I'm curious as to what markers people use for deciding what their goal should be, or alternatively when they are too heavy and it's time to diet. Here are mine. I find measuring scarier than weighing myself, so I am more likely to go by dress size, then weight, until I feel more confident about how much I've lost. I'm pretty much a featherweight, I've never been overweight for long and it didn't get too bad, and I'm dieting for the second time in my life (aged 37).

Time to diet:

* Going up a dress size. I don't mean when buying new clothes, they vary a lot, I mean when my current clothes are consistently too small.

* Getting into the "overweight" category of the new BMI. I don't think it's the end of the world to be there, but I've been slimmer than that for most of my adult life, that's where I have clothes that fit, and I'd like to stay in that area. I use the new BMI as it's better suited to people who are particularly short or tall. That gives me a slightly lower weight range than the old BMI. The top end of the healthy range seems to fit well for me, but the lower end is too low for me now I'm in my thirties, though it was fine when I was a teenager.

Goal:

* Waist in the healthy range for the waist-height ratio, i.e. less than half my height. I am a thorough apple shape, I put on weight on my torso and lose it from my hips, so I am not even going to try for the healthy range in the waist-hip ratio. Last time I think I just about managed to get out of the "extreme risk" range of the waist-hip ratio when I was about 105lb!

* Flattish belly.

* Fitting into my usual bras without overflowing, but stopping before my breasts get deflated. I always wear Bravado Body Silk bras, which are stretchy maternity sleep bras, in the small size.

* In terms of weight, I think that's about 105-110lb for me, which is around 21.6 on the old BMI and 23ish on the new BMI. I'll decide when I get closer.

I have struggled with my weight since my early 20's. I have managed to lose it, regain, lose it, gain and then some. What made me decide I needed to do something this time was seeing pictures of myself. I've been avoiding being in pictures but on vacation family took photos and shared them with me. I can't continue to hide or pretend I'm not big...I am.

I too am an apple. I don't have a specific goal set, I'll know when I get there. I would like to fit into a size 10, but would be happy with a 12. Measurements are more important to me than the number on the scale.

I wish it had hit me earlier, but this time what really got me into the "have to change things" mode was the horrifying reality setting in that I reached the highest weight I ever have. My bmi is at the high end of "obese" now and is knocking at the door of "extremely obese". I've developed joint pain in the last year (and I'm only 21!) and am at the point again of being out of breath after going up a flight of stairs. I still have a closet full of size small clothes from two years ago and it makes me sad to know that I no longer fit into any of them.

I forgot to mention that I know some people use other health markers, like blood pressure. My blood pressure runs low, so that's not a useful one for me in terms of my weight.

I applaud you for having the courage to know your weight when it hit you that you needed to start losing it. I didn't buy a scale until I'd been dieting for a month and could see the changes! Well, last time. This time I hadn't put on nearly as much, but it still took a while to pluck up the courage to feed the scale new batteries.

I've set my goal through BMI, just checked and at 170cm (5'7) the old/new makes very little difference.

At the moment I've a BMI of 31, and probably at my lowest adult weight was around 27.... I think I will be slim going on skinny at 25 and 20 would be too thin for me, but, who knows? I'm using BMI as a guide but also how I feel and look and for starters having all the pants in my wardrobe fitting me!

I also use BMI. I've been, through being sick, 103 before, and it was great (not the sickness, the skinniness)! So I know that a BMI of 18.8 works for me. I don't know if I'll go beyond that, to a medically-safe BMI of 18.5, but I've set that as a goal, because it's likely I will.

One thing that got me going was my clothes were getting too tight! It's amazing, too, because I'm still wearing a lot of the clothes I wore thirty-two pounds ago, lol. Makes me wonder if they were too small then, and I was just fooling myself all that time.

Belly. Needs to be like a washboard.

A normal BMI would be nice too. Tough to get while weight training though.

I based my goal on BMI. 135 is on the high end of normal weight for my height, and my goal is 130 so I have a few more lbs to screw around with. My sign to lose weight was the scale, that moment I realized I had regained almost all the weight I had lost the year before. I'm doing much better with weight loss the 2nd time around.

Partly normal bmi and part what I weighed when I was in college. I'm sort of being fluid in a true end goal. I def want to get to 170s or 160s but I don't want to sacrifice fitness for a number.

I know it's time to change now, because:
1) Recent photos taken of me (the ones taken in a group of slim/normal weight women were just aaaagh!)
2) Somatic illnesses being less manageable due to depressive feelings (that in turn are due to me being uneasy in my own body/weight)
3)I find myself here on 3 fat chicks and I feel I really need to be here (scary).

Goals:
Not having to worry as soon as someone brings out their phone/camera

Being able to sit and walk and talk etc without always thinking about hiding my body weight - just living more!

Buying clothes I actually want in any store (instead of looking for anything that fits and is "slimming" or neutral - I hate neutral!)

Weight in 3 steps - below 85 (lower than the last years) ...below 75 (lower than in ages) ...and below 70 (almost can't imagine it!). I don't think you should focus on a number, but surely most of us have some numbers we have a hard time letting go off.

Hopefully feeling better, if not physically at least mentally

I set mine, at a weight, I felt, I could be comfortable, maintaining.

5'5", 140, 55 years old, had twin babies, over 6 pounds each. Have 4 awesome grandbabies!

Reasonable nutrition, reasonable workouts, good health numbers, and wiggle room for the now and then holiday, wedding, etc., with no guilt.

Yup, I do have some saggy stuff, some things, are not where they used to be, but, sheesh, I'm not 16 anymore either. And I made 2 humans at once! Amazing!

But, I am healthy, and due to lifting, I am strong! I don't run, knees don't like that, but I can rock a 5 mile walk!

Balance, love what you have, and do the best with what you have, and love it!

You can rock it!

I base mine off of what I know my body is like and I know my body could be like. I know what my body would look like at 132 lbs. It's definitely not the same as what it does at 200-205, so the two times that I started dieting, I was in that weight, looking to go down to 132.

For me it is more about being able to do things (hiking, travling, sex, hehe) when and how I want to that has been the more recent trigger, way more than how I look.