How did you decide on what your goal weight should be? BMI calculator, your lowest weight, recommendation from dr or dietician? Interested in learning… so please share.

3 minutes ago, Sigh said:

At 4.5 months post op, i know i still have a bit to go, but am trying to shift my thinking towards the maintenance phases.

If you're only 4.5 months post-op, you still have a LOT of weight loss left in you. You will likely continue to lose until at least 9 months post-op. It will slow down, but you are likely nowhere close to being done.

It’s very likely your goal weight will not be your final weight - where you settle & maintain. This is controlled by your new set point, any bounce back regain, a settling weight, any lifestyle choices you may make & the weight you feel happiest & most comfortable at.

I picked a goal weight that had always been my low weight in the roller coaster that was my weight loss/gain history. My surgeon said it was a reasonable goal. It put me at a BMI (love it or hate it) of about 23. Though I felt I would be happy if I just got close to that weight & a long way away from what I did weigh. Yes, I did exceed my goal but that was totally unexpected. It’s my new set point weight where my body is happiest. And I can fairly easily maintain it without limiting or restricting my life.

Goal weights have the potential to mess with your head if you don’t reach it or maintain at that weight. It’s just a number on a scale often selected for emotional reasons. The bigger wins are improvements to your health & well being. Be flexible. Allow for fluctuations & influences beyond your control. Some people set a couple of goal weights. Like a good, better, best but recognising any would be an achievement which would improve their life.

It was a negotiation between my doctor and I. LOL! They said, "160". I said, "145" because that's what I weighed after I had my second child. They said that because of my age, that was too low. So, I countered with "150". She just said, "160 - 155 at the lowest. We'll see." LOL!

Like the idea of a good /better/best approach- and thinking about how to maintain what i land at.

Thank you all!

Edited July 23, 20233 yr by Sigh

My ideal BMI is 190 lbs. I'm at 240 lbs now. We have to realize regular exercise is part of our life now. I've actually gained about 5 lbs from my minimum, and still lost waist sizes in that time. No medical issues at all; dropped diabetes, apnea, etc. Waist under 40, stronger, more flexible, no more back pain, healed my neck pain, doctor is happy.

I guess 190 is always the goal, but if I can stay healthy with no health issues, I'm good.

i chose an arbitrary number of the mid-point of healthy BMI for my height: 120 lbs (which was more or less the weight i was up to my mid-twenties...im 50 now)

By the time i got to 127, i called GOAL cuz i felt i was looking too gaunt and skelator-ish for my liking.

I did continue to lose more weight, however, and for some reason or another, got down to a lowest-post-op weight of 109 around 1.5 years post op.

fast forward a few years (i'm almost 5 yrs post-op now) and i've basically bounced around 115-120 for most of that time. This morning, i clocked in at 119.8 lbs

oddly enough, despite the fact that i weigh about 7 lbs less than the time i called goal due to looking too sickly over 4 years ago, i actually look much, much healthier now. the rapid weight loss phase did a number to my appearance, i guess, and now that i'm on auto-pilot and eating more "normally" (i'm looking at you, carbs!), and getting a decent amount or regular exercise. everything sort of shifted around and settled so i no longer look like dead man walking.

oh, and another observation: when i was a teenager, i weighed about 110-115, and looking as past pictures, i believe i actually look bigger back then despite actually weighing more today.

soooooooo....that was a long winded way of saying that the number on the scale isn't always the best thing to determine the best goal weight for YOU.

but of course its a good starting point, if one is realistic about it.

Good Luck! ❤️

I just picked a weight (kinda random/outta nowhere, LOL) that I had reached by dieting strictly from a much lighter starting weight about 10 years ago and I felt suited me. It was in the middle of my 'normal' BMI and totally aspirational. I never dreamed that I would actually reach it.

My surgeon and dietician prepared me to lose 60-70% of my excess weight, which would have left me with a BMI of 27/28 or so (which I would also have been thrilled with)!!

I ended up losing more. I would have been equally happy had I ending up losing less - HONESTLY. My body seems to have picked its own new set weight. It's so weird - like I had little (almost no) input other than sticking to my programme.

Suffice to say - trust the surgery, trust your body. Don't mess about with the rules. You'll end up where you were supposed to. xxx

Edited July 25, 20233 yr by Spinoza

My initial goal weight was "what is the highest weight I could end up at where I would still feel like the surgery was a success?"

For me, that was 275. Once I hit that, I kept going and have maintained at around 220 lbs.

I cancelled my surgery but my goals (lose weight, get rid of prediabetes, improve thyroid and get out of plus sizes) haven’t changed. Started at 270, my first big long term goal is 220. I’m almost there then I’ll go to 170. Anything after that will be wonderful, would love to be at 150. But finding healthy habits that are sustainable long term is what I’m looking at so I can maintain where I land

Most of my adult life I maintained my weight at 117 pounds with exception of two periods lasting a couple of years that I packed on extra weight. With dedication and vigilance, I was always able to lose the excess.....until "The Great Weight Gain of 2012". None of my previous successful weight loss tactics were working and when I hit the 10 year mark of struggling to lose the extra weight; as well as, growing health issues from the added weight, I accepted the fact that i now was unable to fight this battle alone. I chose my goal weight of 112 in anticipation of the common regain from the lowest weight acheived to allow myself a five pound alarm system....in hopes of never seeing the scales above 117 again.

On 7/28/2023 at 3:22 PM, hills&valleys said:

None of my previous successful weight loss tactics were working

So true. I knew what to do to lose the weight. It just stopped working. The WLS tool we have now is amazing in reversing whatever that hindrance was. Age, insulin resistance, meds, slowed metabolism???

Now I just want to use it as long as I can without breaking it.

My Goal weight (185) was just picked by the Normal Height and weight for 6' Tall guy. But I know from experience anytime I got down to about 205 lbs I thought I looked and felt great! I figure though this time I will probably make it down all the way to 185 lbs.