What’s your ‘happy weight’?

[threeeggsontoast]

I was thinking about this last night! I’m just starting out on my MJ journey and am currently 15:10 which at 5ft 1 is pretty bad.

When I’ve lost weight before (over 7 years ago now), I was happy with my weight at 11 stone. I was comfortably in a size 12 and I felt slim but with still a bit of curve. According to BMI, that has me on the edges of being overweight but as long as I feel healthy and comfortable in my own skin, I’m not overly concerned about BMI. I did once get to 10.7 and I had people tell me I looked gaunt. It was also very hard to stay there. I had to stick to around 1100 calories and I was miserable. For some reason (goodness knows why) at 11 stone, I could tolerate more calories and stay at that weight.

Do you have a ‘happy weight’ you’re aiming for, whether it’s BMI related or just getting into a certain size again? Everyone’s different so I’m just curious to see how others approach this.

That's such a good question to ask people.

Im a bit taller at 5'8, and started at 16st 5. I'm currently 12st 7.

When I was in my early 30's, Like you, I once went down to what was considered a healthy weight (11st 10), having lost 4.5 stone, but I just couldn't sustain it. We then went through some very stressful times and the weight steadily went back on again.
10 years later, in my early 40's, I lost 4 stone, but this time decided to stick at 12.11, which was at that point my happy weight. I went up and down over the years by about 7 lb, but pretty much stayed in the same weight zone and was very happy there

Then came Covid, moving house and another family health crisis and I put weight on, and on, and on.
So when I started MJ I decided to aim for my 'happy weight' of 12.11.

I am now 12.7, so a bit below that.
I keep lowering my target weight by a few pounds, but I really would like to get to a healthy BMI, which is 11.10, and I really believe that with MJ I can indeed get there. However if I decide to stop before then, that is fine as well.
I now know so much more about my body, nutrition that suits me, and have tried to address my psychological relationship with food. I will also have the support of MJ at a maintenance level. Personally, for me, I think it is worth having another try at achieving and maintaining a 'healthy' BMI.

I think if I had tried to aim for such a 'low' weight at the start of this I would have been disheartened, as it seemed like a very big mountain to climb.

Setting smaller targets along the way, achieving milestones like each half stone, and getting under stone levels has helped me to keep going.

I also measured myself at the start: calves, thighs, bum/hips, stomach, waist, under boobs, bust and upper arms. Each month I lost a cm or more. My waist is now 16cm smaller!

I have also made a list of the NSV's as I have gone along, so I can read through them and remind myself of my non-scale achievements as well.

Sorry, a very long post, but your question got me thinking.
Good luck on your journey.

You know I have absolutely no idea. I have been fat for so long and I didn’t have scales back then. I remember being a size 14 and dieting in the 90s down to a 12 but I don’t know what I weighed. Now I am a 16 (down from 22/24) and I’m beginning to wonder where I will be happy. Don’t get me wrong I’m delighted with the progress but I have no goal weight or size because I don’t really have anything to go on.

I started 15st 7 and currently 2 stone down.
I know 12st I look good but at 5'6" still overweight on BMI so I'm aiming 11st7 and shall see from there. That will be 4 stone loss...but I'm halfway there yay

My heaviest is 12 stone 6, at my lightest since I started to struggle with my weight (since I started work in an office really!), I was 9 stone 7.

That was almost 20 years ago, don’t think I’ve been below 10 stone since.

I have a memory that at 9 st 7 I was annoyingly slightly too big for some size 10 trousers, but 12 was way too big, so I’d like to see if I can get a bit lower so shopping is easier.

I do a lot of weight training now, so am also conscious that a higher weight might be ok.

My starting BMI was 28 with high blood pressure, currently just into healthy BMI.

I look best at around 8’10 - 9st. I’m 5’4.

I haven’t a clue. I started at 17st11 and I’m now 12st12. I’ve never been this light as an adult. I remember being weight at the docs when I was about 19 and I was 11st7 and a size 14 - before vanity sizing. I can’t envision that after two children I’ll be that size again.

I'm 5'5" and currently 12 stone and have set my first target as 11 stone. My happy weight used to be between 10 and 10st7lbs but this was 15+ years ago and I'm losing weight very differently now in my 50s so who knows. For now, it's 11st and I'm hoping my waist to height ratio will be OK at that point. I feel pretty good now actually but am still "thick" around the middle and more apple shaped whereas I've always been more rectangle shaped previously.

I think ‘happy weight’ changes as you get older too. I remember as a teenager usually hovering around the 10 stone mark and being desperate to be 8 stone. When I was 8 stone (briefly), despite my short height, I looked wretched and really ‘scraggy’. I would never have believed at age 50 that 11.7 stone would be a comfy weight for me.

The strange thing is that I remember how much I weighed for significant times in my life, wedding, mum’s funeral etc. My mum died very unexpectedly and I lost 16lbs in 3 weeks just from not being able to eat with all the upset. I remember giving a tribute at her service and the fact I was 12 stone, 10 pounds that day.

I remember being 11 stone-ish (probably about 20 years ago) and struggling to get into an Oasis size 16, but I think the top end of that is where I’d like to end up now. I’ve always been curvy (good boobs and a nice waist) and would like to be a healthy BMI, so I think for my height (5’ 8) that would be a decent compromise.

My happy weight is 9 1/2 stone at 5ft 5in. Any more I start to look and feel fat. Like I do now!

