I want to lose 15 lbs by the end of 2012

Its definitely doable! Best of luck in your endeavor

That's an awesome goal and you will achieve it! I'm shooting for similar goals for myself. I'm 219 right now. I just dropped my cals to lose a projected 2 lbs per week. We can do this!

I am just starting up again and it sounds like a plan for me also. I CAN DO THIS!!!!!

Great goal.

That's a great goal! You've got three months, so that's like somewhere inbetween 1 and 1.5 lbs a week? Good luck! I'm trying my hardest to stay away from the candy until Halloween. Then I shall allow myself to indulge for one day - and one day only! LOL

And it is do-able for me. I'm currently 211.5 lbs, and I want to get back down below 200 lbs by year's end.

Just challenging myself, and making sure I say this "out loud" to the community.

Otherwise I will eat Halloween sweets or have an extra snack every day. I am walking at least 4 x a week for 25 mins at a moderate pace, so if I do stay within my calories per day, the weight is coming off.

I'm tempted to say 20 lbs, but I think I would go too low in my calories and it would just backfire.

Best of luck.. Here's what I learned about weight loss.

1) A calorie deficit is the only thing that causes weight loss

2) Weight training and cardio are both important and when I put weight training first I got better results for developing a healthy lean body mass. Exercise is for developing lean body mass, not necessarily losing fat. You will burn energy, but not nearly as much as all of the devices and calculators say.


Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You can not make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

What is the exact number of calories for you?

We’ve been trying to figure out an exact NUMBER of calories that everyone should be eating, without recognizing that everyone is slightly different. In truth, the calories aren’t the end game. Your body is. So the EXACT amount of Calories that are right for you is the EXACT amount that will allow you to maintain your ideal bodyweight no matter what some calculator or chart says.

In other words, an online calculator might tell you that you need to eat 2,500 calories
per day to maintain your ideal bodyweight. But the only way to know for sure if this is
the right amount for you is to test it out. If you gain weight or can’t lose weight eating
that much, then you know you need to eat less to lose weight no matter how many
calculators and text books say otherwise.

This doesn’t mean your metabolism is broken, it just means the estimate of your needs
was just a bit off.

-John Barban (The Body Centric Calorie Guide from the Venus Index and Adonis Index Manuals)