Hiiiiiiiiiiiii everyone...

As you can all see from my progress it's seems pretty good, yet I beleive if i had mini-goals it would make it easier to reach them
BUT
I just dont know how to set a mini-goal, and on what basis? do you have a time frame? or is it... just putting the number nad trying to achieve it? when I look at my weight all i want is to see it going down?

Can anyone advice me on how?
by the way, although I was on-off dieter, i still dont know what really works for me... I feel my body fat is very stuborn, but that's another issue to blog..

Thanks.

Hello, your doing well with your 15lb loss! Some people like to set mini goals of 10lbs to achieve by a certain date or aim to lose a certain amount each month. Some people also set open ended goals such as they want to lose 5% of their body weight. It just depeneds what will keep you motivated. If you lose it easily then chose a monthly goal if you hate the feeling of missing a goal then an open time-frame goal. It is a lot like dieting, experiment and find what works best for you!
Good luck!

I never set dates for my mini-goals, I just set a number and went for it! I didn't want to feel like a failure just because I hadn't hit a number by a certain date. I wanted to celebrate every pound gone, whenever it went!

As for the number -- a lot of people like small mini-goals (even 5 pounds) so they can see the progress!

I like 5 or 10 pound mini-goals. You get to them relatively quickly, enjoy the success, they reinforce your forward movement and positive attitude and that encourages you to set the next 5 or 10 pound goal. And losing weight in chunks like that seems alot less intimidating than looking at the whole amount all at once.

I don't do weight/date goals anymore. I rarely met them, so I figured that wasn't the most positive message to send myself LOL!

I do have goals for each day and each week. Such as I set a goal of a certain amount of exercise in a day, or a set number of workouts per week.

Sometimes I make it a food goal, like getting in x servings of fruits and veggies a day, or grams of protein.

They are just little games I like to play to keep me from getting bored or straying too far from the path.

I have mini-goals & medium goals & long term goals, and non-weight related goals. <--- VERY IMPORTANT

I've got my long term ticker. I've got my rolling medium-term 10% of body weight (10% of my weight and then 10% of my weight again... etc.). And I've got a rolling 5 lbs short term.

I also have a goal to get in my water, eat my fruits & veggies, and get in 30 minutes of exercise every single day.

It's important to have goals, but they have to be tailored to motivate you.

Many of my goals are behavior goals. Eating on plan, exercising on plan. Those goals I can directly control. The scale and body fat % change as a result of those behaviors, but unfortunately we do not have direct control over the scale or body fat %----they are simply side effects of our behaviors.

Good work on your loss to date!

I don't put deadlines on my mini-goals but I do set them. When I first started, I was losing weight quicker so my goals were further apart. I now set goals about 5 lbs apart.

Obvious mini-goals are like when your BMI drops from Morbidly Obese to Obese to Overweight etc.

Getting under the 200lb mark is a mini-goal for many of us. If you had a weight that you were say at your wedding or in high school that always makes for a nice mini-goal.

I also set different mini-goals when I was 20%, 25%, 33% and 50% of my total goal.

Basically I hit one mini-goal and then set the next one based on what seems doable and motivating at that time. Some mini-goals came within 3 lbs of each other which was fun.

Right now my next mini-goal is 177lbs which is 95lbs lost. This is the same lbs lost that I had my last successful weightloss effort so it is a new high for me. The next mini-goal after that is 100lbs lost which is kind of obvious - such a nice round number.

Lori

Setting goals for lifestyle changes is better than setting weight loss goals by a certain date. It's these lifestyle changes that will get you to goal and keep you there. Journal all BLT. Drink more water. Weigh and measure your food. Exercise more. Set the goal and then list the steps it will take to achieve it.

FYI, BLT = bites, licks, tastes.

Jay

Heh! Thanks Jay! ... I really did think it was "bacon/lettuce/tomato"...

For me, it's not always about "losing weight" but rather, "what I am doing" to lose weight. For instance, I don't set "mini-goals" by losing 5 pounds in a month or whatever; my mini goals are still goals, but they're different. Such as cutting down on sugary treats/junk food (BTW, today is Day 13 with no junk food!!! Yay me!!!!) Exercise five minutes more than I did yesterday. Try one new food this week. And my favorite mini-goal right now: MOVE. A. LITTLE. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

I set X amount of pounds by special events.....and I keep them at healthy loss rates not some astronomical number....I plan 2lbs a week......I have been losing more than that some weeks and then some weeks I lose 1lb so it balances out.....It has worked so far........Once I hit a date I do not met goal I may change this practice but for me its neat to have a deadline and shoot to achieve it. I think I switch one of my dated goals into a clothing goal open ended date.......I've lost 32lbs but yet haven't gone down a size pants due to my body structure.....so I think I will edit my goals to have one for that to happen.......and I will rejoice when it does!!!! LOL

I have two types of mini goals - weight loss and fitness related. I know I'm going to lose weight really slowly so my weight loss goals are nothing extreme, and it's not the end of the world if I don't meet them. It's something to work towards, but I'm honestly just happy if I can see the scale going down...however slowly. I just need to know I'm doing everything I can to maximize my results.

My fitness goals don't have a time frame. For example, when I get to 180lbs I want to start working on being able to do an unassisted chin-up. I want to run 10k in under an hour and I want to get my sprints up to 12.0mph for 20 seconds. I'm a really competitive person by nature so these are the kinds of goals I know I can work at and improve at even if the scale isn't doing what I want it to as quickly as I want it to do it.

I love the non scale related goals. Especially since the scale is not the only measure of our success. ;-) I often forget that myself. I really need to set some mini goals for myself. I just (barely) have found my way into Onederland and that was/is a pretty big deal to me. I would like to fit comfortably into the next size of jeans, I am fitting into them, but with too much spillage going on. It really distracts from the overall look. ;-) I would like to see (and even say goodbye to) the 180's by the 4th of July.

Like another poster mentioned, I too like the spontaneous fitness goals. like I will walk 5 more minutes today than I did yesterday. Making a goal at the beginning of the week to dust off and try a new/different workout video. something easily attainable.



Best of luck

~betsy

Another vote for non-scale goals. I set scale/time goals in the beginning, but they weren't realistic. AND - I can be POP and still not lose weight for a period of time.
My goals have been:
1. clothing - buy cute clothing at a second hand store in the next smaller size (try it on to make sure it doesn't fit) - the reward is that I get to wear the outfit
2. exercise - since exercise has always been hard for me, this one has been important. I set number of minutes goals each week. I let myself choose WHAT I will do, not IF I will do it. - rewards are new exercise clothes that fit and new workout equipment & DVDs
3. POP weeks - as a calorie counter, I set "do not go above or below" lines. I track my calories in Fitday to make sure I meet these goals. My rewards are - pamper myself rewards - a pedicure, a bubble bath, a new piece of jewelry or accessory, etc.