re: deadlines and time-based goals.

I have found a happy medium with those this time. I find them motivating and they really push me to keep on plan and put in some extra effort. But I'm happy with making good progress and not disappointed if I don't make it all the way.

It took several decades of on and off dieting to reach this point! lol! But there is so much that is going differently for me this time, it gives me confidence that this will really be THE time it all works for real.

I have both. My biggest overall goal is to get to a healthy BMI. After that I have a vague idea in mind that I'd like to get to 140lbs but we'll have to see if that's really possible. I've been there before in my life but I wasn't lifting at the time and I was quite a bit younger so it's hard to say how realistic it is for me.

That being said, I've had a lot of mini-goals along the way with weights that meant something significant to me. They're all listed in my signature if you're interested. ;)

Doing the whole 5-10lb increments were never quite as interesting for me. Or maybe it's better to say that I didn't need them because I had other weights that were major milestones for me (like I'm about to hit my lowest adult weight in 5lbs!!!). Ditto for the number of days I work out etc. I see this as a permanent lifestyle change so somehow counting the number of days I've been working out doesn't really make sense (to me, it obviously works well for others!).

Basically, just do whatever makes you feel motivated. :D