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A space to talk openly about weight loss journeys and challenges. Mumsnet hasn't checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. You may wish to speak to a medical professional before starting any diet.

Original poster

What would you choose as your ideal weight?

31 replies

millionpieces · 04/07/2012 23:48

I am struggling to decide what my target should be, as I sort of approach it.

I'm 5 foot 4 and 11 st 11. I can't decide whether to aim for 10 st 7 - which makes me a comfortable size 12 [ as opposed to the size 12/14 I am now ] or push past this into the 9s - but risk not being able to maintain.

What would be your ideal weight? Higher end of normal or as low as you can go?

OP posts:
Jinsei · 04/07/2012 23:57

Hmm, realistically I'm aiming for the higher end of normal. Ideal weight would actually be around 10stone, which would give me a bmi of around 23.

mollycuddles · 05/07/2012 00:01

I don't think you can know until you get there unless there's a time in the past when you've been your ideal weight. I'm about the lightest I've ever been at the moment and will probably settle here or hereabouts. I'm 10 stone 7 but quick fancy 9 stone 13. Whatever weight you decide on though the process of maintenance is different to dieting which people forget. Maintaining has to be worked at too.

scarlettsmummy2 · 05/07/2012 00:01

I am most comfortable in myself at as low as I can go without starving myself. At the minute I am 9st 9lb at 5'8 and I am much more confident and less self conscious. I think it is whatever weight you feel best.

fatlazymummy · 05/07/2012 07:05

I agree, you don't really know till you get there. There is also the question of what shape and build you are, or what you are aiming for.
I am aiming for around 9 stones 7 [at 5' 4''] as I want to look quite muscular. I'm not sure if I'll ever get there though!

bigTillyMint · 05/07/2012 07:13

I think you just have to start losing and see what seems to suit you and your body.

My ideal weight for me would be (like scarlett) just under 10stone - I am 5'8. too.Unfortunately I do have to starve myself to stay there - my body's ideal weight is about 10 1/2stone and that's where I keep returning too!

NoOnePutsBabyInTheCorner · 05/07/2012 07:42

my ideal weight is 10-10 1/2stone. I have been there. it does not suit me at all. I look ill.

personally I look really well at all 11 - 12 stone although most people would be horrified to be that weight. I am big boned and 5"8.

I think weight is a personal thing, don't get sucked into the ideal weight game. I have seen to many friends struggle with that last 6lb. which makes no difference to their shape.

btw I am 3 stone over my ideal weight at the minute so I am in no place to judge.

peggyblackett · 05/07/2012 07:45

11 stone, or maybe a fraction under. I am just under 5'11" and have an athletic but not muscular build. Any less than this and I start to look gaunt.

Original poster
millionpieces · 05/07/2012 10:48

Yes, it's an interesting one. I have been under 9 stone and cannot maintain it for longer than five minutes. Around the 10 and a half stone mark, I can maintain and feel reasonably OK.

OP posts:
Xenia · 05/07/2012 11:31

At your height which is about average UK height for women 8 - 10 stone is fine. 8 probably looks the best. 10 will still look a bit chunky in a bikini so just depends what you feel looks best. In the 1950s women our height were on average 8 stone 7 pounds. Now they are about 2 - 3 stone heavier!!! I am not sure they look better.

EverythingsPosie · 05/07/2012 11:52

I had more to lose that you do but I am 5ft 4 too and I set my first target at 10st 7lbs. I felt great when I got there because I was a size 12 in most shops and felt 'normal' sized again but I still wasn't really happy with myself. Not bad in clothes but still very unhappy in a swimsuit or something.

I decided that I wanted to be slimmer so I set my next target at 9st 7. I am much, much happier at the lower weight, I'm a size 8 in Dorothy Perkins or a 10 in River Island to give you an idea.
I'm really glad I kept going until I was genuinely happy with my body. I have maintained the new, lower weight for 8 months now and it is going well, I hope to stay this weight now.

Mintyy · 05/07/2012 11:56

I would love to be 9 stone but that is unrealistic for me - having been between 1 and 3 stone heavier than that since the age of 30 - I know I can't get down to that again, and also think my face would suffer wrinkle-wise.