I don't really know. I have been obese for such a long time now that I don't know what I'd look like at any particular weight. I was for a brief period in my young adulthood around 10st, but not for long enough to consider it "my" weight. My highest weight was 22st which was when I started on Mounjaro, and I'm now 13st 3lbs and still obese, just. I want to get to a healthy weight, under 25 BMI and see how I feel then. I have a fairly abitrary goal of 10st 4lbs, and I will reassess when I get closer to it.

I'm a similar height to you I'm 5 foot tall and at the start of mounjaro 12 weeks ago I weighed 14-7.

Now I weigh 13-2.

I have a mini goal in mind of 11-7 as I know that's what I was at the start of lockdown before I piled liads of weight on in lockdown and never lost it. 11-7 would be a BMI of around 31/32 I can't quite remember so that's a mini goal for now which would be fab considering when I started MJ my BMI was a whisker under 40!

Ideally I'd like to be 9-7. My lowest ever weight was my booking in appointment with my first child who is now almost an adult so a long time ago and I was 8.13 so I'm thinking another half stone to allow for my age now. Although 9-7 seems a dream I cant imagine being that weight but we shall see!

No idea, don't think I've ever been it..
Started 18 stone 6, now 12 stone and feel I need to lose more, think I will be happy at 11 and half so not long to go..

Not being a dick but how at 5 ft 1 and 11stone are you on the edge of overweight? I am 5.4 and 11stone and am overweight

I think OP must mean the top edge of the overweight range. It's a BMI of 29.

Really interesting thread. I've been overweight all my adult life and currently on WLI so finding the "right weight/ size" for me is a big old experiment. I have a DH who loves my curves and is constantly asking me not be too skinny.

I'm 5ft4, an hourglass shape so a bit of weight always worked for me and I never looked as big as my friend who is an apple shape. Pre covid I was around 13st, a size 16-18 for a good 10yrs. During lockdown, I put on a further 2st, size 20, 38GG bra and looked and felt so obese and unhappy. In Oct 2023, I started WL Meds and to date I've lost 4st and am currently at 11st, a size M, 12-14, 36E bra. I've not been this "slim" (obvs not actually slim but for me) since age 15. I feel fantastic, healthy and sexy but I'm fascinated how I would look at a size 8-10, would I look ill / gaunt / old? I shall see.

Good question - I don’t know to be honest.

Like a lot of us, I’ve been overweight or obese for the majority of my life since the age of 11.

Knowing my happy or optimum weight is really hard because I don’t know what it is…

I’m 5’5 and currently 9st 1lb. My original goal was 9st but I don’t feel ‘right’ yet. My next goal is 8st 12lbs. I’ll see how I feel then.

Exactly the same. Anywhere between 9 and 9 and a half I would be delighted with.

I started yesterday! I’ve been thinking about this as naturally I haven’t got my weight down to the healthy bmi range with dieting and exercise alone but I’m wondering if I can with Mounjaro. I’m 5’4 and 10.7 is the heaviest in the healthy range I think. I’m thinking 9.7 would be amazing and under 9 I cannot imagine!

Different people carry weight so differently I don’t think you can know by looking - I’m currently obese by weight but I wear a 12 and at 5’4 I don’t think most people would consider a 12 a large size for the height.

I do think people who are told they look ‘gaunt’ at a perfectly healthy (and sometimes overweight, weight) are told that by people who are either jealous, forgotten what healthy people look like or are so used to seeing you overweight, they can’t describe it any other way.

At my lightest (I am the same height as you); I was 7st 11, 1lb lighter and my BMI would be in the underweight category. I did not look gaunt. I do look at pictures now and realise I was very thin, it hurt to sit sometimes due to lack of padding and my armpits really were pits, it was difficult to shave! So I don’t class it as a good weight for me, 8st 7 I think is the lightest I personally should be to look healthy.

people don’t really truly look gaunt until they’re underweight, although I do understand that older women can look gaunt at a healthy weight - but that’s because at some points it’s a choice between your arse and your face, to put it bluntly. I’d rather look gaunt in the face though than be fat and unhealthy I think, but ask me again when I’m 50 and struggling with facial fat loss!

I’ve been on Mounjaro since January and I was 12 9 starting and I wanted to get to 10 stone. I weighed today and I’m 10stone 2 lbs and feel great but think I can keep going so after a chat with dh who is also taking it I’m going to aim for 9 1/2 stone. I’m 5ft 1.

At my heaviest (pregnancy) I was 18 stone. At my heaviest non pregnancy weight I was 16 stone 10. I’m 5 foot 10 so I have more “area” for fat to spread 😜

3 years ago I had a gastric sleeve. I’m now just over 9 and a half stone.

I found as the weight dropped off quickly people did tell me I looked gaunt and I think that was from a quick weight loss, and although I’ve continued to lose weight it’s at a slower pace, and I’ve introduced Botox so I don’t look as gaunt now.

A few months ago I was at the beginning end of 9 stone and I did look too slim for my height and frame. I think for me under the 10 stone mark is a good place, but I know I have to be careful because I’ll forever be fighting a battle with my body to want to be overweight again, so I’d rather be a bit under what I should be, than to start creeping upwards.

47kg. Currently 51. A little more to go.

I'm 5ft4 and currently 8st12 (I'm 41).

That gives me a lean athletic physique, with visible abs in the morning (gone once I've had my 3 meals), but I still have curves and a nice bum.

I’m 5’6 and am comfy at 10 st and my body seems to settle there. Never could get under that. But I have gained 2 st in the last 2 yrs due to various factors. One of them being I am obvs eating too much. I can’t seem to begin to shift it.