Hi,

I started this weight loss journey on Jan 12, 2009, at 310. This morning I weighed in at 296. My goal is to loose 10 lbs a month. I do realize that the more I loose the harder it is going to be to loose, so I want to think reasonably about things.

If you've lost a significant amount of weight, do you think 10 pounds a month is an unreasonable goal?

At this point I'm not on a specific plan, just doing what I know is right. Eating MORE than I used to (I would often not eat all day, drinking cokes instead of eating, and then eat dinner.) Now I am eating 3 meals and a few snacks. Lots of veggies and fruit, I've stopped drinking cokes, and I'm drinking lots of water. So far I've lost 14 pounds! And I've only just begun 22 days ago. : )

Knowing everyone is different, I'd still like to know from those of you who have been successful with over 100 lbs weight loss, what you think of the idea that I could loose 10 lbs a month?

Thanks,
Donna

Not a hundred pound loser, sorry (but I'm close) so take it with a grain of salt, but my opinion is:

Any number goal like losing x amount/month when you have a significant amount to lose can make things more stressful than they need to be. I think you could lose 10 pounds a month average, but weightloss is so inconsistent. You could lose 15 pounds one month and then 3 pounds another month- both successes IMO, but only one would be reaching your set goal every month.

But that isn't to say that I don't believe in mini goals I would set them for myself, usually in 5 pounds increments based on how I was doing. Sometimes during a stall my goal would be to break out of it within 2 weeks- then, only losing 2 pounds in a month was a huge success because I broke out of a plateau!

I just think that weightloss is so non-linear and inconsistent that setting a long term string of mini goals would set you up for frustration.

Hi Donna,

Weight loss is big at first, especially when you change your habits like giving up the Coke and drinking water. Also, the heavier one is to start with, the faster the weight drops at first. So, don't be alarmed that you've lost that much in 22 days.

Stay with a healthy approach. A reasonable rate of weight loss is said to be 1 to 2 pounds per week, and at your current size, 10 pounds a month would not be unreasonable. But, don't be discouraged if that rate slows down to 8 pounds a month or less. Faster isn't better in the long run.

Enjoy the speedy rewards you're getting and stay with your plan!

Jay

Ten pounds a month is pretty ambitious, but not totally unreasonable given your starting weight. I had a couple of months where I lost ten pounds (this last December was one of them, believe it or not), so it's certainly doable. Keep in mind, though, that quick weight loss is often temporary weight loss. It's taken me a little over two years to lose 120 pounds with some months seeing greater losses than others, so my advice would be to keep eating healthy and let the pounds fall however they may.

Good luck!

I haven't lost 100 lbs, but chiming in anyway with my $0.02.

I think that, if you do set a goal like that, you don't look at a month with less than 10 lb loss as a failure. If you only lost 9.5 lbs, would you be upset? What about 3.5 lbs? It's just important that you look at any loss as a step in the right direction, be it a big step or a little step.

i once lost 94lb and then put it back on, goals are good as long as they are achievable. for example asking 10lb a month every month isn't going to happen period. some months you may lose more than 10 some months you may only lose 4-5, this is just the way it goes unfortunately, but bear in mind the more weight you lose the harder you need to work if you weight 300 and drop to 250 that means to burn the same amount of calories you need to walk around with a 50lb pack on your back.

so yes you'll need to work harder in the gym to burn the same amount of calories but on the upside it will be easier.

the best bet is to set your goal weight mine is around 225. which i hope to hit by around the end of october which is my graduation. and give yourself a time frame. so say you hope to lose 100lb by this next year.

10lb a month is possible don't get me wrong but to maintain that is hard work however 8lb a month is achievable even with a few hickups. where as 10 will really be pushing it.

and also make sure you take it as an average. so if you lose 10lb a month for the first 6 months you can afford to only lose 6lb a month for the 6 after that and you'll still be on target. this way you can maintain your target and not feel like your not succeeding if you slow down.

i'm not sure what weather you get where you are in the winter but you can account for being able to lose more weight in the summer as lets face it getting out and about is much more appealing when its bright and sunny as opposed to getting up to go to the gym in the dark.

chin up and good luck

10 lbs/month steadily is pretty ambitious but I really don't like lose x amount by y date goals. I think you do your best, follow your plan and see where it takes you. If after a while you stall or aren't losing as much as you'd like at a reasonable pace, then you can re-evaluate your plan. (eg if you are losing an average of 3 lbs/month over a 3 month period and you are in the 200s, then maybe re-evaluate, if you are losing 8 lbs/month over a 3 month period then you would be doing good).

