How did you decide your goal weight?

MsGizmo said:
The BMI charts were deigned using data exclusively from white men. As a woman with large T&A even when I was thin I was considered "overweight" The one and only time in my life (after puberty) where I was classified as being a healthy weight according to the BMI charts I was working a full time job, was a full time college student, working on a fixer upper house and babysat on the weekends. I was running myself ragged. I looked gaunt and was exhausted. It was horrible. I am also 5'4" and I had dropped down to 145 at that time.

I was at my healthiest and happiest at 160-170. But at this point in my life I would be happy just to get under 200.
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Honestly....I think thats why I dont see it as mich as others...im very top heavy...wish I had a little more on the bottom to balance it out tho! Lol
 
m100568 said:
I think that many people compare you to the obese version of you that is stuck in their memory. When they see the normal weight version of you, they can't reconcile the two images in their mind. I know they mean well, but I agree that you absolutely should pursue your own health goals. Others will adjust . . . eventually.
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I definately see the 347 version of myself in the mirror. Ive had all the skin removal surgeries, and honestly, look great now...im a whole different person than before. Its been a long journey, but even now, when I go clothes shopping, I automatically reach for the back of the rack for the XXL, when I really should be grabbing a small or medium 😅
 
Turbo-Farmer said:
Be aware that the BMI is a mathematical function that doesn’t work for everyone. If you have a non-typical body type you may fall outside of the norm and still be healthy.

Like wise you people who have a BMI in a normal range may carry an unhealthy amount of visceral fat.

As a general rule if you’re shorter than average or taller than average then it may not be accurate for your body type.

For me 6’9” it always shows me as overweight even though I feel comfortable with my weight. I have weight to lose, but it’s significantly less than the BMI.

My last visit with my Dr I asked how much should I weigh, using the New BMI calculator from Oxford University she told me that if I got down to 255 instead of the CDC recommended weight of 235 I would be good. A difference of 20 pounds.
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They really should make bmi chart that also account for frame size. Ive seen a few that are gender specific, but they should also include small, medium and large frames. I would say Im a medium, so with that, im aiming more for the middle of the normal weight range.
 
Devilseye said:
Initially I had a number in mind and got there. Problem is that I still have a bit of a tummy and probably carry too much visceral fat for my liking. Now id like go see my abs again and have a lean stomach. I think im 10lbs away from that but ill see the closer I get there. Its easy to underestimate the amount of fat you need to loose to get to a certain bf%.
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I think ive got some visceral too. Ive lost over 200 pounds, and while I have had skin removal surgeries and a 360 tummy tuck, I still feel a bit wide in the tummy....hoping tesa helps me out here...fingers crossed, im about to start week two 🤞
 
leeann82 said:
Maybe a silly question....but did you go by a bmi chart? Or?

As someone who has never been a normal sized adult, I can't base it off of that. My current goal is 130, for reference, im a 44F and 5'4..bmi chart for normal says i should be between 110-140 lbs. I recently saw an old friend who was shocked by my appearance and said I looked too skinny. I'm currently 142 pounds.
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SW: Jan 2022- 230#
CW: Apr 2026- 168#
GW: 150#
These are the weights I found in my medical records over time:
Sep 1990- 135# Enlistment
Oct 1991- 155#
Jul 1992- 160#
Jul 1995- 168#
Jan 1998- 172# early pregnancy
Aug 1998- 210# delivery
Jan 1999- 210#
Jan 2000- 180# ETS
Jun 2000- 260# It was hard to wake up and see what had happened to my body while I was depressed.
Jun 2001- 180#
Jun 2004- 200#
Jun 2009- 220#
Jun 2013- 220#
Jun 2015- 200#
Jun 2018- 230#
Jan 2022- 230#- began Oz
Slow slide down to CW... i do have some loose skin and some hair loss, but Im working on all of it ... One thing at a time.

Go easy on yourself.
Its hard to be where we were, and maybe still are, mentally, emotionally and physically.
 
I asked AI based on my age, ethnicity, hight, and bone structure. 61 yo white male, 6'0". It suggested 165-170. I'm 170 with 11% body fat (so there are muscles there). My friends say I'm too skinny. But I'm at me best heath in 30 years.

It's a lot of ignorance. I challenge them to a blood work contest but they pass.
 
I've honestly never looked into bmi since it was always way too high and has always been some number to run away from and just pretend that it didn't exist. Ignorance is bliss in this regard. As for goal weight I think dropping 50-60lbs into the 205-210 range is achievable but I'm not sure I want to sacrifice any muscle. I've been hitting the gym 3-5 times a week since 10/1/24 and more like 3 times a week for the previous 10 years.
 
Foggy-Hollow said:
The first time I lost weight I went for top-end BMI number. I was scared of that number. It felt amazing, that was about 17 years ago, and it’s been 14+ years since I’ve been there.

The people around you are seeing change - and that’s good. Take their comments as: They might be scared of the change. Given that 70+% of Americans are overweight or obese, YES healthy looks skinny compared to most people. Quite literally.

Someone mentioned body fat, and it is a more accurate metric. Just be prepared: people overestimate how muscular they are. (Yes I am one.) Also keep in mind: impedance scales are reasonable /directional/ indicators even if the number isn’t perfectly correct. Read: if your BF% is dropping in one of that type of scales, it’s probably really dropping. But the actual number has a large error band. But directionally they are useful as long as time of day and hydration is relatively consistent.

