How do you know a goal weight?

[lisanjason 0]

Being 5 ft tall and 255 lbs,I chose 125 pounds as my goal weight,the same weight I was when I was 16 and I met my future husband !! I never really thought I could get down to that weight and figured I would be happy with any loss over 100 lbs.I was able to loose 115 lbs after banding then had my lower body lift which took off another 20 lbs.Putting me at 5 lbs under my "goal weight". I guess we will all figure out what feels and looks right,when we get there.

PS You can find another Dr that will do a Tummy Tuck, without you being at goal for a year! I had mine done in TJ Mexico with Dr Soberanes and I had just lost 115 pounds within 7 months of being banded and couldn't lose anymore.It was all just skin at that point.

[joe7777 1]

I picked my goal weight by going to a gym getting a body fat analysis done...But HONESTLY, weight is not important to me...because i am HEAVY, in this report i found that just lean body mass i weigh 194.4 lbs. So I mean, i always worked out, but just never lost fat. So anyways....I'm shooting for waist circumferance changes and also body fat% loss. I'm not a fan of Weight and BMI. I want to wear pants in the 30 inch range and have a healthy body fat %.

[StephC 0]

I picked 140 bc at 5'3" it was the highest weight on the charts for a "normal" BMI. I still am kinda iffy about it. My 20 year dd is 5'2" and 145 - she looks great and wears a size 10. I might be happy at 150 or 160, who knows? I guess when I get within 20 lbs of goal I'll be able to figure it out a little better.

Someone said high school - ha! - I weighed 103 in high school - if I got there now I'd look worse then anorexic! My 16 y/o dd is 5'2" and 115 - she's very thin, a size 5 - I really can't imagine at the age of 45 wanting to be there.

[piercedqt78 658]

I have a goal weight but it has changed several times since being banded. I want to be in a size 8 or 10. I am in an 11 or 12 now. Most of what I have left to lose is extra skin. If I lift up the excess skin I can put a size 10 wrap skirt on with no problem. I know it's weird that I know that but I do I want to have a lower body lift done, but I get the feeling I will have a fight if I want insurance to pay. ~Mandy

[TracyinKS 7]

I set my goal as 160 ish......... because 3 times I've been in the 170's and felt I looked good, and that is where I "go off the low carb bandwagon" and end up where I am now..... I was wearing solid size 12's, and several size 10's while in the 170's. If I can get past the mental hurdle of the 170 crash.. I may even go to 150...... but who knows....... I've got to make it through surgery first!

[sleepyjean 0]

PS You can find another Dr that will do a Tummy Tuck, without you being at goal for a year! I had mine done in TJ Mexico with Dr Soberanes and I had just lost 115 pounds within 7 months of being banded and couldn't lose anymore.It was all just skin at that point.

Hey Lisa, I hope you don't mind, but I emailed you with a couple of questions about experience with Dr. Soberanes...Goodness, how did you lose 115 in 7 months? I'm in awe!

[Jachut 487]

Here's proof that numbers mean nothing - I tried on my wedding dress last night and it actually fit.

I'm 6 whole kg - about 15lb heavier than I was when I wore that dress and it fit easily. That's proof that all that running has put muscle on my body, toned me and that my thought that I am leaner at 78kg than I was 12 years ago is right. Great NSV, lol.

I guess it was easy to re-evaluate my goal too because I just plain havent lost any significant weight in about 5 months, no more than 3kg.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Being 5 ft tall and 255 lbs,I chose 125 pounds as my goal weight,the same weight I was when I was 16 and I met my future husband !! I never really thought I could get down to that weight and figured I would be happy with any loss over 100 lbs.I was able to loose 115 lbs after banding then had my lower body lift which took off another 20 lbs.Putting me at 5 lbs under my "goal weight". I guess we will all figure out what feels and looks right,when we get there.

PS You can find another Dr that will do a Tummy Tuck, without you being at goal for a year! I had mine done in TJ Mexico with Dr Soberanes and I had just lost 115 pounds within 7 months of being banded and couldn't lose anymore.It was all just skin at that point.

I have been communicating via email with a plastic surgeon I am coming to adore. Nobody has been as honest with me as he has. He has given me links to verify credentials of Mexican docs, he's told me minimums a Mexican doc should have before doing plastic surgery, he has told me scarring and outcomes of people in their 30s vs. their 40s. He has been a wealth of information. He's had weight issues of his own in the past, he's realistic, he's honest, I really like his attitude, I'm just so very impressed thus far.

