How do you know what weight you should be?

[highfunctioningfatman 2,675]

My goal is 34 pants and a large shirt fitting properly. I could care less what the actual number says.

[jess9395 5,449]

The top of normal BMI at 5'4" is 151 pounds. At about two years out, there is a rebound of about 20 pounds. So to stay at normal BMI you would want to lose another 20 pounds and be too skinny for the next year.

Many people are too skinny during the second year after weight loss surgery. It is almost impossible to find someone who is still too skinny in their third year.

Did you read a study that said 20? I know most people do "rebound" but I would love to see studies that show numbers.

Mine was only 5-7.

Just the average my surgeon quotes. Some gain a lot more, some a lot less. Mine was 12

I wonder if there is a study out there he bases that on or if it's from his own personal observation from his own patients.

[jess9395 5,449]

According to the American society for metabolic and bariatric surgery:

"As many as 50 percent of patients may regain a small amount of weight (approximately 5 percent) two years or more following their surgery. "

If they mean 5% from bottom weight that fits my regain (5% of 135 is 6.75lbs). Interesting!

Of course they go on to say...

"However, longitudinal studies find that most bariatric surgery patients maintain successful weight-loss long-term. ‘Successful’ weight-loss is arbitrarily defined as weight-loss equal to or greater than 50 percent of excess body weight. Often, successful results are determined by the patient, by their perceived improvement in quality of life. In such cases, the total retained weight-loss may be more, or less, than this arbitrary definition. Such massive and sustained weight reduction with surgery is in sharp contrast to the experience most patients have previously had with non-surgical therapies."

https://asmbs.org/patients/bariatric-surgery-misconceptions

[B-52 7,113]

Weight and pounds has nothing to do with it...BMI's are a gauge only and not very accurate.

Only healthy way to know is by Body Fat %....

BMI can say you are overweight, but if your body fat % is low to normal, then you are good...very good.And to loose any more weight would be very harmful.

On the flipside, you may think your weight is what it should be, and the BMI charts agree. But if your body fat % is high, then you are still unhealthy and at great risk for all sorts of problems. You still need to burn off some of that fat.

Body fat is the killer...not weight.

This is exactly right.

I was (and am) proud of my weight loss and my "normal" BMI---until I had my body fat % tested. Even though I'm pretty physically fit, do a nice mixture of cardio AND resistance/strength training, my body fat % is 31. Kind of blew me away. To be fair, I started at a 50%.

Now my primary wants me to lose 5 pounds BUT work on building more muscle at the same time.

It never ends :/

Take your current weight, what is 31% of that....??? That is all fat !!!

However the average for women is 24-31%

Your Dr. wants you to lose 5lbs? That will get you to the lower part of average. Not bad....keep up the Protein and exercise, and you will burn off the fat.

[Cindi_Augustine 99]

At 4'9" there isn't even a category on the BMI charts that fits me. Technically they consider that height adolescent and tell me I should be about 110!! I'm 143 right now and have been within 5 lbs of that for about 18 months. Last visit with my doctor she made an off-hand comment about my not being overweight anymore, so I took that as a positive sign. I mostly wear medium or occasionally large at this weight and feel great so whenever I'm tempted to struggle to lose more - which never works and makes me obsessive - I remind myself that numbers are not the most important thing. If I can remain here with relative ease and emotional comfort then that seems right for me. I think we're all different so the right number for one person may not be the same for another.

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[KristenLe 5,979]

How do I write a post?

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Go the forum that the post should be in and in the top right corner it will say "Start New Topic".

[alwtg 199]

Thanks for all of your responses, it's been really reassuring to me that there really is no right answer. I'm planning to carry on until my weight settles on its own.

[Alex Brecher 10,496]

@@alwtg,

Great question! This is a tough one. There is no single answer that works for everyone. I like to consider a few things, then come to a decision about what I want to weigh.

First is how I feel. I have more energy and feel more limber the lighter I am…to a point. Then I feel a little weaker.

Then there is how my health numbers are. I want to be at a weight where my basic values like HDL/LDL/total cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, etc., are as good as I know they can be.

There are the general recommendations – I like to at least know what my body weight would be at the BMI cutoffs for normal, overweight, and obese, and keep those in mind when thinking about goal weight.

There is also the issue of looks, because we all want to look our best.

Finally, sometimes your body just tells you where it wants to be. You might simply not be able to lose past a certain point because your body is happy where it is.

So, there’s a lot to consider as you settle on a goal weight, and your goal weight can change over time.

And congratulations on your weight loss so far!

[QueenOfTheTamazons 634]

My numerical goal is ~ 180, or 200lbs gone. But that is Fluid based on how i look and feel. I want to be a min of 199, so i am out of the 200s.

My BMI range tops out at 175 and when i was younger i was told thst my "medical" weight tops out at 165. I wasnt sure I could hit that and wanted realistic goals.

My mom (who is 5'5) claims that she looks sickly at 180 but honestly I don't remember her ever weighing 180.

A lovely person here who is 5'11 showed me a pic of her at 189. I think she looks fab, so anything in the 180-195 would be considered sucessful to me.

[QueenOfTheTamazons 634]

I'm struggling a bit with my true goal weight. My original goal was 165, and I'm now a hair over 162. I would be happy staying at this weight (and not having to buy more clothes for a while), but my body seems to have other ideas. I'm eating as much as I can each day, but I'm still losing. So, I don't know if I should let my body decide my ultimate goal for me or try harder to stop the weight loss.

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I kinda wish i could be so lucky... except in a steven king's thinner kind of way.

Goal weight is an artificial number. After some thought I set mine at the high side of Normal BMI. This point corresponds to the lowest mortality rate. It is important to have a little extra fat because when the human body encounters a serious illness or injury, we tend to rely on this for recovery.

[bugsy72 117]

I'm 5'8" and 62 years old. My bariatric dr gave me a goal of 180. I think id like to go lower but we shall see. I've lost 106 lbs since my 12-1-15 RNY. I'm at 196. Can't believe I've come this far. So thankful. I'll just keep losing as long as my body cooperates.

[dvons 63]

I just go by BMI. Those weight charts can be ridiculous.

[LipstickLady 25,682]

I went by pants size personally. All I cared about was single digits so my goal was a size 8 and a medium top/dress.

[careya123 260]

I originally set my goal at 150, since it's a nice round number and I was that weight for about 10 minutes back in my early 20s (sz 10 for me). I was a sz 14 in college, and now I am again. I feel comfortable here, but it's 35 lbs more than my goal weight. (I'm only six months out, but I lost everything in the first 3 months, and haven't lost a single pound since then. Weird.)

Now I'm thinking about re-setting my goal weight to 160, which is at the top of my BMI range. Ultimately, I'd really like to be a size 10 max because some clothing lines I like only go up to size 10.

[shoodle72 61]

When I saw my surgeon, he asked me about what weight i wanted to be. I told him that as I've always been overweight, I didn't know as I can't imagine what I will look like in a 'normal' weight range.

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