Ideal goal weight??
 

Hi all,

Happy Monday!

So I am on week 23 of Ideal Protein and am down 84lbs.

As I get closer to goal (I am 201 today, so close to Onederland!!!), I have been researching more about what my goal weight should be.

I did the Dukan calculation which actually made sense as it took in to account your obesity history (and knowing how many fat cells you are likely to have) and a bunch of other stuff which made total sense.

Because I have a really high lean mass, the Dukan calculator said my ideal weight is around 180lbs. I was FLABBERGASTED and also a tad excited!

I have been basing my goal on the upper limit of body fat in the range I was given (I am aiming for 33% body fat) and after doing other calculations as well, it works out that my goal body fat level will have my weight somewhere between 172 and 180.

This makes me feel amazing as this means I only have about 25lbs to get to goal and can start phasing off. That seems like a high weight still but the more I educate myself about these other factors, the more it makes sense and that really, the number on the scale is the least important of them all apparently.

I would love your thoughts and feedback about this. What has everyone else looked at as their goal and what have you based it upon?

PS for the record, my heaviest was 360lbs, so 180 will mean I have halved my weight. That alone is reason to feel as great about it as I do!!!

Clover wow, first, congratulations on all of your dedication and hard work and success.
I've only been on maintenance now for a matter of months, so I'm not the expert, but so far for me the book "Refuse to Regain" has been really helpful, and you can also google their website for some great blog posts about goal weights.
For me, I think if you are happy at 180, and can maintain there the rest of your life, then that is a huge, huge success. I am starting to learn it's not about the perfection of a certain weight for me, it's finding the healthy one I feel good at, and can maintain without fluctuation. The win will be maintaining, not how thin can I get for 2 months but then can't sustain or feel like I am living a lifestyle that I want.

CloverDog ~ That is awesome! Congrats.

This is a pretty interesting topic. I was wondering how people always set a goal for themselves. I set a goal for myself that I know I should be able to obtain. Once I get there I can decide if I want to change my goal. I looked up the BMI chart today, according to this I would need to lose an additional 25 lbs besides the goal I had set for myself.

We will see where I am at once I hit my goal of 155 and just go from there.

according to those charts I'm suppose to be 118
forget that!! I'm aiming for 125-130

Wow, this is sucha great response and really speaks to me. The maintaining piece is HUGE. This makes SO much sense, thank you very much. I am going to order a copy of that book.

Right now, I am thinking of getting down to 180lbs, phasing off and then sticking to eating clean and incorporating exercise. I know the clean eating alone will see me lose a few more lbs.

This is all so exciting. It is hard to believe I am getting close. I will hopefully be under 200 this week, which is a major milestone for me and unknown territory!

Thanks again for the responses!

Yes, thank you, Grateful! I ordered the book as well.

Just downloaded a sample to my Nook, so I can check it out this week.

I think my goal weight is about to choose me...! :dizzy:

Just requested Refuse to Regain from the library. G4H, you've mentioned this book several times and I am interested to check it out! I also have a book Better than Before ready at the library. Pretty sure someone her recommended that one too. Glad to find books that can help in our journey!

Clover - I picked a weight almost out of the air based (and somewhat based on BMI range). As I lost, it became clearer to me that weight was not realistic for me and I increased my final weight goal by 10 lbs.

I think this is a number that you can continue to fine tune as you lose. It is really hard to pick a number unless you were at that weight before and knew it was a weight that worked for you. You could adjust your goal to 180 today and adjust it again when you hit 190...or even 180.

I know it is motivational to have that countdown to goal too. For me, at a certain point my coach encouraged me to pick a date and to plan to start phasing off no matter if I hit that magic number. That in itself can play tricks with your mind if you are really focused on "seeing" a certain number on the scale.

I guess, what I am saying is pick a number but don't be afraid to pick a new number as you continue to lose and see how your body, weight and body fat % changes.

Good luck!