Pick a metric then go get it. 🙂
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Congratulations for maintaining your loss for such a long time!!!! That's fantastic.
 
For peak life expectancy, waist should be less than half of height. For non-athletic people, that's often 20-22 BMI.

See the article Waist-to-Height Ratio Is More Predictive of Years of Life Lost than Body Mass Index
 
I'm not super set on my "goal weight" of 130lbs. I'm 5'7" and female.

I got down to 165lbs from 230lbs doing keto a few years ago, and knew then I would like to lose another "probably" 30lbs just by how I felt.

Would I like to see it on a scale? Absolutely lol. But I would also just like to see 165lbs again and reevaluate it then.

I've also changed a lot in that time frame and have an entirely different job than I did which consists of heavy lifting, constant movement/walking, on top of getting a dog since then which also added to my activity level. I'm not delusional and think I've gained 20lbs of muscle but I can fit into most of the clothes I was wearing at 165lbs at 185lbs now and my arms definitely have more definition in them than they did 6 years ago so 165lbs may look different this time around, but I would still like to get into the "normal" BMI range with wiggle room.
 
As a guy, former athlete, returning to being an athlete of a completely different type now later in life. I set a goal weight I never thought I’d see again based on early college days at 250lb. Well SOB, I hit my goal weight and what I thought it was going to be like wasn’t. Things going well so I dropped my goal down to 225. Thinking high school weight. Hit that weight. Getting a lot closer to the physique I think I’m capable of having. I think I’m done at this point thinking about numbers. I am still chasing a look but as summer comes, I need to think performance nutrition. Would be interesting to see what I’d look like without the skin damage that spending time close to 400lbs did. I’ve lost over 100lbs twice in the last decade so I’m incredibly skeptical but I kind of feel Covid lockdowns were a unique situation
 
Combination of BMI and a bi-annual Dexa Scan.

My first goal was just to get my BMI "close" to the normal range. Then I had a dexa scan to see where I'm at body fat 5 wise. I had an aggressive goal of 10-12% BF.

Body composition is more important than weight.

Glad to report I hit my goal -- total loss of 71 lbs and hit 12% BF. BMI is at 23. Tirzepatide is amazing combined with strength training and exercise.
 
I'm glad others don't see BMI ranges as the final target either. I'm 6'4", wear nearly a size 8 hat, and wear size 14 shoes. A "healthy" weight is 152-205. I can't imagine ever weighing close to that, my frame is too big. So I set other targets. I decided my first target was 350. My next target is 300. I was 280 when I got married. And finally, 250 sounds insane but arbitrary, so I am shooting for 245 so it seems more "real". Who knows if I'll change once I get there, but I maxed at 376 and am currently 333 (lost 18 lbs before starting Tirzepatide), so I'm just happy to have already passed my first goal and be well on my way to my second.
 
I know where I am comfortable and where I think I look my best and feel my best. I have several goal weight numbers in mind. I am close to the first one. Will see how I feel and look when I get there.
 
I've never used a bmi chart unless I wanted to feel like crap for no reason. I've always been very muscular and always been 'overweight' according to all charts. 3 sports a year from 1st grade through high-school. Created a lot of mental health issues because my mom was and still is very slender and pointed out I could/should lose weight regularly when I was a teen. I was a collegiate athlete and weight trained regularly until about 1 year before the pics then I got a day job and lazy. I'm much less toned/buff in these pics than I was at my strongest when I was 165# with abs and repped 35lb dumbells for curls, could do dozens of pushups and hundreds of situps effortlessly in highscool/college, for reference. These pics are at 5 and 12 weeks pregnant with my first kid (the only reason I have any pictures of my body from that time in my life so I'm glad I took a few bump pics!) I'm 5'7" and 160+ lbs in these pictures. Do I look overweight? Back then I thought I was. Now I'd kill to be that. Self esteem issues/body dysmorphia was real.

So my ideal aesthetic weight will probably be like 145lbs because while I still have much higher than typical muscle mass for a female in her early 30s, I'm not nearly in as good of shape as 12 years ago. But a more realistic 'be happy with yourself, you made 5 children and have 3 auto immune diseases' weight would look more like 165lbs for me now. I have this feeling I'll not be happy even then so it's clearly a mental health problem, not an excess weight problem.
 

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Basically, the last time I had a 6 pack was when I was 27-28 I was at 190 lbs but I felt terrible, just not enough body fat. At 200-205 I felt my best. I still think 16 years later 200-205 will be my ideal weight. I'm 6'2" and not a skinny person.
 
MsGizmo said:
The BMI charts were deigned using data exclusively from white men. As a woman with large T&A even when I was thin I was considered "overweight" The one and only time in my life (after puberty) where I was classified as being a healthy weight according to the BMI charts I was working a full time job, was a full time college student, working on a fixer upper house and babysat on the weekends. I was running myself ragged. I looked gaunt and was exhausted. It was horrible. I am also 5'4" and I had dropped down to 145 at that time.

I was at my healthiest and happiest at 160-170. But at this point in my life I would be happy just to get under 200.
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The charts were always off for me too. They showed me as overweight when I had a 30 inch waist. When I looked like my avatar, the charts said that I was 50lbs overweight.
 
I didn't go by ideal weight either. I went with a picture.
My goal is to get as close as possible to this........

road-house-jake-gyllenhaal-659d5b4cb52b4.webp

The left pic is from February. The one on the right is mid April.
Still a work in progress...

Unfortunately no amount of GHK will make me look as pretty 🙁

MarAprJoin.webp
 
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