Fat Loss Timelines

peachvine29
peachvine29 Posts: 400 Member
edited November 2019 in Health and Weight Loss
Do you find that having a timeline/time-based goals/deadline helps or hurts your rate of progress?

I know for my initial goal I wanted to weigh 135 lbs. by November 29, 2018.
I was 153 by that time, and didn't reach 135 lbs. until May 2019 which I still am today.
Now I am wanting to be 125 by Summer 2020, but that is giving me some pressure.
Maybe I should drop the time restrictions?
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Replies

  • wmd1979
    wmd1979 Posts: 469 Member
    If you set your rate of loss at half a pound per week there is no reason you shouldn't be able to hit that goal by then. I don't see any issue with having a timeline as long as the goal is reasonable and not overly aggressive. With your proposed timeline, it allows for slip ups and the occasional diet break if needed, so I say go for it. Sometimes it does help to have a timeline goal to keep you on track and accountable.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    edited November 2019
    wmd1979 wrote: »
    If you set your rate of loss at half a pound per week there is no reason you shouldn't be able to hit that goal by then. I don't see any issue with having a timeline as long as the goal is reasonable and not overly aggressive. With your proposed timeline, it allows for slip ups and the occasional diet break if needed, so I say go for it. Sometimes it does help to have a timeline goal to keep you on track and accountable.

    ^This. While I don't usually have a strict date, I have a goal month where another goal starts. Otherwise I find I am not as consistent and say " meh I look good enough" (to add: especially when it comes to vanity lbs which is also in your case)
  • peachvine29
    peachvine29 Posts: 400 Member
    cmriverside wrote: »
    peachvine29 wrote: »
    Do you find that having a timeline/time-based goals/deadline helps or hurts your rate of progress? I know for my initial goal I wanted to weigh 135 lbs. by November 29, 2018. I was 153 by that time, and didn't reach 135 lbs. until May 2020 which I still am today. Now I am wanting to be 125 by Summer 2021, but that is giving me some pressure. Maybe I should drop the time restrictions.

    Um. It's still 2019 where I am...

    Gah, sorry! Fixed. :)
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    Hurts. I do terribly under pressure and tend to self-sabotage. The more I allow myself to fail, the more I actually succeed. Yes, that sounds weird, but it's worked for me, lol. I recall mentioning in another thread that I also keep all my fat clothes just in case, for the same reason.

    Works for me too. I do not worry about intentionally or unintentionally going over my calories as long as it is rare. I even have my permission if I have a bad day to eat more if I feel like it will help. All of this makes it easier for me and I rarely go over my calories unless it was an honest mistake or it was intentional like a special occasion.

    This is what happens to me when I feel pressured by a deadline:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10762903/how-i-went-from-sustainable-to-unsustainable/p1
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    Hurts. I do terribly under pressure and tend to self-sabotage. The more I allow myself to fail, the more I actually succeed. Yes, that sounds weird, but it's worked for me, lol. I recall mentioning in another thread that I also keep all my fat clothes just in case, for the same reason.

    Works for me too. I do not worry about intentionally or unintentionally going over my calories as long as it is rare. I even have my permission if I have a bad day to eat more if I feel like it will help. All of this makes it easier for me and I rarely go over my calories unless it was an honest mistake or it was intentional like a special occasion.

    This is what happens to me when I feel pressured by a deadline:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10762903/how-i-went-from-sustainable-to-unsustainable/p1

    Oooh, I'll check that thread out.

    I give myself permission to eat at maintenance everyday, even when I just feel like it (like today, there were cookies in the break room). This has helped a ton, and I've very rarely unintentionally gone over maintenance (i.e. Thanksgiving and Christmas don't count).
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,303 Member
    If you manage to successfully put in place and adhere to a flexible process that will eventually get you and keep you there, then you will actually get and stay there!
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,460 Member
    A timeline viewed much like a weight averaging app might help. A strict one probably not so much.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    It hurts me. I can’t really control exactly how fast I lose. I can do the work-and provided I’m doing the work, it will all balance out eventually.

    But What happens if end up taking an unexpected trip, or need to up my calories to keep up with a training schedule, or I get sick/injured/need surgery and can’t stick to the targets necessary to meet the time goal? Did I fail? Do I regroup?

    I choose to set my goals to be to do the things I can control-which means sticking to my calorie goal (whatever it happens to be at that time) and my training plan.

    The rest will fall into place. I’ll get there when I get there.
  • peachvine29
    peachvine29 Posts: 400 Member
    Thank you for the feedback everyone! Very helpful. It seems that all of us are different when it comes to this.
    Duck_Puddle wrote: »
    It hurts me. I can’t really control exactly how fast I lose. I can do the work-and provided I’m doing the work, it will all balance out eventually.

    But What happens if end up taking an unexpected trip, or need to up my calories to keep up with a training schedule, or I get sick/injured/need surgery and can’t stick to the targets necessary to meet the time goal? Did I fail? Do I regroup?

    I choose to set my goals to be to do the things I can control-which means sticking to my calorie goal (whatever it happens to be at that time) and my training plan.

    The rest will fall into place. I’ll get there when I get there.

    This is what I most resonate with I think. I struggle with consistency with these vanity pounds, some days I don't have a good enough reason not to eat more and I am working through that. I thought a timeline or deadline might help but I don't know if it is. Lately it has been one step forward one step back, I know it is only up to me to commit to my deficit and do it. By the end of December I planned to be at 132.5 average pounds (I use Happy Scale) but am averaging 136, I'm not sure it's possible to get to 132.5 losing half a pound a week and with the holidays and my birthday coming up, and that disappoints me.

