Anybody else set low weight loss goals...

kds10

I have about 30 lbs to lose...as of this morning I weigh 181.5 my goal is to be at 172 by June 30th then lose another 10 lbs by December 31st. Slow but for me that seems to work.

I like setting low expectations because then I find it less overwhelming and it allows for some lenience for the occasional off day, etc.

seska422

I went even further than that by not having a deadline. I figured I'd get there when I got there. The important part was to have a general downward weight trend.

tinkerbellang83

seska422 wrote: »

I went even further than that by not having a deadline. I figured I'd get there when I got there. The important part was to have a general downward weight trend.

Same, I initially gave myself a deadline, but prefer now to just aim to get my deficit week-to-week and focus on my fitness goals, I'll get there, when I get there.

toxikon

It can definitely work for some people.

I prefer setting lots of mini-goals and deadlines for myself to keep myself on track. Otherwise I get lazy and slowly end up eating at maintenance (or higher). I don't have a lot of weight to lose, so it's easy to get complacent since I'm already a healthy BMI. I need to keep myself focused to get those last 15lbs off!

LivingtheLeanDream

When I decided to lose weight this time I needed it to be sustainable - slow loss for me was sustainable. I lost the weight and have kept it off, am approaching year 5 of maintenance.

All the best.

kds10

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

When I decided to lose weight this time I needed it to be sustainable - slow loss for me was sustainable. I lost the weight and have kept it off, am approaching year 5 of maintenance.

All the best.

Yeah that is what my doctor told me when I told her on average I lose about 1.5 to 2 lbs per month she said that is great..if it comes off slowly it tends to stay off.

fitoverfortymom

I needed to lose 100lbs and set a goal of a year-ish. I didn't meet my goal and I'm still a few pounds shy of it 5 months after a year, but I still "won."

alondrakayy

I have 10 lbs to lose by the end of this year. Taking it slow and steady. I'm in no rush .. but I'm also at the very end of my weight loss journey so I don't think this would be the case if I had 100 lbs to lose.

MelanieCN77

I had 40lbs to lose and set to 1lb a week, as I didn't want to be deprived and was ok with settling in to a routine. Somewhere in my mind was also "the longer this takes, the further I am from having that moment when I just go back to my old ways" which I know is weird cognitive dissonance but I feel like it worked because I think the longer project helped solidify better habits and choices.

__TMac__

My calorie goal is set at maintenance level for my goal weight. Small deficit and slow loss. But it’s comforting that this is the amount I need to eat going forward. Occasionally, I set it lower for a week if I’m feeling ambitious, but I’m mostly happy to just chug along. 64 lbs down, 16 to go. I’ll get there when I get there.

steveko89

As for many, it can positive to have checkpoints or intermediate goals throughout your pursuit of weight loss. Trend apps like Happy Scale can be set up for that as well, and using a moving average of weigh-ins helps smooth out any big swings due to hydration, sodium, etc.

That said, I think the connection between losing weight slowly and successfully keeping that weight off is one of correlation over causality. I don't have any research to back this assumption, but for most people it seems losing weight slower means that you're making sustainable changes and breaking/building the right habits and generally improving their nutrition and fitness as a whole, not "dieting", which I feel can be done as aggressively as is sustainable for a given individual. Ergo, the sustainability of the weight loss is tied to the methodology, rather than the pace at which it is lost.

Unless you have an important life event that you've tied to those deadlines, and depending on how you function as an individual, I can see where long-term deadlines could be detrimental to your success. Personally, I always work best when I have a deadline, but have strong tendencies to procrastinate until absolutely necessary. As you said, being less overwhelmed based on your expectations allows for lenience; for some that lenience would prevent them from reaching their ultimate goal.

jessicapk

I've got probably 100+ lbs to lose total and I'm working in 5lb goals at a time! It keeps my goals nice and close (less than 30 days) and it will really surprise you how quickly they add up when you are working hard to reach the next 5lbs instead of 50-60+ lbs away Some people can do without deadlines but I've found that small goals work best for me.

