What do you think? Doable??

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TKelly06
TKelly06 Posts: 225 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Every day for years I have been looking in the mirror and not liking what I see. Yet every day I get dressed and ignore the fact that I am not happy. Today I decided it was time for a change. For real this time! Just for me. We have gotten to the point in our lives when we have to put a goal of ours on hold so that I can go back to school and hopefully have a career that I love as opposed to a job. When we start going towards the goal of having children again in about two years I want to be as healthy as I can. I want my weight to not be a possible reason to not getting pregnant.

So I sat down and did some calculating. I calculated that I want to lose 100 pounds. It’s a round even number and it will get me into the normal BMI for my height. I know that 100 pounds is a lot and I know it won’t happen overnight. People do it all the time so I know it can be done. In fact, about 4 years ago, I had lost about 80 pounds. Unfortunately over the course of those four years I slowly gained 56 pounds back. This would be so much easier if I only had 40 more pounds to go but life and work gets in the way and the next thing I know I have 100 more pounds to lose.

I am determined not to let life, work and school get in the way of a healthier me. I know there will be some hard times but I will need to decide in that moment what is really important to me and my family. I know that there will be days when I won’t want to do anything and that will be okay as long as in the long run I am keeping on track.

Here is a list of goals I have set for myself. They seem to be doable. However, since I am really not sure if these are really good goals I will try not get discouraged if I do not meet a goal as long as I keep on going.

From 240 pounds (BMI 41.2 Obese) to 140 pounds (BMI 24 Normal)
(100 pound weight loss) in 74 weeks:

Goal 1: Date Achieved:
To lose 30 pounds in 14 weeks by November 3rd 2013 – Average weight loss per week 2.14 pounds
Weight will be 210 pounds - BMI will be 36 - Classified Obese
(This one I wanted to achieve by my 31st birthday. All other goals are not set for any special date.)


Goal 2: Date Achieved:
To lose 30 pounds in 20 weeks by March 23rd 2014 – Average weight loss per week 1.5 pounds
Weight will be 180 pounds - BMI will be 30.9 - Classified Obese

Goal 3: Date Achieved:
To lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks by June 1st 2014 – Average weight loss per week 1 pound
Weight will be 170 pounds - BMI will be 29.2 - Classified Overweight
Goal 4: Date Achieved:
To lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks by August 10th 2014 – Average weight loss per week 1 pound
Weight will be 160 pounds - BMI will be 27.5 – Classified Overweight

Goal 5: Date Achieved:
To lose 10 pounds in 15 weeks by November 23rd 2014 – Average weight loss per week .67 pounds
Weight will be 150 pounds - BMI will be 25.7 – Classified Overweight

Goal 6: Date Achieved:
To lose 10 pounds in 15 weeks by March 8th 2015 – Average weight loss per week .67 pounds
Weight will be 140 pounds - BMI will be 24 – Classified NORMAL

I know that 74 weeks or about 19 months or 518 days seems like a long time but I felt that if I didn't give myself, in my opinion, doable goals I would just quit.

What do you think?

Edited to change BMI in goal #2 copy and paste will get the best of you sometimes, thank you Don :)

Replies

  • QuilterInVA
    QuilterInVA Posts: 672 Member
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    Attaching a date to a weight loss goal can be bad. What happens if you don't meet that goal? Instead focus on the steps that you are going to do to reach your goal - I'll eat healthier food, I'll exercise ____ times each week, I'll drink 10 glasses of water every day, I'll journal every bite, like and taste every day. If I have a day of poor food choices, I won't beat myself up but look at it as a learning experience and move on. You will still reach your ultimate goal but the pressure to meet certain weights by certain dates will be gone. After all, if we don't focus on leaning to eat better and exercise, we'll never maintain.
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
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    It's definitely doable.
  • dondimitri
    dondimitri Posts: 245 Member
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    My gut reaction is go for it. It is certainly doable. You're average loss will be a little over 5 pounds/month which is certainly reasonable. You've got it set up to lose more weight per unit time early and then progressively less weight per unit time as you get lighter. That makes a lot of sense.

