It seems a lot of us here at diettalk have weightloss goals that average in the 130-150 range, depending on height of course. I just want to ask those who have those goals, what do you think about when you imagine yourself at that weight? How do you think your life will change? Have you been at that weight before and just want to get back to some notion of your glory days? I don't mean to sound presumptuous or anything, it's just that I've been hovering around 140 for a couple years now, and I have never been satisfied with this weight. I understand that it's supposed to be about wellness not weight, but I just can't feel healthy knowing I'm carrying 20 extra pounds, even if I am within my healthy weight range.
How do you think you will feel when you hit goal? Do you think you'll be satisfied?

The last time I weighed anywhere close to my goal weight, I was in 8th grade. I think I will be satisfied once I reach my goal.

I don't mean to sound presumptuous or anything, it's just that I've been hovering around 140 for a couple years now, and I have never been satisfied with this weight. I understand that it's supposed to be about wellness not weight, but I just can't feel healthy knowing I'm carrying 20 extra pounds, even if I am within my healthy weight range.
I understand the feeling of not being satisfied even when in a healthy weight range. At one point, I did reach 147 pounds. Even though I was happier, I was not content/satisfied.

I think it is really easy to fall into the trap of never being satisfied with your body or weight - there will always be someone who is thinner. But for many people, the 140 range (or whatever their goal is) is a number associated with health.

For me it's not necessarily a health issue (although my BMI is haunting me as it has now reached the overweight category). I think I will be satisfied when I reach my goal weight because it means that I was able to regain power over something (my weight) that was upsetting me and something (food) that I felt had the ability to control me.

I know that how I see myself in the mirror is very easily distorted by the thoughts going thru my head. So I think I will see a hot chick in the mirror when I accomplish my goal. She may not be the thinnest or even realistically the hottest thing out there but everything is relative.

If you are proud of an accomplishment I think no matter what your weight is you will be happy with yourself.

That's enough zen ramblings from me. 8-|

AuGH! just erased what I wrote!!!!
I want to be at 140, but now that its only 35 or so pounds away, I really start to wonder too if at 140 I'm going to want to be 130, or 120....
At 240, I just wanted to be a 12 again, and I'm a 10/12 now, and I take a medium in some things, like sweats and jogging suits and pajamas, and I still feel like I have a long way to go, and my friends think I'm out of my mind for wanting to be any smaller!
But for the first time in 9 years I honestly and completely feel healthy and confident and I think I look good. :o
But now I'm going for HOT :lil: which means I gotta get rid of this tummy!

i gotta say I'd be ecstatic at 140!!! It's about 7 yrs since I weighed that and I know it is more than optimal. but I still have all my clothes from then and I'd be over the moon if i could fit them again.

oh i gotta stop eating these hot x buns. can you believe easter is 2 mths away and they're hauling out those buns now? not fair X-(

Christy,

The initial goal set by my doctor was 147 (high side). I have since gotten down to 130 and would be perfectly happy at 130 but unfortunately I feel like I am between sizes. A 10 is loose and the 8's a a little tight. I want to get down to 120-125 (whichever weight will get me into a nice fit in 8's). I have also been trying to tone up a bit.

Thanks everyone for responding! I feel so negative about my weight sometimes and I just wanted to know how those who have reached the 140 mark or who want to reach that mark feel about it.
Maybe I shouldn't even lose weight, but just try to tone up. Or maybe 120 is just unrealistic for me. Either way, it makes me sick when VH1 or E! online congratulates celebrities for going against the norm by being "bigger" (they always mention Beyonce or Catherine Zeta Jones), when in fact those celebrities are still 5 sizes below the average American woman). Even as they try to celebrate it, it's still a total distortion of body image. I mean, just to be in the "fat" club, celebrities have to be 120? When will average REALLY be celebrated?!

I hear ya!

Don't even get me started on the Bridget Jones movies. If I have to hear one more time how hard poor Renee had to work to get up to " a whopping 130 lbs" I may throw something at my tv.

