How did you choose your goal weight?

[kbsleeved 65]

I'm curious about everyone's thought process when picking their goal weight (if you have one, that is!) Is it a weight you've been before that you know feels good to you? Did you pick based on your doctor's recommendation or the BMI scale? Did you decide not to have one?

I've been gaining weight steadily since puberty and have never had a time in my adult life where I felt like I was a weight that felt good on me, so I'm a little lost in the woods as to what my goal weight is or should be... honestly I picked a number at random and if I get there I'm planning on being open to revision once I see how I look/feel. Which brings up another question - if you had a goal weight, did it ever change, before or after you reached it? Why?

[summerseeker 1,833]

I didn't/ don't have a goal weight because I have been crushed by not achieving it in the past. Also I don't know how far this surgery will take me. The hospital dietician said I could loose 65% of my excess weight and I have already smashed that, her words. Loosing 100lbs was my first goal and I got there easy. I personally would like to get under the 200lbs barrier even if its only a pound. Not being in the obese category would be nice too......

[kbsleeved 65]

12 minutes ago, summerseeker said:

I didn't/ don't have a goal weight because I have been crushed by not achieving it in the past. Also I don't know how far this surgery will take me. The hospital dietician said I could loose 65% of my excess weight and I have already smashed that, her words. Loosing 100lbs was my first goal and I got there easy. I personally would like to get under the 200lbs barrier even if its only a pound. Not being in the obese category would be nice too......

How did your dietician/doctor define excess weight?

[ms.sss 14,637]

i chose 120lbs as it was the mid-point for the "normal" BMI weight range for my height (5'2"). no real rhyme nor reason why i decided this way, other than i had no other ideas, ha also, i figured it was doable since i was that weight in my twenties. its worth noting here my surgeon said that he would consider my weight loss a success if i reached 175lbs (or was it 165?, i can't remember)

by the time i got to 127, i decided to stop weight loss as i felt i was looking too thin.

kept losing weight anyway, got down to 109, then settled into 115-ish for 2 or so years, but for almost the past year ive been consistently closer to 120 (am 4 years post op today).

p.s. despite weighing less today than what i did when i decided to stop weight loss, in my opinion, i think i look better now (less gaunt and frail looking).

Edited December 13, 2022 by ms.sss

[SleeveToBypass2023 1,798]

I chose 200 pounds because even though it still has me at overweight, I felt an looked GREAT at that weight. And I haven't been 200 pounds in 26 years. My secret goal weight is 170, but if I don't make that, it's ok. 200 is really the one I'm the most concerned about.

[pintsizedmallrat 470]

My goal weight has shifted a couple times; my initial goal was 120 but when I kept losing, I moved it to 110 to account for any eventual regain. I'm below that right now, and am trying not to get under 100 because I'm already getting the "too thin" comments from family.

I don't think having your goal weight change is uncommon; most of us have been overweight for so long that we don't have a good idea of what we looked like at that weight, or how we will feel at that size. I haven't weighed this little since I was 16 years old.

[summerseeker 1,833]

42 minutes ago, kbsleeved said:

How did your dietician/doctor define excess weight?

They take it from there own BMI calculator. I am in the UK so the parameters may be different to yours. It uses height, age, ethnicity and how much exercise you do. A healthy range for me would be between 112 pounds [haha] and 150 pounds according to the British Medical Association. So I guess they pick a number in between and anything extra is classed as excess weight. So 100 % of my excess weight would be between 218 pounds and 190 pounds lost. The sleeve surgery itself says you should loose 65 % of excess weight

[MountainClover 81]

I chose 120lbs. I was 120 in my late 20s I am 68 now. I am 5ft 2in so I figured that was a good weight for me, however my Nurse Practioner says that it really should be about 160lbs. But we will see. I was at 170 a few years ago and although I looked better I was still not happy with the way I looked so I am still hoping for 120 to 130.

