How did you decide your goal weight?

leeann82

leeann82

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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.
 
I personally wouldn't put any weight (no pun intended) on what friends or random people say. If they're used to seeing you a certain way, changing your appearance can be shocking to them and a lot of people just instinctively react negatively to change. That's the charitable explanation; other times people just like to make negative comments for no reason or inexplicably try to sabotage you.

At 5'4, anything from 100lbs to 145lbs is fine (check out the CDC BMI calculator tool if you want). It also probably depends a lot on your body composition. 145 is probably high if you're sedentary, but it might be great if you're doing resistance training for multiple hours a week. Just do what makes you look and feel most comfortable. The only opinion that matters is yours and your doctor's.
 
deleted.user.16 said:
I personally wouldn't put any weight (no pun intended) on what friends or random people say. If they're used to seeing you a certain way, changing your appearance can be shocking to them and a lot of people just instinctively react negatively to change. That's the charitable explanation; other times people just like to make negative comments for no reason or inexplicably try to sabotage you.

At 5'4, anything from 100lbs to 145lbs is fine (check out the CDC BMI calculator tool if you want). It also probably depends a lot on your body composition. 145 is probably high if you're sedentary, but it might be great if you're doing resistance training for multiple hours a week. Just do what makes you look and feel most comfortable. The only opinion that matters is yours and your doctor's.
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Thanks...im definitely not doing any sort of training....throw in a few yoga sessions a week, and work a very labor intense job, but thats about it. With my ehlers danlos,I've got some bone somewhere dislocated or subluxed most of the time lol
 
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.
 
My start weight for peptides was 282, currently 240lb, my goal weight is 200lb with the target of 185-190lb. I'm something like 6'1-2" tall, so if I'm having a tall day 190lb would put me in a normal BMI. I was 225lb as a freshman in college after a semester of ROTC doing PT 5 days a week... I've certainly lost muscle in the last 20 odd years.


Goal is the number I really plan on making, target is the approximation of that I'm shooting for. At the target weight I should have visible abs based on my projected body fat at that weight.
 
I went for 65 lbs to take me back to my weight when I got married, and I did it. Except unlike then, I still look like a misshapen ball of dough, so I'm going for 10 more. My muscle mass at 67 is much different than at 30.
 
Chili777 said:
I went for 65 lbs to take me back to my weight when I got married, and I did it. Except unlike then, I still look like a misshapen ball of dough, so I'm going for 10 more. My muscle mass at 67 is much different than at 30.
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This is so extremely real. I'm 165lb now, which I think was my weight toward the end of middle school. Except the first time I weighed 165 my stomach was completely flat. If only it weren't so!
 
I dont really have a goal weight. Started at 270 with size 38 pants. Im 200 right now, comfortably in size 32's. I would like to be under 12% body fat, figure im somewhere from 15 to 17 now.

Im 5, 9 so I have a decent amount of muscle. Thats really my goal, preserve muscle mass and stays lean. Man, this use to be easy in my 20's and 30's. It's work at almost 51.
 
In the end you need to find something you are comfortable with, either in terms of looks or physical comfort in your body or health. It likely does not make much difference to health once you get to normal or even near normal BMI's, at those weights cardiovascular fitness matters much more for long term health. But it does need to be something you can live with, there is not much point in trying to get to a BMI of 21 and being chronically hungry and constantly forcing yourself to eat less, it is just not sustainable long term, even if staying on GLP's long term. I do not know where you started in terms of being overweight but if the obesity was significant and long term then staying on them is usually the right approach.
 
Last time I lost a lot of weight I got down to 162 lbs and I felt pretty good, but I was starting to look too thin so I figured this time around I should shoot for 165. I'm 5'9" and pretty big boned. I always wanted to weigh 125 when I was young but I would look like a crackhead if I did.
 
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
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.
Click to expand...

I have no memories of ever being at a healthy weight, so I don't really have a vision for what I'd physically look like at any points of my goal.

BMI: the upper limit of Overweight, maybe. BMI doesn't take into account muscle and bone mass, so I'm the least strict on this.

Scale: I want to get down to at least 140-160lbs and re-evaluate from there. 120 also sounds good, but again, I have no frame of reference for this. Haven't been under 200 since high school, at least ten years ago.

Body Fat: 16-24% from the current >50%. I don't care for visible abs.

