Well, now that I have had a successful weigh in for the first time, I am ready to set some real goals. I see a lot of you have major milestone goals and I am curious how you determined them. Are you going by some type of pounds-lost-per-week calculation? Or is it more heart than science? I do have a few major things coming up and I would like to know how to set some reasonable but challenging goals for them.
Hi , I didn't have any major event, or #'s for goals.
I have chose my mini-goals for my birthday in August, and now my Daughter's Birthday on the 31st of October. My end goal is 167 because that is a # I was 18 yrs ago and I was happy. I am tall, not small boned,and when I was under 159 I was pale and nasty looking( this happened for one month when I was 16-17 , I starved myself down to 142). If I decide I want to loose 7 more pds when I reach my end goal, I might, we will see. But I know at 167 I will be at a weight , that I don't remember any more.
cheryl
For me, it's basic math, and what doctor's say is reasonable.
a) Depending on your personal stats, there is a certain number of calories you can eat to maintian your weight. You can find this number at http://www.quakeroatmeal.com/qo_livi...nyCalories.cfm. This number is around 2000 for most women.
b) One pound is approx. 3500 cals.
c) For me, the number is about 2100. If I generally cut out 600-800 cals a day [so I eat 1300-1500 cals a day], and I exercise about 3 times a week, burning about 250 cals a workout (30 mins moderate cardio, 10 mins weights). So generally, I cut out around 5600 cals a week, which, divided by 3500, should result in a loss of 1.6lbs a week. Of course, we never know exactly how many cals we are eating, or exactly how much we burn when we work out, but this approximation is a good way to keep tabs on yourself. I admit, I should be having more substaintial workouts, and maybe a few more calories, but we are all finding our way though this. Doctors recommend a 1-2 lb weight loss a week, so this type of cutting cals and upping exercise is a healthy way to weight loss goals.
Again, for me, the long, long off goals are too much for me. I want to lose about 30 lbs, but I have a 6lb. loss goal for September, 1.5 lbs a week, right in the middle of the road. I think one month goals are pretty managable - if you make your goal too far off, you may slack at the beginning and then make unhealthy choices the last month to try to lose the weight. I hope that this post was helpful - a little math can help, but most women who lose naturally aim for 1-2 lbs a week, but you may see a more significant loss at the beginning, due to water weight. So cut cals, up exercise, and water, water, water! Hope this wasn't too preachy, and good luck!
I set my first goal for the USMC Birthday Ball in November. I bought a dress one size too small and have been trying it on. A lot of us do that...buy clothes in the next size and keep trying them on until they fit. It's a good way to measure your progress.
For my long term goal, I decided to lose 150 pounds. It also happens that 164 puts me at a BMI of 24.9...just barely inside the normal range. So, it's my magic number.
Just find things that are important to you. Events in your future, pound increments, size increments, anything. It's all about what motivates YOU. Good luck to you on your journey. I look forward to losing weight with you!
My final goal has been a bit of a question mark. I have been as low as 146 as an adult and looked great. However it took an incredible amount of work to maintain it and I think that took its toll on me and finally got to be too much. 162 is a nice healthy weight, and with my bone structure, it still makes me look pretty lean. If I get there and want to go lower, then I'll worry about that when the time comes.
As for mini-goals, I figure the number of weeks till the chosen date and multiply it by the number of pounds per week I think I can lose. I generally use a reasonable number like 2 1/2 a week. I'm not trying to set myself up for failure that way. The point, for me anyway, is to make it something achievable. I always worry when somebody list a goal that requires a huge loss in a small amount of time; how can trying your best and not getting there be any encouragement?
I never put dates on weight loss goals, because I know that I can do things right and the scale may not obey. I didn't want to feel like a failure because I wanted to get to 250 by a certain date and ended up at 255 -- I'd still be a raging success!! But I did set mini-goals along the way, and they were milestone weights of a sort.
I started at 295 and my first real mini goal was 250 -- a weight I'd stalled at on the way up for a while. 45 pounds is a big mini goal, but in reality every "decade" was a new mini-goal.
Second mini-goal --220. Another "stall" weight. Third, 199 -- onederland! Fourth, 179, a weight that had me out of "obese" and into "overweight" based on BMI. BMI isn't the best tool, as it says nothing about body fat %, so it's also kind of an arbitrary goal.
Now I'm not setting weight loss goals any more but working on health and fitness.
I too have not put any "dates" for my progress. That is (for me anyways) just a way to fail. I take each day - and go from there.
As far as the goal weight I have chosen, that too may change. It is just giving me a direction to work towards. If I find it unreasonable when I get close - I'll up it. IF I find that I can reach it and continue on, I will do that too. I am a work in progress!!
I learned after over six months of a 'plateau' that setting timelines for weight loss is a bad idea for me. I maintained the 30 pounds I did lose in that time, though, so I feel like a success nonetheless. Now that I'm back on plan and losing again, I have set a few goals (the Christmas challenge, for one), but I'm not going to beat myself up over it if I don't lose exactly 25 pounds by Christmas. As long as the numbers are headed in the right direction, I'm good.