All we can do is love our selves. Then maybe if enough of us do, hollywood and marketing firms will come to embrace us too. 8-|

YES! good point about renee. sheesh and she complained she couldn't smoke as it made her lose weight so had to use herbal ciggies. we should all have that problem! (not that i smoke but dammit i would if it would make me lose weight hehe)

and then she said how easy it was to lose the weight again by exercising and eating normally again. and bingo! it all dropped off

still i do think there is a genetic component. i had 2 dogs, one relatively sedentary and he got almost 2x as much as the other younger more active dog. you guessed it the sedentary well fed dog was always lean and the other dog had a tendency to be overweight.

How tall are you Christy? My friend is about 5'4 and 140 and she can't stand it, I'm like, wanna trade, brat? :laugh:
I'm 5'7", so I think 140 would be a good weight for me, although when I was 150 I got more attention from the guys......A healthy BMI range for me is 122-158, so when I get to 158 I think I'll be a less hard on myself, but I see 140 as being the middle, being "normal" , so that's what I'm aiming for, but I can definitely see gaining or losing a few pounds to comfortably fit into a certain size.
I'm a 10-12 right now, I'd like to need the 10 more than the 12's..... :D
...and I'm sure this summer I'll be saying, I'm an 8-10, I wish I was a 6, just kidding!

Nope, I would not be happy at 140. I'm 5'9" and weigh just under 180 lbs. and I'M COMPLETELY HAPPY here so 140 lbs would be completely unrealistic for me. I haven't weighed that since high school (which was only a "few" years ago).

My original goal was 135, whihc is one pound less than what I am at now. I truthfully never thought I would make it and thought that I would be happy at a size 9, well now I am a 5 and not satisfied. I have 12 more pounds to lose, and then I think I will be a small 4 or so, and I better be happy, or I am getting ymself into counseling :) Truthfully, I could spend the rest of my life at this weight, but I want more, and I know I can.

A lot of times, we attach emotional values to body weights based on life history, celebrity photos, charts, etc.... and before we know it, a specific number can seem as though it's imbued with magical properties.

My doctor said (much to my pleasant surprise) that a 5-10% loss this year would be "fabulous," so I'm teaching myself to work towards a moderate 15% reduction during 2005, which would feel like a solid but achievable accomplishment for me. Once I reach it, I will be absolutely nowhere near 140 lbs; but if, in the course of the year, I learn to be more consistent about nutritious eating and regular exercise, I'll be happy with my success.

I work hard not to get caught up in the numbers game, because it often throws people into a cycle of discontent and can keep us from building on the many wonderful things that our bodies are capable of doing right now. Some years ago, there was a revolutionary plus-sized print magazine called Radiance (www.radiancemagazine.com), which included regular features on big-bodied women who would hike, raft, run, and engage in the kinds of fitness activities that we don't typically associate with fatness. Those features inspired me to no end, and I hope to one day develop a little of that kind of verve, confidence, and energy myself.

For me, numbers are just a tiny part of the journey.

Cyn - hey I like your comments they sound really sensible

I also like the sound of that magazine showing big woman achieving stuff and doing physical things. You can be fit and active and participate in life without a model figure

Also the 10% weight loss... I think I will focus on that for now, now the whole shooting match!

Well, Christy120, I think that whether you weight 140 or 120 or 160 is just a number. I have chosen to set a pant size goal instead of a # goal. Sure, I put that my goal is 150, but the only reason that I chose that number is that the BMI chart says that's what I should weigh. If I get to a size 8 or 10 and I weigh 180, I'm DONE.

Look at yourself in the mirror. Are you happy with what you see? :sweety:

That's when I would stop dieting and start maintaining.

That's just my :2cents:

Have a great day! :cat:

I thought I'd be happy when I reached my goal. Mind you I wasn't UNhappy at my old weight, it was just something I had come to accept as life (looking back at pics now I wonder how I could have done that). Unfortunatly my entire outlook changed about my body image. I went from not caring and going down to something more healthy for my build to when I almost reached my goal and wanted to set a new one because I wasn't satisfied with how I looked. I think I look better now than when I started, but I'm just not happy with it, and want to lose more. it's all crazy probably, but I really don't know now if I'll ever be 100% satisfied. Now I'm all about Body Image, getting the "sexier" clothes and doing it up and whatever when before I started my diet I didn't really care one way or anything. Don't know if it's a change for the better or the worse.. but in order to answer your question.. am I happier at my goal about how I look and feel? Yes, but unhappier in regards to other things.

