How many hit ideal weight

I know this is a tool to help you lose weight and it still takes excersice and eating right to be successful but here are my questions. 1.  Who ha**** there goal weight? 2.  Was your goal weight the same as your ideal weight? In my research it seems like most people say the average weight lose is 70% of your excess weight.  Well since most of us are MO then that would still leave us overweight.  Using myself as an example I'm currently 345# if I lost 70% of my excess weight I would be 222# still over weight and close to being obese.  The middle of my ideal weight is 170# I'm just curious what is a realistic expectation.  I know a lot of it is how hard you work at it but I would like to here what you accomplished.

There was a similiar post to this last week.  It dealt with "normal" BMI as opposed to what is comfortable for you.  If being in the normal range is important to you then that would be your goal weight.  If that is your goal by all means go for it.  If being comfortable and healthy in your skin then measurements like BMI or Ideal Weight should be guidlines while you use your own sense to know when you are feeling good, fitting into clothes the way you want and able to do the things you have always wanted to do.  Things like muscle mass, height, body composition can affect your weight that make BMI measurements less than reliable.  If you are into weight training then you will have a higher BMI than a marathon runner.  The ideal weight/body composition is really up to you.  Personally speaking my goal weight is around 200 pounds.  Right now I am at 341 with a BMI of 48-ish.  At 200 I will be around 28 BMI.  Still classified as overweight, but I know I have more muscle mass therefore a higher BMI and I am quite comfortable with that.  I have no desire to be 170 pounds, which would make me "normal".  Also, I think the percentages that are referred to are the maintainence weight that you get to after your big loss spurt the first couple of years after surgery.  I fully expect to get down under 200, maybe 180's then creep up to the 200 range after my body adjusts to the surgery and I find myself 5, 10, 15 years post op.  DX has a wonderfully informative post that deals with this, look back for his or mayber he will repost.

My 2 cents, looking forward to other opinions...

Paul

I will start with the answer to question #2 first. When I first met with the doctor who was going to do my bypass surgery my weight was 613 pounds. Considering my highest weight was 878 pounds and I managed to get down to the 600 pound range on my own, my expectations and I would of been satisfied to get down to 350 pounds, and that to me even seamed impossible. Well after meeting with the doctor he told me he could see me getting down to 250 pounds, I thought this guy is crazy. There is no way I could even imagine in my mind getting down that low, so I just kindly said ok shaking my head in disbelief. In order for my insurance (Aetna) to approve the surgery I had to do a 6 month weight loss program , so I did and managed to get down to 544 the day of my surgery.

Now the answer to question #1. I guess my doctor wasn’t as crazy as I first thought, because in just 1 year and 26 days I made my doctors goal weight of 250 pounds. I don’t think though even my doctor thought I would hit goal so fast. With a little help with skin removal surgery I can even see myself getting down to 200 pounds even though I am going to shoot for 199 to get below the 200 pound mark. Maybe this may be a little unrealistic, and if I don’t get that low I will be happy where I am at. I do try and play by the rules of the pouch and I workout 6 days a week.

Hey Santa, I was in the mid 340s before surgery, but jumped to 352 the day I was released from the hospital. I'm 6'3" tall, my BMI was 46-47. My pants size was 46" X 30"L, shirt size was 3XL (and snug). Fast forward from 8/06 to 12/07 and I'm now 221, about 70% down, and still losing, but very slowly. My BMI is 27-28, pants size 32X32, shirt size Medium or Large. My original goal was 225, my doc's was 250. I would still like to lose about 15-20 pounds. My wife says I'm too skinny now though.  Hope this helps! Ron

I, too am all about what your personal goal is.  For me, my "ideal weight" would be in the 161-184 range.  My personal goal is 215.  At 184 my BMI would be the highest "normal" but I truly think I would look ill at that weight.  At  215, my BMI of 29.1 will still be "overweight" but I think I can live with that as opposed to the Super Morbidly Obese of 63.2 that I started at.  My personal expectation is that I will probably end up right around the 200 mark.

My goal when I started (jan 07)this journey was 230 maybe 220.  My doc suggested 215.  Started at 384.  Today I am in the 200 to 205 range.  I stopped trying to lose at about 220 but eating right and excercising it just keeps going and going. I am starting to look gaunt in the face and have made a real effort to stop losing but I lost 7 lbs last week.  First time I lost this much in months. So I don't think there is a normal or usual its all in the person. I hope I never get to my ideal weight of 170. JIm D

Great Question... I'm a short thing, 5'6" and 365#...I got down to 157, and looked like crap... I like the way I look at 165...170.... but to be a the normal BMI I would need to be at 142....not gonna happen... hope this answers your question Russ

Thanks to everyone that has replied so far.  My wife is saying 170# is way to low and I agreed with her but I was interested in seeing what everyone else had done.  I haven't weighed 170# since my junior year of high school.  At the time I thought I was heavy but looking back at pictures I was skin and bone.  I was thinking more in the line of about 200# myself and it sounds like most of you are at about the same level for your height. Thanks again for your input.

TP: According to my surgeon when I was pre-op, my ideal weight was to be 179 +/- 10 pounds.  I am 6'.  Normal BMI at my height is 184 pounds. For the past 6 months or so, my weight has averaged 185, +/- 2 pounds.  I have no complaints. Be well. John

When I  started this thing, I would have been more than happy to hit 220... 200 would have been a dream come true.  I'm now hovering a couple of pounds above 180, and replacing all my 36"  pants with 34's. My "ideal" weight is 155 - 165.... it ai'nt gonna happen, and I don't rightly care.  I am more than happy to be "overweight".