Having said all that, I've got a couple milestones, like everyone else. Magic numbers for me are 199 (of course!), 160 (my high school weight, which I thought was enormous at the time), and my ultimate goal of 120. Though if I don't ever reach 120 I won't be miserable, because I am weight training so as long as I'm fit I'll be happy.
I've got goal outfits to fit into along the way, and fitness goals include running a 5K without stopping (this one is really hard for me) and continuing weight training (which I have never enjoyed and always given up on).
Goal-setting is so personal for each of us, but it can be really rewarding as long as you don't put too much pressure on yourself to achieve by a date that's set in stone.
I, too, do not set dates for weight loss goals--I learned this the hard way. It can be very disappointing if you don't meet your time goal. So disappointing that people go off track.
Because I was going to Weight Watchers, I used 5 lb. goals and 10% goals. Ten percent is always a good one because research has shown that losing 10% of your body weight results in great health benefits.
I set my December 18th goal because I'm going to Vegas that date and I want to look good--ha! But it's a reasonable amount to lose. However, if I fall a few pounds short, it's no biggie.
I won't set a date for my final goal. As long as I get there, I'll be a happy camper.
It's really difficult to pre-determine what we are going to look and feel like at a certain weight, or a goal weight as we all like to call them. There's just no way to know how we are going to feel til we get there. Looking back, it seems almost kind of silly to have even of set a "goal" weight. Of course that's after the fact and hindsight and all, but nevertheless.... I suppose we should just have some sort of idea in our minds of the number that may be right right for us. Not the mindframe that there is some magical number that's gonna do the trick for us.
For me though, getting to my goal number was in some ways very satisfying and in other ways, not all that monumental at all. My goal weight (135, the lowest I remember being as an adult was 139, I rounded down) still left me in the overweight category. So once I hit it, I did decide to go lower. I have purposely removed a goal weight from my stats here at 3FC. I am no longer going for a particular number. It's no longer important to me. Actually I don't know that it ever was. I think I always knew that the 135 was an estimate. But for the sake of putting up my stats and having something to show here, that's what I did.
I'll do what I'll do and I'll see how I feel about things. I'm leaving the option wide open. I have decided to try and see if I can drop a few more pounds. If I do that's fine, if not, or it's too hard to maintain, that's fine too. No pressure.
To tell you the truth I don't know if I will ever be able to declare "goal". Because my goal is, to keep this weight off forever. Whether it be 10 lbs higher then I am now or 10 lbs lower or somewhere in between.
All right, I am kinda anxious to post some new pics. Maybe I'll give it another few pounds and then declare something.
Getting back to the original question, instead of setting up specific goals with numbers and dates, why not just stick to your plan as rigidly as possible? Stick to it like glue. The rest will work itself out. The only thing you can control is how much you eat and how much you exercise. You will never know for sure just what doing these things will result in. I mean they'll surely result in weight loss, but there's no way to know for sure just how much and by when.
Congratulations on the weight you've lost thus far!!! Keep up the good work. You'll be at your goal - a healthier, fitter and happier you, regardless of the number, before you know it.
For my long-term goal, I set a weight that is comfortably under the "obese" BMI point, and with enough wiggle room for normal fluctuations that keeps me below 200. I figure it is probably a reasonable weight for me to be able to maintain. However, it's far from set in stone. It may or may not be the right weight for me in the long term.
Mainly, I'm focusing on eating well, exercising, and getting rid of a large amount of weight so that I can be healthy. The rest will fall into place where it does. We are all not meant to be Hollywood models, but we have the power to make good choices for our health.
The mini-goals I'm setting are meaningful in some way. The first one is getting under 300 (there). The second will be moving into the next BMI category.
I've set a goal weight that's on the high side of the healthy BMI for my height - I'm 5'4". I can't quite see how I'd look at that weight, so I'm going to look at myself when I get closer to that point and see how I feel - it may be that I want to lose another 5 - 10 lbs, it may be that I'm happy at 150 or 160 or something. I'm not sure. In saying that, I don't see me going much lower than about 130.
In terms of setting time frames - I'm not doing that, simply because if I say I'm going to lose X amount by such and such a date and fail, then I'll feel I've failed completely and probably give up. This ride is going to take as long as it takes, and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!
My goals are pretty arbitrary too. I chose a 100 lb loss because it was a nice round number and put me into the normal weight range (just barely). It also seemed reasonable to shoot for 2 lbs a week which would make my goal to lose it in a year. I calculated the calories and it came out to a livable 1500 a day. But I might get to 145 and decide I need to lose a little more. And if I am only 80 lbs. lighter on my one year anniversary, I will still be thrilled, heck, I'll take 50. I chose my birthday as a goal date because it is exactly halfway through, and set my goal to be in onederland on my birthday (45 lb. loss). I think I'll be more disappointed if I don't make that one, but it is something to shoot for, and I'm giving myself a 5 lb. break there! So far things are right on schedule, but I know I could plateau, and I don't know how the holidays will affect my loss rate, so I'm prepared to adjust these goals and dates. And after all, they are artificial. No matter what I decide and whether or not my body cooperates, I will plan to continue to get healthier. That is the real goal.
How did you decide on your goals?
