What is a reasonable goal...
 

I've noticed that a lot of people have two weight loss trackers on their signatures. One for long term and one for short term. And they usually have a date set for their short term goal. I have no idea what would be a good time limit to give myself to lose, say, another 10 lbs. I am on medication right now which is making weight loss very difficult so I don't even know if setting a time limit for myself is a good idea anyway. Opinions? :?: If I was not on medication, what would be a good goal for losing 10 lbs?

You don't need to set a date if you don't want to. sometimes it just helps to break it down into smaller chunks anyway so you can see the ticker getting towards goal quicker.

But if you do still want to set a target date I'd say 5 weeks as an absolute minimum (based on losing 2lb per week), but look at your current weight loss. Unless there's a lot you can do better then it's possibly best to just aim for maintaining your current rate of loss before aiming for anything more challenging. If you get there sooner you can always celebrate and revise your goals for next time, but you're not setting yourself a target that's completely unrealistic.

I don't set deadlines for myself AT ALL. In that past that had always lead to disappointment and DE-motivation. You can't "plan" to lose a certain amount of weight in a certain amount of time, even under the best of circumstances. Some people feel it gives them something more concrete to work towards, but it always backfired for me.

I'd say if you want to set a short term goal as well as a long term one, you just say 10 pounds and not set a time limit for yourself. Time limits, for me, just make me more stressed.

I totally agree. Time limits have been part of my undoing in every weight-loss effort in the past. Even when I gave myself a year to lose weight for a cruise, I was so focused on that goal, it undermined my efforts. My mini goals now involve the xx0's, as in the 260, 250, 240 on the scale. I consider a goal met with I see the xx9. At 259, I kissed the 260s goodbye. My next goal is to bid adieu to the 250s, when I reach 249. I also have other goals that I don't put on a ticker: have less than 100 pounds to lose (12 pounds to go); hit one-derland (58 pounds to go); weigh less than the weight I was at the last time i felt I was at a normal weight -- 169 in college 23 years ago (79 pounds to go); and then finally my ultimate goal (112 pounds to go). Hope this helps.

I set a mini goal but not a time limit. I have learned from experience that time limits don't work for me and just get me frustrated. I plan on celebrating on each mini goal that I reach. I am going to buy myself a new watch when I reach the 225 goal. I will get a new haircut at 200. I'm not sure about the rest.

Thanks, I agree with all of you and I think I will just focus on losing the next 10 lbs. I like the xx9 thing too, quite-a-handful :) So I'm going to try and get down to 229 for now.. its only a few pounds away! I want to get back to 210 - which is where I was when I started at Curves this year BEFORE I went on this medication and gained weight >:[ .. then I want to be at 180.. because I think I looked pretty good at 180. Then eventually I want to get back to 140 or if possibly 135 again, like I was in HS.

I'm going to Curves right now before I talk myself out of it! :strong: