I was thinking about this thread again today.
It's funny how your weight loss journey can evolve. And instead of being discouraged with what's happening on the scale....I must change. I feel like I'm constantly going through metamorphosis during this weight loss journey. Every month it feels like I'm getting closer to the true goal.
...which looks something like this:
(this picture has always been on my dream boards- far before I even decided I needed to lose some lbs)
So today I found a little more serenity. I pulled the BMIs out of my mini-goals and changed my tracker to track fat percentage instead of weight. :: nods :: Good stuff.
Great thread. The BMI chart says I should aim for 170. When I was 15 years old and lost weight and looked AMAZING, I weighed 212 pounds. I may well get to 230 and decide I'm perfect. Most women aren't 6 feet tall with my bone structure.
I'm also aiming for "happy". I'm stronger and in better physical shape than I have EVER been. I'm far from happy with my body. But I'm excited to see how I end up!
Location: Northeastern Ohio But my heart belongs to Canada.
Posts: 369
S/C/G: 290/See Ticker/150
Height: 5ft 4 inches
I hate the BMI chart. To me, it feels like it is setting me up for failure.
At this point, I let my weight get so out of control that I just want to see ONEderland again. 175 would make me very happy and 150 (my current goal) would make me SUPER happy.
However, I would really love to hit 145 and that is STILL considered a bit high from a BMI stand point! What gives?!
I think a good goal weight is one where you FEEL good. When you can move, play, breathe and look in the mirror without tears coming to your eyes and with a SMILE on your face...that is when you've reached your goal.
The more I'm looking at the BMI chart compared to everything else...I'm thinking I might be shooting a little low. I'm fairly tall - although not as tall as Radiojane (which I'm envious of) and I have a pretty large bone structure. Maybe I'll just stop when I decide I'm "hot" enough.
I am still just about 40lbs to get into the "normal" BMI range, still about 15 from just being overweight. The last time I weighed 160lbs I thought I was living so large. I think this time around I'm going to feel like skin and bones at that weight (assuming I can get there!).
I see people who are 5ft 6in with goals of 140 more or less. I don't think I could ever pull that off unless I was very, very sick. It just doesn't even seem feasible for my body.
Last edited by elvislover324; 05-17-2013 at 09:50 PM.
A while back, I had a thread about the Dukan Diet calculator weight, because for many people, the recommended weight from there was higher than a healthy BMI. I think my recommended weight is 181.
I like the Dukan Calculator! First it told me that my current weight has to be bigger than the weight at 18. Well, I am about 50 pounds lighter now than when I was 18! The I lied to the calculator and told it the lightest I weighed at 18 was 180 instead of 250. Well guess what? I am exactly at my Dukan weight, 189! I tried changing the 180 to 155, and it told me my true weight was 187, so I'm thinking after surgery and a little weight lifting, I'll be golden!
Quote:
Originally Posted by punkrocksong
This has been a very helpful and informative thread. I've been starting to think I set me goal way too low. It's not because I don't think I can do the work, I just don't want set myself up for failure. I was at 190 when I was 18 and that's the smallest I've been in my adult life and I was a little chubby but that's because I didn't exercise at all. I have an appointment with a dietician later next month...hopefully that will shed some light on what a realistic goal should be. I suppose I have a while before I really have to worry about it though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by punkrocksong
The more I'm looking at the BMI chart compared to everything else...I'm thinking I might be shooting a little low. I'm fairly tall - although not as tall as Radiojane (which I'm envious of) and I have a pretty large bone structure. Maybe I'll just stop when I decide I'm "hot" enough.
I am 5'9" and in my avatar pic I am 190 pounds. If you click on my profile, you will see another pic, and in that one I think I weigh about 220-230, but it is not full body. I carry all of my weight in my stomach, so I wear a full body slimmer every day to keep all the loose skin (and a bit of fat) from swaying all over the place. I am in a L/XL top (due to some 38DDD's), and 13 jeans. My workout pants/capris are M. My surgeon told me that my ideal weight should be 155, but most BMI charts let me go up to 164ish. I don't know if that is helpful, but I know what it is like to not have a reference point!
I have lots of pics at various weights, so if there is a weight in particular you would like to see(190-350), PM me, and I will arrange that for you!
Chris
Last edited by ikesgirl80; 05-17-2013 at 10:57 PM.
