I shrank my goal

mtdb8

So I'm still new to this, second week. And I've gone over my calorie goal every day. My goal settings were 1lb a week. Not happening.

So I changed it to 1/2lb a week. I'm going to loose 100lbs but I'm in no real rush. If I could loose 12 pounds a year instead of gain 12lb a year, then by my 50th birthday I'd weigh 150lb my goal weight.

That would be perfect.

I changed the goal because I don't want to trian myself to consistantly go over goals.

oceangirl99

Good plan. As you get used to eating fewer calories, you may find you are able to adjust again.

bigbandjohn

If that's what works for you, then do it. As long as you trend the right way, that's what matters the most.

Panini911

good job. slow and steady.

you may find as you get used to this level of calories and tweak how you eat (ex: i like volume so eat volutemetric style, some need more fat to feel saciated, ect.) and get used to a lower calorie goal you may later on be ok to go back to 1lb/week but you also don't even need to do that!

apullum

I think that's fine depending on how careful your logging is. If you have a small deficit, then it's much easier to accidentally wipe it out with logging errors. It's a good idea to get into the habit of weighing all your food so that there is a lower chance of overestimating your calories. Keep in mind that you'll also need to recalculate your calorie goal every 10-15 pounds or so, since it will go down as you lose weight.

LynzesLosingIt

I agree with what others above have said. Do what works for you. Pushing yourself too hard too fast is a great way to give up just as fast. Slow progress is still progress! Good luck

Running2Fit

Do what works for you! Whatever is sustainable is what’s best 🙂

hroderick

if you need to go from 250 to 150, why drag it out for more than 2 years? You will be healthier and feel better and may live longer and have more confidence and have better kitten more often after you reach 75% of your goal.

At 250 it should be easy to lose 1.5 per week without being hungry or adding exercise. You are smart to plan to make long term changes, but maybe fear of failure is keeping you from getting aggressive.

mtdb8

hroderick wrote: »

if you need to go from 250 to 150, why drag it out for more than 2 years? You will be healthier and feel better and may live longer and have more confidence and have better kitten more often after you reach 75% of your goal.

At 250 it should be easy to lose 1.5 per week without being hungry or adding exercise. You are smart to plan to make long term changes, but maybe fear of failure is keeping you from getting aggressive.

You could be right. But I'm not looking for a diet, I'm looking for a real lifestyle change. Loosing 100lb in 2 years sounds like something I cant possibly stick with for the rest of my life. I'd rather learn how to eat for health than weight loss and that takes time.

Danp

mtdb8 wrote: »

hroderick wrote: »

if you need to go from 250 to 150, why drag it out for more than 2 years? You will be healthier and feel better and may live longer and have more confidence and have better kitten more often after you reach 75% of your goal.

At 250 it should be easy to lose 1.5 per week without being hungry or adding exercise. You are smart to plan to make long term changes, but maybe fear of failure is keeping you from getting aggressive.

You could be right. But I'm not looking for a diet, I'm looking for a real lifestyle change. Loosing 100lb in 2 years sounds like something I cant possibly stick with for the rest of my life. I'd rather learn how to eat for health than weight loss and that takes time.

Well said!!

So many people are in such a rush to get to the finish line that they end up stumbling along the way and end up not even finishing at all.

apullum

mtdb8 wrote: »

hroderick wrote: »

if you need to go from 250 to 150, why drag it out for more than 2 years? You will be healthier and feel better and may live longer and have more confidence and have better kitten more often after you reach 75% of your goal.

At 250 it should be easy to lose 1.5 per week without being hungry or adding exercise. You are smart to plan to make long term changes, but maybe fear of failure is keeping you from getting aggressive.

You could be right. But I'm not looking for a diet, I'm looking for a real lifestyle change. Loosing 100lb in 2 years sounds like something I cant possibly stick with for the rest of my life. I'd rather learn how to eat for health than weight loss and that takes time.

I agree that it does sound intimidating, but one thing to keep in mind is that the pace of weight loss tends to slow down as you progress. Part of this is that initial weight loss is usually rapid because it's mostly water weight, but the bigger part is what I mentioned above--as you lose weight, your body's calorie needs change and your room to create a deficit becomes smaller. You'll still need to gradually decrease calories as you lose, but since you aren't creating a very large deficit, you may have a higher likelihood of stalling out earlier due to logging errors. This is why it's so important to use a food scale.