Hi! As mentioned before, I think it's all about what "I" look like at 140. My 140 may not be equal your 140--for example, I wear a size 8 or so at 140, and that's great for me. But, some people may wear a larger or smaller size at that weight depending on height and body type. Plus, if you have been working out with weights, you will weigh more (but look better at a higher weight) because muscle weighs more that fat. That's what I understand anyway! :D

~SugarKitty

You shouldn't be happy at 140 because you still have more weight to loose and you shouldn't settle for just good you need to work to your goal and be glad in it. You can do alot more heavy duty activities if you're much lighter than you've been in the past. Such as Rollerblading playing with your kids hike up a mountain only if you're spontenous... But you can do alot more things when you're lighter and i"m going to loose my weight my Goal is 129 lbs and I'm at 158.5 so I have 20 lbs to loose and I'm going to achieve that goal of mines and you just keep loosing

I've never got down to 140lbs in my adult years, no, but I was at 160lbs a few years back and felt great. i'm around 5'11 so I just feel that if I can get down to 140 then I'll get to experience svelte leggy 'thinness' for like the first time in my life. basically, i just want to know what it feels like. I'm pretty sure I'll still dislike my body at that weight, i have things that cant be fixed like scars and saggy boobs, and i'm scared too that i'll be completely flat chested at that weight, but hey, gaining weight back is the easy part if i feel i'm too thin!

Its good to have goals. My goal is to feel better, and extend my ability to have kids past age 35, since I'm certainly not having them right now (at 34).

As for the body... hmm well. I have lots of imperfections but really so does the other 98% of people out there- so why care about it? I'm not competing to be on tv.

I am only 5'4'' so i should be aiming for round about the 130 to 140 mark,i cant ever remember weighing that little :c( ,the lightest i have been that i can think of was 196,and that was before falling pregnant with my son,by the time he was born i had gained all the weight i managed to loose before conceiving him.Although i know what the doctors think i should weigh i am going to aim for 168 ok its still overweight but would be the thinnest i have ever been.I want to see how i both look and feel when i get to my target before i say ok i still want to get to what the doctors feel i should weigh.

It comes down to self acceptance; if you keep setting the bar higher and higher, you'll always lose out. At some point, who you are has to be enough. I was at 128 pounds quite a lot of years ago, my boyfriend (at the time) voiced, if I could lose the gut I'd be alright. I was living on one meal a day, and exercizing 2 hours a day. SO wrong. And I wanted more. Finally, I realized, it couldn't, wouldn't happen. gained, gained, gained. I'm in counseling now, and it's helping. Because ultimately, if you're not *ready* to love yourself, weight loss is a no-win game.

I think I would be quite happy at 140. My goal is to wear size 6 jeans comfortably. 135-140 should get me there. I'm just starting to wear size 8's now, so another 11-16 lbs. should be plenty to reach my goal. Exercising and getting my body in shape is going to take a lot more work than the dieting.

i don't think i'll be happy as such. but i won't hate myself for being fat. and i'll feel better doing the activities i do. so it's got to get better right??

I have the opposite problem to most people here, I get very happy with the way I look at 180 pounds, and lose motivation :laugh:

I'm aiming for 155 pounds (70kg) by June at the moment though- I have been overseas for a long time and want to look amazing when I step off the plane!

I have the opposite problem to most people here, I get very happy with the way I look at 180 pounds, and lose motivation :laugh:

I'm aiming for 155 pounds (70kg) by June at the moment though- I have been overseas for a long time and want to look amazing when I step off the plane!


:laugh: I feel your pain, I have that problem too. Probably why I've yo-yo dieted for the last few years. I get down to 170-180lbs and think 'damn, girl, you look good, you can afford to eat a few chocolate snacks!' Ha, stupid of me, but I do lose motivation easily as soon as I start to feel slim again.

I hope that will change this time, because I've incorporated a fitness goal. So even if I do feel like I look fine at 170, I'll keep going with the daily workout and that'll act as an incentive not to stuff my face with celebratory treats!

