I guess I should clarify that I've been overweight my entire adult life. I was so tiny as a child I barely cast a shadow. That all changed when I got my adenoids and tonsils out and could suddenly taste food. Before that I ate according to hunger cues and little else. My weight troubles started after.
Another way I've tried to zero in on my goal is measurements. I have no idea what my bust/waist/hip measurements will work out to be, but I have a goal waist measurement. Like a few others have mentioned, I've a goal dress size too. Part of the reason for this is that for a bit I was focusing too much on the scale. I really wanted my goal to be 130 so that I'd have lost 100 lbs total, but I'm just not sure it will be right for me so tried to direct my focus elsewhere. Plus, I figure that if I meet one of these goals but not another, I will still feel I have accomplished my goal and won't feel the need to fight (possibly unheathily or futilely) for the others.
Last edited by Thistleberry; 11-29-2012 at 09:40 AM.
Wow thanks for this thread. You ladies have all really put my goals into a new perspective. I have been fixated on getting down to 155 since I was 20 years old. A friend had told me that she read that "ideal", like vanity version of "ideal", not healthy ideal, was 100 lbs at 5 feet and 5 lbs per inch afer that. We were roommates with another girl at the time and all decided to use that formula to set our goal weights (we were all trying to lose weight). At the time I was 20 and I weighed about 165-170, and I wasn't happy with my size and body. I never did get down to 155, in fact I think I didn't lose any weight at that time. But for some strange reason ever since that I have always wanted to get down to 155 lbs. After reading some of the perspectives of you ladies, I re-asked myself "Why 155?", and quite frankly I don't have a good answer.
I think I'm going to change my ticker to mini goals instead. Two years was the last time I successfully lost any weight. I lost down to 168. I felt pretty good, but didn't feel like I was 'there' yet. I definately loved that I could wear any old size 10 off the rack and went shopping more than I usually do! (So I have quite a few size ten pants that I'll be able to shrink into too).
So basically I love the idea of taking the final goal weight off. But I know that I want to lose to at least 165, I know it's with-in my healthy weight range and I know that when I was a bit over that I didn't feel at goal.
I feel really good about letting the way I feel determine my ultimate goal weight. And it takes the pressure off to meet a certain weight, or to feel bad or guilty if I lose a bit more than that goal weight.
I picked 155 because that was the time I remember feeling comfortable enough in my body. I have a small frame for my height and could really be at 145-150 and look great, but I'll figure out if I can get there once I hit 155. I was always thin as an adult until a few years ago, so I know what I'll look like at that weight. More important than the number, though, is what size I'll be wearing. My goal is to be a size 8 again. Whatever number on the scale gets me to an 8 I'll be fine with; and at the time, I was 155 and a size 8.
When I had originally lost my weight (2010) I had a goal of 140, it seemed ideal and I really wanted to be super thin.
I never met that goal weight but I came within 10-15lbs of it for a while.
When I decided to finally lose all of the weight again (I ballooned up to 267 since August 2011) I set my weight to a healthy weight that I had felt good at before (150lbs). When I did reach about 152 in early 2011, I felt so good and had plenty of self-esteem.
So now my goal is to make me happy and be at a place where I feel comfortable in my skin. I could make a goal like say, 135lbs but once I hit 160 it was extremely difficult for me to get below it. I want to not stress, just be comfortable. If I get to 140lbs, I will be extremely excited but I wont over think it this time around.
I picked 150 because that is the weight I was when I joined the army and the weight I was after basic training, although the composition of my body changed drastically. I was 130 when I was in high school and that would be bottom line, I am a shorter person, but I am pretty solid so anything less than 130 would be unhealthy for me. More than anything I just want to fit into my old jeans and just maybe fit into a size 6 again.
Like a couple others,I prefer a goal size and the weight I list is what I have figured will most likely put me in that size. That goal weight may (probably will) change as I get closer. I have also been overweight all my life, so I have no idea what I will think of myself at a size 4 (my current goal size), so even that may change. My real goal is to be happy and healthy.