I am another person who really tries not to set "X lbs a week" or "X lbs by Y date" sort of goals.. I don't like them because they can turn great success into something that feels like a failure...if you get close but not all the way to your goal, it can be too easy to feel bad about it, when really, you're still making progress.

I actually prefer goals that have to do with things you can directly control. The scale is fickle and fluctuates for all kinds of reasons beyond your control, like hormones. How many days you eat on plan, though, is DIRECTLY in your control, and a wonderful type of goal to set. How many workouts you get in per month is another that you can directly control. That way, YOU are still meeting your goals, even if your body decides not to reward you with weight loss every week or month.

Just my 2 cents. I, like the others, lost pretty quickly at first, but it does slow down, and it gets really easy to turn a week where you lost a pound into a "failure" by thinking of it in terms of pre-set goals.

I clung to time line goals at first, unreasonable or not. They were my hope and driving force. Whether or not I made those goals I continued on. As time passed I depended less and less on those goals because I started getting the results I was striving for.

I personally don't see anything wrong with goals like those as long as they don't derail you in the event you don't make it. That's the key - NOT meeting the goals, but doing this no matter what. No matter what. I think it's pretty normal to daydream about the goals, results and time lines when first starting out as we don't yet have a ton of results under our belt.

I can honestly say that timeline goals killed my weight loss motivation. I was losing about 10 lb a month and then one month it stalled. I only lost about 6. I got so upset about it and felt like I'd failed and I've not really lost a substantial amount of weight since then. That was almost 2 years ago now. I've maintained a pretty good loss, but I'm still sitting here 50 pounds from my real goal. It's almost as if I'm afraid to try again.

I would say, like Mandalinn said, make goals that you can control. You cannot control your body's reaction, only what you actually do.

Best wishes!

I'm not a big fan of time oriented weight loss goals either. I do it in decades. Right now my goal is to get under 160. The next one will to be to get to under 150.

It gives me small achievable goals to focus on, yet they seem big when you break a new decade. For some mental reason breaking into a new decade is always a BIG motivator for me and I really feel good about myself.

Just my own thoughts.

At your current weight, 10 lbs. a month for a significant number of months is very possible. It may not be true at the very end but at that point you have so little to lose that it's just going to get harder.

The question is how hard are you willing to work to make it happen? I ate 1200-1300 calories a day and worked out 4-5 days a week to keep losing 10+ a month. Just making little changes like giving up cokes is not going to get you those numbers. Come up with a plan that works for you, and stick to it, and you'll get there.

But you have to know yourself. Are you the type who gets discouraged by a bad month and loses motivation because of it, or are you the type that will take what your body gives you and just start working on the next month? If you're not the second type then a different sort of goal would work better for you.

Good luck.

Thanks for all the comments.

Robin: I didn't just give up Cokes. I have TOTALLY changed the way I eat. Drinking lots of water, eating lots of veggies and salads. No more sugar sodas at all. Only 1 diet soda a day. Very portioned for meat and startch (if any). No more butter or margerine, etc.

So although it's not a "program" I'm really sticking to what I know to be healthy. When I slow down the weight loss, then I'm going to do a program, just not sure which one.
I will also be adding Curves probably in April when my knee is stronger (surgery recently).

Donna

ummmm... I think there was a solid four month period of me losing ten pounds a month when i was being super on plan. It is possible to do safely. but yeah... I'm echoing what everyone else has said. You.have.to. stick.to.it. no matter what!
and hey. becareful at curves with the knees eh? I tore a tendon in 07 and couldnt do most leg machines even last summer. i might try again in a few months.

changes you can do for the rest of your life sounds smart. you can do this.

I've lost a significant amount of weight, 110lbs in 20 months. Yes, for the first 4 or 5 months I did lose 10lbs a month. Then I had several months when I was averaging 7-8 pounds a month. Now I only lose about 3-4 pounds a month. Its taken me since November to lose the last 10lbs and I am expecting to take another 3 months or so to lose the next 10lbs to get to goal. If I achieve this it will have taken me 2 years to lose 120lb, an average of only 5lbs a month.

In summary I would say losing 100lb is achieveable but I don't think its achievable in just 10 months without extreme diet methods.

Kitty