Any advice on this before I begin?
 

Hello everyone!

So, I plan to really get serious with my efforts tomorrow. I've been waiting until all the craziness of the holiday season quiets down and I will actually be home for a full week! I need some consistency with my schedule to get myself started.

Anyway, I have two questions that you can hopefully help me with. First of all, I'm curious how much I can expect to lose week to week. My plan is to eat as sensibly and healthfully as possible and to cut back on portions. Also I will avoid eating late at night and try to get plenty of sleep/drink plenty of water. No specific diet, just using common sense. I also love to jog on my treadmill about 4-5 times a week and I'll do some strength training on off days.

I've heard before that 2-3 pounds a week is reasonable. I need to lose about 30 pounds, which would bring me down to roughly 130, but I'm not married to the number as long as I'm happy. Do you think this is a reasonable goal for me as far as weekly loss? Or is that too high considering that I'm not obese?

Secondly, I have a question about goals. Do you think it would be better to just stick to my healthy eating and exercise and not worry so much about the scale, just let it come off in it's own time, ooor......would it be better to have definite goals like, "I will lose 8 lbs this month" (or whatever)? What has worked for you?

Thanks so much for any input and I wish the best for you all! :)

For the amount of weight you want to lose, maybe around 1-2 lbs/week is more reasonable. When you only need to lose around 20lbs then maybe .5-1 lb per week is reasonable as well. You'll notice the less amount of weight you need to lose, the less weight you'll lose per week.

As for me, I like to set goals because it helps keep me motivated. I need a lot of structure, or else I tend to not get things done. I try to make several small goals like you mentioned losing X amount of lbs within a certain time frame. So while I push for that goal, I won't beat myself up if I don't make it.

Good luck!!

You should expect to lose 1-2 lbs a week after you level off from your body adjusting to your new lifestyle. 2-3 lbs sounds like the rate of lose for an obese person who has much more excess fat than you do.

When I first began losing weight, I was 262 lbs, and I would lose 2, 3, sometimes even 4 lbs a week. As the weight has gone down, though, those big loses have become less frequent. Now I even out to about 1.5 lbs a week, with a bigger lose some weeks and a smaller lose others.

It sounds like you have a good plan in place. I really hope that it goes well for you!

With regards to setting goals: I set goals that I know I can achieve - or even exceed! No point in being disappointed with myself. So for me, I gave myself 20 weeks to lose my first 40 lbs. After that, I wanted to lose the next 40 by the end of the year. I exceeded my goals both times, but they were reasonable ones based on how I saw my body reacting to the changes I was making. Didn't stop me from celebrating like crazy though!

Welcome and good luck on your journey!!!

Thanks everyone!!! :)