Goal weight, how do you decide?
Sounds ok to me - especially since people often regain a little with time. I am 5"4 myself and was going to put my goal weight at 140 - maybe the surgeon will tell me the same? 130 is within normal bmi for your height so I am not sure what he is basing that comment on. Sometimes I think that they are more comfortable if we set our goals higher so that they can say we achieved our goal weight for their stats rather than listening to what we feel would be best. Did you ask him why he said that?
I'm aiming for the high end of what the BMI chart considers a "healthy" range, but I realize that my body might have other ideas so I'm not going to get too hung up on the number.
Referral: Apr 2013; Orientation (HRRH): Aug 12, 2013; 1st Surgeon Appt (Dr Sohi): Aug 23, 2013; SW/RD/RN: Nov 8, 2013; Internist (Dr Glazer): Nov 14, 2013; 2nd Surgeon Appt: Nov 20, 2013; Start Opti: Jan 3, 2013; PATTS: Jan 16, 2014; Surgery: Jan 24, 2014
Agreed with the last comment, they tell you, you will loose about 60 to 80 % of excess weight so just tell them a higher number, you will be amazed when you go lower. For me everyone keeps asking me the same thing and honestly I tell them I don't know and I don't have one, one thing I have learned so far is you don't have much control over the weight loss, at first my number was dropping like crazy and then the stalls started and I am finding that if I try to focus on certain numbers then I get frustrated, so I just try to do what I am supposed too and gone back to the gym and hope that the number will continue to go down. I have lost 93 lbs in my 8 months and I am 5 2 1/2 lol, and I am not at 163, so yes I would love to go down another like 20 ish pounds but honestly I am just appreciating my current weight and life and hoping my body decided to let go of a little more weight, if not I am still happy and will focus on the toning part of it. Good luck and don't focus on your number too much, just the way you feel is reward enough.
I'm not positive but I think that because it is unpredictable how much someone will lose or how well they will do that they want a healthy number but not one that is too low so that if you are unable to attain such a low goal then you will not be disappointed. You can always change your goal in the future if you want. They also may be considering the fact that people do have some weight gain 15-20 lbs maybe once they have evened out.
I am just guessing because my surgeon told me that I should be able to get down to 165 lbs. I'm 5 foot nothing and that number sounds high for me to be in normal range. This is the reason that I gave myself. I know that I can lower than that and I will still be healthy so I will aim for that and then reassess as needed.
Hope this helps,
Fay