The FastDay Forum

stemming from my thread on that last difficult 5 pounds, @kencc had me thinking about goal setting and whether it should be a range and not a specific number

I think i will make mine 67kg to 69kg for my ultimate goal (as opposed to my Christmas/Jan 2014 target)

but then how do you know whether a goal is too low from a health perspective.

i guess if you start looking gaunt in your face then maybe your are aiming too low. If you do go too low then that gives you room to indulge occasionally or is that a bad approach.

but when do you know you are too low (for your height)?

I picked a goal rather randomly: it was well within a healthy BMI, but otherwise, there was no real reason to pick it. Before I ever reached it, though was within a few kg, I started feeling quite bony in places. I knew then I was near my goal. I don't really want to be bonier. I wish I could get more off my thighs, but weight loss doesn't work that way.

Basically, I think you will know you're at the right weight when you get there.

[Betsysgr8]

As MaryAnn said, it's more about how you feel and look than numbers on a score card. If you feel good and energenic and your waist/height range is good, I wouldn't worry about anything more.

Excellent replies by both MaryAnn and Betsysgr8.

Don't obsess over your finish time Juliana. You're already a medaled winner in this race. Hop onto the podium and wave to the adoring crowd.

Yeh, I have a ballpark area I want to get too, but it's a range of a few kgs and I'm going to go more on how I'm feeling than worrying about hitting a particular number.

I wanted a 27" waist and that will never happen now. The last time I was this weight my waist was 25" and it is now stuck at 28.5". I am happy with my weight but I definitely have 'spread' in the middle and nothing seems to alter it. Oh well, there are other MUCH more important things going on in the world so I am just going to enjoy what I have and get on with it,

Ballerina x

I have a range rather than a fixed goal. I want to see what my face looks like before I decide if I go to the lower end of the range. Keep your options open!

I have a range rather than a fixed goal. I want to see what my face looks like before I decide if I go to the lower end of the range. Keep your options open!

i like that approach. The face is the first thing that shows whether someone has lost too much weight I think. sometimes a weightier person looks better with than without the weight, neck up

Excellent replies by both MaryAnn and Betsysgr8.

Don't obsess over your finish time Juliana. You're already a medaled winner in this race. Hop onto the podium and wave to the adoring crowd.

thankyou.

Basically, I think you will know you're at the right weight when you get there.

i will remember that!

I think my goal was too low to start with and I decided to stop when I noticed that my face got thin and gaunt. I was originally going by the weight I was in my 30s, over half a lifetime away"

Not much to add to the sensible advice above. In my case I also considered my weight in my early twenties (when slim and healthy)and added a couple of kg for my current age (53). That gave me a rough indication of something below 65 kg as my target weight. Feeling a bit bony at some spots and indeed the looks of my face made me decide that 64 kg was my upper limit for goal and 62 my lower limit

Thanks for this thread Juliana. I was aiming to get down to 55k, but have been wondering if I am being a bit hard on myself with this goal because I have never weighed this in my entire life as an adult....always been a bit 'chubby' in places! I am hoping to get rid of the chubby bits that remain, but don't know what weight that will be at! Guess work.

[carorees]

I combined a calculation of what weight I think I'll be when I have a healthy percent body fat with being in the normal BMI range for my frame size with a weight I've been in the past. However, my main target is to keep eating/fasting the way I am now, which I feel is completely sustainable, and see where that takes me. If I don't reach my target I won't worry as I'm already nearly at a healthy BMI. If I should overshoot...well I can't believe that will happen so I'll worry about that if it does!

I am considered now underweight with a 18.38BMI. I didn't pick that target, I just discovered that I was this weight when I, finally, went on a scale after something like 2 months without weighting myself.

I say "considered" underweight but, except my 2 fasts, I eat a sensible diet, but without dieting, feel great, full of energy, and, more than that, I am maintaining this weight even if I would prefer to gain the 2 kilos missing to be in a "healthy weight".

So, I think it depends on people, there's no "general truths" but individual ones. What worked for me may not work for everyone else. I never diet before, didn't do any exercises for 20 plus years so I guess my body was more than ready when I began to diet and began to do 1hour exercises daily. Maybe if I was used to do both, it wouldn't have worked as well.

Just my 2 cents