Picking a target weight

My insurance company (Kaiser Permanente of S. California) required that we take 6 months of classes (24 weeks) before having surgery.  During this time, our body fat percentage was taken and we were given a goal weight based on that.  My goal weight was 190 - 210 lbs, due to my muscle mass and bone structure.  I'm 5'6" and large framed, with the bones clearly visible on both sides of my wrists.  My wrist measurement is 7 1/4 ".  My body fat % taken in my right arm was 41%, and through my feet, 51%.  I have a larger bottom half than top.  From these measurements, it was felt that an appropriate goal would be at least 190lbs - 210.  My scale at home that gives body fat % says that I'm between 37% - 41% depending upon time of day and hydration level.  For my age, I should be between 27-34% body fat, so I'm not all that far off now.  This will still leave me with a BMI of 30 - 32.  BMI doesn't take into consideration that muscle and bone are more dense than fat, and that a healthy person can have a higher BMI, but lower body fat.  See if you can get a body fat reading and see if you really are at goal or not.

My surgeon told me that my goal would be to never see the number "2" again as the first number in my weight - at the time I weighed 374 pounds, and I thought he was nuts. Less than a year later I have met his goal and weighed in today at 197. I have set a personal goal at 150. My one year follow up appointment will be on the 16th of July, and I'm really excited!

I have a Tanita scale that has little sensors where you put you feet.  After it weighs you, it counts down for 5 seconds and sends a minor electrical impulse into your feet and measures how long it takes to return.  The longer it takes the more body fat you have, and it calculates this to show your percentage of body fat.  It isn't as accurate as being weighed under water, but it is within a percent or two.  It gives you a better overall idea if you are really fat, or larger framed, or have more muscle mass or all of the above. I've found it to be really helpful. I should also say that pre surgery, my wrist was 7 3/4 inches, and with 118lbs lost, it has only gone down 1/2 inch, but my ring size has changed quite a bit.

I have been very overweight all my life (272 lbs. in junior high).  My surgeon was more interested in % od excess weight lost than a number but when I pressed him for a goal weight, he said 202.  From a high of 479 and a pre-op weight of 402, this seemed reasonable to me.  At eighteen months out, I have lost 181 pounds (I weigh 221 now) and am pretty happy with my progress.  My personal goal is 199 just because I'd love t see a 1 zx the beginning number.  (I'm 5"7')

My thing is that I hate numbers. Numbers are just an arbitrary outside judgement that don't have anything to do with me. I use them only when I must.  My doctor has never given me a goal weight, maybe because when I started at 550 pounds anything was an improvement!  And since I don't have a home scale and most doctor's office scales don't weigh above 350, I really don't know what I weigh right now.  I was 390 last January and I know I have lost since then.  To me, the important thing is how I FEEL.  I have had no desire to take pictures of myself as I have lost, because no picture can capture how I feel.  And no number will define my success.  If people press me, I tell them my first goal is 250, because that is about what I weighed at a time in my life when I felt great, physically, emotionally, socially, in every way.  But I was 19 then, and I don't know how 250 is going to feel on this 47 year old body.  When I get there, I will see how it feels.  It might feel good - I'm 5'8" and big boned - or I might want to go lower. Do I want to be really thin? 165 pounds, like the charts say?  I don't know, I've never been there.  If I get close, I might give it a try.  But it is my body, and ignoring its pain and the signals it gave me - refusing to feel - is how I got into this mess in the first place. I sacrificed my body by stuffing it with food in order to soothe my wounded soul.  I now know I have to feel the feelings and deal with the pain instead of masking it with food.  I am waking up from the dreamland of denial and realizing the physical pain and damage I have done to my body by being morbidly obese.  This is very difficult, very intimate work, and it  requires a lot of risk and vulnerability (and therapy!).  And as fond as I am of my lovely Dr Crookes, no doctor, no nutritionist, certainly no damn BMI chart is going to give me a number that I have to be.  I am the only one who has the right to judge what is right for me.  I will know in my heart, in my soul, and in my saggy, baggy, strong, healthy body when I am where I feel good. And right now, I guess that will be somewhere between 250 and 160.  I will know when I get there.  Right now I am just going to work on the journey and leave my destination open.   I didn't mean to preach, but I do feel that women in our society in general put too much emphasis on scale numbers, size numbers.  I don't want to know what you weigh - I want to know who you are! As you can tell from my signature, I have had trouble inserting the little ticker.  They appeal to me because they are so cute, but I look at the graphics, never at anyone's numbers!  And the cuteness is why I wanted one, but I have just realized that the number ticker emphasizes the very thing I have just railed against, so I am going to erase my failed attempt. Thanks for letting me vent!