It's absolutely possible. I lost about 90 of the lbs I've lost between january 1st 2010 and December 31st 2010. I have no doubt that, had I not been knocked flat by a back injury that took months to recover from, I would have lost over 100 lbs. However, and this is important, don't beat yourself up if you can't/don't. Some people get so fixated on a number that, if it becomes clear that they won't make the goal, they just give up. I mean, if you want to lose 100lbs in a year, and 9 months in you've "only" lost 50 - that's still 50 lbs! But some people might suddenly realize they can't possibly make their 100 lbs/12 month goal and give up and gain it all back. So, maybe your friends were worried that you were setting your sights "too high" might be setting yourself up for failure (or at least to feel like a failure!).

It's awesome that your coworker came and apologized. The McDonald's? Not so much. We'll just focus on the gracious apology

I started on June 15th, 2010 with exactly 100 lbs. to lose. I am a nut when it comes to keeping charts and graphs to monitor my weight loss. It's really fun to look at the progress occasionally and see trends, etc.
These are my stats:
June 15th, 2010, started at 235
July 15th, 2010, 220, down 15 lbs.
Aug 15th, 2010, 206, down 14 lbs.
Sept 15th, 2010, 192, down 14 lbs.
Oct. 15th, 2010, 184, down 8 lbs.
Nov. 15th, 2010, 178, down 6 lbs.
Dec. 15th, 2010, 166, down 12 lbs.
Jan 15th, 2010, 160, down 6 lbs.

As you can see, I have lost a lot less as I get closer to goal. As someone said earlier, we can't force our bodies to do what we want. The best thing to do is to stay on plan, and not give up, no matter what.

best wishes with your journey and continued success!!

Lets see...can it be done? **** yes it can!

When I started my weight loss I was 43 years old, had given birth to 2 kids, and very sedentary. I weighed 333+ pounds and I started serious calorie counting on March 4th, 2008. By my September 12th weight-in I had reached 102 pounds lost. (6 months) By March 4th 2009, one year later I weighed 179 which was 154 pounds lost.

Like Meg and a couple others have posted, I didn't cheat. I didn't go off plan for any reason. I stuck to it day after day after week after week after month after month. I however, also didn't have any "formal" exercise in that period. I did a heck of a lot more physical labor and activities, but never went to a gym or had hours of training sessions. I still don't "work out" I DO move all the time though.

It certainly can be done...doing it is a whole 'nother story though. It's hard...and maintaining a big loss is even harder In my humble opinion. But well worth it.

It is going to be a long hard journey but look at the goal stories and see that it can be done

I'm dead set against loss-by-date targets, because they've always backfired on me. For me, if I had set a goal of 100 lbs in a year, and at the end of the year, I would feel like a failure if I "only" lost 90, and I'd definitely feel like a failure if I only lost 50. Every diet I ever quit, I quit because I felt like a failure - not because I wasn't losing, but because I wasn't losing fast enough to feel successful - I was falling short of my goals (which I didn't see as unreasonable).

In every weight loss attempt before this one I always set weight goal by dates, and every time I lost much slower than my targeted goals for myself, and I always hated and berated myself for not measuring up to my own expectations (which I didn't think were unreasonable). Instead of feeling proud of the weight I was losing, I was deeply ashamed of the weight I wasn't. My goals weren't unrealistic in the abstract. I wanted the "two pounds" I felt was guaranteed me if I was dong weight loss correctly. If I didn't lose two pounds every week, I just knew it was because I wasn't measuring up. I was lazy, crazy, and stupid.

For me, I had to change the way I looked at weight loss. I decided to aim for goals I had complete control over. My goal is my 1500-2000 calorie diet and my exercise goals. Even if I don't lose one week (especially if it's TOM week), I can still measure success by what I've accomplished, not what biochemistry happens to deal me. Weight loss isn't a behavior, it's a result of behavior. And sometimes you can do everything right and still not get the results you want. Are you going to be proud of the success you did have, or are you going to obsess about every mistake that prevented you from reaching your goal (realistic or not)?

If you can celebrate your success, even when it falls short, then set any goal you want to, but if falling even a bit short is going to feel tragic, then I'd suggest setting behavior goals, rather than result goals.

Lots of great advice and encouragement here! I have over 100 pounds to lose and was wondering about it being possible in a year - now I see it is and will aim for it but at the same time I realise I have to be in this for the long haul so no matter what I lose, it's better than not doing anything.

What an awesome goal to have...and you can DO it! I had to laugh at the person who came to apologize just before they went and noshed on McDonald's. It feels good to eat healthy.

Dont listen to them at all. Ive lost 50 pounds in 4 months hoping to lose another 50 pounds in 5 months that would put me at 100 pounds lost in 9 months. The first month I lost 20 now I average 10 pounds a month so they have no clue what they are talking about.

First of all, I'm glad that your coworker apologized - it takes a lot out of you to just acknowledge that you're wrong and say nothing; the ability to apologize is a true sign of character. So congrats to you and kudos to the coworker for that.

Secondly...as many have said, 100 pounds in a year is do-able. That was a large part of the motivation for us when we started: working under the theory that we'd rather spend a year burning it off and the rest of my life keeping it off than wait until health demands it and be unable to get up the motivation. That, and we're in our mid20s - a lot of people have voiced that they wished they'd started earlier.

Someone's signature around here is incredibly motivating, and I may be butchering it slightly, but...: A year from now, you'll be glad you started today. Twisting that to my own use, I keep hearing in my head: A year from now, you'll be glad you made this choice/didn't make a huge vat of macaroni and cheese/STEP AWAY FROM THE CHEESECAKE. *grin*

Taking that into consideration, make sure that you don't devastate, frustrate or disappoint yourself if you don't make that goal. We are striving to lose 100 pounds in a year, yes, but doing so on our terms - if eating healthily yet happily and not stressing too hard means I only lose 80 lbs in a year, so be it.

To sum up the rambling, you can lose 100 pounds in a year...but even if you reach your "deadline" without having lost that much, you'll be happy that you started. Promise.

We all believe in you, and are all here for you! You can dooo eeet! *grin*

8 to 10 lbs a month for the next 10 to 12 months would work, but the closer you get to your goal weight the weight does come off more slowly. But I think its realistic. Thats my goal I am trying for 100 lbs gone by next January when I turn 35. Just depends how much you want to put into it

I'm with kaplods in preferring to avoid time-based goals. I started this journey at the age of 47 and lost 115 pounds in 2 years, which I think is pretty awesome. I originally thought I'd be at goal by my 49th birthday (which was in October), but my weight loss slowed down to a slow, yet steady, rate of 3 pounds every 4 weeks, and I decided that I didn't want to cut back further just for the sake of the calendar.

For someone younger than me, or at a higher starting weight, I think 100 pounds in a year would be very reasonable, but you can't always dictate what your body is going to do. Some people would have the mind set that not losing the 100 pounds in a year is "failure" and might get sidetracked because of that.

I'm with the strategy that staying on plan is success, regardless of what the scale says. (I still think your coworkers were rude, and I'm glad at least one of them apologized.)

Subscribing for inspiration.

I've lost 130 pounds since May 3rd, and I want to lose my last 50ish in the next five months. Andd I will! So, yes, it's possible. I used Metabolic Research Center though, it works for me.

I can see it being doable. Just don't be too hard on yourself if it doesn't happen. If you only lose 50 lbs, that's still frigging awesome.