When I started this journey, I set a goal of about 130-135#, but everyone keeps saying that might be a little low. I am about 5'3" tall and according to most charts, those numbers would be on the high end for my height.

Can you tell me how you went about setting your goal #? Also, if you set it and have changed it as you got closer, I'd love to hear about your experiences. In actuality, I plan to stop when I fell happy and healthy, but I am curious about a goal #.

I don't know your age or particular body structure, but just going by BMI 130-135 seems like a perfectly healthy goal weight for you.

To be honest I chose my goal weight a bit arbitrarily. I originally went with 150 (it seemed so out-of-reach and impossible then) because that was approximately the weight of a few women (of my height and similar body shape) that I wanted to look like. About halfway to that goal I decided to drop it to 145, because that is right about in the middle of my healthy BMI range.

my goal number is the weight I was when I was around 20 years old, and my lowest adult weight. I remember feeling happy with my body and size at that weight, I still had curves but could go to any shop I wanted and they would have my size. I felt healthy, I could go to the doctors for regular appointments without dreading them asking me to step on the scale.
goal numbers are always changeable, and I may feel happier heavier than my goal even though it is high for my height, or I may decide I want to lose more.

I've been told mine is a little low. But mine actually IS a little low. And I am taller than you and it's lower than yours it's 110 and I'm 5ft7. I was this weight before and I've looked at pictured and think I looked amazing so I'm going back. It's underweight but not badly or anything and I remember I wasn't bony. Not at all just my collar bones. There's a picture of me at it on my profile. My legs look like too skinny apparently in the picture-and I admit they were skinny-but they weren't sticks or anything at all. I looked really good. But everyone has different views of what they think looks good or is too low. Your weight is not too low at all. Trust me. Mine is only even a little underweight so yours can't possibly be low. Plus the bmi isn't correct for everyone. You can be a little "underweight" and healthy or a little "overweight" and healthy.

Mine is based on a weight my doctor and I discussed.

I picked the lowest weight that, according to recommendations, would still allow me to have a healthy BMI.

I'm 5'7 and my goal weight is 155-160, higher end of healthy on the bmi chart. In high school I was 135, was 145 when I got married at 21. Now at almost 32 and 4 kids later my body has changed, things have moved around, I actually have boobs and would like to keep them(one good thing about having babies lol). For me, achieving and maintaining 155 is more realistic than 140. I also compare friends who are the same age/height as me and think a slightly fuller figure looks better. I also think that a fit 155 is better than a flabby 140.

There's a website called my MyBodyGallery where real people send in pictures and you can search by height/weight to see what others look like. It's pretty interesting to see the many different sizes and shape people can be even at the same height/weight.

My weight loss is more about being healthy and literally feeling better (getting my BP down and taking pressure off my arthritic knees and hip). I took my current weight and subtracted 20%. I'd be thrilled if I can hit and stay at my goal weight. I'd love to weigh what I did 20 years ago (20 pounds less than goal) but that ain't gonna happen and my skin won't fit anymore as it is *sigh*

I set my goal at 125, since that's what I weighed in my mid-30's and I looked terrific...and at that point I was 5'7" (I've shrunk over the years!). I'm now in my mid-50's, so it's possible that I won't be able to get back to 125 (given a much slower metabolism). If I get to 135 or 140 and I'm happy with the way I look I'll stop...and that would be a bonus. However, I didn't want to set my goal at, say, 140, only to get there and decide I needed to go further because I wasn't happy with how I looked. Psychologically (at least for me), I thought it would be easier to set a lower-weight goal knowing that I might finish early, than to set a higher-weight goal only to have to keep going after I get there. I prefer good news to bad news!

I set my goal # on the weight I was when I was the lightest. What comes after that, I can reevaluate it later when I'm at my current goal. I don't want to make a goal weight and feel like I can never achieve it.

One step at a time.

I picked a goal weight in the middle of my BMI range (as calculated at the CDC website: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/) and then raised it to the upper end as I got closer to it. I was so happy at about 185, that I couldn't imagine needing to lose 35 more pounds to get to my original goal weight of 150. I got down to 165 at one point and consider my maintenance range to be between 165 and 170 (I blew it some over the summer but I'm back on track to lose back to that range).

My doctor said to quit losing when I felt good and he didn't care what the BMI chart said.

I picked 150-160 since that's REALISTIC for me! lol. If I get to that point and feel I should lose more, I might try it. But being 250+ for many many years, being at 160 seems pretty good to me.

I picked an arbitrary number...

i picked a pant size, the last one i remember looking really good in which was a size 12! i did most all my weight loss without a scale.

I've reached that goal and actually wear a size 8 in the particular brand of jeans i just bought (obviously it varies between brands)

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