setting smaller goals?

Njbelle

hi there

i joined and started officially today

i have a whopping amount to lose and wondered how much success you had all had using smaller goals as targets?
after all you wouldn't run a marathon without a bit of practice right?

what are your thoughts!

xxx

msmayor

That' what I do....I set small monthly goals for myself when I first started it was drinking more water daily then when I conqured that I moved onto other things - mainly things that would get me to the next step of weight loss.....GL

NicheGuy

I decided yesterday that I want to run a 5K on Thanksgiving day next year. I have a lot of weight to lose but I think I can get to the point where I can start preparing to run for a few months before the 5K. So I guess I did the opposite of you..... let me know how yours worked and I will do the same.

loseiteli

Yes! I am a very competitive person and love setting smaller goals for myself. I have done things like "no soda", or no eating after 8 for a month, and even sticking with a workout video for a month (6 days a week). I believe that small goals help us not to be overwhelmed!

Add me if you would like! I can always use more friends to motivate and challenge me!

ShelleyD81

Setting myself smaller goals is the best thing for me to do, big picture is too far away right now.
I set myself a goal to loose a stone firstly, which I achieved last week
My next goal is to loose another 1/2 stone by Christmas (fingers crossed!)

I think that you have to decide what's best for you, good luck!!

CathiAnne

I read your profile. First of all you did the right thing by coming onto MFP. You can give and receive encouragement from many others like you. Keep in mind, it is one step at a time. Some weeks it may be one step forward and two back but you must keep at it. You can do this. You have a lot of good motivation. Good luck. We're all here for you.

melizerd

I started with over 80lbs to lose in Aug 2010. I set LOTS of mini-goals. First was to eat within my calories for my goal of losing 2lbs a week. I didn't worry about adding exercise or anything at first. I needed to learn ONE new thing at a time. I lost quite a bit early on that way because I had a significant amount overall to lose. Then after about 4/5 weeks I started adding in exercise (just 5-10 min at a time REALLY).

I set goals of losing 10lbs, 20lbs, etc so that the overall number didn't seem so big.

I measure/weigh all the food I eat to be sure I know what a REAL portion looks like, I can eyeball pretty well now but right away I had ZERO idea what they really looked like.

It's a long journey but picking one thing at t a time to focus on and then adding on to that makes it easier IMO.

sykin

I have my large goal, but then I have small goals as well (as you can see in my signature). It helps keep me on track and it's nice that if I don't make a goal, I can look back and go "ok, this is what I need to do differently" or "wow! that was awesome and I know it works this way". I recommend small goals, definitely


And - uh - I just realized my signature is gone. WTF?! I swear it used to be there.....

melizerd

I have my large goal, but then I have small goals as well (as you can see in my signature). It helps keep me on track and it's nice that if I don't make a goal, I can look back and go "ok, this is what I need to do differently" or "wow! that was awesome and I know it works this way". I recommend small goals, definitely


And - uh - I just realized my signature is gone. WTF?! I swear it used to be there.....

All siggies except tickers aren't there anymore, there was a post about it in one of the info places, people were abusing it. You can retrieve your info though.

dippystick

I have my big overall goal, but I have day to day goals too. The day to day ones are much easier to do and not get discouraged on, but they all add up to the big picture.

Kind of like the blanket I'm crocheting for my oldest son. The big picture is a total of 1056 granny squares. I have 365 done. I would have been overwhelmed looking at the whole thing so I broke it down into colors. I started with the color with the smallest number of squares first and worked my way up. In each of the colors I would work a set of 10 squares at a time. Then I got close to the end of the skein, and my goal was to finish up a skein. Once that color was done, I went on to the next color. The background is going to take 553 of the same color so I work a skein or two in between the other colors. Something else that has helped me is to make a graphed chart and I color in each square as the granny for that square is completed. It helps me to keep my eye on the finished piece.

Maybe along with the smaller goals you could make a chart or perhaps a state map and pick a place of where you would like to go. As you run walk the miles, mark them off on the map. Then you have a visual to go with your day to day goals. A state map will have places a little farther apart so a walk/run of 3-5 miles will actually show. Or if you're in a big city, do a city map. Have a goal to run up and down every street. :-) We did the map thing in high school with the class totals added each day of class. All the classes each picked a different desdination and who got their first won. Nothing actually, but we won. :happy: