During a tough workout with one of my clients last week, she moaned, "What is the point of this?" My first thought was, "Because I enjoy torturing you," but, after thinking about it, I decided she asked a very good question. I'm sure she was talking specifically about the pushups we were doing (which she hates), but there is a larger question we may ask ourselves when we set out to exercise - "Why am I doing this?"
Having a purpose is essential for anyone trying to stay consistent with exercise and, for many of us, that purpose is losing weight. My pushup-hating client, for example, wants to lose the 10 lbs she's gained over the last year. I've had other clients who wanted to lose pregnancy weight or get back to the weight they were 10 or 20 years ago. Having worked with many people, all of whom came to their weight loss goals in different ways, I'm curious about you. How do you determine how much weight you want to lose? Do you have a set weight in mind and, if so, how did you arrive at that number? Vote in this week's poll and leave a comment about how you set your weight loss goals...we may just learn something new.
More About Setting Goals
I have the opposite problem. I’ve spent my life trying to gain weight. One thing I discovered is that when I reached my goal weight, I had been eating more (relatively healthy) and working out a lot. I wasn’t particularly happy with what I saw in the mirror.
I broke my arm (badly), which shut me down for…6 months. I lost all that muscle and mass that I had gained and was below my target. This time around, I just eat well, exercise as much as I can, and challenge myself, not to put on weight, but to reach certain goals. With cardio, I try to increase pace, total time, or resistance (if on a machine). With weights, I change my routine every 6 weeks and I try to reach certain reps or resistance (amount of weight lifted) before the end of the 6 weeks.
Since then, I am somewhat below my old target weight, but I feel much better, I look much better, and I am much happier with myself.
The whole point: I stopped going for a certain weight. It was frustrating. One good BM and I lost a couple pounds. The scale did not make me happy. Now, I just challenge myself to improve, and the results are much more satisfying.
I went by the healthy weight scale for a woman my height. I picked the top (most) I should weigh. I have 13 more pounds to go to get there. When I get there I will evalulate myself again and decide if a few more pounds are warrented or not.
Last year I had set a goal weight for myself. When I had 1st made the goal, I felt had enough weight to loose (30 lbs) that setting a goal weight, simply made sense. 40 lbs later, my goal is to concentrate on toning up, instead of shackling myself to the scale.
I am going to try CrossFit. I found out about it from researching the workout program used for the actors in the movie 300. Looks very intense but sounds like a great workout. Anyone ever try it?
I am more concerned with my body fat percentage. I don’t care at all how much I weigh as long as my body fat is in the zone I am shooting for.
use weght/BMI charts TOGETHER w/what I feel like I can maintain w/o too much stress day to day
More important, is that our weight should be
in the recommended body fat % range for our age. That is the best indicator of our
overall fitness. After you are in range, your
size will be a “size healthy”!
I could care less how much I weigh. I am going for the size jeans I want to wear. However, I will admit a slight obsession with dropping my body fat % and I want significant muscle gain. I want to be at the very bottom of the normal body fat range for a woman my age, if not just into the elite range. Since I have a ways to go, my initial goal is dead center of the normal range.
I have already put on quite a bit of muscle, so my weight is a LOT higher at a smaller size than I’ve ever been before.
I’m absolutely loving this journey, too…which I can’t believe. I love working out!
I use the basic BMI measurement. Plus body fat percentage. Plus pants size. It is fun to make my
belts SHORTER !
I’m with Stef and Ted. That while BMI and body-fat-percentage are considerations, THE FACTOR is: can I get into the same 32-inch jeans that I wore when I graduated from college in 1958?
At 46, I don’t expect to weight what I weighed at 18, so I’m not aiming for that, but I’m aiming for the top end of my weight range, and will then stop and consider before I set another weight loss goal – if I do at all. I’m aiming for fit and healthy more than anything, and as working out and healthy food are a part of it, I believe I will be fit and healthy at that point. Maybe!
After my kidney transplant, I gained about 20-25 pounds. Since then, I’ve lost 5-10 lbs. It always excites me to see the scale drop a bit. However, I am aiming more to look and feel healthy then to be at a certain weight, although I really don’t want to have to buy all new clothes again so I guess I am trying to maintain my weight so my clothes fit comfortably.
I weigh myself daily and then know how I can behave as far as eating. My weight has stayed the same for 25 years.
My doctor started saying things about the gravity of my pending health if I continued on this path. Dad has been a heart patient for many years, so I should know better, but somehow starting that new exercize or diet routine kept being put off. I have always been the “pudgy” kid. I simply got tired of being the fattest one in the room. I came back from my dream vacation to beautiful, fashionable Paris with some of the most humiliating pictures of myself I have ever had taken. That triggered a serious wake-up call. I’ve dedicated myself to finding the healthy, happy new me.
I set my weight goals to where my peak physical performance is. I play soccer up to six times a week. I’m a mere 5′5 so my ideal weight is about 155 with muscle mass in order for me to feel like tree trunk out in the field.
My weight goals are based on what I used to weigh 9 months after I had my first child. I got there once, I can do it again! I’m sick of hearing people say, “You just had a baby.” No, actually it has been 2 years and I don’t think that is considered baby weight anymore.
It’s time to get rid of the weight.
I want to lose fat and gain muscle, so my goal is 12% to 15% body fat. Especially considering that muscle weighs more than fat, I recommend that people set goals based upon % of body fat OR based upon clothing size (if they don’t have a readily available way to measure body fat).
I don’t care about BMI, body fat %, muscle or even if I can fit into my skinny jeans. I want to weigh one lb less than my husband. No more. Plain and simple. One pound less.
I have set my weight and exercise goal according to my health needs.
so jean, you don’t care about body fat %? so you don’t mind having more flab than muscle? I agree with you not wanting to go based on BMI alone, that’s BS. but wanting to “weigh one lb less” than your husband, but not caring whether it’s fat or muscle, is ridiculous. I’d rather weigh 125 and be mostly muscle than be 110 lbs and look like a flabby mess. and yes, I’m a personal trainer, so it’s my job to look good.
I’m a Personal Trainer and I love the gym and fitness. and Stacy I agree with you with the whole baby weight issue. I had my daughter 13 months ago and I busted my butt to get below my pre-pregnancy weight. I lost my baby weight by the time she was 3 months old, and I lost even more over the months before my husband came home. I had a c-section and I was able to get my abs back. the other day I was at work (I’m a SrA in the Air Force) and a girl kept saying “I just had a baby” and she was a big girl. so I asked how old her baby was and she said 3 months. Being pregnant and/or a mom is NOT an excuse to be fat. I took my daughter out in her stroller several days a week for a 4 mile jog/sprint session and lifted weights while my husband was deployed to Iraq . No reason to be fat just because you’re a mom! come on, don’t you want to stay sexy for you husband!? and again, I don’t want to hear “I can’t get my abs back because I’ve had kids”. BS! I had a c-section and I got my abs back and I’m trying to perfect them even more!