[wecandoitladies]

Helllo you wonderful inspiring and motivating women!!!

I am new to the world of dieting but have always wanted to have a cute little body yet never had any idea how to get it. My very successful weight-loosing friend said she always sets goals. What a great idea!! Her goal was to lose 30 lbs by her 30th bday.

I saw a photo of myself about 5 weeks ago and said whoa! You are not looking cute! Get moving!!!

So here I am, counting calories, exercising, feeling sexy! But don't have a goal!! I wrote a goal weight on my profile here, but it was a number I kinda just made up.

My only substantial weight loss I had was about 2.5 years ago when I went thru a bad breakup. Very unhealthy type of I-can't-eat-or-sleep-syndrome. I was about 133 lbs.( And gained it all back). 5'5 and 135 is not underweight at all, in fact I still felt heavy. But I was wearing a size 3 levi's skinny jeans, and levi's is not a company to oversize their numbers the way that many stores do
Now.
By the way all my weight is all in my thighs and love handles! But my stomach is the last place i gain weight. Even now at 145 lbs I have a 27" waist. My point is, looking at women my height, average height, who are thin, weigh 115 or 120 lbs.

So is that my goal? I just don't know what my goal is supposed to be! How do you figure your ideal weight??

[berryblondeboys]

Honestly, I would worry less about the number on the scale and think more about your fitness level. If you want to get rid of love handles and big thighs, starting hitting the gym with weight training (I take bodypump) and some cardio. At least 5 times a week, with 2 times a week being weight training.

There was a thread going around for awhile what showed how reshaping your body is most often what people need/want instead of losing weight when they are already at a good weight for their height. Which you are. Sure, you might want to lose a little, but toning seems to be what you really seem to be desiring.

Maybe someone will link the article image again... I need to save it to my favorites!

[lackadaisy]

I think 125 is a good number to start with -- reevaluate when you hit it, and figure it out from there. The goal isn't as important as the process of reaching it -- you can always decide you want to be a little slimmer, but choose something reasonable that you know for SURE will be a healthier, fitter, happier weight for you.

I picked 110 as my first goal weight -- now that I'm about there (110-113), I think I will push on for a few more pounds, but I don't view it as a "must lose weight" issue as much as a bit more toning and staying responsible about my body. But getting started with the right habits is always tough, so the important thing is to set a goal you believe in and just begin. Good luck!

[KatieC87]

Like you, I just pulled a number out of thin air. My mom was 150 when she stopped dieting in 2008, and she looked awesome, wore a size 6. So I thought that would be a good goal.

I just want to get to a size that I feel good about. If my weight stayed where it is now but I wore a size 8, I would be fine stopping here or at least take a break and enjoy maintenance for a while. (Someday I would love to be a size 6 again, but I'd have to buy a whole new wardrobe, which I am not ready to do.) So I focus much more on making it to the gym every day than I do on maximizing the pounds I lose every week. Don't get me wrong, if my weight loss completely stalled, I wouldn't be happy about it. But I'd keep doing what I'm doing because the exercise is helping me lose inches and make it to my goal size.

I think your ideal weight finds you, not the other way around. You lose until you feel good, and then you stop. You figure out what level is maintainable and stop. (For instance, if the calories needed to maintain your goal weight at your activity level are too low, then the goal weight is unsustainable for you.) I'm okay knowing that I might find that place before I get to 150. I'm also okay knowing I might not find it until 130. It's a number that means very little for me in the grand scheme of things.

[Unthinkables]

I'm so thankful you started this thread because I had many of the same questions. I truly pulled a number out of thin air. "Oh... 20 pounds seems reasonable." But that was the extent of my research. I've decided that it's really toning rather than weight loss I'm trying to achieve. Don't get me wrong though......I wouldn't mind losing some pounds in my hips and thighs either.



The nearly impossible feat, for me! Good luck on your journey! It seems we're going through a similar challenge.. so if you need support- I'm here!

[berryblondeboys]

Originally Posted by KatieC87

I think your ideal weight finds you, not the other way around. You lose until you feel good, and then you stop. You figure out what level is maintainable and stop. (For instance, if the calories needed to maintain your goal weight at your activity level are too low, then the goal weight is unsustainable for you.) I'm okay knowing that I might find that place before I get to 150. I'm also okay knowing I might not find it until 130. It's a number that means very little for me in the grand scheme of things.

