How did you settle on a goal?

[F_it 101]

Im 5'7 and figured 175 would get me in a size 10-12 looking healthy. So really my point of reference is the size i want to get to, and the weight ill be when im at my goal is just an estimate :-)

[Butterflyhigh 504]

My doc's goal was set at 24 bmi.

My goal was set at size 8 jeans.

I am currently a 25 bmi and size 6 jeans!!

Another 9 pounds and I will hit my surgeon's goal. I hope to not loose another pant size, just a bit of jiggly left around the midsection. WLS has been like a dream for me. I never would have imagined being this size.

Good Luck to you!!

[dashofsunshine 876]

@@roundisashape if you're worried about setting your goal too low and getting that "all or nothing" mentality, then maybe try setting a goal of like 60 lbs lost to begin with. Something very attainable for you. Then, when you reach it, or get close to it, you can re-evaluate. That might help keep you from getting discouraged! I was overweight my whole life until high school when I lost 70 lbs (excessive starvation and two hours of exercise 7 days a week works, but is not maintainable). I got down to 145 lbs (size 6/8) and I am 5'8". I was really happy and felt beautiful, but as I went to college and fell into deep depression, I gained back all the weight and then some. I'm excited to try to get back down to my high school weight. Good luck to everyone! ????

[dashofsunshine 876]

Also, there are some threads on the forums where people give their height and current weight/dress size and some attach photos. Go look at those and find someone with a similar body type/ height and see if that doesn't help you pinpoint a goal weight ????

[thesuse2000 698]

I struggled with this one too. I picked 155 because that's just a few pounds below 159, which gets me into the normal BMI category. But if I stabilize at a higher weight I'm okay with that too. I'm thinking about the longterm - I don't want to push myself to lose more weight if I don't think I'll be able to maintain it longterm, so I'll let my body determine my ultimate weight that I decide to maintain at.

This is all perhaps easy to say now though - not sure how I'll feel if my weight stabilizes soon!

If I happen to continue to lose and am happy with how I'm looking, then I would be delighted to continue towards an "ideal" BMI of 140 or so. But right now - since I am for sure a forever fluffy - I can't even imagine being anywhere near that. I don't think I've been below 170 or so since I was a tween.

Edited October 12, 2014 by thesuse2000

[Angie413 47]

I've been thinking about this for a while. Haven't decided yet. Right now my goal is to be one hundred anything. lol. I'm so sick of the 2's. Ultimately I'm thinking 150 I would feel great.

[Miaoreo 134]

I went on a very strict liquid high Protein diet once and lost down to 160. I had the cutest pair of PINK size 11 jeans.... long gone. but I would love to be that size again and STAY that Size. So I figure somewhere between 150 and 160 will do it!

[Packerfan61964 293]

I would just like to see ONEderland!!!!!

Edited October 12, 2014 by Packerfan61964

[BladeFox 235]

Interesting question. I settled on a goal that I remember being at when I was in my early-to-mid twenties. Even then I was considered large for my height, that was over 30 years ago. It may actually not be realistic because my body is sticking and staying at a weight loss of 62 pounds, plus, I'm menopausal. I ask myself often if this is a good size at my age. I can't believe how it can't be, but I feel really good in my current skin. I want to get to my mental goal, but maybe, just maybe, that's unreasonable at my age and I should shoot for something more 'age' appropriate.

[joatsaint 2,814]

I started off expecting to reach my Surgeon's goal. He said I could expect to reach 235. When I hit 235, it was still pretty easy to lose weight and I wasn't satisfied where I was. I wanted to get below my high school weight - 224. I hit 224 a few months later. I still wasn't satisfied and started shooting for 199. I"m at 209 and am pretty satisfied.

So that's how I chose my weight loss goal. Started out with my doc's expectation, reevaluated my goals when I reached it, then set a new goal I thought I'd be happy reaching.

[jhaymom 38]

I have not yet set a goal either, it's so hard because I am also a forever flufffy! At age 34, I can't remember when I was under 200 something? Right now I am currently 60lbs down, at 187 and feeling amazing. My surgeon's goal is 164, and the goal in my head is 140. It's so crazy to think about what I would look like at 140lbs. I can't wait to see it! I like the comments about goals being sizes and what's comfortable to do. It definitely feels good to fit in my size 16 jeans and still have them be big. I'm taking it one day at a time and feeling grateful for the choice I made to have wls.

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

Haha love it... I am a formerly (mostly) forever fluffy too. also, I was very high BMI.

My surgeons office refused to set a "goal" because what they did not want me to lose a bunch of weight and then feel disappointed since I didn't hit a certain number.

I started at 308 (I am 5'5"). I decided that if i could get under 200# and MAINTAIN that would be a wild success story since I always regained in the past. As I got rolling, I decided to shoot for a little slimmer and set my goal weight as 158... still overweight but losing a nice round 150#. Arbitrary, but it felt right. I hit that weight in Feb 2013 and felt great, single digit clothing sizes, looked good, good health, etc. I regained 5# over the summer of 2013 and when I tackled relosing those, I got down to 150...woo hoo... that was good too!

Then, earlier this year I lost another 10 and got to 140. Right now, I am about 145 and working hard to stay in that ballpark. My BMI is in the 23ish range but i was okay at 26-27 BMI too (I started at over 50 BMI!).

My surgeon told me that getting under 30 BMI addresses the health concerns...

So, my advice is to set goals, but to recognize that you can have amazing success without necessarily getting to a number on a chart (even though i keep referring to numbers..ha!). Celebrate your success, get to a weight you can actually maintain and love life!!!

[lastingdreams 57]

I'm a forever fluffy :-)

I've been over 300 pounds since I was 13. I set my goal based on the amount of weight my surgeon thinks I can loose. Being under 300 is like a dream so I'm happy (so far) with a goal of 220

[MichiganChic 3,262]

At first, I picked a goal of normal BMI, which is 145. I didn't really expect to get anywhere near it, so I guess it wasn't much of a goal, lol. I'd been overweight most of my life, and really couldn't imagine actually being thin. I was afraid to hope.

So, after I started losing, I started to think about what was reasonable for me, given my history. (I was 140 pounds in the 80s for about 5 minutes). I figured if I hit 180, I'd be OK with it. That would be about 70% of my excess weight. If I hit 160, I'd be happy, and if I hit 140 I'd be thrilled. So, now my wight has stabilized, and it's looking like 165 is where I can comfortably maintain. However, I still might want to get to 155, just to give a little wiggle room.

That's a long winded response, but the short answer is that it's a work in progress, and I don't have to pick a number and stick to it regardless of reality. Part of it's where I want to be, (what I can do) and part of is what is possible (what my body dictates), and those two things will determine where I land. Even at this weight, I think I look good,and I consider myself a success.

[livvsmum 2,370]

For me I wanted to lose 50% of my starting weight, which would put me smack-dab in the middle of a "healthy weight range" for my height, age, and gender. That would have been 138, and since I'm kind of obsessive and don't like a number like that, I just kind of bumped it down to 135 to make it an increment of 5. :-)