Hiya...

Just wondering...some of you have your long range goals and some have short term goals listed.

What are the pro's and con's of this??

My short term goal is 5% which is to lose 15.25lbs. But my long range goal is to lose 145lbs. That is a REALLY big number and sometimes scares me, but I am not sure which is the best way to handle that...

Any thoughts on this???

Also...What kind of scales do you all have?? How often do you weigh yourselves?

AND...my Wii says I weigh less than my scale, which should I trust??

Thanks
~Shesha

1) Goals.

I. Love. Goals.

I love accomplishing things. I have mini-goals up to my eyeballs. I have long term goals. I have goals that involve the scale. I have goals that involve days on plan. I have goals that involve exercise. I have goals that involve how many vegetables I'm eating. I have goals within goals!

I. love. goals.

There are no rules when it comes to goals. We all simply choose what we're most comfortable with.

My first goal was 5%.

Then I got to thinking about how much more I wanted to lose after that... and made an enormous list of goals. (No time-line for them, just that I'd eventually want to reach them).

Here's an example of the weight goals plus the dates if I accomplished them (not the full list):

Starting: 327.7 4/18/2011

5%: 311.3 6/6/2011

25lbs down: 302.7 7/4/2011

Twonderland!: 299.9 7/18/2011

10%: 294.9 8/8/2011

Under 290: 289.9

Oct 2007: 280

Under 280: 279.9

15%: 278.5

50lbs down: 277.7

Under 270: 269.9

You can see that some of them are only a couple pounds apart. I like that. Micro-mini goals I call them.

I know that I want to be under 200, but I don't even HAVE an end weight goal at this point, because it's so far away I can't fathom what it will be!

You choose goals that going to INSPIRE and MOTIVATE you. If you only think about the end goal you might get discouraged. It's perfectly okay to have as many goals as you want!

2) Scales.

I have two scales. One's a digital, and the other is a plain ol' analog. I weigh myself daily -- first thing every morning, after bathroom, nekked. I then chart the progress. My official weigh-in day is Monday, though. That's the day that I overview the progress for the week and make adjustments to my ticker, etc.

The analog is there simply to make sure that the digital scale isn't acting wonky. That's it. I only count the digital one.

Whatever scale you choose to use. Stick with it. Don't go back and forth. Whatever time of day you choose to weigh, stick with it. Don't bounce around or the weigh-ins won't be as accurate. And they might even frustrate you. Also, wear similar clothing (or nothing at all!) for the best accuracy.

Reduce your frustration as much as possible. Whatever is going to make this easiest on you, and still keep you accountable.

(Ok, as a preface - Though I'm not part of the 300 club, there's no 200 club and the 100 club is too filled with Featherweights for my liking >_<)

I agree with Lovely to some extent. However, I find that I don't want to overwhelm myself with goals so I stick to just one or two at a time. Though my overall goal is still kind of uncertain in my mind, I picked ~165 lbs because I figure around then I'll be a size 16 pants and I honestly CANNOT remember the last time I was a size 16! I clearly remember shopping (and wearing) 18s, but I can't even once think of the 'before' time of 18+ sizes. Weird right?

I can sympathize with you about seeing how far you have to go towards whatever final number is picked. I get depressed thinking that it will take me fully 2 years to lose 100 pounds since I'm currently going at the rate of a pound a week, so I try to focus more on the smaller milestones for now. I managed to get down to 242 before my fudge up right at the end of Spring, so my first actual mini-goal is 241. After that, I want to be 230 because that's the weight I met my boyfriend at, and after that probably 215 because I definitely remember being that weight and at the edge of a size 18/20. I don't set definite goal dates to achieve these by because then I feel way too pressured.

Also, in regards to the scale thing - I would go with the heavier one just because I'm the kind of person that would rather be a little conservative then go with the more optimistic scale and then find out it wasn't as accurate. But definitely stick to one (and only one) and keep as many variables consistent as possible. I also do the birthday suit 1st thing in the morning weigh in highly recommend it!

I don't choose weight as my goals. I think of it in terms of being able to do some of the things I've never been able to do...

First goal... do a Zumba class
Second goal... ride on roller coasters
Third goal... ride horses again
Fourth goal... get my SCUBA certificate
Fifth goal... skydive

While I do have a solid goal weight in mind it is definitely not what is my motivation for losing the weight.

As others have stated it doesn't matter which scale you use just make sure to use only one and keep consistant with weigh in times.

I chose my goal because it's what i used to be but i think i'd be happy at 170 too. I don't worry about those numbers right now.

I think more about goals such as exercising somehow everyday, whether it be on the bike, taking the dogs on a longer walk or cleaning hard for a few hours at the weekend. So far i am on goal. There are days like today where after chasing my son around all morning that i just don't want to do anything but sit and relax while he naps but the last two days i have forced myself to get on the bike and i got my 30 minutes done. For me, meeting this goal is going to get me closer to that number i put as a goal in the end.

As for wii....anyone else use it? I have it but the weight limit said 300 lbs! i used to be below that and used it quite often. i found it weighed me in less than my scale. I don't know the brand i have but it is digital and weighs up to 400 lbs.

Back to the wii.....it's funny when you get on after a bad few weeks off and it sighs really heavily at you with disappointment!

I love having mini goals so that I have more to cheer myself on with! My wii will weigh me less if I use it on carpet. My boys lost the casters that help elevate it, so for it to be accurate I move it to my tile. And then it is spot on. Hope that helps.

