How did you determine a WL goal?

nfl1 · April 26, 2009

I just created a ticker today, and it asked for a goal, which I put in as the amount that I remembered feeling good at from about 20 years ago, but maybe there is a way to determine "the" goal? or some health or formula for a weight goal?

carbgrl · April 26, 2009

I choose the weight I remember feeling and looking my best too. I haven't been at that weight in over 10 years but, I know it's healthy and anything lower would make me look too skinny. Your goal weight should also be in a healthy or "normal" BMI range which I believe is 25 max. Good luck!

ParrotheadCathy · April 26, 2009

I played with a BMI calculator to set my "mini goals"....i.e., the weight that would give me a BMI in the next range down. I started as morbidly obese, figured out the weight for "severely obese" and "obese: (which is where i am at the moment), and then the pounds to equal where my BMI became "overweight" and then, finally, "healthy". And I set my ultimate goal at a weight a few pounds below where I would cross over in the the "healthy" category.

Jachut · April 26, 2009

I've never been 70kg as an adult, I always hovered around 78-79kg before I got really fat. My healthy weight range is 63-79kgs, you can find healthy weight charts in a million places, in every calorie counter you buy for example.

I knew that at 79kg I never felt thin. I was chunky, definitely not able to wear what I wanted and at that weight (which is about 180lb or so) and 5ft 10, I was definitely sized out of regular clothing at an Australian 16 (American 14 or so), I had to buy fat old nanna clothes and I loathed it. And I just knew, going by the covering of fat I had, that it was still overweight for me.

So I set 70kg as a goal. My surgeon never asked but the nutritionist I saw for one visit did. She told me it was overambitious and not likely to happen. I ignored her, her nutrition advice was pretty generic and crap too.

Having gotten to this weight, i can see I am not "a big girl" or "big boned" like people always used to say about me as a child and teen. I was never obese but always hefty. I am actually quite fine boned and lightly muscled and I am not meant to be at the heavy end of my weight range. My weight at the moment is just fine, but I could easily be 10lb lighter and not be too thin. Yet 5ft 10 and 145lb or so on here seems to cause screams of "you'll be scrawny, it'll look horrible". Its a moot point anyway since I dont seem to be able to move from 154.

wstorms · April 26, 2009

I started with a relatively high BMI. My first big goal I set was to be under 200 lbs, I have not seen that number for YEARS!!! My OMG goal (100 lbs) is not skinny by any means, but it would be skinny for me! I am not very concerned about what charts say a "normal" weight should be, I want to be a healthy weight for ME! So in all honesty I really do not know what my final goal will be. I guess it will just kind of level out where I am supposed to be :smile2:.

nfl1 · April 26, 2009

Thanks so much for all your feedback, that's really helpful!

Cingulus · April 27, 2009

I spent a lot of time thinging about thi topic. Here is what I put in my blog on it.

In one of my earlier blogs, I had set a target goal of 240 lbs, and later I changed it 197lbs. My wife asked me why I had made the change. The answer if both simple and complicated at the same time…From a logical engineering point of view I looked at my lean body mass measurement (206 lbs) and added 15% to that picked 240 as a target. Then as I thought about the likely fact that my lean body will probably drop, I began to rethink the target and changed my expectations to about 200lbs and those are the data driven reasons behind the change. Second, I thought about some of my historical, desired and emotional targets and remembered that 197lbs was my high school wrestling weight and since that was a) close to my technical target :thumbup: it would break 200lbs and get me into “onederland”…it seems like a good thing to shoot for. The other thing I was thinking about benchmarks of weight for my height, build and desired configuration. I am 5’ 8” tall and have always, even while being fat, been an avid weight lifter so I am not going to be scrawny guy. The best target analog I could come up with was an NFL running back. Most of them are 5’ 7” – 6’ 0” and weight between 190 and 230 lbs. Finally, as a really big stretch goal (and some PS will probably e required) was to look at my all-time favorite body—Frank Zane. Frank Zane was not the biggest, but he had tremendous symmetry, balance and grace. So here are my key targets for the journey:

• 1. Break 300 (I have not been under 300 since 1992)

• 2. Break 271 (The highest weight I weighed when I fought competitively)

• 3. Break 225 (Average NFL running back weight at 5'10")

• 4. Break 197 (My high school wrestling weight)

• 5. Hit 174 (Frank Zane's weight when he won the 1977 Mr. Olympia)

A Buddy · April 27, 2009

I can give you the formulas to calculate your "ideal body weight"; however, I believe it is just as important to get to a weight you are comfortable at. I would recommend not going below the ideal body weight range.

For men:

IBW - 106 lbs for the first 5 feet and then 6 additional lbs for each additional inch of height, plus or minus 10%

For women:

IBW - 100 lbs for the first 5 feet and then 5 additional lbs for each additional inch of height, plus or minus 10%

For for me, my height is 5' 4" so my ideal body weight calculates to 100 lbs + 20 lbs (4 inches x 5 lbs for each inch) which equals 120 lbs plus or minus 10%, so the weight range is 108 - 132 lbs.

I have set my goal for 135 lbs, and at that point will assess how I feel and if I want to adjust. Hope that helps.