My sisters wedding weekend has come and gone. For a year, I have tinkered away at working out and eating right and cutting back on the booze. I managed to lose about 26 lbs. (down to 205/206 from 232) I worked on my arms so they would look good in my dress. I wanted to get down to 190 by this past weekend, but only made it to 205. Still... 205 is a huge improvement. Now that the weekend is over and the "big deadline" has come and gone, I sort of feel like I can just work at my own pace losing weight and not have so much pressure.
I kind of feel like, not have the pressure to look good by a certain date will make things less stressful and help make the weight loss journey a little... enjoyable?
Do you the rest of you thrive better on a deadline - with a specific goal in mind? Or do you do better bopping along at your own pace?
First off, both you and your sister are gorgeous! Congrats on the 26 pounds
I like deadlines to have something to strive for, but I try to be realistic about it. I usually have 3 weights in my head for various deadlines. A "longshot" and "that would be nice" and an "acceptable". Any weight loss at all is a positive thing, so don't get frustrated if you haven't quite made it where you want to be by a certain date.
I don't have any "must be this weight by..." deadlines. I have numbers and dates in my head that look nice together. Like, I'd like to get down to 160 by Thanksgiving, and to a normal weight range by Christmas. Those are ideals that (I think) I am ready to let go of should I need to. It'd just be nice, y'know?
But I think you should do whatever motivates you the best and whatever you like doing the best. It doesn't need to be a race, but goals are okay to have. That's my 2 cents, anyway.
I am thinking, I want to be below 200 by the end of the year. That is only 5 - 6 lbs in 2 and 1/2 months. It would be nice to hit that goal and be below 200 while ringing in the new year! Of course, ten pounds lost would be nice... 15 would be AWESOME.
I think, for now, I will just focus on getting below 200. Then I will only focus on each 10 lbs at a time... or maybe just focus on 5 at a time. How ever long each goal takes, I just need to focus on continually moving forward.
The pics are awesome! I thought you were the bride at first. You look happy, comfortable AND quite beautiful and healthy
Personally, I find goals motivating and in the past have occasionally used something like my sister's wedding to help me be 110% on plan for short term precision...but in the long haul my on plan status is closer to 90% and that itself improves my quality of life.
I like deadlines because it gives me something to continuously work for. If I just said "I'll be 160 by whenever I get there" this journey would seem like its never going to end. I do have mini deadlines and goals though, like I want to lose 35 lbs by the time I see my ex boyfriend again in December. Then a little more by the end of the year. Then be at goal by X months after that. I want to work HARD to get to goal. Not amble away time spending days off plan, losing a pound here or there etc. The harder I work the faster this will go by, and the closer I'll be to my dream body.
You look beautiful! Congrats on the loss so far, that is great. I try not to set any really difficult time sensitive weight goals, just because I can get really discouraged if I don't make it (or don't come pretty close) and that's counterproductive for me. I do have some time sensitive goals, but they are smaller, and some months I haven't met them, but since they're small, I have been close and still feel good about that. I also have some "dreams" I guess, like I would love to be at 199 by Christmas, but I know that's pretty lofty, so if it happens, awesome. If not, no biggie because I don't consider it a goal necessarily, just something to work towards. That way, if I don't get there, I didn't fail and I won't feel horrible about it. That's how I work!
I definitely like to have "deadlines," but I usually have an extremely realistic goal and an extremely unrealistic goal in mind, and anything in between is fine by me.
Like, by Thanksgiving I want to lose anywhere from 4-14 pounds. SOMETHING in that range is doable!
Maybe because I finally made a "lifestyle change" instead of attempting another diet, I have no deadline at all and its working great for me. I can just concentrate on the behaviours that I know I need to incorporate for a healthier life, knowing the scale will move at its own pace. I've been thinking this way/working this plan since April 2009.
For me personally I do much better when I'm working toward a specific goal (i.e. wedding, vacation, weight loss contest, etc.) because I will work my butt off to make sure I get there. I think it's just my competetive nature......On the flipside though, I find that once the goal has been met, I tend to let my good habits fall by the wayside and most often I'll start gaining the weight back until the next big goal comes along.....I'm working on finding some balance so I can lose the weight for good this time.
I work better without a goal. Like caryesing said, I'm working towards a lifestyle change, rather than just reach one specific goal weight.
Because of my PCOS, it just works better too. If I had to meet a certain weight by a certain time, I might get discouraged because my weight loss is slow, rather than fast, and give up. (I know myself!)
I like deadlines because it gives me something to continuously work for. If I just said "I'll be 160 by whenever I get there" this journey would seem like its never going to end. I do have mini deadlines and goals though, like I want to lose 35 lbs by the time I see my ex boyfriend again in December. Then a little more by the end of the year. Then be at goal by X months after that. I want to work HARD to get to goal. Not amble away time spending days off plan, losing a pound here or there etc. The harder I work the faster this will go by, and the closer I'll be to my dream body.
i agree with this. I kinda need a goal to work out on, yet i can also see the downsides as if i don't make my goal, i get sad, or stressing out over reaching my goal doesn't help my journey.
I like deadlines, but I don't take them very seriously. When i set deadlines, i also attach the line of "if it doesn't happen, its ok...assuming I really gave it my all". I will get frustrated if I can point to a dozen days off plan. But if honestly my body just didn't give up the weight and I've done the best I can, the focus shifts to what I did do, not what I didn't do
I think I try to strive for 1- being as healthy and on plan as possible, and 2- getting down to the next decades. I think smaller goals help me- if I think of the big picture I cringe and sometimes feel like I'll never get there- but knowing the next decade is only a few lbs away makes it much easier
Deadline vs. No Deadline