    Realize that once you start things will not go exactly as you've planned. "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy". Just go with the flow and it will all work out. Don't make a big deal about whether you are right at "x pounds" at "y date". As long as the general trend is downward all will be good in the end.

    Be flexible, it may be that part way through you are significantly ahead of or behind schedule. Monitor progress and adjust schedule as necessary. No problem!

    Best of luck to you.

    PS: Check your BMI computation for goal #2, it shouldn't be the same as goal #1.
  • Ed98043
    Ed98043 Posts: 1,333 Member
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    Some people respond best to timelines (not me) but that first goal of 30 lbs in 3 months is pretty lofty. You know yourself, though, and if it's motivating to have a date set and you don't think you'll just quit altogether if you don't reach it, then go for it!
  • TKelly06
    TKelly06 Posts: 225 Member
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    Thanks all :)
  • recentcoin
    recentcoin Posts: 18
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    I think you're a bit aggressive with the 2+ pounds per week at the start. I understand about your birthday, but you're imposing an artificial deadline on an organic process.

    That works out to a caloric deficit of nearly 7490 calories per week or 1070 per day. That's a *huge* daily deficit. If the caloric deficit is too big, your body starts to use it's own muscle tissue as a source of energy. And muscles are what burn up the fat, so when you reduce the amount of muscle mass, your BMR drops.

    The rest of it looks very reasonable.
  • thisismeraw
    thisismeraw Posts: 1,264 Member
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    It's doable. I personally don't like attaching a date to a goal just because it can be heartbreaking and demotivating if you don't reach the goal by the time/date set. If you find having an end date to each of your goals better for you than great! I wouldn't set a goal date if you may get upset or demotivated if you don't reach that goal.

    Don't strive for anything too large. You shouldn't aim to lose a lot each week because it can cause a lot of other issues. You will lose quite a bit in the first few weeks especially if you end up making a drastic change to your eating habits or your exercise habits. Don't get discouraged if you don't see the scale go down, or if you see it go up... it will happen. You won't lose weight each and every week as your body does not always respond to the math of weight loss. We all know 3500 calories equals a lb however you could burn that in a week but still go up in weight by a few lbs.

    Focusing on a goal can help! Focus on it and do things right for the best weight loss. Eat well, eat enough, get protein, drink water, get healthy fats, limit processed foods, and get your exercise in and lift heavy weights!
  • chadraeder3
    chadraeder3 Posts: 279 Member
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    I would just say please don't get hung up on the BMI numbers. That scale was created in the 1800's for 1800's man. If you believe the BMI then you believe that Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Matt Damon are all overweight.

    (Reference http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6040156.stm)
  • suibhne
    suibhne Posts: 17
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    I set a goal for myself by graduation, and I missed it by 3-4 lbs. I was mostly fine with that, since the goal was 25 lbs and I was still making steady progress even at 21-22 lbs down; I was a little disappointed, but I got over it pretty quickly. If I'd put a lot of stock into that artificial deadline, tho, it could have been demotivating.

    I found it useful to have an external, artificial deadline, but I also found it very important to celebrate what I did achieve. Even tho I hadn't quite hit my goal, I still shared my (significant) progress with my mom; I expressed my slight disappointment that I hadn't hit 25, but also assessed my overall progress. I turned the deadline into a milestone for recognizing my progress to date.

    As long as you allow yourself some flexibility with that deadline - maybe look at it as an event, a milestone, but recognize that real life might get in the way of reaching the exact number you want by that point - I say go for it. Just be generous to yourself and recognize all the good work you do. Especially at the start of your fitness process, you have a lot to learn about how your body works and what habits will be most effective for you. That learning might be the biggest achievement of your first few months.

    Aside from that, I think you've thought out your plan with an impressive level of detail, and I like that you're being realistic about the pace of weight loss slowing down over time.
  • mtnhiker1
    mtnhiker1 Posts: 114 Member
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    Definately doable - but maybe goal 7 would be to work to hold at 140 once you get there. Just a thought

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