Well since I am at 140 I will be very happy to get back to 125. What will make me the happiest??? Wearing my favorite clothes once again!!!!!
And not feeling so tired with the extra weight.
Love WanttoLose

Hi all.

It's been a good few years since I was 140lbs, and although I am not very tall at 5' 5'', when I was 140lbs I was really quite thin for me. Looking back at the pictures of me from that time, I don't think anyone could have described me as anything other than slim. It depends so much on body shape and frame - I am a classic hourglass shape and there is nothing i can do about having a great big pelvis! I feel fortunate that when I am slim, I have a feminine shape and my boobs don't disappear! I could then have beat myself up about not being 120lbs or less, but I don't want to look like a skeleton just so I can fit into a UK size 6 or 8 (i think thats 2 or 4 in USA). I know for a fact my partner would be horrified if I was that thin. My motivating factor is to be fit and healthy, and able to take part in my favourite sports which at the moment I can't because I am way too big. My role models are athletes and sports women not vacuous self obsessed actresses. :ex:

By the by, I had the most interest from men when I was about 160lbs and had a curvacious UK size 16 shape (the same size as Marilyn Monroe)...

everyone has a different body frame. I am 5' 4" tall but anywhere from 155 to 140 looks great on me. I am a med to large boned person. At 140 i wear an american size 6, in high school i wore a size 11-12 and when i would gain i would go to a 13-14. but i grew up at a time when girls were not athletic( i am 55 yrs old) when i had my kids we raised them to be active from the time they started walking. They all swam, were on several different ball teams, played outside running etc. it is very easy to beat yourself up about not looking like someone else when in fact they are a completely different body type than you, say Susan Lucci, she is itty bitty, i think i heard her say once she weighs like 80 pds, i would be dead at that weight.

What is it with 140lbs? Is that like the average weight a grown woman should be regardless of size, or what?

I'm sick of this number (which my moron business partner also thinks I should weigh)-- and for me hell WILL freeze over first because I'd be dead at that weight.

Gee Oggie, did we wake up on the wrong side of the bed today?? How rude, and what a slap in the face to those of us that have worked very hard to get there. Most people think it is too high of a number but for my bone structure it is the leannest i should get, anywhere between 155 to 140 is good, but i am 55 as i age i may raise it up 10-15 more pds. if you will reread the above remarks i think you will see it stated we are all different sizes,

Well no... I was simply expressing my frustration with the ignorance of a person in my workplace.

It was not my intent to put you or anyone here who is at 140 down, more power to you!

BUT I was sincerely curious as to where the number came from as a goal, because the ORIGINAL topic seems to be more about that specific number... is it the average for a lot of people on this board, or is it maybe the average overall?

Part of the reason I'm asking is well-- if it is the average... then the ignorance of my coworker is well... kinda... more forgiveable...

I think the thread originally got started because someone noticed that a lot of us had goals that were around 140 and they too were wondering why.
I, personally, am shooting for 148. That will put me at a hundred pound loss, and is below where I got last time.
My daughter has seen pictures of me at 135-140 and she says I look anorexic, so go figure.

yeah i find people think i'm getting too thin cos they are used to seeing me so obese. when in fact i'm far from being "thin"

I have a friend( we are both 55 i have known her 50 yrs) and for her ( because of her bone structure) she gets down to 117 to fit in a 6, i fit in that at 138-140, we are all different, i wear a size 9 shoe she wears a 5 1/2, i wear a size 6 1/2 ring on my left hand bigger on the right she wears a 4 1/2-5. I wish i was smaller in my body structure, but i am not. That is something i have had to come to terms with over the years,

