How many of you never got a goal weight number told or suggested to you by your doctor of the WLS center team? Did it bother you? Did you have to make something up, perhaps pulling something out of the BMI healthy normal section? Where did your number come from and what does it mean? Did you pick a different number even though your doctor gave you one? Perhaps because you had a different idea.

I know: no simple answer.

I am curious because I picked my number from the BMI chart, hit it, but am still wondering where should I end up? It is pretty easy to park at my current weight with my current lifestyle of nutrition and fitness. However, Is hypothetically gaining 10 lbs over my " ideal weight" ok if that places me in overweight instead of normal according to the BMI chart? I am not happy yet with my physique and more needs to be done. i just do not know if I can play the swap game forever with regards to body weight versus body composition. It is a lot of diligent work day after day. The 10 lb gain would be pure lean muscle gain and I have already been playing the fat for lean muscle weight swap game for 5-6 months now with some success. I would like to continue to bulk out with broad shoulders, large quads, well defined calves, powerful back and lean waist. And keep my weight parked on a good goal weight (currently, it is 180 - middle of normal range).

But I digress. The real question remains to be answered: how do you pick a goal weight?

Think about this topic question. How does it apply to you in your post op experience? What experiences have you had, are having or looking forward to having? I would like to hear from men and women, pre sleeve, newly sleeved and vet, different physical body composition goals, those that have it all figured out and those that are struggling, etc. no one is excluded from answering this topic question and I hope the threads serves as a resource for future VST members.

I am going to make this thing work beyond my wildest dreams....after all this pain and hardship I better look like one haute mama!

I have a lot to lose so I prayed i would get down 50 pounds, now I'm down sixty and working to make that a 100 pounds down, after that its another 50 and then another 50. Then i'll pick a number because it will be within reach. I come on this site just about every night for a little inspiration. Thank you all.

My doctor did not set a goal weight per se, but he did say that I could expect to lose about 80 lbs based on averages. That would put me at 163. I was about that weight in high school, and of course at the time I felt fat.

I would prefer to actually be at a healthy BMI after going through all of this, so I picked 135 because 139 puts me at a BMI of 24. I have a large bust and much lower than 135, is just not realistic for me, even though it appears so on the BMI charts. I was 135 for about 2 years or so in college. That put me at a size 6-8, and when I look at pictures of myself from that time I look healthy and my body looks comfortable. I've been uncomfortable with/in my body for a long time, and I would be thrilled to reach 135 or so.

My surgeon never mentioned a goal weight. I selected my goal weight based on my body type, age, and my weight into my 30s. I weighed 118 in high school and early 20s, up to 125 as I entered my 30s. My weight climbed slowly from my 30s till I had WLS, with brief dips when I did best with Weight Watchers and hypnosis. I set my goal at 135, which puts me at a B MI of 21.8. It adds 10 lbs to my weight in my late 20s, which allows for extra skin and age.

I worked with a terrific trainer though out my weight loss to maintain muscle.

Lynda

I dont have a goal weight.neither did my doc asked nor did i think about it.im a month post op.should i be thinking about it?what exactly is it and why does everyone have one?pls enlighten me.

My doctor asked me what I would like my goal weight to be. Because my DH and I are in the Rockabilly, vintage fashion business (we design clothing) I prefer a curvy, retro look. To me, a size 10-12 is ideal so that's what I'm aiming for which should put me at about 165-175. Of course, I will reevaluate once I get to that weight.

I love rockabilly fashion. I rock a marilyn monroe look every day infact that is my nickname at work! Love love love retro!

I haven't been given a goal weight yet. They were aiming for 60% excess weight loss to be a surgical success for the sleeve. Honestly, I didn't think I would lose it so I never thought of a goal weight. I am 9 pounds away from the 60% at 5 months out and now I'm having an issue figuring out my ultimate goal. I never thought I would get this far. At first I was thinking I would stop at 170 since that was the smallest I've been in my adult life and I felt good at that weight. Now I've been thinking I will take my sleeve as far as it will let me. If I ever reach 150-155 I will think about switching to maintenance.

