With December right around the corner, I need a little help deciding on a goal.

I was hoping y'all might have a couple of suggestions?

I'm new to goal setting, so honestly, I have no idea what a "realistic" goal should be.

Thanks in advance!!!

How about 10 pounds a month? :] That's what I've been going for, it's harder and harder the more you lose (as I'm sure you know) but it's a nice, attainable goal.

How about ringing in the New Year at 215--and rewarding yourself with a little something nice to wear to do it in?! :-)

You can't control the scale, you CAN control behaviors. Set a plan to be on plan, perfectly, with your exercise and food. No cheats or excuses all the way until Christmas Day. Then if you want a meal with the family that day you can enjoy it with gusto before getting right back on track the very next day. The scale WILL move, but more importantly you're setting a goal that is entirely within your control to reach.

Scales will do what they do. But you can exercise direct control over your diet and activity. Do it flawlessly for the month and you'll have plenty to be proud of, as well as reaping the scale rewards, whatever they may be!

Thanks y'all!!! I'm still trying to decide on a goal, but I appreciate the suggestions!

I agree. I never set goals for how much weight to lose in a given time. I hit a bad plateau like I have just come off and wham... defeat and disappointment. I set goals which I have the ability to control.

I also agree that time-based goals are often a bad idea, because it's so easy to focus on the failure rather than the success if you come in close. If you set a 25 lb weight loss goal by a certain date, and you lose "only" 24, you can obsess over every decision or slip you made, berating yourself for not working just a little harder, or making fewer mistakes (and you don't have to make any mistakes or cheats to feel the failure of not making the goal).

Setting up a behavior-based goal AND a reward for it, can be really helpful. Or even an open-ended weight based reward (I buy a bead/charm for a cheap Pandora-knock off style bracelet for every 5 lbs I, lose).

And don't punish yourself if you don't meet your goal, re-evaluate and reset the goal. For example, I few years ago, I set a small reward (so small I don't remember what it was - I think it was a paperback novel I wanted to read) for making it to the gym 4 times in a week. It took me months to meet that goal. I was even tempted several times to revise my goal to three times a week - or even eight times in a month, but I kept thinking "no I can do this."

It wouldn't have been wrong of me to change my goals downward, but I'm glad I kept at it without beating myself up for "failing," because truth-be-told even my "failures" were an improvement over what I'd been doning before I set the goals.

Your goals don't really matter as much as heading and moving in the right direction. Even if you only do one small thing better (even if it's something that won't make much of an impact on it's own) and keep making more positive changes, whether it's one small change per week, or a whole bunch of changes at once - you'll eventually get where you're going if you move in that direction. Even "standing still" is often progress for many of us (for most of my life I was either losing rapidly, or gaining MORE rapidly. Just learning to "not gain" was a considerable acheivement - but one I didn't recognize as success until relatively recently).

I agree whole-heartedly! Some suggestions might be to stay within a certain calorie range (counting calories is what I do), or promise yourself you'll excercise X times per week.