setting a goal

[ItsMyJourney]

how did you set your goal weight? And did you set a goal in the beginning--or did you wait a while? Did you adjust your goal weight as you got closer? If you adjusted did you adjust up or down?

[CookinsForMe]

My goal weight is the weight I got down to in 2000 after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It's the weight at which I felt great but still had sexy curves. I don't want to be so thin I lose my curves so 140 is about right. If I go a little lower that's fine and if I can't get lower than 145 that's fine, too. I didn't have a goal at that time - I just knew when I got there that I liked it. I'm post menopausal now but I think 140 is still realistic and good for my age.. and I'll still have the curves!

[ny_shelly]

My goal has been my goal since I was in high school. I probably weighed 160 in high school , 175 when I got married, 205 after I had my daughter, 300 a year after I had my daughter, 313 - 320 up and down ever since.

I obsessed myself with my weight up to 300 lbs.

Plus I had a few million "diets" in between including all liquid Medifast, lowfat, cabbage, etc. etc. etc. And in 2006 I lost 60 lbs on Atkins.

Soooo I have no idea if 135 is realistic but for 5'6" using 100 lbs for 5' plus 5 lbs for each inch after as a guide.

[sistertzu]

I started off with Weight Watchers according to them I should weigh 155, I never could make it all the way there, I don't know why, I think maybe mentally I wasn't ready I was 165 for a year couldn't get down. Now I will be happy when I make it to 165 and then I will probably go farther even lower. I am doing so well. I was always hanging on to my weight loss by a thread then it came back on little by little. Not this time my health depends on it.

Sis

[SecondTimeAround]

I used BMI to set my weight goal. Since I know that the almighty BMI isn't perfect for everyone, I have set it on the high end of a "healthy" BMI for my height. I got within 10 pounds of my goal weight back in 2005, and still felt overweight so I might go lower when I get there. Yes, WHEN and not IF! :-)

[woe]

My weight goal was kind of mushy, actually.
I was thrilled what how I looked 5 pounds higher than my original goal, and went with that. It has varied now as I recomposed myself some with weight training.

[maryvit]

I honestly never believed back in January (when i re-inducted) that i could *ever* see 125 again (high school weight 25 years ago or so
..so i put in 135 .. August is 1/2 over, and i'm (for 3 days straight) I'm at 129.

I luv low carbin' it and i hope to never fall off the lc wagon again... i'm so close to goal now I can 'taste' it

[SecondTimeAround]

Originally Posted by maryvit

I honestly never believed back in January (when i re-inducted) that i could *ever* see 125 again (high school weight 25 years ago or so
..so i put in 135 .. August is 1/2 over, and i'm (for 3 days straight) I'm at 129.

I luv low carbin' it and i hope to never fall off the lc wagon again... i'm so close to goal now I can 'taste' it

Rock on!

[jeaniem]

I chose 120 because that is about what I weighed without a lot of effort in the past. But I didn't do a lot of muscle building exercise back then so now I am thinking 125-130 may be more realistic. I think I'll just know like others have said when I get there. DH got a shocked look on his face when I told him I want to lose 20 more pounds so like I said I'll just have to play as I go and see what feels and looks best.

[VGrace]

Thats great Maryvit!


I was 135 once a upon a time. I remember feeling very comfortable with myself so that my goal again.

[Cathieinut]

Picking a goal weight for most of us is sort of a "dream" weight I would say.
For me I know what would probably be a realistic weight that I could maintain and also I found out recently it is in that 22% bf range which is average for a woman my age.
In the end I think it will more about size clothing than weight.
When someone asked me what my goal was I said it was to fit into a size med without squeezing myself. So maybe a size 10 or even an 8?

[Jonahsafta]

Picking a goal isnt a science but an art........I think our bodies know ..but Im not sure they tell us in really clear terms..LOL

Im changing my goal again..I set mine in small increments to see what my body does with each goal.

