What is an appropriate goal weight, really?

So what is an appropriate goal weight exactly? I have gotten down to about 142 and am planning to keep going to 130 or even lower? My doctor initially said they would like me to be at about 155lbs and not much under 150. I don't understand why not under 150? What difference would it make? Wouldn't losing more be better? I haven't seen my doctor in six months and am slowly approaching the date of my 2 yr bandiversary and will be having an appt. at that time.

Just wondering if other people have gotten quite a bit below their goal weight and did your surgeon approve or disapprove?

starryeyed

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I have only been banded for 9 weeks, but I'm 5'4" and my goal weight that was set by my surgeon and myself is 130lbs. You didn't say how tall you are though?? I think it just depends on your height. For me, I don't want to be a pound over 145lbs because then I'm still considered overweight!

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I believe your goal weight should be a personal decision. It really depends on how you feel, still have energy, don't look sickly. Your doctor may have been setting a high goal weight to see how you would do along the way, then he could change it later.

I think my doctor is a little upset with me because I haven't reached mine but I am happy the way my weight loss is going - not too fast. I'm okay with it even if he is not. It is my life and I paid for my band, he didn't.

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Bobbi - Banded on Nov. 1, 2007 at Journeylite
by Dr. Richard Collier, M.D., Conroe, Texas

It has been a year since my band placement and my doc finally told me what he thought I should weigh, which is 139. Insurance charts say 120-125. I don't know where I will be ending up, but the losing journey will end when I don't want to cut calories and exercise any more than I am and the scales stop moving. I am actually more concerned about maintaining than losing since I have always been either gaining or losing, never maintaining a stable weight.
Mimi

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Mine hasn't given me a goal, but I think most docs would love for us to be at/near the high end of the 'normal BMI' range (high normal is 25). We 'formerly obese' people usually carry some extra weight in skin and fat cells that others our weight who've never been fat don't have...ie. a former fatty that's now 140 may be/look much thinner everywhere else (and have some saggy fat/skin) then someone who's 140 and never been fat. Not sure if that makes sense. I'm just shooting for a normal BMI and then after that I'll decide/my body will decide where to stop. I also like using the 'BMI calculators'/and the 'suggested ideal weight calculators' that take into account your sex and your age.

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Band_Groupie I'm With The Band 4/22/09 - 10cc LB APS
Fills: Surgery=0 +3 +1.5 +1.1 +.3= Total 5.9 cc's

My Blog "THE SWEET SPOT" - HERE

Thread Starter

I am 5'7. I think they would like for me to be on the high end of my recommended weight but I am not comfortable with that. They set 155 as my goal where I could actually see myself at 120.

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I'm in the losing more is better camp, but that's because I think thin is elegant and attractive and because I have the sort of body that does need to be thin. I'm fairly fine boned and lightly muscled, I'm meant to be more willowy than curvy.

It IS a personal decision and many people with a different body shape can carry a little more weight better than i could.

But one thing I really disagree with is that old "oh, that's what the charts say but I would look sick at that weight". I think many obese people have a totally warped idea of what normal body weight looks like, and they only think they'd look sick at that weight when in actual fact to anyone that didnt know them fat, they'd look totally normal. And I dont know why but there IS something confronting about shedding every ounce of the excess weight.

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Jacqui

I think its important to be realistic when setting a goal weight. Whats attainable for one person may not be possible for another individual of the same height and body type. From the very beginning of my weight loss journey the thing i have most wanted was just to be considered a NORMAL weight.

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Starting Weight 359
Banded 9/13/2006
Dr. Benavides

[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/weight-loss/wGfpqpY/]

OMG my doctor must be nuts I am 248 and 5'6 and my doc set anything in the 190's.... what the heck is that, has anyone else had this problem?

I know the BMI charts aren't the 'Bible for WL', but I just checked and even 190 is in the Obese category...sounds like he's setting the bar really low. I'm allmost 5'9" and I'm shooting for at least the high end of a normal BMI (I started at 248 too). Sometimes I think the docs just go by the LB statistics...what is it most say- 60% of excess weight lost. If you want to get healthy you'll need to set your own goal. Go for it!

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Band_Groupie I'm With The Band 4/22/09 - 10cc LB APS
Fills: Surgery=0 +3 +1.5 +1.1 +.3= Total 5.9 cc's

My Blog "THE SWEET SPOT" - HERE

Thread Starter

Jachut, you basically reaffirmed how I feel. Thin is lovely and elegant. I have been back at ballet class for a year now, too, and we perform publicly, and ballet makes no secret of it's preference for thinness.

My weight history may or may not be unique and may or may not pertain to what my current weight should be.

Here is a brief history: I went from a 7lb baby to a normal to slender sized child. At 14 I thought I was getting fat and went on a year long 'diet' and (reached my height of 5'7 during this time) weighed about 110lbs. Very thin. After a year I lost discipline and slowly gained weight until college when I was up to about 180lbs. I went on another major diet and got down to about 120lbs. I maintained a thin to average weight until I got married and got pregnant with baby #1. I gained lots of weight while preggers and it came off reasonably well with #1. Then when my son (baby#1) was six months old I got pregnant with my daughter. The weight came on doubly fast and didn't do away. Three years later I had the band and a year after that I was at about goal (150s).

So I have not always been overweight. I don't know whether this matters. I sometimes feel like I am bordering on EDNOS but as was mentioned earlier, many overweight people have distorted images regarding body and weight. I know I do.

starryeyed

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I think BMI is a good starting point for setting your initial goal, but once you get close to it you need to see how much fat vs. lean your body is carrying. The only legitimate way to test this is by getting a hydrostatic dunk test. In my second test, I learned that nearly half the weight I was losing at the time was muscle, not just fat. We all have to be very careful of this, the last thing you want to do is lose muscle (all weight loss, is not necessarily good weight loss). Armed with the data from the test (and subsequent tests), I was able to tailor my diet and exercise plan to the point where now 100% of the weight I am losing is Fat and I am actually gaining muscle mass at the same time. I went from 22.2%BF in July to 15.4% just last week.

And I absolutely agree with Jacqui, don’t let people tell you that you “look” too thin. Most people are jaded by their own fat or what society has come to expect as normal. In most cases, those are actually overweight in a pure medical sense. I would say let your body be the judge and measure it with Body Fat testing and the health of your skin, hair and nails.

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6'0" 285 38.6BMI Pre-Op
Surgery 2/18/09 in San Diego, Currently @3.6cc
Progress Pics



Weight Goal = 184 lbs - 24.9BMI (done 10/6/09)
Ultimate Goal = <13% Body Fat (done 3/18/10)

Happily maintaining below 180lbs, under 25 BMI, and less than 13% Body Fat