This is actually what we all need to start thinking. Eat right, exercise regularly. Never eat until you are full, but never letting yourself stay hungry and if you can maintain eating like that, then that's the number you will be. A number is just a number. It means nothing really. What is it to reach say, 125 to not be able to keep it at 125? Yet, you might be able to maintain 129 with relative ease.

[puneri]

Hi there,

I thot everybody sets goal according to healthy BMI and least adult weight.
I do not know rationale about least adult weight, will some1 throw some light?

[kaplods]

I think we tend to look at goals weights as if they're some kind of magic number, and if we're exactly on that magic number we're successful, and if we're even a pound or two away from the magic number we're a failure.

There is no magic number, and YOU get to decide what weight is right for you - even if it's not within the "healthy weight" chart.

I wish I'd felt this way twenty or thirty years ago. My worst diet catastrophy ever was in high school. I'd managed to lose 70 lbs of the 75 my doctor wanted me to lose. My goal was 150, and I was 155. I couldn't get those last 5 lbs off, no matter how hard I tried, and my doctor (perhaps thinking I had stopped trying and believed I was close enough) lowered my goal to 145.

Instead of being ok with 155, or trying to keep heading toward 150 or 145, it felt like I was doomed to failure. If I was still "way too fat" at 155 and couldn't even make it to 150, how was I going to make it to 145? I decided that I couldn't - and that if I was too fat at 155, that meant I would never succeed, and if I was doomed to failure, I might as well at least get to eat what I wanted to.

If instead I had realized that every pound counts, and that even if I couldn't reach my ultimate goal I had a right to change the goal, I would never have made it to 394 lbs.

The goal isn't nearly as important as we make it. Maintaing as healthy a weight and lifestyle is far more important. And there is no single magic number. A healthy range has wiggle room, at least 5 to 10 lbs each way. You're not going to be healthy at 125 lbs, but too fat at 135 or too thin at 115.

I'm not saying that vanity pounds are entirely unimportant. Ten pounds can make a difference in how you feel you look, but you get to decide where you want to stop. If you're going outside the healthy weight chart numbers (above or below), you may be endangering your health, but you and your doctor can determine whether you're where you need to be.

Right now, my goal is still in the morbidly obese category, but I haven't seen that weight in nearly 25 years. Maybe I'll decide that I don't want to go any further. Probably I'll decide that I can do more, and will work towards a lower goal, and maybe when I reach it, I'll decide to go lower.

You get to decide what your weight is supposed to be, and whether you want to get or stay there. Your doctor can help you decide whether your weight is appropriate for your height and activity level, but it's going to be a weight range, not a magic number.

[Lovely]

You sound like a person who might actually benefit from focusing more on fitness than on the number the scale shows.

A few pounds here or there may not make or break you, but adding some muscle while reducing your body fat percentage could help you to get the body look that you're hoping for.

The scale may or may not show much of a difference on your journey, but it could be that you want to use a tape measure as your guide to lose inches as you work on increasing fitness level, building muscle, and eating healthier.

[runningfromfat]

A very big yes to lifting and working on body recomposition. I've been 185lbs without lifting and with lifting (where I am right now). Right now I'm wearing a size smaller than when I was here in the past and that's even after having one baby (and two pregnancies) in between. I can even see definition in my arms/legs even with the extra fat still there.

As for my goal weight, I took my frame, age, height, etc into consideration. I have a large frame and have always been pretty muscular so the lower end of my BMI wasn't even a consideration for me. Also, I've been 140lbs in high school and I was able to maintain that relatively easily (as long as I wasn't eating non-stop junk, which was basically what happened when I hit college). I'm not 100% sure I'll make it to 140lbs because I'm lifting now so I might feel better at a higher weight but I know I at least want to make it to 155lbs to hit a healthy BMI range.

[KatieC87]

Originally Posted by puneri

Hi there,

I thot everybody sets goal according to healthy BMI and least adult weight.
I do not know rationale about least adult weight, will some1 throw some light?

BMI is a VERY general guide for underweight, normal, overweight, and obese numbers. I know some people here put more stock in it than others, but I cannot get behind it at all. Weight is such a small indication of overall health. For instance, some athletes weigh so much because of muscle that the BMI would classify them as overweight or obese when they are in fact very healthy. A better indication of health is body fat percentage, waist measurements (as an indicator of heart disease), etc.

I'm not sure what you mean by "least adult weight," unless you're saying the lowest a person could weigh and be considered healthy by BMI standards. If that's what you mean, for our height (5'4), that would be 108 pounds. Yikes! lol Don't think I've weighed that little since I was maybe 11 years old.