The difficulty of "goal Weights"

[Pedro Valle-Inclan 275]

Hi Friends: the whole subject/decision of what is a good goal weight is so difficult

when the patient trying to ascertain it has suffered from body dis-morphia to the extent that morbidly obese

people do. Only now that I'm down near a goal weight I see that my original thoughts were a product of

having been obese for so long that my judgement was totally skewed. My high was 305 lbs (at 6' 1") and so

I thought that anything under 220 would be fine; of course that would be a BMI of 29. So when I got there

I saw I still had an almost 40" waist, so I set a new "goal weight" of 205 lbs. Well I got there a few weeks ago

and whaddya know.... I realized that it wasn't as thin as I'd like to be. Truth is I had lacked

any real perspective so now I have set speak to more people and medical pros, etc and also perhaps most importantly

see what people my height who weigh in the 180s LOOK LIKE...And guess what? They don't look in any way too thin.

They look (good lord) normal... By the way, remember we're talking about a guy in his 60s who is not

muscular (nor wants to be) so in my case the BMI chart makes sense. I'll keep you posted, but boy this is

a fascinating journey, one of the best decisions I've ever made. God bless you all for the support I've received here

[Heather I 500]

I hear ya, @ Pedro! I'm looking at losing literally 50% of my body weight in lbs to get to a normal BMI, and at 280 lbs and not even sleeved YET, I've got people telling me to stay at 200?! What the heck? Noooooo, normal BMI for me is 140-160, tops, and it looks GREAT in other people. I agree -- we are surrounded by an overweight population, so "normal" seems to be obese in many instances. Add to that we've been overweight for so long -- it's tough to know where to fall.

[KristenLe 5,979]

I think it is also a way of setting the bar low so we don't fail if we don't lose more. I was asked what my ideal weight would be and what weight ID be happy with. I have no clue what I will look and feel like at 145lbs but I'd like to find out. My normal BMI weight is much lower and I wouldn't want to get that low.

[James Marusek 5,244]

Generally, your body will determine when you slide from the "weight loss" phase into the "maintenance" phase after surgery. Goal weight generally is an arbitrary number.

Normal (or ideal) BMI is defined as 18.5-24.9. When you look at mortality studies, individuals outside normal (either underweight or overweight) suffered from higher mortality rates. Therefore normal is ideal. In the end, I chose my goal weight closer to the high side of normal. This is because there is an advantage to have some fat on your body. When you suffer a serious injury or sickness, your body will rely on this fat to provide your body sufficient energy until you recover.

[Katrinakit 139]

I agree. It is really difficult to pick a goal weight when I have been overweight my entire life. At the moment, I have picked a reassess weight instead: 190. When I get to 190 I will reassess whether I am happy there or want to go lower!

[CHM 1,009]

...I have picked a reassess weight instead: 190. When I get to 190 I will reassess whether I am happy there or want to go lower!

I like this. I think I'll be copying you. [emoji1]