Hi this is my first post on 3FC! I'm just starting into my weight loss. I've been up and down the last few years from 180 to 200 lbs which is still bigger than I have ever been. I'm recently just over it so I'm going to get rid of it!

My first mini-goal is to lose 15 lbs by my birthday in February. Its about 2 lbs a week which I think is doable. Any advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

steffbrown

no advice but 15lbs by when in February? I think I'd like to give that a shot with you. I weighed in today at 176.8 so 15lbs less would bring me at 161.8. That would be nice to see. Set the date for the challenge to end and let's get it started … I'm sure others will join.

2 pounds a week is at the top of the healthy weight loss scale. You can safely expect to lose .5 - 2 pounds a week, but unless you are very obese, 2 pounds a week probably isn't going to happen. Setting a goal to lose a certain number of pounds by a certain date is one of the worst things to do. What happens if you don't lose 2 pounds a week? Do you give up, do you regroup and set different goals?

… what would I do if I don't succeed? Be proud of what I have accomplished and move on to the next goal. And I hope that is what steffbrown would do also.

I've joined many date goal challenge threads on 3FC and found them to be quite helpful not the worse thing to do by far. They have actually motivated me. Different things work for different folks.

I am not a huge fan of time frames. That is just me. I also don't calorie count. But for others both of those things work.

I like to think in terms of changes. I am a big fan of not overwhelming with too many at once. So maybe say for the rest of December I won't eat any ..fill in your snack. And I will drink 100 ounces of water a day at least. And exercise 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes.

Then January I will exercise at least 5 times a week for 30 minutes..eat X amount of veggies per week. Have 2 dinners a week without meat.

So you keep adding these things, changing your lifestyle and the pounds come off and stay off. I was lost in weight loss before I started focusing on changes I was going to do day in and day out.

Do I weigh myself everyday? Yes. But that is feedback for me. The changes are why I have lost what I have and I will get to under 200 eventually.

But if it works...and for me that means no yo-yoing but long term sustainable changes..to get healthy, go for it.

Welcome and good luck on your journey!!