[kcuster83 1,502]

I choose mine based on how I looked and felt the last time I was close to it. My lowest adult weight was 260lbs so I modified it to 225 for my goal weight based on that. My surgeon and Dietician agreed it was a great goal weight for me (I am 6ft tall with a broad frame) and a good expectation.

I will be completely satisfied to be 225 (ish) if I never lost another lb.

BUT, I did lower my goal from there to 210 lbs because that would be a pound less than half of what I was when I started and I thought it would be quite an accomplishment to know I lost over have of my body! Would be super cool but I would completely fine never hitting it.

Then, I have a 3rd goal of 199 and that is ONLY to be able to know and say I weighed less than 200lbs as an adult. HAHA Personally, I think it would be too thin for my preference but I want to see it and then be ok gaining like 10-20 lbs back to be where I would prefer.

I am actually pretty content in the 250s right now other than all skin so if I stopped losing now, I would be "ok" with it but prefer to loose another 25-50 lbs.

[kbsleeved 65]

1 minute ago, kcuster83 said:

I choose mine based on how I looked and felt the last time I was close to it. My lowest adult weight was 260lbs so I modified it to 225 for my goal weight based on that. My surgeon and Dietician agreed it was a great goal weight for me (I am 6ft tall with a broad frame) and a good expectation.

I will be completely satisfied to be 225 (ish) if I never lost another lb.

BUT, I did lower my goal from there to 210 lbs because that would be a pound less than half of what I was when I started and I thought it would be quite an accomplishment to know I lost over have of my body! Would be super cool but I would completely fine never hitting it.

Then, I have a 3rd goal of 199 and that is ONLY to be able to know and say I weighed less than 200lbs as an adult. HAHA Personally, I think it would be too thin for my preference but I want to see it and then be ok gaining like 10-20 lbs back to be where I would prefer.

I am actually pretty content in the 250s right now other than all skin so if I stopped losing now, I would be "ok" with it but prefer to loose another 25-50 lbs.

You've already made such incredible progress!

re: loose skin, I've always wondered if the people who have surgery to remove excess skin wake up to find themselves 10 lbs lighter post-op.

[kcuster83 1,502]

4 minutes ago, kbsleeved said:

You've already made such incredible progress!

re: loose skin, I've always wondered if the people who have surgery to remove excess skin wake up to find themselves 10 lbs lighter post-op.

Thank you!

It's never as much as you want. HAHA

[qtdoll 534]

My goal (135lbs) is the highest "normal" weight on the BMI scale for my height. I figure it'd be a good place to stop before I work on muscle

But honestly I think I care more about my measurements than the number since muscle will eventually be involved & skew the bmi scale. I would love for my waist to be in the 25-28inch range

Edited December 13, 2022 by bbykitty

[ms.sss 14,637]

54 minutes ago, kbsleeved said:

re: loose skin, I've always wondered if the people who have surgery to remove excess skin wake up to find themselves 10 lbs lighter post-op.

haha not me. i lost a grand total of 400g (<1 lb) after plastics.

BUT the visual difference was quite dramatic (for me, at least).

[kbsleeved 65]

3 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

haha not me. i lost a grand total of 400g (<1 lb) after plastics.

BUT the visual difference was quite dramatic (for me, at least).

That's really surprising to me! Maybe just visually it looks like more is removed than actually is, and it's more about placement, etc.

I saw someone on tiktok yesterday who had a removal after 400+ lbs weight loss and her surgeon said he removed 47 lbs of tissue but she also had Lipo done on her stomach and flanks at the same time so I assume the weight included fat.

[pintsizedmallrat 470]

1 hour ago, kbsleeved said:

You've already made such incredible progress!

re: loose skin, I've always wondered if the people who have surgery to remove excess skin wake up to find themselves 10 lbs lighter post-op.

My surgeon's office said that most people who reach their goal weight are carrying around 5-10 pounds of excess skin.