big goals....or small goals...THAT is the question :)

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BobcatGirl110
BobcatGirl110 Posts: 364 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm curious....if you have a lot to lose do you really set a big goal (which can seem so far away) or do you set a goal you feel motivated to reach and then once you reach it...you set another small goal? Just curious about what motivates you more :)

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  • Renee428
    Renee428 Posts: 29 Member
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    I try to set up little goals to help me not get as discouraged that I am not meeting my ultimate goal as quickly as I want. I started this doing Weight Watchers in January and I have lost 22 lbs already. My first goal was 20 lbs by my Birthday (Sunday) and I met that with my weigh in on Monday. I track with MFP but I still go to my WW meetings to keep myself accountable with the scale (even when I hate it). My next goal will be another 20 by July 4th. I needed to lose a total of 75 lbs to be at a health BMI (which is the ultimate goal)
  • A_Fit_Mom
    A_Fit_Mom Posts: 602 Member
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    I do small goals. . So I started at 185, I had a goal to get into the 170's then and a goal to get in the low 170's. etc.


    So my next goal was to get into the 160's...and I just got into the 160's today. So now that I am 169, my next goal is 164....then 159 etc. .
  • icimani
    icimani Posts: 1,454 Member
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    Both!

    I have a big end goal in mind, that may change once I get there. But you're right - sometimes it can be really overwhelming. So I set myself smaller goals that seem much more attainable.

    I'm working on figuring out some rewards that aren't food-based!
  • Leah_Alexis
    Leah_Alexis Posts: 139 Member
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    I do small goals. Every 10lbs. I have a lot to loose and when I look at the big picture I get discouraged.
  • clareyoung80
    clareyoung80 Posts: 177 Member
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    I have a whole Russian doll collection of goals.

    A big main goal (which, if you think about it, is only really the first goal in a whole host of life-long goals too)

    Then, I have a current 4 month goal (currently in a friendly weight-loss competition with friends). Within that I have monthly, weekly and daily goals.

    These are all subject to change, of course. I like feeling like I have something to accomplish every single day that will accumulate into one massive goal at the end.
  • Run4Me2Day
    Run4Me2Day Posts: 344 Member
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    I started at 183, and set my ultimate goal to be in the 140's...Then I broke it down into smaller goals. Under 170 by the end of April and yesterday I made it to 169....Now my goal is to get into the the lower 160's by then middle of May.....I find that if I set smaller goals it doesn't seem so unacheivable. That and when you hit it you are excited....Many small celebrations!
  • reneewill
    reneewill Posts: 62 Member
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    Good Question! I hadn't really thought about it, but I was focusing on the big goal. Maybe it would be helpful to focus on smaller weight loss goals. I do have daily/weekly goals that aren't weight specific; such as, I will work out today and stay under my calorie goal no matter what.
  • bajoyba
    bajoyba Posts: 1,153 Member
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    Both!

    I have my ultimate goal and my halfway goal (almost there!).

    Then I break it up with smaller ones. I take photos every ten pounds, and I work toward getting into a smaller pant size. It keeps me going!
  • KylieJordan16
    KylieJordan16 Posts: 36 Member
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    I first set a 20lb loss goal. Now that I've reached that, I have 5lb mini goals!
    It works for me since I don't have a "final weight" goal but more of a "lets see how I look when I get to the next 5lbs"
    :)
  • saxmaniac
    saxmaniac Posts: 1,133 Member
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    Neither. I don't think of goals so much as 1) pointing in the right direction and 2) acquiring lots of small habits that put me in that direction.

    So, instead of "lose 50 pounds" or even "lose 10 pounds", my attitude was more like this: "Your diet is crappy and you're hungry as soon as you get into work. Stop eating breakfast cereal, replace it with higher protein/lower carb natural food, and make this a habit".

    Then, after that became habit, I stopped skipping lunch at work.

    Lots of other followed...
  • katpatoneill
    katpatoneill Posts: 56 Member
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    I have a major goal, but I don't consider my mini-goals at all mini- more like a good medium sized. I want to lose 40ish pounds, so I broke it up into 4 ten pound goal weights, and losing ten pounds is definitely not a small goal, let me assure you! I broke through my first goal before I joined MFP, but since then I've been on this plateau where I just can't budge the scale... Urgh! Annoying, since I already made it a quarter of the way there.
  • LoosingMyLast15
    LoosingMyLast15 Posts: 1,457 Member
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    small goals for me. my screen name may read 15poundgoal but that's x2. :) 30 pounds is too overwhelming for me (please keep in my i'm 4' 11") so i broke it up into 2 mini goals. it's easier for me to look back and say WOW i've reached my first goal than to try and reach it all at once.

    oh and my profile has my other goals (run a 5k DONE, mud run DONE; 8k DONE; 10k DONE; on to the half marathon goal)
  • Darkskinned88
    Darkskinned88 Posts: 1,177 Member
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    big....small goals are an achievement but i like to keep the mindset im not done yet
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    I'm doing both. I'm not trying to lose all that much, so every 1/2 lb. is going to take what seems like a long time. My overall goal is 20lbs (actually, I'll stop when I'm happy so it may be less or more). My smaller goals are 5lbs. at a time. I've got 1 lb to go to hit my first mark since starting to watch what I eat. It's taken me about a month to get here, so it went faster than I thought & slower than I'd like (like everybody else :P), so I'm really looking forward to passing that first goal and setting my sights on the next.
  • bethany41h
    bethany41h Posts: 218
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    The big picture is just too overwhelming for me so I do small goals while keeping in my my overall goal for inspiration. I have been setting a weight that I'd like to reach every two months. So the end of this month I am shooting for 275 and the end of June I am going for 225. It helps me stay focused and pushes me to reach that goal. Because waking up on a February morning thinking about having to get to 175 is just plain defeating for me. But the thought of being 175 is a giant motivator as well :)
  • Makenziesnana
    Makenziesnana Posts: 18
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    My total weight loss I would like to achieve is too big for a single goal. I have set mine up as 10% goals. Each time I will lose 10%, then I set a new 10% goal. Incrementally, it will be a smaller and smaller amount to lose after each 10% goal is reached. I know this isn't going to be an overnight thing. It is a lifetime thing.
  • MzzFaith
    MzzFaith Posts: 337 Member
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    Recently started doing small goals. Once met goal set another goal. Don't want 2 get frustrated

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