Creating your "Goal Weight"

Hey guys,

Just curious on how you all decided what weight was best for you to set as your goal?

(I am 5'8, about 139-141 pounds right now and a fairly active 18 year old, I think my goal weight is... between 130 and 135?)

I'm 5'3" and 1/2, I was happiest with myself when I weighed 110. It was low enough to suit me and high enough to keep my parents from flipping out.

Getting there is being a birch-tree, though.

(Our current and goal weights are close to the same BMI, weird, eh?)

5'3" here also...CC's goal wgt for me is 127 but I tend to carry alot of muscle, and am usually better at 135-140

LOL but at this point I'm just trying to get below 160!  There's no way I'd want to be 18 again....

To set my goal weight, I used the BMI scale.

A healthy weight being from 20-25, I aimed for a 23 or so.  I then played with the weights to see for my height and age where I would have to be.

I then found that the weight would be too low, so I aimed for a 24.5 BMI and then will take it from there.

At 5'8 and 130, you would be classified as just underweight.  And 135 would be just in the healthy weight range.  So either way you look at it, you are in the very lower end of a healthy weight range. 

I would stick with the weight you are, which is more in the middle of the healthy weight range, and really focus on healthy eating and more importantly, toning and lean muscle mass to give yourself a very fit and very healthy look

I did set a goal weight, because you have to have something to strive for, and I picked a weight in the lower half of the small frame for my height.

however, I am not fixated on getting to that weight.  What I did is a little different.  I calculated the calories needed to sustain my goal weight at sedentary and light activity levels, then set that as my calorie budget.  it ended up being 1350-1550 calories per day.

The expectation is that as I get closer to my goal weight, and the span between the calories to maintain current weight and the calories to maintain goal weight narrows, that weight loss will slow down.  I expect it may even come to a halt once or twice before then, as it reaches a temporary set-point.  I'm happy to let my body get down to whatever weight is "natural" for it.

By setting the goal weight I did, within the acceptable weight range for my height, I'm not at risk of putting myself in an unhealthy state.  If I don't reach the goal weight, then I'll know that whatever weight I do reach is the best one for me.  And I find that a calorie budget of 1350-1550 provides good nutrition and a good variety of very tasty foods. 

My philosophy is, Eat to maintain your goal weight. 

i`m 5'4 and i weight 129 at the moment.

my goal weight is to be 110-115 by at least sept.

hope that helps :]

im 5 feet and i weigh 136 now. my goal is to weigh 100 by august 1st.

I am 5'7 " and weigh 149, with a goal of 140 by May1!

I'm 5'8" and when I was 18 I weighed approx. 125 which was a comfortable weight for me then.  I have a medium frame.  Once I had my first child, though, 130 was the absolute minimum. 

I have had three children and am now 47 (almost 48) years old.  I have set my goal weight at 148 which I think will be a comfortable weight for me now but really cannot know until I get closer to it.

5ft6 and 119 lbs. I dont know whether it is average or underweight as I think the BMI may differ in Western and Eastern people...

As Marlene and lornajean have both mentioned, to a degree, take your body frame into account when trying to figure out the ideal weight to aim for.

The most common way to figure out your body's frame size is take your index and thumb and wrap them around the skinniest part of your wrist. If your fingers overlap, then you're a small frame, if they touch a medium frame, and if they don't touch then you're a large framed person.

Now, if doing this you find you're a large framed person, don't freak out. Your frame size is nothing to be embarrassed about. It would be like being embarrassed about having blue eyes. It's genetic, and just a case of different genes.

Once you figure out your general frame size, aim for the upper weight range of the listed ones here: http://www.healthchecksystems.com/heightweigh tchart.htm (I couldn't find a chart like this on this site) and aim for the upper range of the weight listed. I say the upper range, because even with knowledge of frame size there will still be some personal differences, such as length of legs, broadness of shoulders, size of ribcages and hips, etc. Looking at yourself when you are at the upper limit of the safe range for your frame size will allow you to gage if you need to lose more weight, or if you're happy with your current weight as it is.

130 is not underweight for 5'8''
your bmi is 19.8 at that weight. underweight is under 18.5

i used this calc:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/tools/calories-b urned

under 122 is underweight for your height.
which im an inch shorter than you and have a small frame

i think 130-135 is a healthy lean goal.

but you say you are fairly active....so i would get a body fat caliper thing to see if you need to weight more because you are athletic.
althletic people always can get away with 10-20 more pounds on the scale it seems.

Thanks you guys! At my gym they offer free body fat measuring sessions.. I think I will get this done and let you all know how it goes.

Also, kaziel thanks for that link!

I think 130-135 will be my goal. If anything changes I will update you all.

My goal is 119, 4 pounds heavier than the goal weight CC came up for me.  I chose 119 because I'm only 5'2" so I knew I wanted a weight around 125 or 120.  But I've also got a small frame, so I went just below 120.  But heck, I'd probably be overjoyed at 125 after being over 200!

(Plus you can't donate blood unless you're 114 or more.)

That www.nutritiondata.com site was great.  It said I was a little over my BMI - I weigh around 170 lbs. at 5'9" -  but it also said "BMI does not take body composition into account. A weight above this range could still be considered healthy if your percentage body fat is less than average."  I did get my body fat measured and it was pretty low.  I work out a lot and have a lot of muscle which weighs more than fat and weight calculators don't take that into account. 

I do think I need to lose a few pounds, but not the 17 this site says I need to lose!  I once got down to under 160 and looked and felt terrible.  My body seems to stay at this weight no matter what I do.

Fingers wrapped around your wrist isn't always accurate, try this site.

Anyways I'm 5'9 and my goal is 140, I just picked it because it seemed like a good weight for my height. 135 is probably good for you. 

I'm 5'8" and 142 with a small-medium frame also. My original goal was 135 , but i remember how good i looked at 130 when i was 21. so 130 it is!