MegaMooseEsq

I'm hoping to lose about 30 pounds total this year as well! I decided early on that I was going to aim for the end of 2018 as a rough goal, giving me two years to lose 73 pounds. So far that's treated me pretty well - I lost about 40 pounds last year before taking a holiday diet break, and am back on the deficit train as of earlier this month. When I was looking forward to 2018, I also decided that I will probably not want to go much lower than an average net 1650-1700 calories a day (last year I averaged over 2000/day). We'll see how that goes.

cwolfman13

I put on about 10 Lbs every winter and strip it off in the spring...takes me about 2 months and isn't particularly painful...I can't imagine taking 6 months to drop 10 Lbs.

During my initial weightloss, I didn't really have a time frame...I lost 40 Lbs at an average rate of about 1 Lb per week and that's basically what I shoot for in my spring cut.

ladyhusker39

I love a good "I want to lose weight slowly" thread.

Seems like we get about 1 of these for every 100 of the Speedy Gonzales threads. (I think I just totally dated myself with that one.)

HoneyBadger302

I don't do deadlines or any goals beyond where my maintenance range should be.

I do want to see a downward trend. Right now, I'd like to see it a little faster than it is, but trying to determine if that's a realistic goal or not. Either way, the overall is what counts for me.

MrsPinterest34

It took me the entire last year to lose 32 pounds. Compared to others who share their success that's pretty slow. But my goal for this year is much slower, 10 pounds in 12 months. I'm in no rush. I don't want to gain any weight so I'm taking the slow approach for the long term health benefit plus I do like to eat.

hesn92

That sounds great. Slow and steady. I don’t see why so many people are in such a rush. Weight gain is usually slow over time yet so many people are like “my goal is to lose 30 pounds in 5 days” lol.

I was 180 2 years ago and I am 155 now. My goal is like 145. I’m not really that worried about it though.

sunfastrose

And just to point out, sometimes what is "slow" is actually "mandatory for health". There are some times that the difference between the calories you need to eat to stay healthy and lose weight and the ones to maintain your weight is not enough to have the big pound losses per week. I.e. your TDEE (BMR + exercise) might be 1800 (to throw out a #). To lose 2 pounds - which is thrown out there as the "healthy max" - you would have to eat 1000 calories less than TDEE per day. That takes you to 800 calories, which is definitely an unhealthy # of calories for the general population. So for this person they will have to lose in the 1 pound a week range to stay above what is considered the healthy minimum for a woman (1200 calories).

jflongo

I initially had my profile set to 1.5 lbs per week, but just recently changed it to 1 lb per week, to slow down a bit. Also, I'm trying to lift weights, so that is another reason I put it at 1 lb per week, to add a few more calories in per day.

I started at 210 about a month ago, I'm down to 204 now. My goal is around 185 - 190. Once I hit 199, I'm going to drop my profile down to 0.5 lbs per week.

bcradio1

The problem with all of this is that it is impossible to tell how many pounds you need to lose to get the look you want to get. I thought I had 20lbs to lose, but almost 40lbs later I am still not there yet.

I simply aim to lose 1lb per week until I am done.

MegaMooseEsq

bcradio1 wrote: »

The problem with all of this is that it is impossible to tell how many pounds you need to lose to get the look you want to get. I thought I had 20lbs to lose, but almost 40lbs later I am still not there yet.

I simply aim to lose 1lb per week until I am done.

Eh, I just want to be not overweight. I figure anything strictly for vanity purposes can be its own thing.

bcradio1

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

Eh, I just want to be not overweight. I figure anything strictly for vanity purposes can be its own thing.

Except what is overweight? Too heavy? Too much fat? Too much muscle?

