How do we set our goal weight?

[2big4mysize]

Dovemck asked an interesting question.

I'd love to join the Christmas Challenge, but since I'm so new to this, I have to honestly say, I don't know what a realistic goal is for that time frame!

Can someone point me in the right direction as to where I would find this kind of information or would someone help me work this out?

Goal setting is one of the most difficult things. You'd think it would be easy, but in reality it isn't. How do you pick a realistic number? DO you use a height/weight chart? go by percentage of body fat? Use an old number from your youth? An old clothing size? One you see a famous person has? Some folks pick one based on height and weight charts. Many folk remember a weight they looked good at in their youth and decide that is where they should be. Some have been heavy for so long they set their goal high and just decide when they get there they can do better and lower it. Some of us had no goals and were just very happy to see the pounds fly off. Very few sit down with their health care provider and discuss it.


Sometimes due to body reconditioning that weight from a chart or your youth isn't a healthy goal weight. Be realist. Depending on how much weight you have gained you will have more lean body tissue too. Denser bones to hold up the extra pounds, More muscle tissue to move the extra weight, more blood vessels to move nutrients around that larger body, more skin to cover it. You can't go back to the weight you were yrs ago. For example a very successful Atkins loser set her goal according to the charts and when she was younger it was a good weight for her. But during her Atkins journey she had added muscle weight and had achieved a lean body mass larger then she had had the last time she was there making it an unhealthy goal weight for her. She would have been at 11% body fat and 15% is the bottom number of healthy range for females. She is having trouble coming to grips with she is at a very healthy weight 15 pounds heavier and is healthier and smaller at that weight then she was the last time she was at the smaller chart number.
Whatever you chose for your goal be realist and accept that it is just a number and might as you get smaller need to be adjusted and you are not a failure if you don't acheive this number.

[Crimson_Kittie14]

Interesting..Hmm..Does my goal weight sound realistic or a little over the top? (Current weight 159, goal weight 110)

[not2late]

Crimson, you're 14 years old, which means you still have a little more growth and development left, that us older folks don't.

Girls and boys stop bone growth by their late teens. Girls bone growth slows after they reach puberty, but they still add vertical height. http://www.osteo.org/newfile.asp?doc...TML+Fact+Sheet

My advice to you is to make sure your physician is aware of your weight loss and is monitoring it to make sure you aren't losing too quickly.

[not2late]

Here's another link on bone growth and teens

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0841/is_n2_v26/ai_10713556

And a general one on adolescent growth and development

http://www.adolescenthealth.org/html/nutritional.html

Again, make sure your physician is involved in your weight loss and is monitoring it.

[Dieselbud]

I am 5'3", and was at a healthy 18%BF when I weighed 118lbs when I was 14-17 years old.

110lbs sounds a tad thin, you want to be healthy, not skinny right??

[Crimson_Kittie14]

My doctor said i should lose weight :yes
110 is about average for my age/height. It may be a bit more scince i'm also gaining muscle mass, though.

[Crimson_Kittie14]

Oh, i need to change the height on my stats. I'm actually 5'2"

[Dieselbud]

LOL, I'll give you that, I am actually 5'3 1/2"

Good luck, and don't get too thin

[Crimson_Kittie14]

hehe, thanks good luck to you too

[not2late]

My doctor said i should lose weight :yes
110 is about average for my age/height. It may be a bit more scince i'm also gaining muscle mass, though.

So I assume that your doctor is seeing you once a month or once every 2 months to document your weight loss, do a physical exam to make sure you aren't losing too quickly, and address any problems/concerns you might have while losing weight. Good. That's what should be done because the guidelines for teens/children and weight loss are different than those of adults.

[Nutri_Nut]

I started out weighing 172 lbs. according to the doctor's scales (which always have me weighing more than my digital scale at home). I got down to 135 on my scales (142 on dr.'s scales) and felt good. My husband said I looked good at that weight. I still felt and - to me - looked too "fat." I asked my doctor what I should weigh, and he said 130 would be "good," but he didn't think I could maintain that. Neither did I!

