I'm asking this because in the past, I thought 10 lbs a month would be easy, nothing to it, but have found that is not actually the case. But I've heard others (not on this forum, but people I know IRL) speak of losing 10-15 lbs in a month. Last month I lost 6 lbs which I was quite happy about it. But for me, to lose 10 lbs in a month would be pretty difficult.

After much discussion on this forum and whatnot, I came to the realization that it wasn't right for me to have a goal, such as 'lose x amount of weight by x amount of time.' That's the sort of thinking I used to have and have since realized how unrealistic it was, and how much pressure it put on me, and ultimately I would fail as a result.

So, my healthy weight goal is around 150, but when it comes off, it comes off. As long as I keep working at it, I can't complain. I realize I will not lose 6 lbs every month, that it will fluctuate, and some months I may lose hardly anything at all. If I did a calculation using 6lbs a month to see how much I would have lost by Christmas (in the calculation hypothesis, it would be 24 lbs, putting me at 169), it would be inaccurate. So I won't try, because I know from experience I'm only gonna end up dissapointed, and I want to be thrilled with my achievements, no matter how minor.

Anyway, so isn't 10 lbs a month a little unrealistic, except for those who are very overweight?

some months i lose nothing
some months i gain
some months i lose 3 or 4 pounds
for ME 10 per month is unrealistic.

I think 10 lbs is definitely unrealistic for me as well, though *sigh*... it would be nice.

Hi JerseyGyrl, I think when one has 100 lbs to lose then they can probably lose 10 lbs a month for awhile, like you said. But my god, WOW... I'm looking at your ticker and I'm really amazed. 102 lbs, that is fantastic and I'm highly jealous right now. Congrats! (oh Dr Phil, I used to despise him and found him to be so arrogant, but now I love watching that show, he tells it like it is)

But yeah, before I start going OT, I guess it all depends on the person and the weight they have to lose. I don't understand how these girls I know lost 10-15 lbs in a month though, they never had much to lose to begin with. Starvation diets, maybe? I dunno.

I looked back and I've lost anywhere from 6.6 to 12 pounds over the last 8 months. 10 pounds would be a very good month, even with a lot to lose. It's hard to maintain enough of a deficit (from food or exercise) to lose more. The exception might be the start of a diet where most people lose a lot of water. Consider any month one where you end up lighter at the end of the month. I avoid 'weigh so much by a certain date' goals because as you said, it's easy to be disappointed with it.

When i first started with P1, I lost 18lbs pretty quickly. And I did lose 10 lbs in one month once. Now I feel lucky if I lose 5 lbs a month, which is pretty reasonable, but I have to work harder and harder for those 5 pesky pounds. If you really, really worked hard, you could probably lose the 10 lbs, but I don't know if it's a maintanable effort level.

Lose 1 to 2 lbs a week, and you know its sustainable.

I have a new perspective for myself with weight loss. If I am not losing a reasonable amount, (1-2lbs a week) then I will increase my physical activity.

From my own experience I think 10lbs/ mo is realistic for the first month or two. After that I tend to plateau and loose more like 5 lbs a month. The first 15-20 lbs are always WAy easier than those that follow, for me anyway. I say try for 10 but don't count on it. That way if you get it you'll be happy, and if you don't you won't have set yourself up for dissapointment.

As you lose more, it becomes harder and harder to lose weight quickly.....like many have said, healthy weight loss is somewhere in the ballpark of 1-2 lbs. per week. Adjust your calories and exercise accordingly, and you shouldn't have much problem with plateaus.......that being said, some plateaus happen for reasons unknown and only experimentation (with calories and different types of exercise) and time will break them.

Be patient.

And always, remember that weight loss is not a lateral thing....you can lose a buttload (literally) one month, and the next not lose a thing. Just keep tabs on your diet and the amount of exercise you're getting and adjust accordingly.

I agree, a 10 lb. weight loss would be doable if you have a lot of weight to lose and only in the beginning.

My personal belief is that goals should not be result-oriented, but behavior oriented.

Consider having a goal of growing your hair a half an inch a month - sounds kind of ridiculous, because how can you control how much your hair grows.

Weight loss is under our control, more than hair growth - but it's not under our immediate control, only our indirect control. So, I can have a goal to lose ten pounds, but I can't tell you EXACTLY how long it is going to take, for me to get there.

What I can control is what I eat and what I do, so those are my goals. The weight is an indirect goal. If I find that I'm meeting my goals for food and exercise, and the scale doesn't go down or doesn't go down fast enough - I have to adjust my goals. The weight is the result, not the goal.

Now, even I don't believe that entirely, but I still try not to put "goal by" dates on myself, because I always feel bad if I don't make it (even if I come very, ver close). All my dieting life, I would get discouraged when I didn't lose as fast as I wanted to, even when I came close. So, I do much better setting behavior goals, rather than result goals.