So now am aiming for bmi of 25, am not sure how much that is for someone of 5'3".

dinkystinky · 05/07/2012 12:01

5 foot 4 here too - 10 stone 4 works best for me (and is sustainable) - at 9 stone 7lbs I looked skeletal

Alameda · 05/07/2012 12:02

am your height and have no idea really, but my GP said from 7st12 to about 8st12

using body fat % as a guide instead although obviously it is hard to measure accurately, but can see if it is going up or down

maybe you will get to a certain weight and like it there, wish that would happen to me

Alameda · 05/07/2012 12:04

there is a pic of me on my profile from over a year ago when I was about 9 maybe 9 and a half stone and I was about 80% lardy thighs yuck

Ephiny · 05/07/2012 12:12

I'm 5'2", ideal for me is around 8st or a little under, so BMI about 20 and size 8-10. I'm a few pounds over that at the moment, but it's not a big problem. At 9st I look fat though.

friendly7 · 05/07/2012 12:39

Sorry, I only understand in meters and kg, my height is 1.63 and my ideal weight would be 60 kg, currently I'm 68 kg as I've managed to loose 4 kg which took me a while. Anyway, I'd like to loose 8 kg. Wishing everyone good luck :)

thestringcheesemassacre · 05/07/2012 12:41

I'm 5ft 7 and would like to stick at 10st 10.
I'm currently 11.4 and getting down there for me is hard.

whenyouseeitwaveorcheer · 05/07/2012 12:46

I'm 5 ft 6 and 10st 4. I don't mind my body apart from the fat around my tummy. I'm apple shaped and have had 1 c/s so it really doesn't look great.

The slimmest I've been was 9st7 (and very fit so lots of muscle). At that weight all of the bones in my chest stuck out, and my boobs disappeared. My tummy was STILL fat though, and in some ways I looked worse because my tummy stuck out more than my boobs, which it doesn't at the moment.

I would like to be abuot 9 st 12 I think.

SpringGoddess · 05/07/2012 12:57

Think aiming for a dress size is probably easier. I'm constantly amazed on here when someone who is a stone heavier than me and the same height, has the same dress size. I'm 5ft 8in and 9 1/2 stone, I fit into a generous 8 but more often than not a 10....I still look awful in a bikini - sagging, over stretched belly does not make an attractive look. And I hate my chunky legs, so despite losing 1 1/2 stone, I still have to deal with not liking parts of my body but I guess now they are easier to hide.

Original poster
millionpieces · 05/07/2012 13:44

We are never happy are we?

My BMI is 28 - so I am classed as 'overweight' and yes, look 'chubby' for sure. However, size 12 tops fit me easily as do some size 12 jeans- although I usually wear a 14 on my bottom half. It's probably all to do with body shape etc...

OP posts:
Itwillendinsmiles · 05/07/2012 14:02

I'm 5'7", medium frame and of minimal boobage (which makes a huge difference to ideal weight IMHO :) ) but fairly toned and my initial goal was the midpoint of 'normal' BMI so 9st 12lbs.

I'm 9st 7lbs today and have been between 9st 4lbs and 10 st precisely for the past 18 months.

I look and feel far better when at the lower end of my range and would like to get to 9 stone exactly to see what that looks like!

Fluffy1234 · 05/07/2012 14:04

I am five feet 1 and a half inches and would like to weigh 8 stone 9. I have quite nice square wide shoulders and a small waist and curvy hips and currently weigh 9 stone. I find it impossible to get under 9 stone, mind you last year I was 13 and a half stone -so agree we are never happy.

TheEnglishWomanInTheAttic · 05/07/2012 14:14

I was happy at 10st 2 for most of my late teens and early 20s - that was lighter than I had been for most of my teens, and a lot lighter than I am now! I was a size 10 on the bottom and 12/ c cup on the top at that weight - 5 ft 6, broad shouldered.

The lightest I have ever been as an adult was about 9 st 7 but that was in my late teens after a year backpacking in Asia making my small amount of money last longer than should have been possible on one meal of rice and Dahl a day a lot of the time! I did not look freakily thin but I couldn't maintain it when I returned to "real" life.

TBH I am happy with how I look at 11 stone and would aim to get back to that, which is till just within healthy BMI for me, pre kids I used to be a 12 on the bottom and 14 on the top at that weight, though 3 c-sections probably mean my tummy wouldn't get back into 12s at that weight any more!

RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief · 05/07/2012 14:21

I'm 5'7'' and my ideal weight is bang on 10 stone. Any less than that and I start to look a bit haggard in the face. Over 10st 7lbs and I look like I'm carrying a bit too much

BsshBossh · 06/07/2012 09:06

For me, my target weight is the higher end of normal for my height because if I go lower I look terrible - gaunt, no curves, no bum. I like the way I look with a bit of meat on my bones so I will use that as my guide. It's also much easier for me to maintain if I'm at the upper end of normal weight.