So I begin the journey anew today and hope I can get back to 135. It is hard for me to know what's realistic, but since I've been there once, I figure it's possible again. But I can't help but feel like slapping the people who make the "charts" that tell me I should weigh 110-120.

[kebaldwin]

http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.com/viewtopic.php?t=50451&highlight=goals

[kebaldwin]

Copy of article I posted in the men's (locked) forum:

We've all had weight problems. Many of us have had weight problems all of our lives. So the natural goal for most people is to *lose weight*.

But let's take that goal apart and think about it.

Your body is made up of many things. Let's start by thinking about your body in terms of fat and lean (muscle, bone, water, etc).

On most *low fat* diets, when you lose weight you are losing both lean (water, muscle, bone), and sometimes fat. There are cases of people losing weight, and lean, but not fat! So these people look at the scale and *think* they are doing good but hopefully you realize that losing lean, in most cases, is not good. However, people on most diets lose both lean and fat. So are they better off?

Some weight loss experts tell us not to look at the scale. Okay -- but how do we know if we are making progress? One measure of weight loss (other than the scale) is your belts and clothes. If you are able to start wearing smaller clothes or having to take your belt in a notch then obviously you are losing weight. But how much of this weight you lost is fat and how much is lean?


THE KEY IS MEASURING YOUR BODY COMPOSITION
I think that everyone understands losing fat. Do we want to lose every ounce of fat? NO! But for most of us -- we can stand to lose a lot of fat. A good target for men is a fat percentage of 15% and for women 22%. Athletes and body builders are often down in the single digits (for men). Once you start dropping below 5% (for men) -- that might be considered bad / dangerous / unhealthy.

Think hard about what your ideal goals for body composition are. My goals are to lose fat, build muscle, and make my bones stronger (more dense).

With an continuous supply of food we don't need more than 10 to 15 percent body fat (for men). Getting below 20% on low fat / high carbohydrate diets is very hard for middle aged or older men. On Atkins I think that if you are patient, and stay with the diet for life, you should be able to get below 15% over the years (depending on how heavy you started from and your hormone levels).

More muscle allows us to do everyday tasks much easier. A pound of muscle burns about 35 to 50 calories per hour just sitting there doing nothing (versus about 2 to 3 calories for a pound of fat) -- so having *more muscle* raises our metabolism.

Bones are used as scaffolding to support the muscles and other parts of your body. I don't need as big a scaffold at 225 pounds as I do at 310 pounds. But scaffolding that is stronger and denser is preferred. So I might lose some of the physical size (bulk) of the bone but hopefully the total weight will be about the same.

Unfortunately I did not start with an accurate body fat measurement and update it every three to six months :-( I estimate that I started at around 40% body fat and 310 pounds. That means that I had 124 pounds of fat on me and 186 pounds of lean. Supposing that I could keep my lean the same and brought my fat down to 15% then I would have 186 pounds of lean and 33 pounds of fat and weigh a total of 219 pounds. So I want to lose 91 pounds of weight and 91 pounds of fat.

But I had lost *a lot* of muscle since I was 20 years old. My body sucked my muscles dry over the years when it needed protein and amino acids. So I want to rebuild that muscle which will increase by lean mass.

To make matters even more confusing, your lean mass is going to change as you are losing weight. It is not an accurate measurement -- especially if you have a lot of weight to lose.

After 18 months my approximate body composition is 250 pounds and 27% body fat -- 67 pounds of fat and 183 pounds of lean. So I have lost 57 pounds of fat and 3 pounds of lean.

Many people on a low carb diet (especially those with bronchitis or other respiratory disease) can almost feel all the "gunk" being drained out of their body. The plaque, cholesterol, triglycerides, mucus, glycogen, etc. Scientists are finding that all this gunk in our blood causes problems in our arteries, brain, organs. Although, I can't find the exact reference right now, Atkins estimates that is what that huge weight loss is during the first two weeks. You are burning off all that gunk (liquid fat). Then you start on your fat stores.