If you're going to set goal/by dates, reasonable or unreasonable, is so hard to determine. Is YOUR body able to meet your goal? Even if so, are you ok with the amount of energy it takes to get there? It's ok to set a goal that doesn't require every ounce of your mental and physical fortitude. You do have other things you want to do with your time during that month, and that's fine.

That's why I think focusing on the behavior is better than the goal. If I'm eating according to my food plan, I know that a 1 lb gain is likely water retention, and I'll see the "real" loss next weigh-in. However, if I'm focusing on the pounds, I don't care what that pound is made of, I want it gone, and I'm mad at myself that it isn't.

Kaplods - I really need to focus on that myself. I have been SO good as far as eating according to plan and exercising regularly but yesterday when I weighed in I had a gain and I just felt like crying. I mean- I am busting my butt ya know? So I really should just feel great about that and about how much more healthy my and my family's eating has become but instead I have been feeling like crap about the gain. I like the hair analogy because getting mad at yourself for your hair not growing fast enough seems laughable.

This shift in thinking appears to be one of the critical measures of weight loss and weight maintenance success based on what I've observed here. It's part of the change from "diet" thinking to "Way of Life" thinking. It allows you to eat on plan and keep on keeping on without requiring the scale to give you the results on a schedule.

We'd all like to lose 10 pounds a month. Shoot, we'd all like to lose all the weight overnight. Getting yourself to a place where you don't have to live up to a hastily devised unattainable schedule but are willing to keep putting in the effort because it's forever really makes a difference.

I like being able to set goals that I know are within my grasp instead of arbitrary goals that I have only partial control over. I can stay on plan. I can't use my crystal ball to determine what the result of "on plan" will be for an arbitrary date in the future. Now that I know that, I'm enjoying the journey.

Maybe the hair analogy isn't such a stretch after all. I remember all those ads in magazine about "hair growth" elixers, and such. And my mom, after she became a cosmetologist, would tell me that what I ate and how I treated my hair would affect how it would grow.

And she was right. If I didn't condition my hair, the ends would split and break off (so while it was growing, it wasn't getting longer).

She said that since hair was made of protein, you had to get enough protein for healthy hair. And that some vitamin and nutrient deficiencies could cause hair loss.

So maybe it's a better analogy than I thought. To grow nice hair, you do have to take care of your hair, and eat properly. Not too different than weight loss, is it?

If you set your behavior goals (what I will eat and how I will exercise), you will know when you've succeeded. Especially if you're finding a way to document what you've done (like a food/exercise log). So, even if you're not perfect, you can see when you're making progress. If the scale doesn't move in the right direction, or far enough, it you haven't failed, you may either have to change your behavior goals (say you did everything according to plan, and still aren't losing) or try harder to meet them (say you aren't losing because you weren't meeting your food/exercise goals).

For someone who is easily discouraged by failure, this new definition of success has kept me going. I can honestly say that every other time I have done this (weight loss) I would have considered what I'm doing now as failure. Losing weight slowly? Sometimes going weeks without losing at all? Regaining and relosing the same couple pounds over and over? Setting goals for myself and only meeting half of them? All failure.

I don't think like that anymore. I made myself a little goal worksheet that includes eight categories of things I want to do for the day (prayer, diet, exercise, TOPS business, cleaning/organization, finances, creative, leisure/fun). It may sound kind of dorky, but I'm a list addict. I'm so disorganized that it takes real effort to function in normal society sometimes.

But these lists help me see that even though I'm not meeting all of my goals, I'm making progress. I've always tried to set goals for myself higher than I am able to accomplish. This used to make me feel like a failure. Learning to make smaller, more reasonable goals has helped, but if I don't meet those, I feel like a BIGGER failure. Writing it down makes me feel more in control about it, and more objective about my progress. For each goal, I have a little blank to write the day's goal and my evaluation of my efforts. By writing it down, it reminds me to do it, and if I don't get it done, I have to decide why I didn't do it, and write it down.

Sometimes I think I'm really getting carried away with treating myself as lab rat and scientist (my favorite diet analogy), but it's working, and as I gain strength and stamina it's working better. That's where I'm most amazed.

My usual pattern is to start off as strong as I will ever be, and then decline over time. That's just not a normal pattern to behavior. Most behaviors are skills, and you should be able to get better at it over time. And I think I finally am (getting better and better, rather than worse and worse).

It makes me think that nothing is beyond my grasp - that I might even be able to reach a healthy, normal weight and even become physically fit (not just compared to what I was, but compared to the "average" person).

I have to calm myself down, and not get to wrapped up in thinking about being "normal," though. I may never be "normal" (oh, in so many more ways than one), but I can do better than I'm doing now, and as long as I keep THAT in mind, there are no limits to how much better.

So....this isn't something I should strive for?