I need to loose weight, but that's not my goal

lidenalex

Like most people I have lost weight and then gained it back. I have been repeating this pattern for the last 15 years. If I continue with the same goal, I have no doubt that I will repeat the pattern once again. What has been my goal?
Goal-A. To loose the extra weight.
Can I set a better goal? Sure
Goal-B. To get a habit of exercising and eating healthy.
I think that goal-B is better for me, because it will lead to goal-A automatically. Is there any disadvantages to choosing goal-B instead of goal-A? Yes, because goal-A will lead to fast weight loss and I am a very impatient person. But the disadvantage of goal-A is that I will gain all the extra weight back as soon as life intervenes and I focus on something else .
So it seems to me that goal-B is much better for me in the long run. Now, the strategy for reaching goal-B is very different from goal-A. First it will take long time. The progress will be slow and steady instead of fast and volatile. Forming a habit of living healthy has a different focus then loosing weight.
What is a habit? A habit is some behavior are action that is easier to do then not to do. It is something that I do automatically without thinking too much. Like brushing my teethes. If I can make exercising and eating healthy food in moderation a habit, I have achieved something that can last to the end of my life.
I am no expert on food, on weight loss or of nutrition. I just try to achieve my personal goal of making healthy living into a habit.
When my habit is established I want to eat 2300 cal/day and exercise 400 cal (corresponding to 1 hour brisk walk a day), which gives a net of 1900 cal, which corresponds to a healthy weight for me.
So this will be the red line which I do not want to cross, no matter how life intervenes. There will not be a single day when I cross the 1900 cal net line. That's all I need to do from day one to the rest of my life.
I need to loose 15 kg altogether. With this plan the weight loss will be painstakingly slow. Probably take 3 years to get there. But since weight loss is NOT my primary goal, this is quite all right. I rather wait 3 years to establish a habit that will last for the rest of my life, then keep on yo-yo dieting for the rest of my life.

Anybody that want's to establish the habit of healthy living, is welcome to add me as a friend :flowerforyou: .

HaraldurB

So goal A would be eating at a deficit? And goal B is eating at a deficit and exercising? Seems like this could all be one goal. It's good to plan for the future but right now you should just focus on one day at a time. When you say you want to eat healthy does it mean that you're going to remove some food completely from your life? Because doing that often ends up with people breaking down and binge. Do the 2300 calories per day match your TDEE? Anyway I hope you reach your goal and if that goal is never exceeding 1900 net cals a day then I hope it will work. But for me I never say that I'll NEVER exceed my calorie goal. Because there are days that it happens. And if I've told myself again and again that I'll never ever do that then I'll feel even worse when I do and it might make me give up. Instead of realizing that it happens, log it and move on to the next day.