How did you decide what your "goal weight" would be?

I just picked a random number, but I see many people here that started where I did and have a lower goal weight than I do.  What should mine be?  I'm a 5' 3" female.

i struggled with this. i'm 5'10" - starting weight was 463 -- starting bmi of 66. when i asked my surgeon what my goal weight should be, his response was 210.

i thought 210? but i wanted to be "normal".

so i decided my goal would be to reach "normal" in the bmi category -- that would be 173 or 174. when i got to that, i thought, well, it would be fun to be able to say "i've lost 300 lbs", so i revised my goal to 163. that's where i am now, but i'm thinking i'd like to go a little lower -- i'm toying with the idea of 150 now.

so it's an ongoing thing with me -- i keep revising my goal as time goes by.

deb

   How did you do it?    What is your meal plan?  Is it very strict.  Or is your just can,t eat anything.  How much exercise are you getting.
 

 I,m asking because I  been fat all my life.  Two fifty pounds in high school.     I was 395 at my highest  I,m 39 years old gone  down to 370 pounds now.  The doctor says I still need to lose 60 pounds before surgery.  So I,m trying.  But still fill hopeless.  I have lose 11pounds and gain one back.  I scared to because what is a normal weight after surgery.   I would be happy two hundreds pounds. I haven,t been under two hundred  pounds since I was twelve year old.

hi doris

i've also been fat my whole life - i remember weighing 80 lbs in first grade -- i'm currently 52 yrs old. thru the course of those 52 yrs i have gained and lost and regained hundreds and hundreds of pounds. so far, this time is different! it's been amazing, and i DO feel wonderful!

my eating plan is simple. i have protein bars and protein drinks that i like. i have 2 bars for breakfast with coffee. (i drink lots of coffee -- i quit drinking anything carbonated prior to having surgery, and never resumed -- coffee or propel are my drinks of choice.) for lunch, i have regular food -- whatever my coworkers are having...if they're going out for mexican, i have mexican. if it's italian, i have italian. i have some foods i avoid. i've never resumed eating bread much -- stay away from sandwiches, as well as mostly avoiding pasta and i never eat rice (but i never really liked rice anyway!) i eat lots of chicken items for lunch, and fish too. sometimes i have problems with beef, so i tend to stay away from it.

so, for lunch i eat normally -- just not a lot of food. i almost always leave food on my plate now. pretty amazing for a charter member of the "clean plate club".

for dinner, i have a couple more protein bars, and a protein drink before bed. i keep protein drinks at work, and sometimes will have one in the late afternoon. one of my favorite things for snacking is celery with peanut butter. i will also eat nuts as a snack sometimes.

i will have an occasional dessert, or eat a cookie, or have some ice cream. i'm not one of those people who has declared "i'll never eat this or that item again". but i view those items as rare treats, not daily items to consume. and i eat much smaller portions of them that i did in the past. if i eat too much sugar, my heart begins to race (normal pulse rate is upper 50s, but if i eat something with LOTS of sugar, my heart rate jumps into the 90s), so that's a separate motivation to maintain control over my sugar intake. i do also have problems with my blood sugar level plummeting after i eat something with a lot of sugar or carbs, so that's another motivator to keep a close eye on how much of those things i consume.

as far as exercise, i have a beagle that really needs to walk regularly, so he and i walk around our city often. we average about 12 miles a week. since i'm in the midwest, winters can be pretty crappy, so i do have a treadmill, but i really prefer walking outdoors if possible. the beagle and i walked 4.5 miles yesterday. it's good for both of us, and we enjoy it!

one thing i have going for me that makes it easy for me to keep control over my food it that i live alone and have no kids. i don't have to worry about feeding a husband or family, so just having protein bars works well for me. i work alot of hours, and travel frequently for work, so i always have bars and drinks with me -- it's working really well for me.

i encourage you to keep trying. i felt pretty hopeless for a lot of years, too, but things can change. you can do it! have confidence in yourself. it's a struggle, but it's so worth the effort.

all the best.

deb

I'm 5'3'' as well....315 pounds now.  My surgery date is Aug 17.  I told my doctor that I wanted to be about 150ish and he said I should be able to get there.

I picked my goal weight of 180 which is 200 lbs total lost from my highest of 380. When I was 13 I went on a diet and lost a little over 60 lbs which put me in the 190's. I was around a size 14 then and still had a little ways to go but was so much happier, so I picked 180. I figured I'd go for that and if needed lower it as I get closer to it. 

I calculated it.  They said that with my sugery, rny, you will lose between 60 and 80 percent of your excess weight.  So from the BMI chart at 5 ft 10 I should be around 170.  That meant that starting at 477 I need to lose 300 lbs roughly, so 60% would be losing 180lbs and 80% would be 240 lbs.  So, my initial goal was to get down to 230 lbs.  But since I lost 85lbs preop, I figured I could do the work to lose the other 30 lbs so I made my goal to be 200lbs.  Still over the BMI scale but still far enough from where I started that I should feel good about my accomplishment.  Plus, I figure I'll have at least 30lbs of excess skin anyway ;)  Hope that helps.

It does.  Thanks

In my mind my goal weight is 180.

Last time I weighed 180 was 6th grade.

I'm taller now. And I actually think that might be in my BMI range... but honestly I think the BMI scale is junk anyway. It doesn't take body composition into account. I don't care what I weigh as long as I'm healthy.

The doctor might have a different goal for me. But ideally 180 is what I'm ultimately shooting for. I'm 420 or 430ish now... so that would be between 240-250 pounds to lose.

The surgeon told me she believed I could be down 200 pounds in a year.

I know that might not be the case. But that would be the goal.

Hi!

My goal at first was under 200. Once I got there-I felt I could keep going. Finally-I decided to get to a "normal" BMI. I am about a few lbs off from that-depending on the day. Sometimes I am at a normal BMI. My weight fluctuates about 5 lbs up and down. To be honest-I KNOW I am doing really well to have gotten this far-so I focus on maintaining mostly!

Luck
Therese