I figure I went through all this pain why not see how far my sleeve will take me?

I figure I went through all this pain why not see how far my sleeve will take me?

Good attitude!

I love rockabilly fashion. I rock a marilyn monroe look every day infact that is my nickname at work! Love love love retro!

Once I can figure out how to send you a PM, I'll give you our website. We do mainly car shows, rockabilly shows and of course, Viva Las Vegas!!

We do mainly plus size Rockabilly fashions.

Very cool!

Ditto laura-ven's post.

Dr. Aceves doesn't sit down and help you choose a goal weight. I went ahead and picked the heaviest I can be but still be considered "normal" on the BMI chart. That's 135 pounds at my height.

I never in a million years really expected to get below 160, a previous happy weight and one I hadn't been able to pass in more than a dozen years of dieting.

I hit my goal and even got one pound lower, for about ten seconds.

My body LOVES 137-141, though. I can hang there effortlessly, pretty much eating whatever I want. I just have to weigh daily and do adjustments to my diet when I hit the top end of that window.

My secret goal weight, the one from my dreams that I'd love to hit but have accepted isn't possible was to be well into the 120s - around 125 or so.

It might happen post-plastics; it might not.

I've come to realize that my goal weight number has been more of a detrimental thing for me. Yes, it's great to achieve goal and be small and look the way I do. I feel good about that.

But the difference between what I weigh now (post-baby, 143 today) and my goal weight (135) is mostly in my head. Yeah, my pants are a teeny bit more snug and I don't feel as slender but I still wear the same clothes and I'm still a small/6 in almost everything.

And yet it gets built up in our heads (women, especially!) and we use it as this reason to beat ourselves up and in doing so, we completely ignore the huge successes we've had that aren't scale related.

I know darn well I am not alone in doing this.

In hindsight, I wish my goals had been more measurement or fitness related.

I mean, really - my WAIST is smaller than my THIGHS were prior to surgery. If I were measuring my success, literally, I wouldn't have a reason to beat myself up.

I'd probably just find a different reason, though.

~Cheri

I'm sorry, but when fitness and muscle building come into the picture, I don't believe in BMI or (not so much) a goal weight (I'll explain the "not so much" momentarily). BMI, especially for men, goes out the window when fitness and muscle building are involved. I'm pretty sure that people like body builder Ronnie Coleman and actor Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) are way above their BMI, but they are not fat or considered overweight. Their weight comes from lean muscle; which, as I've mentioned in previous posts, is a lot denser than fat (meaning: one pound takes up less space than one pound of fat; so, even though someone with the same body frame and height might weigh the same, the person with the greater amount of muscle will look much thinner and have a much smaller waist size.)

I'm a firm believer in having a goal size or physique. Concentrate on the inches not the pounds, because weight looks different in everybody. So many factors come into play (i.e. height, bone density, body frame, muscle mass, etc.)

Some people who were once upon a time thin and in shape have an idea of what their weight was and how they look. So, in a situation like this, setting a goal weight (within a range, because our bodies change) is okay. For those who have been overweight all their life, I think having a goal weight is okay too--to have something to work towards, but at the end of the day you can't get caught up in the numbers on the scale when you've turned a new leaf and have incorporated exercise into your life (for the reasons stated above). You always have to re-evaluate and push for that physique and that size. Getting obsessed with the scale can be discouraging.

Oh, I agree that the BMI chart is hugely flawed. That said, every single ailment I had prior to weight loss was dismissed by doctors as being caused by obesity. Everything - from infertility to insomnia to pain in my ankle - was shrugged off with a "if you lose 50 pounds you'll feel better" and "here's another referral to the nutritionist."

So for me, the issue isn't that I feel a magical shift from unhealthy to healthy when I go from 140 to 135 pounds.

It's that my doctors aren't able to dismiss me as easily.

~Cheri