Is there a certain point in your weight loss that you would reach a certain weight and say ok, If I cant lose anymore, even though I am not at goal, I will be ok with myself. I think to myself if I reach a goal of under 140 even though that is not near my goal I might be ok. Also if I am at a certain pants size. So for me its also about inches as well as weight. I look in the mirror and I notice a real difference, even though my tape measure and scale may not always reflect that. I also know I will never be to skinny but maybe if I reach a certain size and shape I will be ok.

I remember once I made it to 179. Mind you, I'm 5'11". And I was okay with myself there. Although that's still slightly overweight for me, it's sort of become this magical number in my mind because I felt so good at it before. Of course, I could just be romanticizing the past, but I still look at pics of myself then and go "hey--she's cute." So even if i can't get to 150 (and i know i can!), i will be really happy with myself if I can keep the weight off at 180 or so.

I am kinda there now. I want to be 125, and I would love to find my 6 pack, but I am pretty content where I am. So if I dont lose anymore, I wont be mad at myself.

Hmm. I'm 5'8" and still fat, but I feel pretty ok at the weight I am now. But that is probably because I have been this weight before, through most of college.

I've looked back and forth at the BMI charts... and even as a kid I really ALWAYS was overweight. I have to hit 164 to be in the healthy range of those damned charts. My guess is that I can't do it-- and also... if I did... I just have this feeling I would be almost too skinny. So its kind of an experiment.

I think I weighted 100lbs at age 8 (and was not fat at all)... but I was always tall, so I just think I'm kind of an anomaly.

I say try to lose to your goal, but if you maintian at a higher weight for a year or 2 maybe that means your body wants to be a certain weight and you should just let it be.

With me it's that I'm not sure if I can meet my weight goal because I have so much muscle on me, and that weighs more...so I guess if I get to where I feel healthy, and I'm smaller, I should be happy even if the scale says I'm still a cow.

When I started I wanted to be a 10, and I'm between an 8 and a 10, the 10s are getting big, but my stomach still feels really big. And I remember being about 140 and being a size 10, so I have no idea why I'm sometimes an 8 at 170. I'm also starting to rethink 140, my daughter's gymnastics coach is 140, we're the same height, I'm about 5 years older than she is, and obviously since she's a gymnastics coach and teacher she's in awesome shape, but she just looks so small to me I don't think I could get there anymore. I'm thinking less about the weight now, more about getting my weight in the healthy range of the BMI chart and focusing on getting rid of my flabby stretched out tummy.

Hi,

Personally I would like to be under 140 however I have been struggling to reach my goal of 140 for almost 2 years now. This will put my BMI at a healthy range which is what I want. Being fit and healthy is the most important thing, being "skinny" is an added perk. As for sizes? Well I think they are all in the manufacturer and don't pay much heed to them. I am 5'4 currently 155 and wear 8s, 10s, and even 12s. Depending on where I buy it, what it is jeans vs dress slacks.

Thanks, that was helpful. I am still trying for my goal but if I dont make it I will be comfortable at least being under 140. I was there for a long time and I felt fat then but looking back I was more in shape then now and I fit into size 8s and that isnt to bad. I am short though. I am only 5'1 so that makes some what of a difference. But it helps to see that others are in teh same boat.

Last time I lost weight I got down to 145 and was a size 10. At the time I thought I needed to go lower but I now think that would be a comfortable weight for me. If I can wear my size 10 clothes then I will be happy and not worry about the number.

My friend Sue and I went to dinner last night. She's 5'9" and weights 150lbs right now, and was complaining about being too fat because a year ago she weighed 140.

According to the BMI charts she can weigh up to 169/170lbs and still be in the healthy range-- but in her mind that would be obese. And I agreed she was right when she held up her wrist next to mine, and we could both see that mine was about 3/4 of an inch wider than hers... she has little or average bones, and well-- I have huge ones.

