[WaterWater]

I would really like to get to the point that my weight does not matter to me as much as being healthy, but I am not quite there yet. I am wondering this morning... how do you figure out what your goal should be? If I know that I have a good healthy plan of eating and I do a little exercise each day, should I just continue with that and see what weight my body decides to settle at? I think that I can continue this way of eating and my current level (or maybe a little more) of exercise, hopefully for a lifetime, so 'maintenance' would be the same thing that I am doing now.

Is that a good plan, or should I look at charts and see what they say my goal should be? It seems that every chart has a different high/low weight for my height, so which should I go with? The one that I am looking at now - it is a copy and I am not even sure where I got it from - says that my high weight should be 153 but I cannot even IMAGINE myself ever being that low. I chose 175 because it sounded like a weight I could actually reach when I started, BUT 175 is still considered overweight on most of the charts, so that is probably still too much. I remember when I joined Weight Watchers a few years ago and at my first weigh in I weighed 249 (my all time high). They told me that I needed to weight 149 -- exactly 100 lbs that I needed to lose. I cried and cried because that number sounded so high and it was something that I never thought I could do. Maybe I chose a 70 lb loss so that it would make me feel better even though I am not being very honest with myself?

Like I said, I KNOW I should not be stressing over this, but I just can't help it! I am trying my best to take this one day at a time, but I still would like to have a goal in sight. Any advice?

[HarpoChicoGroucho]

I'm thinking about changing my goal weight myself. I don't even know why I chose 150. It's based on nothing. My official "out of overweight zone" (according to BMI) is 159, but I want to be a bit smaller than that. I think I'll change it to 153.5. And then I'll have exactly reduced my body in half. And that's an interesting story to tell.

You can continue to see what your body settles at, but it may settle at a weight you aren't happy with.

I think you shouldn't pay attention to the charts ~ you'll know when you become comfortable with your body. It might be 175 or you might find it to be lower than that. Why not consider the 175 a short term goal and leave the long term goal undetermined?

[Kate109]

Mmmmhh....I have to admitt that I am more or less feed up with that "Your ideal weight charts".

I choosed my Goal weight because itīs such a nice number...you know, if you take my height in centimetres, minus 100, multiply it with two= thatīs my goal weight in pounds.
I wasnīt that skinny (?) for decades- I have no idea how this is going to look like. Maybe I donīt like it....maybe itīs too skinny, maybe itīs ok...

According to that BMI- thing my goal weight should be under 136 pounds.

My real goal is not weigh, itīs more a look...I have a certain look I want to reach (which is far away from skinny), but you couldnīt express that in numbers.
But I guess that my goal weight is close to that "Look".


But I try not to stress about numbers on the scale (ok, I TRY TO...). I made the experience that a lot of people actually have no idea how 130 pounds look like- you know what I want to say? Itīs possible that you look smaller than the numbers on your scale or bigger....

Kate

[ScooterGirl]

I know what you mean about those stupid charts! According to my height I should be about 135ish. Now I dunno what I'll actually look like at 135 because I dont ever remember being that skinny. I was probably around 12. But I think thats gonna be too little for me. Of course I do remember being 150 and I thought I was fat then! But I think that was because I was a teenager and I had a less than realistic body image. I wonder if I'll still feel that way if I ever get down to it again.

[mammasita]

Thats a really good question.....I chose 150 because thats pretty much in the middle of the range for a LARGE frame for someone of my height 5'7". The range is 143-163. Ok maybe I'll change it to 153 LOL

[ellis]

I'm with the others, Water. Trash the charts!

I hear you. It's so difficult to know what to do when we have all kinds of information thrown at us.
Like you said, the "big picture" can be pretty overwhelming.
What if you decided on a current goal of 20 pounds with a reassessment of your feelings at that point? I know you want to lose more, but saying, "I'm going to lose 80 pounds" or whatever just looks impossible to some of us.
I think we often set ourselves up for failure. I have to stop saying, "I'm going to lose 60 pounds", because it just looks too big. I know it's going to take about a year, and I'm going to yoyo like I always do.
That's why a lot of people here have two tickers... one of them with a mini-goal.

I'd loved to be the 128 I weighed through college, but right now I'd be happy at 160. Actually, today I'd be happy at 199.
It's all relative. Set your sights lower (I mean set your weight goal higher. heh heh), and I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised at how good you'll look when you get there.

[MyThreeTots]

Mine is based on what I weighed before I became pregnant with my second son in 2002. (He was born in 2003.) I never lost the baby weight with him before getting pregnant with my third son. So my biggest (har har) goal is to get back down to where I was before I went "round two" with having babies. ("Round one" was my first son in 1986. Never even thought there'd be a round two, so I'm very grateful!)

[gremlina]

Ugh! I hate those charts too because I am short but I have a large frame and most just don't account for that... Well I chose my goal weight of 140-145 years and years ago (back the thousand time I tried to lose weight) based on old US military standards because I wanted to lose weight to join the military. I just stuck with that..if I reach my goal weight then I would be considered on the borderline overweight/normal.. Now WW said I should go for like 135 I think but I would be happy with 145 since I really can't remember the last time I was that (maybe I was like 10?).

[ERnanner]

I know this may sound crazy but I am getting my ideal weight from my cousin. She and I are the same Height and have the same "family" build. She is down to 170 after having her son and she looks great. I think the chart lists me at like 130. I agree that it is more where you look and feel good about yourself. I like having curves ( just not as many as I have now) ha ha.


Sarah