As someone who spent an entire lifetime overweight, let me share my BMI story. When I started this journey, I set my goal at 165 kind of arbitrarily. I thought I was 5'8 where I was actually 5'7 and some change and 165 was the highest "normal" BMI weight. Now bearing in mind I set this goal when I was 275 lbs and had never been 165 at least not since I was maybe 8 years old, I had no expectation of actually reaching this goal. My dream was to get to my high school graduation weight of 207 lbs when I felt the skinniest in my life (I went to boarding school my senior year and dropped weight).
Imagine my shock of getting to 207 lbs and realizing that it was actually not the skinny mini weight I'd imagined. I decided to press on thinking that Onederland would solve everything. Okay so I got to Onederland and yes it was uncountably better than where I started from but I was still chunky. I got to the 180s and they were probably a weight I could have lived with but I was more "pleasantly plump" than "lean mean fighting machine." When I got to the 150s, I was happy. For the first time, I was normal weight and I felt I LOOKED normal weight and coincidentally, this fit in with the upper range of healthy weight for me on the BMI charts (about 24.4). No one would look at me and say I was skinny (except people who knew me at my heaviest and were shocked by the change) but at the same time no one would guess I'd ever been obese.
I want to get down to 140 just to see what it would be like to be actively slim. But that's a vanity goal. The point of my sharing this story is to say that BMI isn't necessarily wrong and your goals can't always be planned in advance. You often never know till you get close how you're going to look or feel at a certain weight. It's as you approach them you can evaluate and re-evaluate how happy you are with your progress and this is never static. So set goals but also feel free to keep the flexible and change them upwards or downwards as you approach them.
toastedsmoke - that's a really good point. I set 160 kind of arbitrarily as well and I'm just going to keep losing until I feel comfortable with my body again. I'm sure I will change my ultimate goal up or down once I get closer. I have a very large bone structure though so I might get to 180-190 and feel comfortable.
My Mom is 5'7 and she got down to 135 at one point and she looked anorexic which is why I'm not sure anything lower than 160 will work for me as I inherited her sturdy bone structure. I suppose only time will tell - but I have a long road ahead of me and I'm just going to keep moving one day at a time.
Last edited by punkrocksong; 05-20-2013 at 08:56 AM.
Great thread. The BMI chart says I should aim for 170. When I was 15 years old and lost weight and looked AMAZING, I weighed 212 pounds. I may well get to 230 and decide I'm perfect. Most women aren't 6 feet tall with my bone structure.
I'm also aiming for "happy". I'm stronger and in better physical shape than I have EVER been. I'm far from happy with my body. But I'm excited to see how I end up!
RADIOJANE That is the right goal. AIMING FOR HAPPY,
The BMI charts mostly don't deliniate for men and women.
I have been happy in high school and college at 225lbs. and I never felt stronger than then. Of course I was 18 or 21 years old. LOL!
i recently got to my goal of 100lb. lost and moved the goal weight to 175lbs.
which i will take my sweet time doing because I'm happy with what I've done so far and as long as I don't fall back into old habits, i'll get there. now the BMI caharts say that in order to not be considered overweight I should be 168lbs. That is kind of silly since my 6'1" or 2" 195lb. husband just falls into the overweight category as well. i mean he has a 33" waist and wears a belt on 34" size pants! I couldn't find an area to pinch on him if I tried.
At least the WEB MD site uses a rational that a waist to height ratio of 50% or under is a good measure. That seems attainable for most folks. By that measure he is .45. i have a little way to go to get to 50% but can do.
I'm almost 5'10" and envy your height radiojane.
so you see ? it's good to be tall!!
You are doing amazing. Really great. just remember to AIM FOR HAPPY AS YOU SAID. and Good LUCK
I am so glad you posted this Lunar! I have never, in my entire life, fit into the BMI chart in order to be healthy. I am 5'5 and have fantastic blood work and overall health when I am anywhere in the range of 175-190lbs. If I weigh more than 5 lbs less than 175, I start to look sick and feel awful.
I'm glad to hear that you got a healthy weight to meet! My husband and I spoke with my doctor and she agreed that once I reach 205-Onederland I would be suitable to be able to have a healthy pregnancy once we start trying for a baby. (That would also be sometime in 2014) I'm glad to hear the news with you!
