Is anyone's goal weight higher than the BMI chart weight?

[UK Cathy 977]

I have a poster of BMI in relation to age. Unfortunately it is not on this iPad but as soon as I get home Sunday I will post. It is an image I post periodically and it gets a lot of interest.

[UK Cathy 977]

Found it from an old post, hope it helps

[honeybadger 21]

My doctor asked me what the last weight was when I felt good.

I told him that was around 190, at the very lowest end of the obese section of the BMI chart for my height.

He told me that was realistic and absolutely doable. I'm okay with that. I think my body will do what it needs to do and get me where I need to be. My hope is to get under 30 BMI, but I'll be completely okay with weighing less than 200 and being active and healthy feeling again. My highest weight was last year at 320. I'm so scared of ending up there again. I was miserable.

I see the shrink tomorrow for the psych eval. I could potentially be having surgery in a month or so. *fingers crossed* I'm so excited and terrified at once.

I really think that in the end, if we end up happier, healthier and feeling much better than before surgery...it's a success.

[JamieLogical 8,708]

I really think that in the end, if we end up happier, healthier and feeling much better than before surgery...it's a success.

I completely agree! I see a lot of people killing themselves to get down to some ridiculously low goal weight, then freak out and consider themselves failures if they regain 20 pounds. If you lose 100 pounds and regain 20, you are still 80 pounds better off than you were pre-op, with all the health benefits that go along with an 80 pound weight loss.

Health and happiness should be the goal. Not a number on a scale.

[Airstream88 361]

Yeah when I saw the surgeon he said I didn't have a pre op goal except I can't gain more than 2% during the program. For me thats 7 pounds. I am a little worried about that because I can flux between 10 pounds according to my doctors scale. He doesn't have a digital one and has told me they are not the best at measuring larger people. I am hoping they go by the nuts scale because hers is a digital one that also does the body fat. I have only seen the nut once and she didn't give me any guidelines on how much to eat pre op. I am confused how I am on a medically monitored weight loss program with no guidelines.

My NUT has given me the following guidelines to aspire to prior to surgery:

4 - 5 mini meals a day, eaten every 3 - 4 hours (no snacking in between)

At least 3oz lean Protein or Protein snack (yogurt) at each meal

2 servings of fruit

2- 3 servings good FAT (1oz nuts, olive oil, avocado, etc)

2 servings of carbs (multigrain bread, brown rice, etc)

unlimited servings of non-starchy veggies.

64 oz non-caffeinated, non calorie beverages

She says to should eat either a fruit or carb with each protein meal.

If I am hungry between meals, I can add more protein.

So far I have lost 5 pounds in two months of semi-following this plan. I am suppose to lose ~25lbs prior to surgery.

This plan is supposedly preparing me for life after WLS - getting used to eating small amounts many times a day with protein being the primary food group. My NUT is not a proponent of the No-Carb rule.

Edited April 7, 2016 by Airstream88

[honeybunz 139]

Yes, mine will put me in the overweight category but I'm ok with that.

[Sajijoma 1,324]

My surgeon set my goal at 200lbs because when he asked what I wanted to weigh, I said I had no idea. I'd been obese all my life and the idea of being a "normal" weight was just too much to fathom. So that's where it is with him, but later on the NUT and I decided I would shoot for 170 and see how that feels. I'll still technically be overweight, but the last time I was under 170 was probably 4th grade.

[lifeofblair 308]

My nut gave me a range of 30 lbs. and the low end was still considered "overweight" by bmi. I told myself I wanted to be under that just for wiggle room. I kept losing though so now I'm comfortably in the normal range of bmi. I would mind though if I did gain a few pounds.

[BigDog Bryan 262]

Your Goal Weight should reflect what is a healthy weight for you and your body type, not just a number based on your height and sex. There are so many other factors to consider.

I was once within striking distance of my BMI weight (I was at 160 after a program diet - it was 3 decades ago), and I felt like a good gust of wind would carry me off to Neverland. My goal weight is now to get to the 180-195 range, which I refer to as my "fighting weight" which is the last time I truly felt comfortable with weight and body image. Your goal should be a comfort level for you, and if that happens to coincide with the BMI chart, so be it.

[Christinamo7 4,042]

Your Goal Weight should reflect what is a healthy weight for you and your body type, not just a number based on your height and sex. There are so many other factors to consider.

I was once within striking distance of my BMI weight (I was at 160 after a program diet - it was 3 decades ago), and I felt like a good gust of wind would carry me off to Neverland. My goal weight is now to get to the 180-195 range, which I refer to as my "fighting weight" which is the last time I truly felt comfortable with weight and body image. Your goal should be a comfort level for you, and if that happens to coincide with the BMI chart, so be it.

I completely agree with you! but when (not if, when) the insurance companies start penalizing people for being over BMI we are all going to have to call congress until the bullies go back in their cages.

[LEILE 66]

I started this journey at 216 lbs--I am 5'5. I am a little over three months out and and I am oscillating between 181 lbs and 182 lbs. My surgeon set my goal weight at 145 lbs. I paid for this surgery myself in NY (which was expensive), and I intend to keep plugging along. I work out with a trainer only twice a week, but I believe I will get to where I am supposed to be, which after plastics should be in the 120s--at least that is my goal. I think it will take a long time. But I also know quite a few women who have met their personal goals through the use of this surgery, proper eating and exercising. For me, the weight loss feels slow this past month or so, but I am getting better with it. If I need to adjust my personal goal up, I am also fine with that. Remember, this is a personal journey and at the end of the day our goals in life and weight are vastly different--but that's quite fine.

[Elode 8,093]

@@her1981 I didn't even have a goal weight for the longest time, then I said ok 180. I would be thrilled at 180. I've always wanted to be 180 and I don't even know why. Now I'm 142 how that happened I have no clue.

[SkinnyDown 409]

I set up a goal weight reluctantly with my surgeon at my consult, and at the time of course he used that BMI chart to show me how horribly unhealthy I was, but when it came time to set a goal weight he tossed the BMI chart out the window.

That made no sense to me. I'm short, 5' 1" and he actually set the goal at 150, (which is overweight) I'm 47 lbs away from that goal, but I want to be smaller. At 150 we can talk plastics, and my insurance should cover belly and thighs, not sure how much I will lose from that.

At my height, I should weigh about 100-130 to be in the "healthy" category. My surgeon said he never wanted to see me below 125, I have no idea why. I will meet his goal, have the plastics, see where I am, and shoot for my own personal goal which is 115. which is right in the middle of "healthy" for my height.

The problem is they can't use their special BMI chart for one purpose and not another. That's where I have issues. I'm using their same chart that told me I was super morbidly obese, to find out what healthy is.

[MichiganChic 3,262]

I agree. I happen to have long fingers, but that doesn't make the rest of me small. That put me at 33 pounds overweight with a caution to see a physician, lol.

.

http://www.healthcentral.com/diet-exercise/ideal-body-weight-3146-143.html

I don't think their way of determining frame size is very accurate. I considers me "small framed" just because I can get my fingers around my wrist? By their measurements, I am overweight by almost 14 pounds, meanwhile I can literally count my ribs through my skin now....

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

Bodies are amazingly varied. So varied, in fact, that a single body measurement cannot begin to tell the whole story.

For instance, my arms are long, and my wrists are small. But my legs are normal-length, my ankles are large, and my calves and knees are really big. Consequently, you won't find many dresses (and no short dresses) in my closet.

But at 5'5" and 135 pounds (BMI of 22.5) the top half of my body and my face would look too skinny if I lost any more weight.