[mcarr36]

I picked a goal weight of 110. I am 5'2". It was always my "dream weight" and I think I managed to get there for 1 day when I was 13 years old. I am now 45 years old and I am at my goal weight of 110 lbs. I have been maintaining for years now, so I know I picked a reasonable goal. My BMI is perfect and my wieght feels good to me. I think I look good. Any smaller and I do not think I would look good. I remind myself that I am at "goal" and I work at staying there. I work at not going lower and I work at not gaining. I always thought that if I reached my "magic number" on the scale I would instantly turn into a super model. It did not work out that way. So, I am at my goal and I don't have a perfect body. You know what? That's ok! I will never have firm thighs and I accept myself. Sure, I dream of improving my body. I'd like to think that lifting weights will help me. Eventually, it might. If not, so be it..I exercise because it makes me happy.

[halos]

I have decided to do small attainable goals. I stalled out at 227 for a year and a half on low fat diet...then gained to 240. If I can get past 227 it will be a great success. My next goal will be 213...where I stalled in 2005. Eventually I would like to work my way down to 140 ish. I felt good at that weight years ago. That may not be realistic at my age. We will see. I find looking at 100 pound loss for goal overwhelming so will take it in small amounts and see successes along the way.

[InTheLight]

I came to my goal weight because I remember being at that weight about 10 years ago, and I looked fantastic!! In my 20s, I weighed around 143-145, so now that I'm older, I added a few pounds on, but who knows? When I reach 160 (and I will reach my goal!), I may reassess, it all will depend on how I look - can't wait!! Right now, my mini-goal is to reach Onederland by my birthday (in November) and I know I'll be able to do it!!

[Rachelocity]

I am one of those people who reaches certain set points when losing weight, and my body doesn't want to budge. So I actually selected one of those set points as my goal weight, the one right above where I'd be in a more perfect world. I know my body tenaciously tries to stay there, time after time, so if I "stay there" forever, that's "maintaining", right???

[AprilW]

Originally Posted by halos

I have decided to do small attainable goals. I stalled out at 227 for a year and a half on low fat diet...then gained to 240. If I can get past 227 it will be a great success. My next goal will be 213...where I stalled in 2005. Eventually I would like to work my way down to 140 ish. I felt good at that weight years ago. That may not be realistic at my age. We will see. I find looking at 100 pound loss for goal overwhelming so will take it in small amounts and see successes along the way.

That's what I did. Mini goals. I would try to get to the next 5 pounds. My goal weight right now is 120. I am 2 pounds from goal as of today. I might move it down to 115 but I want to get to 120 first. This is the closest ever That I have been to goal and I am so happy that I want to cry some days!

[ny_shelly]

I know for me 250 as a mini goal is a big one. I have a big mental block at 250. Everytime I get close I start binge eating. Maybe this time I will go to counseling as I get to 260 so I don't self-sabotage.

I don't think I've been at 250 for 16 years (since I had my daughter at 230 and went down to 205). Then I gained 100 lbs.

[giJ]

I use clothing sizes as my goal, not weight. It just makes sense to me because, frankly, I don't care what I weigh as long as I'm healthy (as determined by how I feel and maybe what a doctor says) and can fit into the clothes I want. I have full wardrobes from size 8 to 18W. I chose my favorite of them as my goal.

[Moogie303]

I've been rethinking my goal weight. When I 1st started, I just sort of picked a random number. I started off at 249 so I thought that it would be great to lose 100 lbs and be below 150 so I chose 149.

I'm now rethinking that.

According to my weight loss doctor, I should be somewhere around 160 (they decide that number somehow based on your fat%??) so I think what I will do is see how I look/feel when I get into the 160's.

I also have to take my DH's desires into account as he "doesn't like skinny women" (as he has so recently reminded me.)

I think I also need to consider that I enjoy exercising and plan to continue, so perhaps instead of weight, I should think about a size.

Just some thoughts as I continue along this journey.



Angie

[Mogget]

My original goal weight was my 20 year old life modeling weight - I have TONS of pictures from then and I looked great....however since getting excited about weight training I now view the same pictures in a less enthusiastic way. I'm small but far from toned and I now want a lower body fat percentage and a chunk more muscle... so I have adjusted my weight up a bit from 54kg not lean to 64kg and athletically lean. We'll see how it looks when get there... I am not really focussed on weight as much as look and size, I want to be an Aussie size 10 and look smashing. Whatever that weighs.

