How to set a realistic goal weight (and stick to it)
How to set a realistic goal weight: use your healthy BMI range and ideal-weight formulas as rough guides, weigh body composition, then lose it slowly.
A realistic goal weight is a range you can maintain without misery, not a single magic number. Start with the healthy BMI range for your height, sanity-check it against an ideal-weight formula and your own body composition, then judge success by health and sustainability rather than the scale alone. The best goal weight is usually one you have held before and can hold again.
The short version: aim for a range inside your healthy BMI band, use formulas as rough guides only, and choose a target you can keep. Slow, steady loss beats a crash every time.
Start with a range, not a number
Picking one exact number sets you up to feel like a failure at goal-plus-two-pounds. Bodies fluctuate daily from water, food, and hormones, so a range is more honest and less stressful.
The most practical starting range is the span of weights that keeps you in a healthy BMI (18.5 to 24.9) for your height. The BMI calculator shows that range directly, and what is a healthy BMI explains what the categories do and do not mean. That band is wide on purpose, often 30 pounds or more, which gives you room to choose a personal target inside it.
Use ideal-weight formulas as rough guides
Older “ideal body weight” formulas turn your height into a single number. The best known is the Devine formula:
- Men: 50 kg plus 2.3 kg for each inch above 5 feet.
- Women: 45.5 kg plus 2.3 kg for each inch above 5 feet.
So a 5 foot 10 inch man lands near 50 + (10 x 2.3) = 73 kg, or about 161 pounds. There are several such formulas (Devine, Robinson, Miller, Hamwi), and they disagree by a few pounds because they were built for drug dosing in hospitals, not for personal goals. The ideal-weight calculator shows all of them next to your BMI range so you can see the spread.
Treat any formula number as the middle of a ballpark, not a bullseye. It knows your height and nothing else about you.
Weigh body composition, not just the scale
The scale cannot tell muscle from fat, and neither can a formula. Two people at the same height and weight can look and feel completely different depending on how much muscle they carry. That matters for your goal:
- If you lift weights or are naturally muscular, your healthy goal weight may sit above what a formula suggests, because muscle is dense.
- If you have lost muscle over the years, a “normal” number on the scale can still come with too much body fat.
Waist measurement is a simple, free way to add the detail the scale misses. Watching your waist shrink while your weight holds steady usually means you are trading fat for muscle, which is a win the scale hides.
Pick a weight you can actually sustain
The best goal weight is one you can maintain on a normal week, not one you can only touch after a brutal diet. Ask yourself:
- Have I held this weight before? A weight you maintained comfortably in the past is a strong, realistic candidate.
- What would daily life look like at that weight? If keeping it needs constant restriction and no social meals, aim higher and revisit later.
- Is the timeline sane? A goal you reach in six months and keep beats one you hit in six weeks and lose.
You can always set a first milestone and reassess. Many people find that losing a modest amount improves how they feel long before they reach any “ideal” figure, and that is a valid place to pause and maintain.
Let health markers outrank the number
A goal weight is a proxy for what you actually want, which is usually more energy, better numbers at the doctor, and clothes that fit. Those often improve well before you hit a specific weight. Blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, sleep, mood, and fitness are the outcomes worth chasing; the scale is just one readout. If your health markers are good and steady, the exact number matters less than it feels like it does.
Lose it slowly, then hold
Once you have a target, the pace that gets you there and keeps you there is unglamorous and steady: roughly 0.5 to 1 percent of your body weight per week, which for most people is about one to two pounds. That comes from a moderate calorie deficit you can live with, plenty of protein to protect muscle, and enough consistency to ride out the plateaus. See how to track a calorie deficit and macros for weight loss for the how.
Crash diets do reach the number faster, but they cost muscle, are miserable, and rebound because nobody can live on them. Slow loss lets your habits catch up, so the weight you reach is a weight you can keep.
Setting the goal is easy; keeping it in view for months is the hard part. A simple private tracker helps here: the SlimHabitsOS healthy habits weight planner lets you record a start weight and a goal weight, log your daily habits, and watch the weight trend head toward your target at a steady pace, all offline on your own device with no account.
Use the ideal-weight calculator and the BMI calculator to mark out a sensible range, choose a weight inside it that you could live at, and talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian about the right target for your body and health history.
This guide is general education, not medical or dietary advice.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose a realistic goal weight?
Start with the healthy BMI range for your height as a window, not a single number. Pick a weight inside it that you have maintained comfortably before or could sustain without an extreme diet. Then let health markers and how you feel, not just the scale, confirm it is right.
What is a good goal weight for my height?
There is no single ideal weight for a height. A healthy BMI range and formulas like Devine give a ballpark, but muscle, frame, age, and history shift the right target. Aim for a range and choose a personal goal inside it.
How fast should I lose weight to reach my goal?
A steady pace of about 0.5 to 1 percent of your body weight per week, often roughly one to two pounds, is sustainable for most people. Slower loss protects muscle and is far easier to keep off than a crash diet.
Should I aim for my ideal weight from a formula?
Treat formula numbers as rough guides, not targets. Ideal-weight formulas like Devine were built for medication dosing, not personal goals. Use them alongside your BMI range and body composition, and set a weight you can actually maintain.
Ecuato builds interactive dashboard planners as single offline HTML apps. Browse all planners or visit the Etsy shop.