Those BMI charts really aren't for everyone, especially for people who exercise regularly. My anatomy professor (a certified nutritionist) has said that a new BMI chart might be coming out within the next few years, one that is for athletes. She said athletes, or people who exercise in general, can add 15-20 pounds to those in the BMI chart and still be healthy. It's all about muscle mass!
I am 5'2" and according to the BMI chart I am right on the line between overweight and obese. However, considering I wear a size 12 pant I don't put much stock into it. That being said, I do have a very petite frame - I have very small, hands, feet, and shoulders. So I really should lose some weight because I think it would be beneficial for me. I am too young (18) to have had any cholesterol blood work or anything like that, but there are a lot of health problems that run in my family related to being overweight/obese. And even though I know I am not a large person, I don't currently feel comfortable at my present weight.
I do want to lose weight, and my ultimate goal weight of 120 (I haven't been that weight since I was 11 I think) is technically in the middle of the "normal" BMI range, I am doing this more for me and my health than to be considered "normal."
I just added 20lbs to my goal weight. There is NO WAY that I want to weigh less than 175 in the next 12 mos. Could I get down to my original goal weight of 155 in the next year? Yes. Do I want to be there? No. I want to be strong and frankly a little bit heavy. To be honest I don't want to weigh less than 185 while I'm still playing rugby. (I plan to semi-retire after the end of next season and then I will try to lose a little more weight as I will be willing to let some of my muscle mass go at that point.)
However, I DO want to change my body fat percentage.
However, I DO want to change my body fat percentage.
Hear, Hear!
I was just reading a story in a triatholon magazine that a woman went from 155 pounds and a size 12 to weighing 155 pounds and wearing a size 6.
She didn't lose a SINGLE pound on the scale, but isn't her size in change incredible? What if she gave up because the silly scale wasn't moving?
When I was fit, way back when nearly 12 years ago, I was 161 pounds and everyone always told me I looked too thin, even then. I had huge breasts (we are talking DDD), I wore on average a size 6, and was insanely active so I chalked it up to a disportionate body. Then life threw a curve ball with a car wreck and dietary issues (oh....you should eat protein if you are a vegetarian. Opps. I guess that is what happens when the rest of your family is a carnivore and you are never properly taught.)
Anyways, I had my goal weight set to 150, thinking now that my breasts are smaller thanks to a reduction, that would be a fine and dandy weight. And then, I decided just a few days ago, that 135 would be my goal as it would give me some wiggle room and still be able to maintain the healthy BMI.
And then, I stumbled across this thread. Well. Crap.
Some research done, some calculations done...and double crap. I WAS too skinny apparently! I have ALWAYS had a high muscle percentage....even at 293 pounds, I measured in with a fat percentage of 35 and some change %. I am now hovering around 31%. If I keep going and reach my "goal" of 135, I would be looking at 0%, which is REALLY unhealthy! Triple crap
Looks like all the calculations out there point to me having an ideal weight of 171. Dang. Crap. I guess I'll rechange my goal weight again...and see what 170 looks like before I decide to go on down the line again.
Zoesmom- I wouldn't worry about it. I think goal weights are kind of silly...trying to guess what our body already knows. I'm personally going to continue eating healthy and living an active lifestyle- and maybe I'll get to a lower weight that I never thought was possible (I read stories about this happening all the time.)
It just bums me out when people set goals that aren't really feasible for their body and then feel emotionally awful when they don't reach those goals. Having a goal can be wonderful motivation, but you also don't want to see people set themselves up for failure, you now?
The number on the scale seems to own people. For me- having a concrete goal just solidifies that ownership. But I don't want the scale to own me.
I do actually go to a weight loss center- my goal there will be whatever weight I am when I run out of membership time. My goal here will be the weight I hit whenever I find out I'm pregnant.
I think it's helpful to determine WHY having a goal is important. What happens when you hit goal? Will you increase calories to start maintaining that weight? Will you go back to eating certain things? Will you exercise less?
I'm intuitively eating and only eat whatever I want to eat- whenever I am hungry and stop when I hit a point of diminishing returns. This will always be the case. I feel like I'm living maintenance and still losing weight. For me- having a goal would tell me when I could post my "GOOOOAAALLLL" post or when they would celebrate me at the center. If that's the case- I could pick non-weight goals, which I did.