So, what I'm saying is the BMI charts are a good guideline, but I don't buy them completely. They don't take into account different body structures. The BMI for someone who is tiny-boned might be too heavy, and for someone who is hugely boned, might be too low. Also, the BMI charts were devised by surveying the average body types of 18 year olds... which means it just can't be right for most of us in one way or another!

I have been hovering around 140 for over 6 months now. I seem to be comfortable here. It's what I weighed when I got married 16 years ago. It was my original goal weight, when I didn't think I'd ever be able to lose. It's kind of a "magic number" for me.

I know I can lose more, but I think I'm pretty content here. It's harder to get myself to give up even more of the things I like, because I don't feel the urgent desire to lose. I've been working on weight loss for 4 years, and it gets hard.

125 is the top of my healthy BMI range, which is why I picked it. (I'm 5 feet tall.) I really want to be healthy, so that remains my target. Not sure how fast I will get there, but I'm going to keep trying!

Lisrey :D

I agree Lisrey. I am overweight according to the BMI but I figure worse come to worse I will just start to really push the biking to get it in everyday until this weather decides what it wants to do so I can get out and walk. This should at least help me trim if my body doesnt want to lose anymore.

Personally I like this calculator:

http://www.drkoop.com/tools/93/ibw.html it makes me feel better about dieting down to 170 because I am a large frame size that the BMI barely takes into account.

Thanks that helped alot. I find that much more accurate. I typed in all three frames just to see the difference and wow, what a difference compared to what I would be just trying to get to my bmi

Yea, it helps... in my case I feel like it helps a lot.

Particularly after hearing tonight from my boyfriend thinks my ribs poke out at him too much already.

I like Dr. Koop! He called me "marginally overweight!" That's the nicest thing about my weight any of my doctor's have said in a long time!!!! (Except my weight loss doctor, he asked if I could sit in his office all day and show off to make him look good to new clients!) I'm only 8 pounds away from healthy according to him!, which is 4 pounds less than the high number for my height for healthy on the BMI chart. Its nice to know I'm getting closer, rather than being off the chart!

Yup. If you have a large frame (which I do) the difference from the BMI is dramatic. According to the Koop scales, I'm 2.5 lbs overweight. Accodring to the BMI I'm 18.5 lbs overweight.

Personally I think I have 12lbs to go which is in-between, but still a little higher than what the BMI says.

A couple years ago I weighed 206 and worked my way down to 156 with diet, exercise and all the help from diettalk. My original goal was 135, but I felt very good at 156 and loved fitting into size 10/12 clothing. I still would like to get down to around 140 but I know if I hit 156 again I'll be very very happy with myself :D

Now that I've gotten below 300, I'm already feeling better. I think at each mini-goal I'll feel better. Right now I'm shooting for 275. Then when I get to 250 I'll already start feeling tons better. At 225 I know I'm on the right track and I'll be about at my halfway point. At 200 I'll see my goal in site.

At 190 I know I can stop shopping in the Larger Women's sizes. Once I get there I know it'll be a hard push to get to my 140 goal, but it would be so close I could taste it. I know I felt good the last time I was weighing in at 140. I felt like I looked good, and could fit into nice clothes and I actually enjoyed clothes shopping more. Right now I just buy clothes so I have something covering my body.

The main thing I'm looking forward to is all those big t-shirts I have right now turning into nightshirts! :laugh:

Frame size definitely makes a difference. One of my best friends and I are the same height and back before I started piling on the pounds, I was about a stone heavier than her, but I looked and wore exactly the same size. If you'd put us beside each other you wouldn't have noticed any difference in weight, but I had an extra 14lb all along. Pretty nifty.

As for stopping before goal -- the last time I was 126 was when I was 16/17, so obviously my body has changed a bit on its way to 19. 126 might turn out to be too heavy or too light, so if I feel and look great at 130 or 135 or whatever, I'll stop there. It's all a grand experiment. :D

I don't know. I remember dieting down to about 160lbs a few years back and I felt great, even if I still had a way to go. So I guess if I can hit 150, I'll be happy. But 140 would be ideal. I'm 5'11 and medium to large framed.