mine is based off a weight i was happy at and bmi.
although i looked best at higher weight with more muscle.
so the mirror will be my indicator

Ugh - I'm not normally a negative nelly but those BMI charts can be WAY off! I chose my weight based on a previous weight I was able to maintain. If I went by the charts I should weigh about 120-125. At 148 I am on the lower end of a size 6 and could snug into a 4 if I wanted to. If I went by the charts I would be unhealthy and gaunt! According to the calculation, my BMI is very high normal range.

I am such a firm believer that we should only use a number as a gauge of progress and that's it. It's how you feel and look that matters. Those charts miss so many points it's insane.

You couldn't be more correct on this! BMI's can be extremely misleading. They are a good starting point, but I think everyone needs to keep an open mind about their individual body type!

I am unsure what to make my goal so I just put it 100lbs less then my starting weight because I am sure my body would be happy to get the weight off.
As I have never been small and have no weight goal based on the past, so I am going to go by how I feel and how I look. I am not sure that is best method but as I have no idea how else to set my goal.

I think that's a perfect method!

I did the same- I couldn't deal with the idea of having more than 100 lbs to lose, so I subtracted 100 and rounded to the nearest 5. When I get there (when, not if) I will see what that looks and feels like, and decide where I want to go from there. It's probably been 25 years since I have weighed less than 160, so I have no concept of what it will feel like.

I let my dr choose it for me. Im 5'9" and she said anywhere between 139-150. I'd be happy anywhere between those 2 points.

My coach just told me on my first visit my Ideal weight was 195. I am aiming for that, but I imagine once I get there I will probably be more satisfied with around 175, which is over my BMI scale thing, but comfortable for me. I will just see how it goes!

As a gal who is close to both of your height (& 278 starting weight), I originally set my goal weight at 180 lbs (basically, losing 100 lbs). Now that I am at 185 and in a size 14, I have shifted my goal to 170 lbs...I want to see what that looks/feels like and what my body fat % is at. My coach & I discussed this just this morning, and according to the BMI index, 158 lbs would be the absolute high end of the "healthy" range for me. With that said, both my doctor and my coach have said that it is FAR better for me to find a weight that works for me, and that I can maintain. If I am 10 lbs over "healthy" BMI and stay there, it is far better than yo-yo-ing.

Thanks for the encouragement, I am so glad I am not the only one who was winging it.
GemIAm Congratulations on your weight loss wow, you are proving to me it is possible!! You are doing exactly what I am hoping to do if and when I get to my "goal weight" is to see if I need to adjust my goals then. If there is anything being fat for so long taught me is that weight is just a number, I want to go by how I look and feel. I don't want to look gaunt or unhealthy either having lost to much weight as I think that can be just as hard on our bodies.

Thanks for the encouragement- nice to hear from someone who has made it to the other side!

I think this is really good advice. I would rather be happy and comfortable at 145 than miserable and frustrated trying to stay at 130. I'll see where my body wants to be, and not worry about charts or numbers excessively.

This has been a tricky one. I'm 5'2, small boned, and 55 years old, all of those factors played into my decision. If I went by my height and bone structure I was aiming for 125 to 130 pounds. However after much research I found out my weight history and bulit up muscle as a result of carrying around all of that weight for all of these years HAS to play into that also, so with some help from my doctor and a nutritionist it was decided 150 would be a healthy weight I could reach and more importantly maintain. I was advised that while I might get lower than that, and that was a big might, I would probably have an extremely difficult time maintaining anything lower.

I have about 20 more pounds to get to my goal of 150. While I had 130 as a goal for a long time in my mind, I know by looking at me and how I feel now that 150 would feel just about right. I also carry around a fair amount of lose skin, so my 150 on the scale would actually be less without the extra skin. Hopefully with time and strength training that will get better over time also.

I struggled with this, too. My goal right now is weight loss for a wedding. So I decided to pick a realistic goal weight and give myself the freedom to keep going after the wedding if I hit that number.