Was it a weight you remember being? Is it based on a health chart? Why did you pick the goal weight you have?
I had picked 165, just because it seemed realistic for my body type.
Then I saw other women my height with much lower goal weights. Also, I like the idea of some day being able to say I lost 100 lbs, so I changed my goal.
I have never been 145 in my adult life. I don't know if I could. I'm going to try. Whenever I start thinking its low, I see someone my height or taller with 140, 135...
I picked 150 because I've never been in the "normal" BMI category. I feel I would be really comfortable around 175 (never going above again). I want to be 150 because it's a nice, solid number and it gives me some wiggle room as I age.
Last edited by chavwright; 07-11-2009 at 11:15 PM.
I've changed my goal weight a few times. At first, it was 150. But I'm about 13 pounds away from that goal and there is still a LOT of fat on me. The spare tire around my waist hasn't budged. (But the girls are smaller, as are my legs) So I had to re-evaluate.
I checked what the other 5'7 girls on the site had as goals and I looked at where it fell on the BMI graph. 135 seemed to be the most common goal, and it falls at a 21 BMI, right in the middle of the healthy weight range. I also asked my sister (who is the same height as me and quite fit), what her weight was and padded it a bit. She weighs in in the 120s, I'm aiming for mid 130s. Seems about right.
But my "goal weight" is just a number. For me, the way I feel about my body is more important. If I'm comfortable at 143.3, that's exactly where I'll stop. I just want to look and feel my best.
My original goal was 150 lbs..just thought it was a good weight..not too low or too high and my BMI would be in the normal range. Once I reached my goal I kept losing and was honestly amazed...Then I said well perhaps I should change my goal to 140...but NO less...I don't want to be really scrawny with bones sticking out..lol...I've been in the 140-142 lb range since last October and I am really comfortable at this weight.
AND YES...I am proof that you CAN be 145 in your adult life..even though you've never been before...when I was in grade 12...so 17-18 yrs old I was a size 11-13 and now i'm a size 4-6....I cannot remember ever being this weight/size even throughout my teenage years...so yes chicky it's possible!!!!! Keep working hard and it will all pay off.
Good luck with everything!
Last edited by angelanicole23; 07-11-2009 at 11:40 PM.
Picked mine because it's the very top of the BMI chart for my height at "normal", and I have a large bone structure and some good base muscles because of my training activities (running etc)
I might settle for a higher number if I feel healthy and strong and not too pudgy when I get there... but for now it's just something to aim towards. BMI isn't really the best guideline but it is good for a rough guess at this point. Who knows I might get buff and ambitious and aim for 140, but no way of telling right now this far away from it.
Plus the last time I remember feeling anywhere close to normal was at about 150 (well I thought I was heavy then but how silly looking back on that!)
Well mine is 140 right now, even though I've been about 10lbs lighter than that in my adult life. I set it based on losing *only* body fat and aimed for a percentage of 18%. I pretty quickly discovered that was unrealistic, as I've been losing lean body mass as well as fat, in spite of strength training. So I might set it lower once I get there. I feel good now at 153 though For me, it's more a matter of only doing things that I can see maintaining for a lifetime, so I'm going to keep doing those things and see where it gets me. If I don't lose any more and just maintain, that would be ok too. Sometimes I want to shoot for the moon and get to 120 tho
It seems like a healthy weight for me, plus its what i put on my license! lol I want to try and get down to 135 if I can, but we will see once I reach my initial goal how I look and feel and what my body fat is, so it could be changing. Its just a rough estimate.
i chose mine because it seemed like a good number. haha. it's close to a "normal" bmi, and i figure it's low enough that after i have kids and put weight back on, i'll have a lot of fudge room before i hit my highest weight again. i actually might end up changing it to higher because i'm starting to even out and i think this may be the low weight my body naturally leans towards (it was where it stuck on my way up the scale a while a go, and back down after that)
I just took ten pounds below my lowest adult weight, which is still above my healthy bmi. But I have an abnormally heavy bone structure for my height and am a mesomorph to boot, so matching my recommended BMI would likely be unhealthy for me
I figure I can always change my goal once I get there, but I wanted to be realistic.
I chose 190 because I have been there before and it was comfortable. 186, my lowest in 10 years, was too thin for my frame, height, and physical comfort. Once you get to your true destined weight, you'll know.
I think you just have to settle on a reasonable number - somewhere within healthy BMI, and then when you are 20lbs or so away from that, you might re-evaluate it up or down....
It is just a figure that most of us pick as a round number, I doubt that too many maintainers who had picked say 150, will maintain at that exact weight always, they might have stopped at 160, or found that 144 was the number for them.
I think its always going to be a rough estimate that you will have to alter a little bit when you get down closer to it.
I have picked 154 as it is mid BMI range, and I have been 172 in the past, and still could have done with losing a bit more. But I think when I am down to 175 or so, I will re-evaluate and pick what seems like the best target then!
I picked 143 because, even though it seems impossibly far away and skinny now, I know my sisters are all around that weight and look womanly yet still very fit.
It seems extra intimidating because I can't actually remember weighing that little, I think I must have been about 14.
But it's smack in the middle of a healthy BMI for me.
How did you set your goal weight?
For me, it's more a matter of only doing things that I can see maintaining for a lifetime, so I'm going to keep doing those things and see where it gets me. If I don't lose any more and just maintain, that would be ok too. Sometimes I want to shoot for the moon and get to 120 tho 