Christi,

I feel for you on that. I've been at this weight which is 150-160lbs I'm only 18 and I know this is not a healthy weight for me and I know I need to try to change my eating habits but its hard when you see candy in your sight and you can have any its not fair. But I understand what you're going through I'm trying to get to my goal weight which is 130 lbs I'll be content and I want to maintain my diet when I reach that goal and I don't want to ever be in a size 10/12 again because its not healthy on your body to be that heavy at my young age. You can face alot of health scares such as heart disease, Diabetes, Heart Attack, Strokes etc But we need to take care of our temple. I'm a big believer in God and I believe we can do anything through Christ Jesus. I've been from this Message Board for quite a while i"ve been busy with school and I'm finally about to be done with my 1st year of college thank you jesus. I'm majoring in Liberal Arts in Music now but I"m changing it to Computer Science my 2nd year of college. Because I love working with computers and lets face it our world is turning technical and you make alot of money in the computer business, but i'm not doing this just for the money I love programming, fixing, and dealing with computers I'm great with it and I should do that for my career because I feel that i should change before i get to my 4th year of college and decide this is not what I want to go into to and have an Associates degree in well anyways I'm just keeping God in my heart and I'm letting him guide me. But I bought a exercise ball and i"ve been doing sit ups I do 30 sit ups a day and I'm want to see results by July 19th because i"m going on vacation and I want them to see me as the petite woman that i am I'm sorry if I"m typing too much Its just that I have so much on my mind that i just need to vent and get everything off my chest but I"m almost through. But this Message Board is very supportive and I know i"m going to loose the weight I want to loose 20 lbs


Much Love

Taneisha aka Tee Tee

Keep up the determination to keep in the right mind of loosing weight and it will come off trust me just keep exercising and eating right is the key to having a good nutrition
Much Love
Taneisha moore

Last summer I was 145. I was not happy, I wanted to be less. Now I'm 158, wanting to be back to 145. Holy c rap...at this rate I'll never be happy!

but I've decided that 145 is my goal weight, and I will stay there. I'm 5'11-6' on a large frame, so I should look fine.

I have been anywhere from 128 to 145 in the past 5 years. I was at my happiest weight at 128, but I personally wasnt happy. I was drinking alot and very stressed at that point in my life. That was the only reason I weighed that. I am at 141 right now. Personally I am happy, but I am not happy with my weight. Does that make any sense? I keep trying to get back to that 128 but no matter what I do I hover around 140. If I dont diet at all I will get up to 150 and stay there. That must be what I should naturally weigh. I wont let myself get there though. I was wearing a size 6 about 2 months ago and now I am in a size 8. I just hate it.

most people would love to be a size 8!!!

Hey all. It's been a while for me. Thanks for all your posts. I never thought my original post would spark such a lively discussion!

I guess what I originally wanted to say is similar to what Cyn said nearly three months ago... We attach emotions to a specific number, and my question really wanted to know why this 140 range was such an "emotional number" for so many of you, and why can't my emotional number be 140? Maybe if we figured that out we could come one step closer to that magical and fickle creature called "body acceptance." For me, my number has instead been 120, which I haven't weighed since I was a freshman in high school (10 years ago). It was the last time I felt beautiful. And I'm not committing the sin of comparing myself to movie stars. I'm comparing myself to those regular girls I saw walking down the street yesterday. I can't get their beautiful slender 120 images out of my head. I want that... Today I'm 5'5 and at a healthy and strong 140, but I'll never be happy at this weight, no matter what my body fat or clothing size says.

At 310 I too had a goal of 145 to be happy. Then when I got to 153 my nutrionist told me had to go back up to 155 because I was getting too thin. I cried because I did not feel like I made my goal. That was in Oct of last year and now I'm finally happy. I realize it's not about the number at all, but about how healthy I am. It took me awhile, but I finally got it. :)

Well... in UK terms it's an exact 10 stone, maybe that's why it's a popular target, because it's round? It sounds attainable to me, I've never thought of anyone who weighs 10 stone being an anorexic lightweight. Most scrawny models weigh in the 7-8 stone (98-112lb) bracket. So I think, realistically, it's where I'd like to be and would probably correspond with an 18-20% bodyfat, which is a healthy target.

Then again, I'm 5'11", but I hate using my height as an excuse for my weight. I think it only adds up to about an extra 4lbs per inch, which isn't that much in the scheme of things. For someone of 5'9", slender-medium frame, 10 stone is probably an 'ideal' weight. So maybe I'll see how I feel at 148lbs and work from there if I feel I need to. My goal is really just to trim another 5 inches off my bust, waist and hips... if I get to 38/27/38 at 160lbs, then that'd be fabulous and I'd happily stop there... but I doubt I'll be that lucky.