My goal weight changes as I approach the lower numbers. I've been overweight since college (after being 'The Jock' in high school, where it was a lot of muscle) and now that I am seeing loss, I keep aiming for lower. First it was 175 (high school weight) then 160, and now 140ish. I need to start toning and I might find myself happy at 150 but right now, way too much of me jiggles for me to sit back and say "Goal!"
I picked 130 because I have been 130 in the recent past and it therefore seemed doable. I'm not made up the same as I was in high school (105-112) so I don't hope for that. I also had to restrict alot in high school to make that weight and I don't want to starve. I pretty much only ate dinner and exercised a lot. 130 is not even a "healthy" BMI for me but very slightly overweight. Just now I calculated that the upper edge of healthy BMI was 127 but when I changed my goal in my profile I felt discouraged! It's only 3 more pounds but it seemed too hard.
I actually have my goal as a range (117-130). I will see how I feel when I get to 130. But I picked 117 cuz that was my University weight when I wasn't dieting so I know it would be possible to maintain without starving. I would rather be a little chunky than miserable! But just a little. What I am now is going too far.
im 5'7 inches maybe a cm or 1.5 cms more but roughly 5'7. So I found a formula that said 100lbs for females plus 5lbs per inch above 5 feet tall. so thats 135lbs for me. Thats how I choose. I also of course backed this up by finding women that were 5'7 and 130-140lbs and the lower end of the 130s looked best for what I wanted to look like. whether or not itll look good on my body I dont know yet, but thats the thing about goal, its just a guesstimate.
Last edited by CherryQuinn; 12-12-2012 at 05:21 PM.
Goal weight is hard to pick. Whatever you choose, however you choose it, it needs to be right for you - so much of weight loss and maintenance is in our heads.
I did WW between my two children. I really wanted to see 155, I plateaued at 165. Having dieted for a year, my brain was tired of the battle, so I shifted my goal to 165, which is at the highest "healthy" weight according to the charts. I also knew I would be back on the journey after having our second, which is where I am now.
Our bodies are in a very different place than when we were 18, especially if we've had children. For some people that may work but it's not realistic for others.
I though it'd be good to go down to 187 lbs [85 Kg], but my natural weight chose me, and it stopped going down at 172 lbs [78 Kg], so about the level I had in my best years of high school.
I was 98 pounds at 16..then got pregnant with my first child. I have been over weight since. I chose 125 so I could fit back in my jeans in the closet that I refuse to throw out.
I chose 147lbs as it's the highest I can be without being overweight according to BMI charts. Realistically I can't imagine myself at that weight, or rather what I would look like at that number! I'll never have a flat stomach (hello loose skin!) so I'm aiming for a lb number initially. The closet I get it will probably be a dress size goal.
I chose 165 as a goal and currently maintain between 160-165 (sometimes I see 159, not very often though). I picked it because my mom had problems staying at 160 and I tried to convince her to go with 165 (what's 5 lbs in the grand scheme of things)...if looks could kill! Needless to say she had so many problems just staying around 160 that she sorta gave up the fight and gained 30 back.
Given my history of being over weight most of my life (I'm in Grade 7 right now - in a sense that I was this size in Grade 7)...I had to take into account my age and biological history (I was a size 18 when I graduated high school). So I picked a weight I thought I could maintain comfortably hence 165. So far so good, but everyday is a new day right?
I have read articles that say that because I was so heavy I will use 20% less calories of someone my size that has never been over weight. Also that if both her and I were to work out at the same pace she would lose 20% more calories. ALSO, that for each decade you lose 3% of your metabolism.
I'm sorry I don't have links to these articles but I've read them within the last 9 months lol.
But these last few months I've come to the realization that I will eat less and lose less in the gym comparing to someone else my size who has never been over weight. But I'm a size 10-8 and have some 6's in my closet.
Accept the things you can't change and change the things you can right?
