Weight Loss Deadlnes?

Setting goals and working to achieve them is awesome. Just be realistic when setting them. If you honestly think that you can get to where you want to be, in the time frame that you have chosen, then go for it. Personally, I have long term goals and short term goals. The short term goals keep me from getting discouraged along the way to reaching my long term goals. Whatever you do, don't get discouraged. A deadline to reach goal suggests that if you don't make it you will quit trying. Don't quit!!

My SIL got engaged on Sunday, the wedding is in October and I'm a bridesmaid. Gotta lose 60 lbs by then. I know I can do it! I've lost 10 lbs since the 27th of Dec :-)

I am hoping to lose my 53lbs before my fiances birthday on 29th August but as long as I am there this time next year I dont really mind.

I think that a deadline for any goal is good. Otherwise, it's too easy to just put it off until tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. But it's also important to be flexible. If it's nearly the first day of summer and you're only halfway to your sixpack, you've made good progress, but you're not going to reach the deadline. It's okay. Just reassess and reset your deadline (based on what you've done so far and how much harder you're willing to work). The big thing is to not beat yourself up, or get discouraged and quit, if you have worked and don't reach your deadline.

I need to lose 40 pounds by June.

I have gave myself a weightloss deadline too.... I told myself to be down to 170 and have a nice lean muscle body by July........deadlines sometimes can be stressful but motivating too. If you dont meet your goal by then just dont get discouraged and try harder next time. that has always been the trick for me with my deadlines......and your not crazy for having one

Back when I was in high school, when the year ended, I would decide to lose 10-15 pounds over summer, with a deadline of school starting back up. This was an easy, reachable goal, and as long as I lost 1 pound per week, I'd reach it. The problem was it was too stressful for me, and I always ended up giving up. One big problem was that if I screwed up a week and didn't lose a pound, or worse, gained a pound, I'd feel demotivated, knowing it would be that much harder to meet my goal by the deadline.

Now I'm in grad school, and instead of setting a deadline, I've set a target rate. Lose two pounds per week. Since I have a target weight I'm aiming for, this implies a deadline, but it removes stress for me in some ways. In particular, if I screw up one week and end up losing less than I want to, or gaining some weight, it's not a problem, since I can get right back to work the following week. Without the deadline, I never feel demotivated when I mess up.

However, I can completely understand why others choose to set a deadline. But setting a deadline just isn't for me.

I'm going Spain around August time and I want to actually have abs I can show off instead of the layers of fat/flab I had 5months ago. Not sure how realistic it is but here's to striving for this particular goal.

Realistic deadlines are fine. People who usually just "wing it" end up being procrastinators.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Since I started January of 2009 I've lost 190lbs. I have 20 last lbs to go. I was always in shape until an accident and health issues changed my life. I gained weight due to thyroid issues. I've adapted and overcome it. I've done it on my own through Change in food choices and workingout everyday. I have quality of life back and I love it. I can say I'm very happy now.

I don't have a deadline as such, but want to have my swimming, running and cycling mileages way up by June and also hopefully I will have dropped another 6 % body fat. I am faster and fitter and stronger at this heavier weight, but my goal is to lose body fat by June this year (partly so I don't look so ridiculous in the wetsuit and tri-suit during the triathlon)

I have sort of a rough deadline, which is sometime towards the end of the year. I won't disappointed if I don't make it though, because I've got plenty of time.

I guess I have a different approach. Hard deadlines work well for me only when I am held accountable by someone else (like at work). Self imposed deadlines are far too easy for me to be like "oh well!" when it looks like I won't make it.

So instead of focusing on the goal of "lose x amount of weight in x time frame", my goal is actually "stick to the diet every day of the week" - and if I do so then I have permission to buy myself a prize. (Monetary limit of $60 on the prize, and the prize cannot be food.) My biggest problem is consistency - I frequently start things, get bored, and move on to other things. That's why I've only finished 5 video games ever in my entire life and why I have so many unfinished craft projects lying around. So instead of stressing myself out that I didn't achieve the rate and now I'm off track for the goal deadline, I am focusing more on rewarding myself for staying consistent with the methods of weight loss.

My deadline is not so much about how much weight I need to lose in a certain amount of time. I've set myself deadlines like that before but when I see that I'm not going to make it I just quit. This time around I have a different approach that I feel will work better.
I'm not a runner, I haven't been able to run more than a couple minutes at a time in over ten years. I do walk or hike a couple miles a week with my dog. But I decided to set myself a goal of running a 10K Mud Run on June 1st. It seems like fun plus it'll keep me motivated to train, because a couple friends are also going to do it. I'm competitive at everthing I do, so even though I'm the only that can't really run I WILL FINISH THE RUN. Along with training I will eat better and log my calories.

So my goal Isn't to lose X amount of weight in 5 months. It's to be able to finish the run in 5 months. The weight that will come off is just a bonus. I know at my current weight it'll be almost impossible to run the whole race, so by then I should be about 30lbs lighter.