So this is something I've been thinking of a lot lately.

A bit of background on me:

I am a recovered Anorexic and Bulimic, and spent most of my teens and 20's quite underweight. Part of recovery, obviously, if underweight is weight restoration. I was able to restore to a BMI that my dietician wanted me at, however in hindsight I still looked way too thin for my frame!

Fast forward a few years and I had gained weight up to about 180 pounds. I'm almost 5'8 and that was the weight that I felt the best and looked the healthiest at, despite BMI saying it was a bit overweight for me. Again, this was in hindsight.

Fast forward again, and my weight tipped the scales at 323 LBS by October of 2014. Of course, in choosing my goal weight I had to be mindful and spend a great deal of time on where I felt I'd feel and look the best/healthiest for me, despite what the 'charts' say. In doing this, I looked back at old pictures of me at varying weights, and chose 180LBS to be my UGW.

So, out of curiosity, how have you all chosen your goal weights?

That makes sense to choose a weight you feel and look the healthiest at. I don't know what a skinnier me looks or feels like, so I chose my goal based on the BMI chart's definition of normal weight for my height. I've been overweight my entire life, even as an infant, so my goal is simply not to be overweight anymore.

First off, congrats on being in recovery, Jesika.

You ask a really important question.

For me, I chose 115 (I'm only 4'11) because that's the general weight I've been at longest in life. It's also the weight that reflects eating mostly healthy (an 80/20% WOE) and light to moderate exercise on a regular basis, like walking and occassional runs. So I chose it because it seemed maintainable and healthy to me from both an eating and exercise standpoint. My body feels natural and good at that weight.

When I first started intense exercise that combines strength training and cardio while also being mindful of what I ate, I dropped down to around 102-107. That was too thin for my frame though. At the time I eventually realized that and consciously gained back to 109-117.

If I'm not strength training at all though, then that same low range of 102-107 looked fine on me in the past. Strength training is so effective for changing body composition. From my experience, I basically look 10 pounds lighter if I'm engaged in it as opposed to when I'm not. So 115 with strength training looks the same on me as 105 without it.

Looking back though, I'm realizing that even 115 may be lower than I need. I'm pretty sure that I'd feel healthy and have the body composition that I want at a higher weight, so long as I'm also strength training. Although I haven't changed my tracker to reflect it, I've been thinking lately that I'll probably consider goal a few pounds higher, more like 115-120.

Although bmi calculators put me as overweight at 124, I know from experience that for my body, I don't actually begin to feel or look overweight until the high 120s. Even though I could push it higher, at this time I think 115-120 is my ideal weight - maintainable and very fit & healthy. I wear a size 4/5 at that weight (in petite/junior).

Does pulling it out of thin air count?

Basically, I started at 250 and 100lbs was a nice round number, so I thought I'd shoot for that. It is also just into "normal" BMI for my height. Also, that's pretty much what I got down to last time I was losing, and I felt like pretty hot stuff at that weight (truth be told I always feel that way, but I was able to find lots of awesome clothes, and my *** looked fabulous). Of course now I'm really into heavy lifting, so it may turn out that I settle at something completely different, but I feel like I need to get down to at least 180 before I reassess my target.

Had been at my goal weight one or 2 times in life as an adult, looked and felt good.

I have never been at my goal weight, not at this height, anyway. I went for the middle of "normal" BMI +10% due to my large frame (wrist and ankle) and the ease at which I gain muscle, which puts my goal on the high end of normal. Also it's nice and rounded in metric - 165cm/65kg. So yeah, I pulled it out of thin air, basically, except I played around with the numbers a bit

My first goal weight was pulled out of thin air. I had been fat for years, and didn't really know what I would look like at those healthy weights on the BMI chart. I had NEVER been low/middle healthy BMI, so I chose a number that I had seen some years before - 150lbs. That was also "only" a 40lb loss, too, which my brain could handle better than 50lbs+.

Then, once I hit a healthy BMI (154lbs is the highest for 5'6",) it was time to lose the fatlogic. (Note that I am talking about myself. No one else.) I had always thought of myself as big framed - broad shoulders, wide hips, big feet. Well, once I could see my frame and it wasn't swathed in extra fat, I realized that I still had flank fat and quite a bit of tummy, plus some extra on thighs and upper arms. I lowered the goal to 135/140. Then I hit 140 (can you see where this is going? lol.) Now at 132 as of yesterday, I can see that I must either start lifting or lose even more fat.

My final goal is 120/125lbs. I would never, ever, never, ever EVER in a million years have thought this applied to me. Big ribcage, right? Well, yeah, but I still have mummy tummy and a couple of other patches that can go. Underweight is 114lbs, so I have no intention of ever dropping below 120lbs. And I've never had an eating disorder (besides plain old overeating.) So there is no danger component for me as there could be for OP or some others.

My pre pregnancy weight and 3 mo after pregnancy weight was 140lbs. Now my goal weight is 150lbs because I am 44 and at age 40 I had got down to 152 and I liked those pics of me so only 18lbs to go

It's been trial and error for me lately.

I use to weigh 250 lbs for a brief period of time. But my weight was typically 170-215 for 8 years. I had 160 and an ultimate goal of 140 in my head. Only because I knew I looked good back in the day at 135lbs I figured it was a reasonable goal.

I've discovered I've lost a lot of muscle mass so my 140 lbs looks a little different than when I was 22. But it's still a good size for me. So my new goal is a toned 145 range with muscle mass. If that makes sense

I choose between 125/135. That's the weight that I don't have to starve myself on. I feel I look great at that weight and still had my curves as well.

I also struggled with anorexia during my late teens and bordered on bulimia. I tried to stick my fingers in my throat to make myself puke, but could not do it in the end. I suffer/suffered from BDD and insecurity that I'm just now starting to heal and fix.

Hi Jesika,
The BMi chart helped me chose a number in the healthy range. Like you, I looked at past weights to see where I liked how I looked - but also chose a heavier number because it was a more feasible goal. I've actually never hit a goal weight, but over the years I've come close and have been satisfied with dressing well, handling my unhealthy eating habits - and states of mind and realised my weight is generally lower when I'm happy I try to see it as a long term game (and perhaps that's a luxury for me, since I'm not as overweight as others, it isn't as pressing of a health issue.)

I guess that number really doesn't matter as long as you can find affordable clothes that fit and make you feel good (and sexy too!), you can walk and move well, and that you avoid heart disease and diabetes. As I've typed that i realised it's taken me a long time to come to that conclusion...