Today I was walking with a slender, very small framed friend, also 5'4". She mentioned that she weighs 140. It shocked me, I would have guessed she was 120 or so. She has small breasts, no hips, not much butt. It makes me wonder whether my goal is realistic, and whether I should change it.
So, how did you establish your goal? Has your goal changed over the process of losing weight? (Especially for maintainers is this true?)
My goal is based (loosely) on what I think might look good according to My Virtual Model. I did try a lower weight and thought that looked to sickly. I will see once I make goal if I will continue to try and lose.
I set my goal by choosing a weight that is 'normal' for my height. (actually, it's high normal) I don't want to be obese or overweight anymore. I think I found this information at Sparkpeople.
Somedays I think that I'll never get to that weight...other days I am a bit more optimistic.
I picked the top of a healthy weight range for my height according to the bmi... just for something to aim for. Ideally my real goal is to have a stomach that measure less than 35 inches (the safe measurement for men.. 30 is for women but I am a solid apple)
Your goal will probably change as you lose weight. Mine has, several times. I'd say that you should set what you feel is a REALISTIC goal. As you begin to shed the pounds, and as you see what kind of body you have ... you may decide that you'll be able to lose more or less.
When I first started, my goal weight was 145 - which was 20 lbs less than I weighed when I got married.
As I've lost weight, I've dropped that goal lower and lower, because I've seen the changes in my body and I know that I *can* go lower and still be healthy.
But I've also stopped entirely focusing on the lbs. I think I posted about this in another thread which I'll see if I can find in a minute here. After a big chunk of weight came off, I realized that my goals were not just about a figure on the scale, but about other things as well: being able to wear a size 8 (currently, at 161, I wear a 10/12 in most things), being able to complete 30 mins of HIIT on the elliptical w/out feeling like I wanted to puke, being able to squat the olympic bar at the gym, being able to do 100 *real* pushups, being able to get 120g of protein into my diet every day, etc.
So as I moved along, my goals became more varied and all wrapped around being fit and healthy, as well as meeting that number on the scale.
All of that long windedness to say - don't be afraid to change your goals or add new ones as you progress.
I don't have a goal "weight." I want to get my body fat percentage down to 25%. That's right between "fit" and "acceptable" on the chart used by the American Counsil of Exercise.
Whatever weight I am when that happens is fine by me. One woman that my mother knows who lost a great deal of weight had surgery to remove her excess skin afterward. Apparently the loose skin that they removed weighed about 20 pounds! If I end up with a lot of loose skin, I don't want the weight of that skin to count against me.
I picked a number near the top of the weight range. I really have always been overweight, so I don't know what I will look like when I get there.
I have taken into account the following:
1. I am 40, so won't have the body of a teenager.
2. I am pretty curvy.
3. I strength train, and have muscular arms and legs, so I will look better at a higher weight
4. I will have loose skin, which will probably affect my goal weight.
I will evaluate in 10 pounds when I actually hit goal, but I want to concentrate more on fitness than weight loss at that point. I currently comfortably wear size 10s, and even some size 8s - so I am pretty happy about that.
I originally picked 130# which is in the middle of healthy BMI for my height and I did maintain that weight for a while. I changed to South Beach earlier this year and have dropped my goal weight to 120#. Happily been able to maintain that and even drop under using this plan.
I too think your goals will change as your body does. A lot of it depends on your fitness level and amount of muscle you carry. Your friend may be more muscular so she weighs more than what you think due to higher muscle mass. That's why it's so hard to set a goal weight. Maybe a body fat % would be a good goal to set too if you can get that measured at a fitness center and monitor it as you lose weight.
My goal says 160. I have no idea how I'll look at 160. I can't remember the last time I was in ONEDERLAND. So mine may say 160, but I once I'm closer to goal I may want to weigh less, or maybe more.
I picked 130 because I was at that weight before, eating without "dieting" and working out moderately. But that was over 10 years ago. Also, my idea of an ideal figure has changed (curvier). So 130 gives me something to head towards, but I will re-evaluate when I get there: the real goal weight will be whatever I settle at with eating and exercise I can live with forever. So that's a bit flexible.
My goal right now says 145. I reached that about a week ago. I think I am going to try for 135. I haven't weighed that since I was a sophmore in high school. I am a runner, and it has really changed the way my body looks. When I weighed 145 in high school, I was a size 8-10. Now I am a 6-8. I didn't ever think I would really reach my goal; I thought 145 was out of reach. Now that I have, I am not going to work too hard to lose another ten. If it happens in two months -- great. If it happens in five months -- great.
I think like you that my goal may be too low but I asked my doctor what a healthy weight would be at my height and build. I may reevaluate the goal when I am closer but at this point I just am working on mini goals instead of long-term.
I started with losing 10% of my body weight (26 lbs) and set a timeframe. I am one of those people that needs to set the timeframe to establish a system of accomplishments.
My second was to get to 199 lbs and I have been working really hard at that for two weeks but seem to be stuck at 200.02 -- I doubled my exercise and will not eat anything after 7pm right now-- I weigh in Wend and hope that this is the week.
I think it is more important to set mini goals and celebrate when you achieve them because for me the long term goal is still pretty far away and life is short.
I set my goal pretty high,. I was 180 in highschool and played lots of sports. I was very muscular and I was at about a size 10. So, I set that originally. I personally dont want to get below a Large (size 10/12 - I dont know what weight that will be). Im comfortable there. I am curvy and I like that. Plus I think it is something that I can maintain. Of course time will tell. When I get there I may reevaluate.
After losing 105 pounds I don't know what my goal is. Because I'm doing a lot of strength training and want a muscular physique I suspect my weight won't go by any traditional charts.
At this point I'm doing it 5 pounds at a time. I figure I'll know once I'm there.
How do you set your goal?