I lost almost 20 pounds my first month on Atkins (before my first stall). However, I feel that I have built my muscles up in the last year and a half. So I estimate that I lost 20 pounds of gunk and added 20 pounds of muscle to my lean body mass. A net loss of zero pounds for lean. Based on my rate of body fat loss -- I imagine that it will be about one more year before I am down to 15% body fat.


MEASURING BODY FAT
So how do you measure fat percentage? There are devices that you can buy that claim to send an electrical pulse through your body and measure your body fat. My testing with these devices has indicated that they are not worth the money. For example, you have to enter your height and weight -- and your body fat results change with the height and weight you enter -- so what is the device measuring? It appears that these devices are nothing more than look-up tables.

Calipers are a somewhat accurate and inexpensive way to test body fat. You can buy body fat calipers from most health stores. They are not expensive nor hard to use. The more measurements you make -- the more accurate it is -- but the more calculations you have to make. I would suggest that you have several different body fat caliper "experts" show you how to use them and to see if you get the same results they do. By using several different "body fat caliper experts" you can also see how much their measurements and calculations vary.

Body fat calculators, many of which are on the internet (search for "calculate body fat"), are typically free and accurate within a few percentage points. You enter your weight, your age, your height, and then take several measurements like your waist, hips, forearm, and wrist.

The most accurate way to measure body fat is to weigh you and then immerse you in a large tub of water. I don't know any places that allow you to schedule an appointment to do this but I hear that it typically costs about $100.

Don't worry about being accurate on the body fat. For example, if one measurement tells you 27% body fat -- don't fret over whether you are really 25% or 29% -- focus on how your body fat percentage is changing (using the same body fat measurement technique) in six months. You are looking for improvement every three to six months.

I would also suggest that you measure and calculate your body fat readings in different ways. For example, if a gym will measure your body fat -- try getting three different people to calculate your body fat on three consecutive days. Record all three and see what the fluctuation is. Then in three months do the tests again (3 different people, 3 different days). Then in another three months, etc. Get your own body fat calipers for home. Are your body fat measurements the same as theirs? I think this will give you a much more accurate reading.

Don't forget, just as your weight fluctuates up and down everyday -- your body fat will also. It is your long-term improvement -- the average every three to six months -- that you should be looking at.


SO WHAT AM I SUGGESTING?
The scale is only one way to track your progress. Your body fat, and body composition, is a better method. Hopefully, your goals are to lose weight, increase muscle, and strengthen bones. Note that your doctor can do bone density tests.

So many guys aged 40 or older start out losing weight on the low carb diet and then stall -- and stall -- and stall -- and stall -- for a long time. They give up, are disgusted, and quit. But when you think about how your body composition is changing, how you are putting on muscle, losing fat, and the fact that muscle weighs more than fat -- hopefully it will all begin to make sense.

If you are staying the same weight, working out (even moderately), keeping the carbs low, and losing fat (clothes and belt are looser) -- you tell me what changes are going on?

Here is the whole point of this article. Are you ready?

Losing fat and adding muscle is why you can lose inches -- but the scale will not change. Please recognize the benefits of this and don't give up on this diet as soon as you stall.

When you stall, make sure the first thing you do is measure your body fat. Get out the tape measure and measure everything. Then stick with what you have been doing: low carbs, exercise, supplements, etc. I'll bet you a low carb candy bar that your fatty parts (most likely your waist) get smaller and your muscular parts (biceps) get bigger six months later.

When you stall at different weights check your body composition once per month to track your progress. I would encourage everyone to start tracking his body fat percentage now. I'm not saying stop looking at the scale -- just weight is not the sole judge of progress -- especially in 40+-year-old males.

The final marker of your progress -- look in the mirror. This sounds weird, but take pictures every three or six months so that you can see the changes.

DISCLAIMER
I am not a doctor, nurse, or any other medical practitioner. I have learned all of this through reading and by making these changes in my own life. I am simply trying to get you interested enough to read more information and not quit the first time you stall.