[Jonahsafta]

MY size goal is 4-6...I dont know how realstic the lower end of this is for my height....and the fact I am post menopausal

[afuentes]

Originally Posted by ItsMyJourney

how did you set your goal weight? And did you set a goal in the beginning--or did you wait a while? Did you adjust your goal weight as you got closer? If you adjusted did you adjust up or down?

I set it by finding out my body frame/height and by thinking about my age.

I am large framed and just under 5'6". I also thought about how much I weighed last as a thin adult.

I was aiming for 25lbs. at first but when I got there, I knew I could lose more.

I am aiming for under 150lbs. so when I get there, I will have lost around 40lbs.!!!!!!!

[ozdancer]

I took my goal weight from the weight I got down to last time I lost on Atkins. Also this is the weight I fell pregnant with DD and I've heard that they weight you fall pregnant at is they weight you should be.

Originally Posted by Mogget

My original goal weight was my 20 year old life modeling weight - I have TONS of pictures from then and I looked great....however since getting excited about weight training I now view the same pictures in a less enthusiastic way. I'm small but far from toned and I now want a lower body fat percentage and a chunk more muscle... so I have adjusted my weight up a bit from 54kg not lean to 64kg and athletically lean. We'll see how it looks when get there... I am not really focussed on weight as much as look and size, I want to be an Aussie size 10 and look smashing. Whatever that weighs.

Mogget, where in Australia are you? I'm in Brisbane. I've just started fitting into size 12s (@ 78.5kgs) and I thought this would be my goal size. However I still have lots of flab and 11kgs to my goal weight so hoping I'll fit into a size 10 when I get there. I am also doing weight training this time so that's making a difference in my body size.

[SecondTimeAround]

On a side note:

Originally Posted by ozdancer

I took my goal weight from the weight I got down to last time I lost on Atkins. Also this is the weight I fell pregnant with DD and I've heard that they weight you fall pregnant at is they weight you should be.

I'm not saying that this isn't true for some, but for me I got pregnant when I was at my heaviest [non-pregnant] weight, which was WAY too much. I was extremely tired my third trimester and could barely function after about 2:30 in the afternoon. (I remember one late afternoon I was supposed to tape some signs to tables and my brain was so foggy I picked up my stapler! At that moment my boss came in and we discovered together my blunder. He went and got my tape dispenser for me. Talk about kinda funny yet embarrassing!) Anyway, I was also very sick at the end of my pregnancy with seizure-level blood pressure readings.

I am going to try to get pregnant again soon, and I hope that the skinnier me can handle it better, especially with one youngster already stampeding about the house!

[Mogget]

Originally Posted by ozdancer

Mogget, where in Australia are you? I'm in Brisbane. I've just started fitting into size 12s (@ 78.5kgs) and I thought this would be my goal size. However I still have lots of flab and 11kgs to my goal weight so hoping I'll fit into a size 10 when I get there. I am also doing weight training this time so that's making a difference in my body size.

Hey Ozdancer,

I am down in Melbourne - I am positively fanging to get back into 12's! But as I am in 16's down from 26's I know to just keep on going with what I am doing and slow but steady I will get there. Weight training makes so much difference!! I am completely hooked. How are you finding it?

[ozdancer]

Originally Posted by Mogget

Hey Ozdancer,

I am down in Melbourne - I am positively fanging to get back into 12's! But as I am in 16's down from 26's I know to just keep on going with what I am doing and slow but steady I will get there. Weight training makes so much difference!! I am completely hooked. How are you finding it?

I'm doing all my training at home as I don't have time or finances for a gym membership, although I've done the gym before. My workouts in the mornings are my time, generally with little to no disctraction/interruption from DD & hubby is asleep. I can't say I love weights, but I'm loving the results from weights and that is enough to keep doing them . I have adjustable dumpbells and do upperbody 2x & lower body 1x a week normally. I'm getting up there with the weight I'm using now - ~5kg for front/side lats & triceps, 8kg for everything else (arms & legs).