    I have heard that it is better to focus on what you can directly control, not your weight, but your daily habits that support your weight, such as getting 8 hours sleep, working out, hitting calorie goals. I may start to focus on that!
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    peachvine29 wrote: »
    Thank you for the feedback everyone! Very helpful. It seems that all of us are different when it comes to this.
    Duck_Puddle wrote: »
    It hurts me. I can’t really control exactly how fast I lose. I can do the work-and provided I’m doing the work, it will all balance out eventually.

    But What happens if end up taking an unexpected trip, or need to up my calories to keep up with a training schedule, or I get sick/injured/need surgery and can’t stick to the targets necessary to meet the time goal? Did I fail? Do I regroup?

    I choose to set my goals to be to do the things I can control-which means sticking to my calorie goal (whatever it happens to be at that time) and my training plan.

    The rest will fall into place. I’ll get there when I get there.

    This is what I most resonate with I think. I struggle with consistency with these vanity pounds, some days I don't have a good enough reason not to eat more and I am working through that. I thought a timeline or deadline might help but I don't know if it is. Lately it has been one step forward one step back, I know it is only up to me to commit to my deficit and do it. By the end of December I planned to be at 132.5 average pounds (I use Happy Scale) but am averaging 136, I'm not sure it's possible to get to 132.5 losing half a pound a week and with the holidays and my birthday coming up, and that disappoints me.

    I have heard that it is better to focus on what you can directly control, not your weight, but your daily habits that support your weight, such as getting 8 hours sleep, working out, hitting calorie goals. I may start to focus on that!


    This is absolutely my way of thinking. My goal is to end the day inside my calorie goal, hitting my steps, doing my exercise and be at least in the ballpark of happy doing it. I ignore weight loss as much as possible. I prefer to just allow it to happen instead of trying to force it.

    A big goal is to set a course but it doesn't drive us to the location. Our daily processes and habits do that. Little by little they accumulate.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    I'm fine with ballparking it, but there are so many variables, I am for consistency and personal growth.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,600 Member
    For me, it works better to focus on the process, as you say you're shifting toward, OP.

    Simplistically, if I focus on "X weight by Y date", what happens when I get there?

    What I really want is to stay at a healthy weight, plus active, for the rest of my life. The best route to that IMO is to put habits and practices into place that interlink to achieve that: Process. It's never "over"; I'm not "done".

    I thought Kimny's thread on this subject was really good, and useful, plus there are good comments from others:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10662287/the-goal-is-the-process/

    I've been in maintenance at a healthy weight for more than 4 years now, after 3 decades plus of obesity (and most of a year losing from obese to a healthy weight). There's still a process to work . . . .

    :drinker:
  • Fiorefleur
    Fiorefleur Posts: 15 Member
    Hurts my goals. My body does its own thing and could care less about time lines . 😑 I do better when I don’t set goals for weight loss/smaller clothing .

    It usually goes better when I don’t focus on those , just work on the day to day and small victories -such as being consistent and intentional .

    For me ..I have never once finished a program ! Three inconsistent weeks was the most . I can’t even do those , right I’m on a 3 weeks kick and scared I’m going to fall off the band wagon. But seeing the minutes of fat burn zone and calories burned from fitbit has helped motivate me . Working out 5 days a week is huge ! Now it’s a game almost to beat my own records . 😂

    If I see I’m 195 calories burned at the end of the work out -I’m going to keep going until I hit 200. 😆 The little things like that !

  • vanityy99
    vanityy99 Posts: 2,583 Member
    LynnJ9 wrote: »
    I must be the only one. I like the challenge, it motivates me, because I am a competitive person, even with myself.
    I get frustrated if I don't make my deadline, but it is a superficial frustration, I know I lost more than if I hadn't challenged myself with a goal.
    Then I make a new goal and start the new challenge, determined to beat it this time!

    Nope your not the only one. There’s a whole section on these forums dedicated to this type of challenge. I need the challenge or else I get too laid back with a ah don’t worry I’ll start tomorrow but never really start ever mentally. I always reach my challenge goal. I need that pressure.
  • grinning_chick
    grinning_chick Posts: 765 Member
    edited November 2019
    Yeah...I need goals. Without them I am an unmoored ship at sea per experience concerning all aspects of life, not just this one. :)

    Aiming to drop 80 lbs. in 12 months is perfectly reasonable when I started out just a few pounds shy of morbid obesity. The key difference this time around is I don't "flip out" if I don't hit any benchmarks set along the way, as long as I am still somewhere on the track. For me, it has kilt the whole self-sabotage of "well I effed up, so mind as well go big or go home" mentality that results in full blown derailments. *knock on wood*

    But I need some target to aim for or I have no reason to *not* eat that entire bag of crunchy cheesy poofs in one sitting that a well-meaning family member buys for me (albeit namely so I don't Bogart any from their bag once they open it, lol).



  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    There isn't only one right way to do it - you have to know yourself and play to your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses.

    Personally I'm very goal oriented and approached my weight loss like a project with SMART objectives which included a goal weight deadline. Lost at 1lb a week and hit my goal with only days to spare.

    But that played to my strengths of short term determination/motivation and mitigated my weakness of procrastination when I don't have a hard deadline (why put off until tomorrow what you can put off until next week? :smiley: ). I would guess that's probably a minority strategy but as I'm part of that minority it worked for me.

    In long term maintenance mostly I'm happy just to manage any weight drift by making small corrections but for big cycling events I go back to effectively project managing my training and diet to achieve a certain weight by a certain date.

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