Lovely~ You are so helpful and I find you giving everyone such wonderful advise. Thank You so much...it is appreciated!!
I LOVE your goals within goals...made me laugh...

Michi702~ You're right about the featherweights...I wanna be in a group that knows my struggles and what I need to do...We should start a 200+ group (in a few weeks when I get down to 299

I have an entire closet FULL of size 16/18 clothes. Hubbs says he would be perfectly happy if I stopped there...I'm thinking cuz he doesn't want me to go spend the money on more clothes. I may very well stop there cuz I remember being that size and being happy with myself. My shoes fit, I still had a nice shapely figure..aka my boobs...And I have TONS of really expensive nice clothes in that size...

Because I am so tall and my body shape that would put me at about 185...a closer number for sure. But I know that if I get to that point I don't want any giggling body parts...

LeslieB~I LOVE YOUR GOALS!!! They are awesome!! I tried to do an aerobic class last year and I swear I almost died...I hurt everywhere for days...I know I could not jump right into a Zumba class but they sure do sound fun. I think I am going to add that to one of my goals!!

I live in a TINY town, with not a lot to offer, but I am hoping to get a certain job in the city...They main reason I want this job vs the others is because it is right next to a YMCA. If I get the job, my first paycheck is going towards a membership.

fatmom~ in reading some of your other post as well as this one, I completely agree with you attitude. I think I should not worry to much about the number, but how I got there. Once I get there I wanna be healthy and strong...

ariana419~ Well, the Wii was 5lbs lighter...hehehee..I should go with that one But, I am not sure how I can come out in my birthday suit to weigh in...damn those kids taking away my nekkid time!

Thank you all for your help. I am thinking that I am going to concentrate right now on just staying on target.

---2000 calories or less
---64 oz water a day
---5 small meals
---Swim 2x a week

Weigh in every Wednesday nekkid on my old bathroom scale...

I have short-term goals only. But that's me all over--I generally have trouble keeping 2 or 3 goals in focus at a time, in all aspects of my life. As others have said, we all need to do what works for us.

Like most others here, I weigh daily, first thing in the morning, and I record my weight once a week. Weighing first thing reminds me that i have a goal for the day, and weighing daily has helped me get used to the fluctuations so that I don't freak out when the scale goes up a pound or two near TOM or when I've had too much salt, etc. The National Weight Control Registry study of successful long-term losers/maintainers says that weighing at least weekly is one of the characteristics of successful maintainers, so I convinced myself a year or so ago that I need to make it a regular part of my life.

Vortex~ LOL....I too have a hard time staying focused on too many long range goals...I want instant gratification...

I think I will be much better off setting small achievable goals so that I will not feel like I'm failing or not ever going to get to the end of the tunnel.

I am treating myself to a REALLY GOOD hair cut once I lose 16lbs...which is also my 5% mark...

Thank you!!

That sigh always makes me laugh...the little guy slumps his head and even shakes it at you sometimes....and OMG the yoga trainers get after you too...my sister always yells at them.."Well, can't you see I'm at least trying!" and "Oh! No! I sure didn't know I was off balance on that one..."

I am on a just Dance kick right now...It is soooo fun, but my kids seem to always take over. I think I need to get a Wii just for my bedroom...

My son is too young yet to take over but i was worried about the weight limit, i think i'll try this weekend. I won't be happy if that dude explodes or something though!

Wednesday is my weigh in day, although i've cheated and weighed in the last two days too. Why did you choose wednesday? For me it is because if i have something with higher calories etc at the weekend then i have a few days to get it straightened out!

Good goals you have set! Good luck.

In case anyone is interested, there is a thread under the 100lb Club area (Working For Onederland that is filled with plenty of our 300+ crowd.

It was started after we had a number of people leaving the "Let's get out of the 300's" thread, but we all wanted to stay together so it moved into a "From 299 - 200" thread so we could support eachother on the whole journey and not bounce around every 10 pounds.

Again, anyone is welcome of course! But, a lot of the ladies have started from 300+ or the very high 200's so we've been there. Just a place to chat and stay together on the journey.

fatmom~ I'm not sure about the weight limit. My old bathroom scale says 305 but Wii said 300...maybe it doesn't compute past that??? I would definitely try it and see what happens...If the little guy explodes then at least he wont be sighing at you anymore..
For Just Dance and Wii Sports you don't have to worry about the Balance Board. I think that may be why I do those the most... But for the last couple of days my TV has been acting up I really hope that we dont have to buy a new one...

Lovey~Thank You for the link to the other thread. I will check it out...Will they let me play in their playground even though I have 6 extra pounds?

You all are so awesome!!
I really want to thank you for making me feel welcome...
~Shesha

Goals are just fun and help to break up the monotony and slowness of weight loss. Say you lose 2 pounds this week, which is a great number- it seems ridiculously small compared to the 100+ pounds you have to lose overall, right? But if you make up a mini goal- say 15 pounds by Halloween- well that doesn't seem so big or so slow! Halloween, that's pretty soon! And hey, I can make a cool Halloween ticker and see it get closer and closer to my mini-goal! Fun, right?

The most important thing is breaking up what feels like a huge task. If you have it in your mind to write a book, it's going to feel like too big of a job if you think about how you're going to finish all 200 pages. But if you sit down and tell yourself you're just going to write a chapter- well, that's not so bad! That's doable. So are mini-goals.

Thank You Kelly!!

I do want a Halloween Ticker!!

Everyone has really been so helpful and I agree mini goals are a lot easier for me to imagine than the final one soooo far away!!