My goal weight will still leave me overweight!

It's a little discouraging that I have so much to lose that my goal weight -- according to something I found here on OH off my surgeon's site... will still be considered overweight!

It's kind of discouraging. But I can always exercise a lot and get the rest off that way. And, of course, that will take longer. And honestly... having 200 pounds off my body will be amazing regardless.

Still a little discouraging that I have a long way to go!

I think instead of looking at it as a discouragement use it as a tool to help you further your weight loss.

Kinda like What are you saying I can't do better than that well I will show you.

good luck with your journey

Me too. In fact, I think my goal weight will still having me be obese. The dieititian made me select a goal weight that will make me in the overweight category, but I'm sticking with what I want here. I need to be realistic. My REAL goal is to feel better, move better, lose the double chin and lose the huge belly. Who cares about numbers??

I know exactly how you feel.  My goal weight will still end me up in the obese category.  But I am trying to take it realistically.  I figure if I end up doing really good I can reevaluate my goal down the road.  I picked a higher number to start because like you said I know I will feel amazing having 200 pounds off, but if I pick a goal of 174 now, which will give me a BMI of 25 I think thinking about trying to lose 300 pounds right now would just about drive me mental.  Just thinking about getting into the low 200's is about all my brain can handle right now.  When I get close to that goal in a couple of years, I can always go for the 174 if I feel good and feel like it is reachable. 

The deal with goal weights is that it's just a number. My doctor's final goal weight for me is 200. I'm not thrilled about that. But it doesn't mean I'm going to give up when I get to 200. I'll keep going until it stops coming off easily. And then I'll try something else.

Several people on here started out where we are now and have gotten down to a normal BMI. It took a lot of hard work, but they did it.

For now, you need to look at this in baby steps. Lots of little, doable goals.

My next goal is to have lost 100 pounds. I want to do it before my birthday on the 27th (I have 8 pounds to go.) Then I'll set a new weight goal -- maybe 250?

I've got another goal: get into size 28 pants comfortably. Not size 8 -- 28.

You have to break things into smaller pieces -- work in small increments. I can't keep in my head that I need to lose another 150 pounds to be normal. That's damn depressing.

But I can concentrate on losing those next 6 and the things I need to do to get there.

Thanks for the replies. I believe that I can and will get down to a normal weight... meaning not overweight or obese. But it will take hard work and time. Thinking about it in smaller pieces does help.

It is just a goal, they want to be realistic so you are not disappointed.  At a high BMI if you follow the nutritional and exercise advise and run after that little girl odds are most of that 200 if not all will be gone in six to eight months and you will still have plenty of honeymoon time to work off the rest.

You also have a lot of muscle mass built up from years of carrying around over 200 extra pounds (imagine a skinny ***** with two other skinny *****es on their back) so if you work to maintain as much of that as possible you will be better toned at a higher weight than those that have been the lower weight all their life. 

When it all comes down to it, the scale is just a number, how you feel is most important.  You need some time to adjust to the weight loss.  It may seem far away but you are a very pretty lady and in a year you are going to be totally annoyed at how many men are hitting on you constantly. 
Patience dear.

If it was the BMI chart that showed you would still be "overwight" please keep in mind that scaled is pretty unrealistic and skewed. It does NOT take in to account age, body type or our years of yo yo dieting type weight loss. The nutritionist I work with has said she believes it is AT LEAST 12-15% inaccurate given the factors above. It is also inaccurate for folks that are muscular so please don't let yourself be discouraged because of some unrealistic arbitrary standard.

Hi Summer -

I'm an old-timer here, having had RNY over 18 months ago and I have lost 225 lbs.  I understand what you're saying and I sometimes struggle with the issue myself.

I started out at 440 lbs and now weigh 215 - I've lost more than I weigh.  My surgeon's goal was between 200 and 223, so I guess I'm at goal.  I'm having major plastic surgery in a few weeks including lower body lift, butt augmentation, and inner thigh lift.  I'll go back and have a breast lift and my arms done.  My plastic surgeon thinks we'll be able to remove 20 to 30 lbs.  So that will put me down around 195. 

Honestly, I don't want to be a size X - I don't want to strive for some magic number of pounds.  It makes me crazy - I become obsessive and start judging my WORTH based on a size number that frankly can flucuate based on the cut, the designer, etc.  (This is a huge soapbox topic for me so I won't go into it here) Nor is it healthy for me to concentrate on a number of pounds that may or may not work for ME, MY BODY. 

We hear a lot about RNY regain - people lose down to goal and after time they start gaining weight back.  My NUT explained it to me this way - make your goal where you are healthy, you feel good and your body is happy.  In a nutshell, if you have to fight to get there, you'll have to fight to stay there. 

I find that I'm at a good balance point in my life.  I am able to eat a reasonable amount of food, I have lots of choices, and I maintain within 3 to 5 pounds up or down at any time.  Yes, I have to continue to be accountable for my food choices and I do watch the scale - I will have to do this all my life.  I know how much exercise I need and it works for me.  It's all about balance.

When I lost around 200 lbs, I knew my body was getting close to being done, at least for the time being.  Sure, I've lost more weight since then, but it has been slow, but not difficult.  Yep, I could kick everything up a few notches and force the issue to get down to 155 or so - but at what cost to and to what end? 

I also knew that I was ready to be done with being "THE SURGERY" poster child where the majority of my life revolved around The Surgery; what I ate, how much I ate, what the scale said, my bloodwork, my exercise routine, what size I was able to wear, etc.  Don't get me wrong - surgery is a big deal and cerainly nothing to take lightly and you do need to be very, very vigilant early out and you should accept certain responsibilities for the rest of life because of it.  But there came a time for me when I realized that The Surgery gave me the tools to have a different kind of life now and I had better get my butt out there and start living that life.

I have found that I must be careful around some of these boards and some other WLS people in real life - there are those who can concentrate on whatever size they are wearing or how much they weigh lots more than I care to.  For them, concentrating all on a number works for them - it doesn't work for me.  I find that if I listen too much, I start buying into their thinking and start judging myself by their numbers, their standards.  Not good for me - so I choose to wish them well and move on.  Different strokes for different folks.

I hope this makes sense.  You will find your way, I promise.  Each of us is on our own journey - though our journies may be similar, they are each as unique and individual as each of us.  I would just urge you to make sure it's YOUR destination your striving for and not what others think is right for you.

Jana

Thanks for the advice Jana.