[Jonesie]

Well Im sitting here this morning at 230.8lbs. Getting ready for my 4year old's Preschool Christmas day thinking about how great it feels to not be 'worried' about knocking a toddler over with my butt or breaking a chair when I sit down. I feel normal. Im still obese but I have been all my life. This is the smallest Ive been since senior year in high school, 187 year ago. In May when I started this process I just wanted to feel normal. I wanted to be a big girl not a HUGE girl.

Now that Im here I realize that I have so far to go still but not because of vanity but because I feel like I need to finish this. I want to finish my collections, get all my achievements in, check all the boxes. I was thinking last night that Id like to get to a size 14. Im in an 18 right now. (An 18 in most sizes, some are too small still) But a 14 is still fat.

Finally the question! Is "still fat" a normal goal for someone who started out 304lbs at 5'0"? I feel like I should be looking ahead to a size 6 or not overweight for my height or something healthier than just not as fat as I was before.

+Obviously I know that any weight loss is good and that everyone is different. I guess I just really want to hear your thoughts and experiences on this.+

[oneoftwelve]

Don't worry about it. Just like you knew at 304 pounds you'd be happier/healthier at bit lower, you'll get to your next goal (size 14, I think you said) and ask yourself those same questions. Do I feel healthy/happy here? Is this something I can/want to live with?
Mini goals and constant assessment is the way to do this. You don't know that you'll be happy at a size 6 or a size 10 or a size 2--that's all new territory for you and you need to figure out what works for you when you get there.
I would encourage you to shoot for a healthy BMI, though. It's NOT a perfect indicator, but the way they developed that scale in the first place is a MASSIVE amount of research that showed at what weights per height people tended to be healthiest or have the most health problems.

[Heather]

I went from 300 to 173 and was a size 12. LOVED IT. I had no desire to be a lot smaller. This is a very individual process and you do have to figure out for you.

As for BMI, I would disagree that it's a good measure of health. It's simply calculated based on height and weight but doesn't account for muscle mass. So very healthy people can be considered obese based on this measure.

Also, BMI was not developed on research based on health.

"Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet devised the equation in 1832 in his quest to define the "normal man" in terms of everything from his average arm strength to the age at which he marries. This project had nothing to do with obesity-related diseases, nor even with obesity itself. Rather, Quetelet used the equation to describe the standard proportions of the human build—the ratio of weight to height in the average adult. Using data collected from several hundred countrymen, he found that weight varied not in direct proportion to height (such that, say, people 10 percent taller than average were 10 percent heavier, too) but in proportion to the square of height. (People 10 percent taller than average tended to be about 21 percent heavier.)" (From a good article on BMI history and use: http://www.slate.com/id/2223095/

According to that article, the person who adapted this measure into what we know as BMI never intended it to be used for individuals!
"Keys had never intended for the BMI to be used in this way. His original paper warned against using the body mass index for individual diagnoses, since the equation ignores variables like a patient's gender or age, which affect how BMI relates to health. It's one thing to estimate the average percent body fat for large groups with diverse builds, Keys argued, but quite another to slap a number and label on someone without regard for these factors."

In fact, recent research indicates that people who are overweight are on average as healthy as those who are "normal" based on BMI, and in some cases, overweight individuals have better outcomes than "normal" people.

A long way of saying that if you're interested in health and feeling better and being able to fit in smaller clothes, a size 14 may well be a great goal for you!! You can always re-assess later.

[Jonesie]

oneoftwelve - You're right! I dont know where I will be happy/healthy. And really THAT should be everyone's goal. To be healthy and happy. Thanks for that.

Heather - THANK YOU for that information. Ive honestly not ever checked my BMI because, lets face it, it wasnt going to be good news! Lol.

[matt_H]

No need to worry about it now. Once you get to where you want to be right now you can decide if you are happy or want to go further.

Initially I wanted to get down to 200 pounds (top of the normal BMI). That changed when I got there and I've re-evaluated my goals a couple of times since then.

[lifeasme]

I have a weight I want to get to, and then I will re-evaluate. To me, the thought of being 180 lbs (my first long term goal) seems so far out of reach that I can't even begin to think of anything past that. Actaully, a weight that starts with a 1 at all if going to be nice...but it feels so out of reach.

I say just make little goals and evaluate again whenever you need to.

[LaceyCen]

My (final) goal weight seemed too low for me when I first started, but now I'm noticing a lot of other tall forum members who weigh a lot less than 170. So, who knows? Once I hit it, I may be content. Or, I may decide to go on the low end of 'healthy weight' and drop 20 more lbs.

I would just try to gauge my own feelings. If I was happy with my loss so far, I would go into maintenance. There's no one forcing you to lose more!

[Jonesie]

Thanks for sharing the experiences, it does help to know Im not alone in changing up my goals.
Right now my big thing is to get my arms in a place where I can get a new tattoo on my upper arm/shoulder that Ive been wanting for a while without being too embarrassed to show it off. But I guess thats more of state of mind goal than a state of body. We shall see when (yes when!) I get to that size 14.

[Eliana]

Here's my advice. Pick a higher goal weight! LOL! I wish I had! I'm currently playing mental games with myself. I like where I am, but I chose a smaller goal, so I have to get to it. I wish I'd chosen a higher goal because I could reach it, say I did it, and then decide from there if I wanted to keep going or not.

Size 14 is a very nice to be! It's normal, no longer in the plus section, and away from the dreaded "W" sizes I could never figure out. You may wish to maintain there for a while and then you may decide to go further. You will know and your body will tell you. There's nothing at all wrong with aiming for a size 14. MOST important will be your numbers: waist size, blood pressure, blood sugars, and cholesterol.