Non-number goals are pretty important too, though. I stopped running because it was uncomfortable. I want to be fit enough to physically pull myself and another person up. Or get out the pool without using the ladder. Or just stop feeling so tired all the damn time. 😅
 
First of all, congratulations on getting to 142!!!!

As @Turbo-Farmer said: try not to let negative comments from others sway you.

Your weight and good health are between you and your doctor. Also agree on the BMI clarifications they made.

You're doing great.
 
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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. 🙂
 
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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We have the exact stats - I am 44/f/5'4/143lbs Currently at the top of the "normal' BMI which is what I thought my goal was when I was over 200lbs but now that I'm here, I'm still fat, I need to work on muscle mass now for sure, I do very little working out and am skinny fat now which, while better than fat fat, is still not ideal. So new goal - I'd like to see 139 just because it seems crazy that I could weigh that but mostly my goal is to have some more muscle and endurance.
 
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I love this question. I was stacking Tirz and Reta. The weight kept dropping and I changed my goal weight 4 times. In the end my body told me where it wanted to stabilize at. I'm down 112lbs and I feel great. Blood work is perfect. Blood pressure is perfect. The elevator was down on Friday and I had to climb 4 flights of stairs. Much to my surprise I wasn't out of breath. Everyone is different. My advice is to listen to your body.
 
I started Obese 3 and only ever dared to hope to drop 40 pounds. When I figured out this would work, my goal became to be under 200, which was mind-blowing. When I realized that would work, I wanted to get out of obesity to just "overweight" on the BMI schedule. Now my ultimate goal is to get to the highest acceptable weight for the US military as my family has become a military family due to the kids. That is 166 for my 5'7". I think pick something that's both meaningful to you, and generally considered healthy. I looked good at 140ish in my early 20s at a size 6, but I love food, am in the food business, and 51 years old now. 166 will do nicely and will be a 25+ year dream-come-true.
 
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.
Click to expand...
A close friend (who I know/trust has my best interests at heart) said I looked like I was getting too thin at 5'7" 195 pounds, which is technically still in the "obesity" zone for my height. I've lost 85 pounds, I get that I look quite different, but srsly that was a crazy comment. Don't let crazy comments derail your health goals.
 
My goal is the weight that's on my license. Haven't updated it in years so figured that would be an easy one to reach this year.

SW: 288 November 2025
CW: 247 April 2026
GW: 210 (TBD)

Overall, I'd like to be sitting at 170-180 by sometime next year. Currently running 7.5mg of Tirzepatide and Wolverine.
 
I went by BMI, because I have three women in my blood-related family that have pretty mean eating disorders and every reason to believe I will never recognize when it's good enough. And there's no way I'm going to listen to my friends, most of whom have no idea what a healthy weight looks like and some of whom were quietly troubled that I was losing weight at all, and all would say I look great and should stop while I was still obese (and did, carefully, respectfully, and with enormous effort not to comment on my body or try to give unsolicited advice, to their credit). I love my friends, and I know they're all coming from their own place and zero of them would ever dream of being snotty or shitty, but they were not at all invited to vote when it came to my goal.

I aimed for middle-of-the-lower-half-of-healthy-BMI, which was 125 lbs. Then I realized months later that I must have been tired of when I did that math, because that would be 121 lbs, not 125. I'm still thinking of it as 125, though, cause depressing.
 
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cldfront said:
A close friend (who I know/trust has my best interests at heart) said I looked like I was getting too thin at 5'7" 195 pounds, which is technically still in the "obesity" zone for my height. I've lost 85 pounds, I get that I look quite different, but srsly that was a crazy comment. Don't let crazy comments derail your health goals.
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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.
 
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.
Click to expand...
I've also never been a "normal" size and didn't know where to set my goal weight. I got a dexa scan to tell me more accurately what my lean mass is right now. I based my goal weight off that. However, I do not treat it as the be all, end all. I might end up higher or lower and will revaluate as I go.

That said, my goal weight is 40lbs higher than what I would have chosen based on BMI alone. I'm glad I got the dexa to help me make sense of things.
 
Vash_ said:
I don’t have a goal weight I have a goal physique.
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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%.
 
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.
Click to expand...
Are you single??? Asking for a friend...
 
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.
Click to expand...
or not
 
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