Which is the best option?

andreamariexoxo

Hi everyone I was just wondering everyone's opinion on what may be the best option for me. My starting weight on mfp is 262. My goal weight is 150 so I was wondering would it be best to get down to maybe 200-190 and maintain for a year or so to give my skin time to catch up, and then lose the additional 40lbs or should I lose down to my goal weight and then maintain?

kd_mazur

I would set the smaller goal of getting to 200lbs and when you get there decide what to do next. If you are feeling motivated and positive about your body, keep going. If you are ready for a break, take a break.

jemhh

I will second the idea of having an intermediate goal. Not because of your skin but because you may want (and certainly will deserve) a break. There's absolutely nothing wrong with not doing it all in one fell swoop.

k8eekins

andreamariexoxo wrote: »

Hi everyone I was just wondering everyone's opinion on what may be the best option for me. My starting weight on mfp is 262. My goal weight is 150 so I was wondering would it be best to get down to maybe 200-190 and maintain for a year or so to give my skin time to catch up, and then lose the additional 40 lbs or should I lose down to my goal weight and then maintain?

Reactively at seeing your goals, recommend you consider a revision when your weight has settled around 178 lbs, before you continue with your last lap of efforts towards your goal weight.

VUA21

I started at 350. Dropped to 180, then took a year off

What I did:. Started very slowly.

First two weeks I set my calories to maintenance so that I could get my logging down (I would get overwhelmed by "diets" that required a lot of change and always quit).

Once I got my logging down decently, I ate under maintenance every day (usually ~200 calories). When I got comfortable doing that (about a month doing small tweeks to my diet), I set my goal to 1/2lb loss per week. I kept repeating the process until I got to 2lbs per week, and found out that (for me), that was too restrictive and went to 1.5lbs per week.

I also slowly incorporated a workout program. I started by just taking a 30 minute walk every evening. A few months in and I added a 3x per week strength training program.

It took me two years to lose the initial weight, then I took a year off of losing and did a body recomp. Even though I gained a few pounds back (6lbs), my body looks so much better now than when I first lost the weight. Now I'm back working on 20lbs, maybe more depending on my results.

The most important things I've learned are:
1. You cannot out train a bad diet. Everything starts with what you eat.
2. Food is not evil. Unless you're allergic to, have an intolerance, or other medical issue barring certain foods, there are no bad foods. Just eat the high calorie/low nutrient foods in moderation.
3. Be patient. Be VERY patient. Took longer than a month to put the weight on, it's going to take longer to get the weight off.
4. Eat and exercise for YOUR goals. Different people advocate different methods, but in the end, they are not you. Do what works for you, it's a learning process but you'll figure out the dietary and exercise habits that work best for you.

amusedmonkey

At one point I took a year off, too. I highly encourage it. You learn a lot about maintenance, a lot more than the occasional couple of weeks break. You get to learn how to deal with portion creep, how to handle lack of scale progress, how to handle accepting that you'll occasionally be hungry while maintaining and that it's alright...etc. For me, it was the best thing I ever did for my weight loss, followed by the time I gained weight and learned a lot about what not to do.

SonyaCele

if you are very disciplined, you can safely take a year off, but often times that year off turns into a slow creep back up in weight with the excuse that you are taking the year off, and before you know it you are back where you started. For that reason alone, i think just get to your goal and then maintain there where you want to be, and if you have a slow creep you can reel yourself back in right away, and at your goal weight you are just living your new lifestyle . And you will feel so good and be so happy at your goal weight, why wait?

mkculs

I have a goal about 1/2 way to my ultimate goal weight, to remind me to enjoy my progress and experiment with what it is like to eat at maintenance. That maintenance point, of course, will be 200-300 calories higher than my true maintenance, but I think taking 2 weeks to a month at that point will be a good idea. It also coincides with my 60th birthday, so another reason to celebrate