Quote:
Originally Posted by Missy Krissy
I try not to put deadlines or expectations on my weight loss. It's my personal belief that they can be detrimental (but not everyone shares my view, this is just my own outlook).
I like to make goals like "I will eat on plan for 6 out of 7 days this week" or "I will eat on plan within my calorie range for 10 days straight" or "I will go for a walk at least 2 days this week" - you get the idea. I can control my behaviors, but I can't always control what the scale says. By controlling my behaviors like this I can set easily attainable goals for myself which will eventually lead to weight loss success. If I were to set a goal like "I will lose 10 pounds this month" and I end up only losing 5 or 6 it feels like I've failed, which is actually kind of silly because losing 5 or 6 pounds should be a success celebrated!
This. I KNOW it's not necessarilly what you wanted to hear, but there's a real wisdom here. I've just came to accept it, and I'm over 30. I don't think I'd be able ot accept at as a teenager, but I wish I was.
All my life, I made my (numerous) efforts to lose weight as if it was a competition. I set a goal and I strived for it. When I didn't meet it (and I lost just 6 pounds a month, instead of 10 I had planned to lose), I felt like a failure. And went back to eating whatever I wanted.
I too had certain dates by which I WANTED to lose certian amount of weight. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't. Always, when the date passed, I started eating "normally" (i.e. whatever I liked) again. The truth I've learnt is nobody but you can tell if you weight 5 pounds more or less just by your appearance. I would have events at which I was terrified to weight more than lets say 200 pounds. Truth is, nobody could tell if I weighted 198 or 203. I wish I didn't make such a big deal out of it. What you want, what you really need ,is to start living healthy, eating reasonably, excercise wisely, and watch the scale go down.
You can't control the scale, but you can, and you shoud, control your behaviour. The scale will follow. I promise it will.
On the other hand, like other said, someting between 6 and 12 pounds is achiavable
If you have to set the goal, set a range rather then a certain number. Less space for failure, more space for success!