It's also hard to see small amounts of weight loss on the scale because natural daily weight fluctuations can mask it, so use a trend app like Happy Scale to help you see the downward trend and prevent getting discouraged.

When you get to maintenance, you are still not going to be able to eat as many calories as you do now, and you will have to stick with that lower calorie goal for the rest of your life if you don't want to regain the weight.

Additionally, 100 pounds in 2 years isn't especially rapid. That's an average of slightly less than a pound per week, which is a pretty moderate pace of weight loss. It took me around 2.5 years to lose 100 pounds. The last few pounds came off MUCH more slowly than the first ones.

None of this is to say that your plan is bad, just that you should be aware of what the later stages of the weight loss process are like.

hroderick

mtdb8 wrote: »

hroderick wrote: »

if you need to go from 250 to 150, why drag it out for more than 2 years? You will be healthier and feel better and may live longer and have more confidence and have better kitten more often after you reach 75% of your goal.

At 250 it should be easy to lose 1.5 per week without being hungry or adding exercise. You are smart to plan to make long term changes, but maybe fear of failure is keeping you from getting aggressive.

You could be right. But I'm not looking for a diet, I'm looking for a real lifestyle change. Loosing 100lb in 2 years sounds like something I cant possibly stick with for the rest of my life. I'd rather learn how to eat for health than weight loss and that takes time.

I can tell your head and heart are on track for a great life. I too seek a healthy strong body and happy life instead of a number on a scale. Learning to log what you eat accurately and committing to do so will give you so much insight to figure what steps to take. I attribute commitment to logging and planning to my success. MFP is great for logging. For planning, I recommend a free trial of platejoy.com. Using it has done a major upgrade to what I eat, how I prepare it, and how I shop.

As for fear of failure, I won't fail long term because I won't quit. Neither will you.

marysabetournay

took me 1 year to lose 30lbs, slow but steady is what did it for me

Jackie9003

Danp wrote: »

mtdb8 wrote: »

hroderick wrote: »

if you need to go from 250 to 150, why drag it out for more than 2 years? You will be healthier and feel better and may live longer and have more confidence and have better kitten more often after you reach 75% of your goal.

At 250 it should be easy to lose 1.5 per week without being hungry or adding exercise. You are smart to plan to make long term changes, but maybe fear of failure is keeping you from getting aggressive.

You could be right. But I'm not looking for a diet, I'm looking for a real lifestyle change. Loosing 100lb in 2 years sounds like something I cant possibly stick with for the rest of my life. I'd rather learn how to eat for health than weight loss and that takes time.

Well said!!

So many people are in such a rush to get to the finish line that they end up stumbling along the way and end up not even finishing at all.

Absolutely this!
It's taken me 2 years to do just over 50lb, I eat out, I have boozy weekends, I eat pizza and chocolate and I now walk to work a few times a week.
This I can do forever!

My weightloss trend has been steadily downwards, and I've never felt that I was on a "diet" - in fact the word isn't in my vocabulary.
I want to lose another 50lb+ and giving myself 2-3 years to do that as I appreciate it will slow down as I get nearer my goal.

My advice, for what it's worth, is go slow, log everything that goes into your mouth and don't deny yourself anything just have it in moderation.
Best of luck.

DeborahKilpatrick

I think that sounds a great approach, if this is something you can stick at and be successful, go for it! I've just come back to mfp after a couple of failed attempts when I set it to 1 or 2 lb a week and couldn't stick to it. I've now also set mine to 0.5 a week and I feel in control of what I'm eating for the first time in ages but not deprived. I am aware I need to be careful of logging properly with such a small deficit. I was totally overeating before though so it's still a lot less than I was having! Good luck, sounds like this is going to work for you

eccentricplaza

I had to reduce my goal. I am an emotional eater and I could stick to my goal reasonably well, but on the days I went over it compounded into a bigger problem the next day because I felt like a failure.

Making great progress still, and much happier

No shame in it. Keep up the great work!