Obviously I want to see some examples of his work, do my research, etc., but as far as personality he's fantastic! I'm going to ask his permission to post bits and pieces of his emails to me. I think anyone considering plastic surgery anywhere would be interested. Just things to consider before having surgery, potential outcomes, issues regarding healing such as smoking, drinking, age, overall health. He also told me that we banded folks do a little better with plastic surgery vs. bypass because of types of anemia and nutrition issues they have (there's a big surprise! LOL). My impression of what he said is that we tend to be healthier.

After communicating with him my mood is a lot better. He said I can have a boob job now but since I still have 40lbs to go I would need an adjustment down the road after I reach goal so I need to consider that. He feels it would be better to wait for surgery. I don't know how long he makes people wait for a tummy tuck. I *think* he said two months.

We've discussed speed of weight loss and how that affects skin, he's answered every single question I have.

I think I want to go and see him for a boob job eval and help with a goal weight. My friends think I'm crazy for wanting to lose more than 40lbs but they are supportive. I want blunt and honesty.

[kyethra 0]

If my surgeon has a goal for me, he has never shared it. I'll have to ask about it sometime. I'm a bit suspicious of BMI charts myself because they are a statistical tool. They also don't take body frame size into account. And that can make a big difference. I have a friend who is five feet tall and petitie and feels best at about 100 pounds. For her five pounds really does make a difference on her frame. She says that if she weighs five pounds less she feels like shes a bit too thing but if she gains five pounds she starts to get chubby. Now I'm eight inches taller than her and I have a big frame. Everyone in my family does. Five pounds doesn't make a dent on us one way or another. So we are able to carry extra weight better than smaller people, but we also have to lose more to have a visible difference.

A doc once told me I should lose weight to help take pressure off of my abdomonal wall because I have an entrapped nerve ending there- its a painful thing. So I asked how much weight to make a diff, thinking I could do probably 15-20 pounds. He said ideally I should loose as much weight as possible, that maybe 130 would be a good weight for me. I think I was speechless. Afterwards my husband and I were saying that at 130 I would be too thin. And I think thats true. But what about 150? I think that wouldn't be unreasonable. But I also think that maybe 180 would be reasonable too. I think that its impossible to say right now what the best weight is for me because I've never been there. As a teen I was always overweight. And of course I thought I was much much more overweight than I really was because thats how teenage girls think and thats really very sad. Maybe when I get closer to that weight knowing what it should be will be easier. I have a lot more to lose now too, at least 70 pounds I figure. How can I tell with so much to go?

[Marimaru 7]

My 'goal' is 140. I picked it because it's in the mid range of healthy weight for my height, and my sister, who has a similar frame to mine, looked pretty good there. Also, the thinnest I remember being is 165 in Jr. High... and it would make me HALF the person I was!!

I've adjusted that to consider that when I was 165 before I was still developing and whatnot, so 160 might look pretty decent on my now... I still list my goal as 140, and all of my mini goals are based on that (halfway there, etc). But, I'll take a long hard look at myself when I get to 160 and see what I think.

[Leona06 0]

I am setting my goal at 125- I am 5'2 and a half and it seems like a good number... I'm 22 and want to be a size 2 at least once in my life... I'll settle for 130-145 when I'm done :confused:

[kyethra 0]

Ever since I was a teen, my goal size was to keep it less than my age.

[guns n roses 0]

Hi All, Banded 3/14/7 and my goal is 160. When I get to that I plan on working more with wgts. to tone things. I worked for a Big Name gym when i was in college and worked out about 8 hrs a day. I weighed about 145, And looked real good, but never a skinny Minnie. Muscle weighs MORE THAT FAT. Even right now the scale hasn't moved for 2 wks and I do 35 min Cardio each day. The inches seem to be coming off more than the LBS>

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Hi All, Banded 3/14/7 and my goal is 160. When I get to that I plan on working more with wgts. to tone things. I worked for a Big Name gym when i was in college and worked out about 8 hrs a day. I weighed about 145, And looked real good, but never a skinny Minnie. Muscle weighs MORE THAT FAT. Even right now the scale hasn't moved for 2 wks and I do 35 min Cardio each day. The inches seem to be coming off more than the LBS>

A plastic surgeon I have been talking to a great deal explained that cardio and weights are important now, as well as at goal. He said I will like the results a great deal better if I start doing weights now.

I really really hate weights. Damn! They are SO heavy!

Don't worry about the scale not moving, I find that one week I lose pounds and the next week I lose inches. It all works.

[JulieNYC 4]

My goal is to be a consistent size 6. I'm 5'2 (not quite, actually) and I'm heavy and curvy. Even at 180, where I am now, I wear a 10 (sometimes a 12 on bottom, but sometimes an 8 on top), which doesn't really match -- you'd think I'd be bigger given my vertical challenge.

I figure I'll wind up in the 140s. Again, heavy for me by the charts, but who cares. It's hard to call size 6 fat.