If you lose 30lbs of muscle and no fat, will you no longer be overwieght by your definition (of course this is not technically possible)?

jflongo

bcradio1 wrote: »

The problem with all of this is that it is impossible to tell how many pounds you need to lose to get the look you want to get. I thought I had 20lbs to lose, but almost 40lbs later I am still not there yet.

I simply aim to lose 1lb per week until I am done.

I'm going to gauge this by my waist size. I'm trying to get below 200 lbs, so that I can start running again, and have less weight on my joints. I got to the point where size 36 pants were getting tight again, so I want to get to the point where 34 size are very comfortable and 32's are tight. Then I'll drop mine down to 0.5 lbs per week.

JeromeBarry1

I'm approaching 2 years with a loss goal of 0.5 lb per week. I'm still not to a target goal and I'm not tempted to give up and quit. I just keep trying. Today is a get up and dust off day after tripping yesterday. Onward!

aeloine

My goal was 1 pound a week. I'm about 45 weeks in and have lost 45.5 pounds. Same goal for next year (1 year is 3/14/18), so 104 pounds in 2 years.

olive1968

My goal is .5 pound a week. I finally took the quality advice on this site and realized I can't be successful at 1200 cals a day. I reset my goal to .5 pound and upped my cals to 1450. Everytime I try to "boost my progress" and drop back to 1200, oy. Now, I have also increased my exercise level and secretly hope I lose .75 pounds a week. So in a way, I may technically be at a 1200 net some days but I'm really all about this "eat as much as I can and lose weight" concept.

It's very slow going but I feel like I've finally mastered the mental challenge there. My 50th bday is in October and I'd like to be down 20 by then. 25 would be perfect. Then I will spend another year maybe losing another 10.

MegaMooseEsq

bcradio1 wrote: »

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

Eh, I just want to be not overweight. I figure anything strictly for vanity purposes can be its own thing.

Except what is overweight? Too heavy? Too much fat? Too much muscle?

If you lose 30lbs of muscle and no fat, will you no longer be overwieght by your definition (of course this is not technically possible)?

I’m aiming for the top of the BMI range, or until losing becomes more difficult than I feel is sustainable, and I’ll see how I feel from there. I do understand the difference between overweight and over fat- this is a thread about slow goals, after all. My point was only that I’m just not especially worried about how I’ll look when I get there. I’m worried about my blood pressure, cholesterol, and living as long and healthy a life as possible. At least for now, I could care less about how I’ll look in a bikini after another 30 pounds.

vanmep

Doesn’t really matter if you lose 20 and realize you aren’t happy with how you look - just take another couple years and lose 20 more!

Lounmoun

I don't really set such specific deadlines but I thought by the end of the year I'd like to be down 10 lbs from where I am now. It is kind of a minimum I have in my head.
My ultimate weight loss goal is more like 20-40 lbs. It wouldn't be impossible to lose 20 lbs or more in a year so I may get closer to that but if I just drop 10 lbs that is fine.

MaybeLed

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

bcradio1 wrote: »

MegaMooseEsq wrote: »

Eh, I just want to be not overweight. I figure anything strictly for vanity purposes can be its own thing.

Except what is overweight? Too heavy? Too much fat? Too much muscle?

If you lose 30lbs of muscle and no fat, will you no longer be overwieght by your definition (of course this is not technically possible)?

I’m aiming for the top of the BMI range, or until losing becomes more difficult than I feel is sustainable, and I’ll see how I feel from there. I do understand the difference between overweight and over fat- this is a thread about slow goals, after all. My point was only that I’m just not especially worried about how I’ll look when I get there. I’m worried about my blood pressure, cholesterol, and living as long and healthy a life as possible. At least for now, I could care less about how I’ll look in a bikini after another 30 pounds.

Yep, I'm aiming for a BMI of 24.9, then I'll see... I've never been a 'normal' weight so I have no idea what to expect. Every week I aim for less than maintenance and I call it a win. I imagine I will be actively losing for at least the next 18 months, probably longer.