At what weight do you start to breathe a sigh of relief?

[sharppointyhat]

I’ve struggled with my weight my whole life - I’m 50. I’ve been every weight in between 8 stone and 17 stone and the bigger I’ve become, the more the self loathing has kicked in.

I’ve been on WLI since May and started at 16:4 and have averaged 1.2 loss each week.
My first goal was to get out of what I mentally think of as the ‘danger zone’ and get into the 14 stone range. I’m now a hair’s breadth off being in the 13s and can’t wait for the scales to tip me in! I’m very short so actually 13+ stone is still very overweight for me but mentally, being in the 13s feels like I might be approaching ‘normality’ and instead of feeling and looking huge, I’m now into ‘podgy’ territory if that makes sense! ‘Podgy’ to me means puffy/overweight/could lose a couple of stone but not ‘really fat’.

Just curious if others think of their weight in similiar ways? Do you have a ‘happy weight’ you’re aiming for, regardless of whether that’s your final goal or not?

I began WLI in Feb at 95.9 Kg currently at 77.2 (12st 2) Ive gained this last week

where I want to be is 70KG I'm tapering down from yesterday 12 weeks on 10mg only resulted in 3.1 kg loss and as I can't afford to continue long term then where I am once i've tapered down to 2X 2.5 pens last pen will taper over 6/7 weeks to almost nothing, will be where I finish up and I'll live with it.

Mine will be the weight I was before I had my children, so 13 st 7 lbs, and a comfortable size 14. Im 5'8". I'm less than a stone off that currently, although it feels so far off still. My end goal is 12 st 7 lbs, which still puts me at a bmi of about 27, but I'm nearly 50, and I look pretty slim at that bmi, as I'm quite sturdy boned and muscular.

BMI is largely discredited though, as not really an accurate guide of your body composition and, for an individual, no different to weight.

I am the same starting weight as you OP and the same age.

I’m aiming for a size 14 as I worry about my face. At my thinnest/happiest with my weight, I was at the very top end of a healhy BMI.

So 12 stone is my goal weight although that would still make me technically overweight.

In the 13s though, I would definitely be breathing a sigh of relief. I haven’t seen 14 stone for over 10 years.

Exactly that.

It sounds like you're doing amazing, OP!

My starting weight was 18st 11, size 22 with a very high BMI of 42. When I started my targets were to get below 200 lbs and then a final target of 12st (168). The 12st is still in the overweight zone (27) for my height but mentally was where I was pre-children, wedding day and late teens. Initially getting below 200 lbs was when I breathed a sigh of relief as although this was actually a BMI of 32 I look normal-ish chubby rather than hugely fat at this size. As 12st (BMI27) I can actually look slim-ish in the right outfit and I'm a size 12.

As time has gone on I've lowered my target (although change my mind about every 2 weeks on what exactly it is!🤦). I was 11st 8 on Tuesday (official weigh-in day). For a while I was going for 11st as this is the top end of the healthy range for my BMI. Then I thought 10st 3 as this would be a nice BMI of 23. So final target is going to be somewhere in the 10-11st (140-154 lbs) range, depending on how the weight loss goes as it's slowed a lot.

This is an interesting question. I am 5ft 7
My first target was to feel confident enough to join in exercise, that took me the loss of my first stone.
I started at 15.8, joined the gym at 14.7
I have been going 3 times a week (except for holidays)
I don't feel like I look that different but when I ticked down more weight into the over weight category and not obese it felt like a huge win!
I am now 12.8 and have changed the measure of success to dress size.
I would like to buy a size 14 in something (not hat shoes or gloves ;-) )
When I get there the next target will be 11 stone.

I'm a year younger than you, but I think my mental and emotional experience is very different to yours. I didn't want to be the weight I was at my max (around 95kg and a size 16), and I was perhaps self conscious at times, but nothing approaching self loathing. Perhaps that's why I haven't experienced a sense of relief. I thought I would be 'there' when I hit 74kg, as that's the bottom of the weight range I vary between. Then I thought if I can get to 70kg, I would probably be about spot on. Then I thought, well, might as well make it into the 60s, even if it's 69.9 because being 60 something is just sounds better 🤦‍♀️🤣 I am now at the top of the 60s, and still don't feel done. Don't get me wrong, I am pleased with how I look, I feel completely normal sized, and when I am in a group of people, be it in gym class, or in a restaurant, I'm in the smallest half of people not the biggest half. My BMI is just in the overweight range, and that makes sense as I still have too much fat on my upper arms and lower stomach. Smalls amounts but enough that it looks like a small belly roll, and arm sag, and I would be reluctant to wear tight fitting clothes with a short top, tight fitting trousers that's thin material or a vest top. I can do better than that, and perfectly happy continuing with my diet and exercise routine, so on I continue. Hoping to focus more on recomp soon though rather than weight loss

Oh, I forgot to comment on clothes size. I am a 10-12 now depending on style/brand etc. I am old enough to remember when being a size 10 was laughably unachievable (for me) so was a never a goal, until I got here and realised that size 10 is the new size 12 so actually much larger than it used to be, so it's now a realistic goal.

BMI under 25 (which represented a loss of around 20%) was always the first goal and the point I aimed take stock and plan my next move.

Now I've achieved it, I can see I have a few more squidgy bits and could comfortably lose another 5-6kg. It's slooooow going, my body seems to like it here! I'm giving myself until the end of the year before switching to maintenance.

For reference - 53yo, currently ~77kg at 180cm/5'11 and an easy size 14. Doing lots of weight training and have good visible muscles.

I’m 5’4
My happy weight is 9st 10lbs
If I hit 10st I am unhappy until I get back down again

58, 5ft tall so on the older and shorter end of things but no, I didn’t have a happy weight as I could not conceive of being smaller than I have been in the past. When I got to the weight I was on my wedding day (30 odd years later), I was pretty impressed and then getting down to the lowest weight I ever remember seeing on a scales felt like a major achievement.

I’m now nearly 3 stone lighter than that ‘lightest weight’ and my bmi is 22.5. This, here is my ‘happy weight’!!

I’d just watch this mindset a little bit. Just be aware of your feelings around the losses etc. I don’t want to scare you but when I first lost a big chunk of weight this was how I felt and it did sadly become an eating disorder after a while.

I have been thinking about this a bit more lately. I still really enjoy my food. I put on 2lbs this week and I didnt feelbad about myself. I enjoyed my DS birthday and indulged quite a bit. I just know I need to keep an eye on what I eat this week and up the exercise a bit.
The problem I have is that I have been bigger my whole life. Now, at 8st 12lbs with a bmi of 23, I still feel like a big girl. I step on the scales and my mind goes 'ooohhhh, just another lb or 2' but realistically im not sure if ill ever feel slim. I am short at 5ft2, so down to 7.7st is still in the healthy range for me, which seems nuts!!
I hope you have recovered and thank you for your kind words and for sharing your experience.

This is kind of where I am - I feel like I’m on the verge of disordered eating/mindset. I wanted to lose a stone. I’ve now lost two almost and I can’t see that I look thin. I know I must be because XS and 8s are a good fit, I even bought a size 6 pair of jeans last week. I exercise and have a good figure but I keep thinking - I could just lose a little bit more. To what end I don’t even know. The level of control over my diet is definitely a response to a lot of stress at work etc in the last couple of months.