How did you decide your goal weight?

[didireallysaythat]

When I was 18 I was 8 stone 8.

When I was 30 I was 10 stone 4.

Now I'm 47 I was 13 stone. Joined SW and after today's weigh in I'm 11 stone 3. But I don't know what weight I should be aiming for. I don't want to set a goal I will find hard to maintain (I don't want my life to be spent obsessing with every mouthful). I'm 5-5.

Any suggestions? Last time I lost weight with WW my consultant said I should aim for 9 stone but that feels unsustainable to me.

How do you choose what you want to aim for?

TIA

At the moment my goal weight is the top end of what the bus considers healthy for my height. I will reassess when (if) I make it

Nhs. I don't really care if the bus thinks I could loose a few pounds

10.5 stone is my happy weight. 9.5-10 stone is my hard to maintain weight.

@LoisLittsLover

Interesting. My healthy weight range works out as 8-3 to 11-2. The middle would be 9-7 which just fed unattainable to me.

I know I haven't lost a lot, the first half stone allowed me to get back into some clothes i wanted to wear so the motivation to lose another 1-2 stone just isn't there. I don't get out of breath walking up flights of stairs so I feel better too. I'm not sure if there are massive health benefits in losing more (but I suspect I'm just being lazy!)

As well as BMI, another health marker the NHS use is a waist measurement under 80cm (31.5 inches) for women.

You could aim for that.

The waist / height rule is that it should never be more than half of one's height, isn't it?

I looked up the BMI chart online and chose a weight fairly in the middle of being healthy for my height. That way, if I did put a few pounds on (for example, over Christmas or on holiday) I knew I wouldn’t be well on my way back to obesity and the health problems associated with it. Good luck!

MrsLettuce, the NHS advise weight loss for any woman with a waist greater than 80cm regardless of height.

Height/Waist Ratio of less than 0.5 and Hip/Waist Ratio of less than 0.85 are also health measures.

You're the same height as me. I'm just under ten stone and find it difficult /boring to get much below that.

It depends on your build, too.

@delphguelph I'm broad shoulders and thick of thigh. The last time I was under 10 was 20 years ago, I lived in health conscious California and I went to the gym 5 times a week for a minimum of an hour. Maybe I should just stick with SW for another year and see where I end up? But I'm going to need to reset my goal...

FATEdestiny ah right, missed the NHS bit, I'm not in the uk so I suppose it's logical that the advice varies slightly. I see the average height for women here is 167.4cm compared to 161.6cm for British women. The NHS guidelines would be a bit too strict here!

I lowered my target a few times! My first one was 8st 8lbs and my final target was 7st 1lb (I am very short at 4ft 11). This was the weight I could maintain. It took me a good while to lose the weight but it seems it’s my ‘natural’ weight. I gave up Slimming world over two years ago and just weigh myself once a week at home and I’ve been within the same few pounds since.

I think you find a weight that you are happy with and can maintain while still being able to have a few treats and ‘days off’.

When I started SW I put a target around the middle of my BMI range. Once I got to that I lowered it to the minimum acceptable target weight that SW accept, based on me still feeling I had areas that needed slimming! The SW minimum acceptable weights are in one of the books you get in the first week. They are set to a minimum BMI of 20 I think, so well above the lowest end of normal range (18.5).

Gablexy yes my target was the lowest they would allow me to go and that was a BMI of 20.