I've just started really working to lose weight, and I'm doing well so far. I've lost 8 pounds in 6 weeks, which I know is a really healthy rate of weight loss. I feel really good about that, but when I think about my goal it just seems so incredibly far away and it makes me nervous. I still have 125 lbs I need to lose to get to my ultimate goal. That's a big freaking number. Kind of scares me sometimes.....
Does this make anyone else nervous too?

You should try to look at your weekly progress and not get overwhelmed by your final goal. If you do not have mini goals, set some up. Keep plugging! Good luck.

I wasn't in the 300s but I tell you it is scary!! I am not only freaked out by the amount I have to lose but also by being slimmer. The closer you get the weirder it is I find. First it is more like a dream or a wish but then you start losing weight and sizes are getting smaller. I don't know but I actually don't know who I might be when I am at goal. Does that sound weird?

As for the intimidating number... make some mini goals. I had a big number sitting there too and then I broke it down into several (8 I think) mini goals with small rewards (no food!). It will seem way faster and managable with smaller steps. Let me know how it goes!!

PS: Challenges help too! Why don't you join a few?

I agree with the mini-goal idea. The mini goals have been imperative in my weight loss. I would create some weight related ones and also create NSV's (non-scale victories). Plan a reward for each mini-goal you make to keep you motivated.

The first 2 or 3 months were crazy but now I feel I am over the big hump and things seem easier. Be happy for your 8 pounds!

Yes it did make me nervous. Somedays it still does. But I have come to realize I will have days that it "freaks me out" and "I don't think there is any way I can lose that much weight (in my lifetime!)" but there are even more days that I don't think about it and just go about my daily plan. It is a journey! We will mess up! We will get freaked out! But we WILL get to our goal as long as we keep plugging along. Hang in there. Don't let it get to you and you will succeed!

I think the goal section on this board with before/after pictures is very motivating! Look at some of the posts, it can be done! You can do it too!

It is a big number and I have about the same amount yet to lose, but I try to look at other things, like how much better I'm feeling with the 22+ lbs I'v lost so far. WOW! If I feel this much better imagine how great I'll feel when I make my goal weight.
Instead of looking at the big number, how about making some small goals for yourself. I made a list of rewards for myself for every 10 pounds I lose. They start out small like my husband taking me on a drive in the country to something huge like possible owning a horse again.
Coming here was a good start and you've done great in the 8 weeks you've been on your journey. Your averaging 1.33 lbs a week, in a year you could be almost 70 lbs lighter.
Try not to let it make you nervous, just focus on the outcome. Being positive is so very important.

Good luck to you!
Learn

Imagine you are going to drive to California. It's a long way off. But you'll be making progress every day as long as you keep driving. And you'll see cool stuff along the way - the same way with your weight loss you'll hit interim goals, feel better, move differently, maybe sleep better or have less heartburn or who knows what else. It's not like you will be the same size you are now and then in a year you'll lose 125 pounds overnight. You'll be getting closer and closer and lighter and lighter each week.

Just keep going!

I agree with the mini-goal idea. If I tried to concentrate on the end number, I'd be bummed . I don't even worry about weekly progress. I find the weekly numbers vary too much. If I don't get the number I like on the scale, I just make sure I keep up the exercise and monitoring of what I eat. There was something in an old Mario Puzzo novel ( Fool's die) where the showgilrl mentioned, no matter what the debauch the night before, it was key to get right back on the health track

I started a lot heavier than you, but still remember my progress through the 320's last summer

Current goal is 260, when I pass that it will be 250

I'll chime in with a me too. When I think about (from my original weight) that I had to lose 200lbs to fit neatly into a 'healthy' catagory {i have a small/medium frame}? That's overwhelming, that's crazy, that seems not doable. So I am focusing right now, on getting under 300lbs. That is all I care about before summer. 15 to 20 lbs is a lot more conceivable than 200.

I am also focused on setting goals not related to the scale. Things that I might otherwise take for granted. Being able to do a certain excercise that I couldn't manage to do before or holding a certain excercise either for Longer, or more repetitions or with more resistance added depending on the type of excercise. I stopped focusing on the impossible and started focusing on the challenging but reasonable.

But yes I STILL have days/nights/hours where I feel overwhelmed by the enormity of what I need to do.

I just posted something similar in another thread...

Do you realize that at this rate of loss, you'll have lost almost 70 lbs in a year? I don't know about you, but I think that's spectacular!!!

Hang in there. Don't focus on the 125 lbs. One lb at a time, one day at a time.

I'm with everyone else on this...it's the mini-goals that count. And it's about focusing on how you're going to live the healthy lifestyle for your own sake, to support who you are now. In your head, build that healthy self-image. The healthy you makes the healthy food and fitness choices. The healthy you gets outside, has a healthy social network, gets plenty of sleep. The healthy you is going to support you all the way to the end of the weight loss journey and beyond.

I don't think about how long my journey has taken so far and how much farther I have to go. It's not the end of the journey, that may or may not be all I wanted it to be, that's going to count. It's how I'm living my life today, the experience of my life today. So, I eat and move to support who I am today, a woman who makes healthy choices and loves how it makes me feel today.

Today's goal is to eat according to my plan. It's to get out and move my body. It's to get work done, spend time with my kids, play with my dog. It's to roll around in the joy that I get to experience today. It's to lose the next pound. It's to get rid of clothes that don't fit me any longer, and it's to break past the 300 lb mark. That last one is actually my long term goal. I will be so happy with that achievement! But the joy I will experience from that isn't any different than the joy I experienced earlier today in Pilates class. And I experienced that joy at 309 lbs!

It is so overwhelming a number!! I know how you feel....but you *can* do it! I am now under 100 lbs (80 to be precise!) until goal. Who knew I could ever get to even this point? Not me...that is for sure!

When I started I had 171 pounds to lose. Now I have 68. But I rarely ever look at my goal weight, and I had to do the math just now to figure out how much I had/still have to lose. I only look at the next pound. How much do I have to lose? One pound. Just one. And then one more. I don't look beyond that. Today I'm at 198, and all I'm looking at is 197. One pound is something I can do.

In the last year and a half, I have lost just about the amount of weight you want to lose. It did seem overwhelming in the beginning - but what choice was there, really? If I hadn't been losing this weight over the last year and a half, I'd still be at least almost 130 lbs heavier (assuming I didn't gain!) - but it would still be a year and a half later.

Anyhow, there's a link to my progress pictures in my signature. Whenever I get down about it taking too long or it being too hard, etc, I mosey on over to the goal photo forum to get inspiration to keep on going.