Setting the Goal Weight?

My mother and I are very close, much more like sisters at times than mother and daughter.

About weight, we’re a wee bit competitive, as is the entire family. (See Obsessions and Body Image – Day 4 – 153.4 , which was 31 days and ten pounds ago!)

In the years when we were the same size, we borrowed each other’s clothes (shipping them back and forth for events). We have very different bodies (I am 2 inches taller than she — though, hilariously, she thinks she’s taller), so even the same garments look different on us.

For a time, I was skinnier than she and it probably bothered her, though she was a cyclist riding centuries so she could then, and probably still, kick my ass. I, of course, am terribly jealous I have been unable to walk into a store and have anything look amazing on me the way she can.

Since I have been losing rather steadily, she’s pumping me for information about how I am losing weight (she says she needs to drop 5 pounds and she already eats nothing — eat more fat is what I tell her), which is the sister part, and how much more weight I want to lose, which is most definitely the mom part.

My goal is to lose another 18+ pounds to get to 125. I am 5′5″, so that’s a thin, but solid, version of me. She’s displeased by that number, she thinks it’s too small.

As I reminded my mother this morning: that’s still more than 10 pounds more than I weighed at my skinniest this decade while in my 30s. Frankly, I admit that was way too small.

• <Insane aside>: Here’s how to know if you’re too skinny: while dining at a restaurant near a tv studio, your waiter assumes you’re a tv actress. Yikes! I was too skinny, but damn I looked good in Dolce and everything else. Clothes were just made for me. It was a dream for one so fashion-oriented. (Being fat, not so much.) Plus, it was kind of a danger weight. Everyone assumed I was anorexic, colleagues felt the need to pull me aside to say, you’re way too thin. Did I mentioned I looked amazing in clothes? Seriously, it was magic. That’s why the temptation will always be there to drop the extra 8-10 at the end, which would still be two pounds heavier than my thinnest set weight. Clearly, I have problems.</Insane aside>

So, 125 is my goal weight. I think it’s a healthy goal. I look good and feel good at that weight.

I think I set a reasonable goal, since I had been at that weigh before, but I wonder how you set a goal weight. I did check an ideal weight calculator, so I think I am on track, but I would love to hear if anyone has some guidance or advice on how they set their number.